HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1986-03-12, Page 7_____ THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1986. PAGE 7.
Timeliness in planting essentia! to profit
Timeliness is the ability to
complete a field operation at the
optimum time so that yield is not
reduced, says Brian Hall, Farm
Management Specialist with the
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture in
Clinton.
“Forexample, ifthe crop used in
our area is corn, the ideal
plant/harvest combination is
thought to be planting between
May 3 -16 and harvesting between
October 11 - 31 for the best yields.
However, many farmers just don’t
have the necessary equipment to
plant and harvest all their corn crop
in these two time periods. Thus
yields are reduced or sacrificed and
there becomes a cost associated
with this inability to complete field
operations in a reasonably short
period of time.”
In a recent workshop held, some
farmers suggested that corn plant
ed between May 17-23 would only
yield 90 per cent of that planted in
May 3 - 16. This means if in our
optimum plant/harvest combina-
Riddell gives aid
to set up market
information service
A provincial grant of up to
$500,000 will help the beef indus
try move into the computer age and
provide up-to-date market infor
mation, Agriculture and Food
Minister Jack Riddell announced
Feb. 19.
The grant will allow the Ontario
Cattlemen’s Association to esta
blish a computerized information
gathering service which will pro
vide accurate, comprehensive and
timely market information, Riddell
said.
‘‘Producers need to have the
most up-to-date information on
prices to assist them in making key
business decisions,” Riddell said.
“This service will help producers
to be better informed about market
conditions and prices.”
A computer network will be
established to link OCA head
quarters in Toronto with livestock
community sales barns and com
mission firms at the Ontario
Stockyards.
Ethel man
was former
Grey reeve
CLIFFORD ROSS DUNBAR
Clifford Ross Dunbar passed
away peacefully at his residence in
Ethel on March 6,1986. He was 89
years of age.
Mr. Dunbar was the son of the
late David W. Dunbar and Sarah V.
Ames. In April 1916 he enlisted in
the 161st Battalion at Brussels and
went overseas in late October of
that year to England where he
transferred to the Machine Gun
Unit of the 4th Canadian Brigade.
He fought at Vimy Ridge in April
1917 and on several of the fronts on
the Somme. He advanced to the
rank of sargeant in 1917 in France.
He was also active in his home
community, serving as reeve of
Grey township from 1960 to 1969.
Heissurvivedbyhiswife, the
former Margaret Philp and by one
sister, Mrs. Elsie Cunningham of
Ethel. He was predeceased by one
sister, Stella, Mrs. William Brown,
and five brothers, Garfield, Stan
ley, George, Roy and Lloyd.
The funeral service was held
from the Brussels Chapel of the M.
L. Watts Funeral Homes on
Saturday, March 8 with Rev. Byron
Nevin officiating. Burial was in
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Ethel.
tion of dates we are able to get an
average yield of 120 bushels, that
planting in the new time frame we
lose approximately 12 bushels of
corn and if corn is worth $3.00/
bushel, this would translate into a
loss of $36.00/acre.
So the question arises, “How-
can I increase my timeliness of
operationssothatyieldsare not
sacrificed?’’ Probably the first
answer that springs to mind is to
hope for no rain! But this is not very
realistic since we do not control the
weather. However, there are ways
to improve timeliness which we can
manipulate.
MACHINERY SIZE
‘‘I think all of us have had firm
economic slaps that remind us we
cannot afford to be ‘over tooled” ’,
Mr. Hall says.
A prime example of this is a
farmer who participated in the
Enterprise Analysis project this
past year. His machinery invest
ment per acre was well over $ 1,000
when other participants were $300
or less. This fellow was paying
The OCA will make the up-to-
date market information available
to producers, radio stations and
Agriculture Canada. The Ministry
of Agriculture and Food will also
receive this current information
and disseminate it through
OMAF’s market information ser
vice.
The new service was recom
mended by the joint OCA/OMAF
task force established in February,
1985. The cattlemen’s association
has agreed to cover the annual
operating cost of the new computer
information system, Riddell said.
The ministry grant will provide
$50,000 to cover the cost of
computer hardware and software
at OCA headquarters. For partici
pating livestock markets, the
assistance will be 60 per cent of the
cost up to a maximum of $30,000.
The $500,000 grant for the beef
cattle market information service
was approved as a component of
the ministry’s Red Meat Plan.
Riddell said he was pleased with
the leadership of the cattle indus
try in the development of the
computerized market information
system.
SPECIAL THANKS
BI y th Snowtravellers and Bly th Lions Club would like to thank
anyone who helped in any way with the Poker Rally, February
15. Special thanks goes to the following businesses and
individuals who donated prizes:
Elliott Insurance, Gore’s, McGavin Farm Equip., Loom’s &
Leather, TheSaga, McGee Auto, H & N Dairy, Blyth Festival,
Village of Blyth, Webster’s Clothing, Cook’s, Village
Restaurant, Merkley Fuels, Radford’s Auto, Boyd Taylor,
Govier Apartments, Snell Feeds, Edward Fuels, Marks
Garage, Howson & Howson, G. L. Hubbard, Blyth Printing,
Belgrave Co-op, Remember When, Bearss Aluminum, Lynn
Hoy, Blyth Lions, Arlene Caldwell, Kates Kitchen, Merkley
Fuels, Dickson’s Auto, Blyth Inn, Wilson’s Health & Gift, Blyth
Bulk Foods, Campbell Transport, Blyth Vet Clinic, Foxton
Fuels, Bosman Fuels, Manning’s, Brooks Construction,
Radford Construction, Hillcrest Restaurant, T. B. Allen, Tom
Duizer, Hank’s Small Engines, Howatt Bros., Blyth Variety,
Maxine’s Restaurant, Radford’s Garage, King Grain, Bainton
Ltd., Lawrie Decorating, Burkholder’s, Bridge Motors,
Chatterton’s, Londesboro Seed Plant, Walsh Barber Shop,
Triple K, Bank of Commerce, Hamm’s, Humphries, Ed
Watson, Wallace Turkey Products, Chauncey’s, Taylors -
Belgrave, Sparling’s, Scrimgeour’s, Ross Scott Fuels, Grand
View Restaurant, Bowes Electronics, Snell’s Grocery, Ray
Hallahan, Bill Hallahan, Pioneer Threshers, Maurice
Hallahan, Randy Babcock, Montgomery Upholstery, The Old
Mill, Knights of Columbus, Josling Bros., The Citizen.
dearly for the privilege to own this
extra machinery in terms of annual
interest payments. But, there
becomes a trade-off when the extra
cost of owning larger machinery
pays for itself by getting the crops
in and harvested on a timely basis.
‘‘I would suggest if you are not
getting your corn crop planted and
harvested much past May 23 and
December 5, then machinery size
should be looked at,” said Mr.
Hall. “For it is estimated past this
you only receive 72 per cent of your
optimum yield. If 120bu. corn crop
is optimum, then close to 29 bu. of
corn/acre is being lost, which
would well pay for some larger
used equipment.”
2. Work Longer Hours:
“This is probably not a very
pleasant suggestion to throw out,
especially for a government man ’ ’,
says Mr. Hall “But I think the
important concept here is quality
time, not quantity. Make sure that
equipment is repaired in the
off-season, seed and supplies are
laid in and ready to go and that any
extra labour to be hired is fully
trained so that those good working
days are used to their fullest
extent. Forexample, hiringthe
neighbour boy for $5.00 per hour
for three hours per night for a total
of 30 or 40 hours would probably be
a much better bargain than trading
for bigger machinery.”
3. Machinery Maintenance:
There is nothing more frustrat
ing than to take a piece of
equipment to the field only to find
out it wasn ’t fixed from last spring!
The idea here is that repairing and
overhauling now in non-peak
times, you’ll get to use those first
good field work days to their
utmost. The more time spent with
machinery now, the more hours of
uptime you are likely to have with
your equipment. Thus, planting
and harvesting occurs on a timely
basis and yields are not sacrificed.
4. Alter Crop and Varieties and Mix
There is a growing concern that
many farmers are pushing the
varieties of seed corn selected to
the outer limits of their heat unit
range. This can lead to untimely
harvesting. However, the possi
bility of greater yields sometimes
overrides the risk of not getting the
crop harvested and some people
are willing to take this chance.
Certainly one should not be doing
this with their total crop acreage,
and would likely only use the best
tiled pieces for this practice.
Another way of improving crop
ping timeliness is to alter the types
of crops grown. By growing more
cereals the workload in the fall
period is reduced.
5. Work Weekends:
This is not to say that most
farmers should be working week
ends, but if you have to work seven
days a week at the end of May to
plant corn, perhaps it would have
been better to have done it early.
The idea here is not to promote
working on Sunday, but rather,
hours worked early and acres
planted early replace hours and
acres planted at the end of the
season when yield penalties are
severe. Here the farm group
mentioned earlier in the article
estimated yield only to be 82 per
cent optimum.
There is no question that field
crop timeliness is very crucial in
obtaining top yields. However,
there is a double edge sword where
the cost of working longer hours,
owning larger machinery or alter
ing crop mix, equals the benefits
from performing field operations
on a timely basis. Where this
occurs depends a lot on the
individual farmer.
“Ensure you have thought
through your crop mix, machinery
size, labour requirements and
farm size. It could save you
money,” Mr. Hall says.
Happy 30th
SIS
Love the family
Christian Education
is available in your naghbourhood!
tFrom Kindergarten through Grade Eight
• Committed Christian Teachers
• Modem facilities
+French taught from Grade 1 to Grade 8
• Ont Ministry of Education approved
curriculum. ________________
KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
MARCH 26,1986
11:00A.M.
Interested Christian parents call
528-2016
Lucknow & District
Christian School
U.C.O. is pleased to announce the appointment of
Douglas R. Cameron as their new Crop & Field Salesman
at Belgrave and Auburn Sales & Service Centres. Doug is
a graduate of the University of Guelph with a Bachelor of
Science Degree in Crop Science. He has a very strong
technical background in crop production and brings with
him many years of experience in agriculture and
agricultural related problems. Doug is looking forward to
meeting you and discussing your crop production needs
for the spring. He can be contacted through either the
Belgrave or Auburn retail outlets.
Belgrave & Auburn Co-op
™357-2711 523-4454 526-7262
The Farm Store... aswt no ml'