The Rural Voice, 1999-01, Page 47Advice
financial performance.
In 1999 and beyond, everything
must count and everything must pay.
Feedlot operators will nccd to
sharpen their pencils, make wise
buying decisions, keep a close watch
on their cost of gain and utilize thc
technology that's available to make
fall placed cattle profitable.0
Is your bunker
silo tired?
By Dawn Pate
Dairy Specialist, Duff's Corners
If your bunker silo isn't tired it
should bc. Tires arc the most popular
way to weigh down the plastic on a
bunker silo.
How many. times have you sccn
plastic coverings rippling in the
wind, especially on stacks of silage?
That rippling effect on the plastic is
actually acting morc like a bellows
and forcing air down into thc silage.
The result is increased spoilage from
the Tess stable silage. One solution to
this is to weight the plastic down.
On most farms tires arc the
preferred weights that are used on top
of the silage. The problem with tires
is that often not enough are put on
the plastic. A study in New York
compared bunkers with 6.5 tires per
100 square feet of plastic, compared
to 21 tires per 100 square feet of
plastic. The haylage in the bunker
with the most tires had an additional
5,200 pounds of crude protein on a
dry matter basis than the bunker with
fewer tires. That makes putting some
extra tires on a bunker a good
investment in time and effort.
To make putting tires on easier
consider using split tires. Split tires
are lighter to handle, they don't hold,
rainwater like whole tires and they
stack much better when not in use.
If you have a bunker silo that is
not well covered it is not too late to
do something about it before winter
sets in. For what you have already
invested in getting the silage grown
and stored the effort and cost of
making sure the plastic is well
weighed down will pay off big
dividends in the form of better feed
quality.0
Grain Markets
Plan ahead for
successful marketing
By Dave Gordon
This month's column will be a
little different than any of my
previous ones. I am not going to get
too specific about each grain but
rather focus on marketing in general
and how producers can and should
make more use of simple marketing
strategies.
We have come through a most
astounding crop year with corn yields
that were far above anyone's wildest
expectations in 'most areas. Since
then, I have had many producers tell
me that they would not dream of
forward contracting corn before it
was in the ground because there
might be a crop failure. This year
some of you came close to being
droughted out, but I would say that
194 was the closest Ontario has ever
come to a complete disaster and we
still produced 75 per cent of a normal
crop year. So, it cannot be said that
we have had a total disaster and
although the weather can be
managed, you have to play the
averages.
The first point 1 want to make
about marketing is to think and plan
ahead. Ask about prices one or two
years down the road and keep track
of them while you begin to formulate
cropping plans even if you are
growing a crop to feed. Most good
growers know roughly what it costs
to grow an acre of corn, soybeans or
wheat today and if you add a
moderate increase when planning
ahead, you can make an educational
decision whether or not a price is
good enough to lock in a profit.
Secondly, producers should follow
the (K.I.S.S.) Keep It Simple simon
(or any other suitable acronym). You
will hear talk of using options or
futures but, for most producers this is
getting complicated. You need to first
spend your time learning about the
futures market and how basis is
establishdd in Ontario and whether or
not the basis is strong or weak. Along
with this. know what kind of grain
contracts are available and when to
use each kind, whether it is a cash,
basis or minimum price contract.
Thirdly, producers following the
above two recommendations should
spread out sales. Do not ever be
caught in a position of having to sell
in order to meet cash tlow needs. I
am sure that you know when major
payments are due and can plan sales
well in advance. Producers can either
plan to sell a certain amount each
marketing period and stick to the plan
or you could forward sell for
several periods at one time
if the prices cover carrying
costs.
How do you know
when to sell? Well,
producers (sellers) have to
become fairly regimented
and objective about
marketing. You must
develop the ability to step
back and evaluate all of
the information that you
receive. For instance, we
know that the U.S. and
Ontario had very large
corn crops this year, but
we also hear rumblings
about dry weather in South
JANUARY 1999 43