The Rural Voice, 1998-10, Page 49identified in transferring businesses.
A business lacking financial viability,
especially for the critical overlap
period between generations is
doomed for failure. The business
must be seen as having the potential
of providing for the personal needs of
the new owners. Some potential
successors are not taught risk
management and opt for a salaried
position, before the transfer occurs.
The final obstacle discovered is
family hostilities when non -business
children see the appointment as
unfair or the candidate as incapable.
Picking a successor is certainly
more challenging than indicating an
heir to your assets. If this is to be a
"cake walk", the older generation
may need to develop additional skills
and attitudes to those developed in
operating a single generation
business. As the present owner, you
must take the steps to help eliminate
as many obstacles as possible so the
business will remain successful. A
good intergenerational business has a
senior participant who has a strong
production/financial/marketing skill
set, but develops further skills as a
teacher, facilitator, coach and mentor.
You will also need to be an arbitrator
and communication expert in dealing
with the entire family, regarding your
plan for the future.
An heir or a successor? You must
be up to dispelling the old adage
"From shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in
three generations."0
Fall critical
harvest dates
for alfalfa
By Joan McKinlay
OMAFRA Soil and Crop Advisor
The dates for the fall critical
harvest of alfalfa is a very popular
question. In reality, it is a process not
a set of dates.
If you cut your alfalfa today, then
the plant will drain the root system
for three weeks to produce the
regrowth. At this three-week time
period the above ground growth will
look excellent but the roots will be at
their weakest state. During the next
two weeks the plants use the top
Advice
growth to produce sugars and to
move these into the root system to
refill the root. Thus, you must get
either no growth or five weeks of
growth to put the alfalfa roots into the
same condition that they arc today
before you cut the field.
If you assume a late September
frost then the "critical harvest dates"
are about August 25 - Oct. 1. But
when is the killing frost going to
come? Because we never know we
try to leave a little time on both side.
of these dates.
Thc popularity of large bale
wrappers and silage systems has
made it easier to wait until October to
cut the final cut. This ensures a full,
healthy root system but leaves no top
growth to trap snow. Thc dangers
with this timing is if there is a winter
with little snow, winds may sweep
the fields clean leaving the alfalfa
crowns exposed to low temperatures.
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OCTOBER 1998 45