Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1981-06-17, Page 11Huron farm and home news Dairy pasture requires close Some dairymen have overcome the problems of pasture feeding by &wit- ching to year round stored feeding programs. However, if you are using pasture for the milking herd it will require careful attention to the entire feeding program to support good production. Early pasture growth is high in quality, but declines rapidly. Within a month, the dry matter of spring grass can drop from 68 percent TDN and 15 percent protein, to 50 percent TDN and 7 percent protein. In addition, pasture quality can change drastically from one field to another depending on the type and amount of grasses and legumes present, and the maturity of the stand. It is this variability which creates most of the dif- ficulties of pasture feeding programs. Dairymen must react to changes in pasture quality before production slumps occur. Even short- term, inadequate feeding practices have a major long term effect on the production of individual cows. The grain mix which complements your pasture feeding program, will depend on the quality of pasture available. In May and June, a mix containing 14 percent protein should be adequate, but during summer and fall a grain mix of at least 16 percent protein is required. If onjy one grain mix is to be fed throughout the pasture season, it is best to overfeed protein in the early stages. In view of the high cost of protein supplements, many dairymen could benefit by gradually increasing the protein level of the grain mix during mid-June. Providing a commercial 1:1 mineral and trace mineralized salt on a free choice basis will help assure that mineral requirements are met for low producing cows. A common problem with cows on lush pasture is the change in appetite. To consume the dry matter of 30 lbs. (13.5 kg) of hay, a cow may have to eat up to 200 lbs (90 kg) of lush pasture causing even high producing cows to fill up, and so refuse grain. This problem can be minimized by changing over to pasture gradually, allowing only a few hours of grazing in the early part of the year. The cows will fill up in a short time, but will digest this, and be ready for grain and other dry feeds at milking time. Because of the low fibre content, lush pasture often causes a severe drop in butterfat test. To avoid this, make dry hay available in a free choice hay feeder. If each cow does not consume at least 5 lbs of hay per day, it may be necessary to keep them in the barn longer for hay feeding. During the summer and fall, the quality and quantity of pasture available is often inadequate to support normal levels of milk production. When pastures decline, be prepared to supplement them from stored feed with hay, haylage or corn silage and adjust the grain mix to balance with these feeds. Ontario trials with pastured beef cattle have shown year after year, that average daily gain decreases drastically after mid-August. In most cases, use of some supplementary stored feeds is critical in the fall of production slumps are to be prevented. By Dennis Martin Associate Agricultural Representative Preserve Safely Everything tastes so fresh and great this time of year and we all like to preserve that goodness for later on in the year as well. Many consumers have been asking about using the steam canners that are on the market now. Steaming is certainly not recommended for low acid foods (i.e. vegetables). Steam takes a longer time than a boiling water bath to process the food since steam does not conduct heat well. To date, the steam canners on the market are using the same processing times as recommended for the boiling water method. Because of this, and until there is testing of reliable processing times for steam canners, Food Advisory Division Agriculture Canada, recommends that consumers continue to use the boiling water bath for OUTDOOR BUILDING? For All Your Outdoor Fencing Building and Lumber Needs. See Us At CENTRALIA FARMERS Me hove M etedk complete 1Mwe el Fertiliser. Gorden Seeds Genes feed. Nerbeddee end Insecticides. For Ali Your Oariloning Needs... . CENTRALIA FARMERS SUPPLY Open Mon - Fri 8-6 Sat 0 -Noon Contrail(' Phone 228-6638 canning high acid foods rather than steam canners. For information about preservation, call your Agriculture Office for booklets - Home Canning; Freezing Foods; Jams, Jellies and Pickles. Jane Muegge Home Economist. Field Crop Insect Alert The warm weather we received in late May and early June has helped the local insect populations. During warm weather, a large percentage of insect eggs hatch. Pro -longed warmth makes these little critters extra hungry. The result is they help them- selves to your crops (In some areas this is known as share cropping). I will tell you about four of these insects and how they affect your crops. The first is the potato stem borer. It feeds on your corn. It is about 1 / 2 to 1 1 /2 in- ches in length. Sort of a purplish pink colour with an off -brown head. It tunnels into the corn plant, eats out part of the centre area and then goes to the next corn plant. It overwinters in weeds, especially grasses around the outside of the Times -Advocate, June 17, 1981 Page 11 attention; crop insect alert issued field. The larva feeds on the twitch until it reaches a certain size and then heads for the corn. After it leaves the grasses it will crawl until it hits the first corn plant. This means it is strictly hit or miss as to how farit crawls out into the field before meeting a corn .plant. Generally he feeds on one plant and then crawls down the row to the next. What can you do? Nothing. There are no chemicals registered to control potato stem borer. There is some consolation in the fact that they are worse around the outside of the field. Also by HENSALL SHEEP EXHIBITORS — Donald Dearing of Exeter and Ed Jackson from Harriston were among the many sheep exhibitors at Tuesday's Hensall Spring Fair. A number of provincial and federal agriculture ministers have come and gone over the years. Some will say that Harry Hayes was the best. Others liked Alvin Hamilton. Even Bud Olsen is remembered fondly by a number of farmers. Eugene Whelan, of course, was a bright spot in the Liberal campaigns for at least two elections. in Ontario, my memory goes back to Bill Stewart who held the portfolio for almost 20 years. When he retired from active politics for health reasons, he left a tremendous void in the provincial cabinet which has not been filled properly, At a meeting to say good bye to Bill some years ago, I helped purchase the biggest pair of barn boots we could find in a department store to give to his successor, Bill Newman. They were given to him with the admonition that he was going to fill a big pair of boots. He tried but was not successful. He lost his cabinet post after only a few years in office. Then came Lorne Hen- derson. I have never met him. Like Will Rogers, all I know (about Henderson) is just what I read in the in the r Lease. ..• appr,..,e0.r fob T,o... f W.u.d r.,,.e• On, Nle 2C newspapers. What I read gives me a most un- comfortable feeling. "Don't contradict me", he has told his staff. In other words, he has muzzled every civil servant in the ministry because Keith Pinder of the foodland development branch gave evidence to the Ontario Municipal Board that land, designated by Henderson as unsuitable for big farm machinery, was good farmland. "We had a meeting with the minister and he told us in no uncertain terms that the situation was not to happen again," said Vernon Spen- cer, director of the branch. I would hate to be a senior official within the ministry these days. Such blatant censorship of people who have a mind of their own and can express it properly is an affront to a democratic system. Again, just two -three weeks ago, more than 700 farmers jeered derisively at Mr. Henderson in Toronto. I won't go into the fatuous remark made by Whelan about farmers being lucky to live in a society where they could criticize politicians except to say that it appears some of his leader's arrogance has rubbed off onto Gene. VIBRO-CROP SHAKES DOWN WEEDS UP TO 7 TINES BETTER! 1. An option kit can increase each gang to 7 Kongskitde 'S' shaped tines for complete cleaning in wider row crops. 2. Models are available from 2 to 12 rows for row widths of 18" to 40". 3. Tool bars are made of special pre -stressed steel for unseen strength. 4. Patented eccentric bolt on the tool bar stops tines from loosening. S. All parallelograms have grease fittings. 6. Side play is eliminated because parallelograms are threaded on one side so gang can be tightened. 7. Trash free rolling shield, spring loaded guide coulters and other options available for varying crop conditions. KONGSKI LDE Available From: V. L. Becker and Sons Farm Equipment Dashwood, Ontario 237-3242 The crowd of farmers laughed when Henderson said the province has tried to respond to the problems of Ontario farmers who are harder hit than most segments of the population by the exorbitant interest rates in Canada, especially beef farmers. "That's b.s. and you know it, Lorne," one farmer yelled. "We recognize the low prices and high interest rate to the farmer," Henderson said to a chorus of boos and yells. He blamed those interest rates on the federal government which produced shouts of "buckpassing." No one knows better than this veteran reporter that politicians have a tough job. Cabinet ministers have an even tougher job. They are on call for many more hours than backbenchers. They are under considerable pressure from many places, many people. Why anyone would want to get into politics is beyond me. I can get into enough trouble penning a little deathless prose every week. Like reporters, politicians learn to roll with the punches. They get thick- skinned. But when the farmers of this country lose faith in their cabinet ministers almost to a man, then that minister should be looking at his own performance. I am sure that with that majority now at Queen's Park under the Conservative banner, a better ag-minister must surely be waiting in the wings. MAKES GOOD SILAGE BETTER (6t.\ SILA-BAC. SILAGE INOCULANT George Sereda Exeter 235-0273 William Coleman Kippen 262-5031 the time they are 1 1 /2 inch in length they have done all their damage. You can replant, but don't forget that as of June 9th we have used about 400 Heat Units. For next year you should try and reduce the weeds around your field. This means the adults will go somewhere else to lay their eggs. Alfalfa Weevil still Around The research plots at University of Guelph and in Essex County are showing high numbers of alfalfa weevil. Two or three area farmers have commented on the high number of larvae this year. We checked with a few other dairy farmers and they felt the numbers on their farms were no worse than normal. In your case check any field that will not be cut by the 18th or 19th. If these fields are showing 25 percent of the leaves damaged and a lot of small larvae then you should either cut or spray. The weevil has two natural enemies. One is a fungus disease that spreads with wet cold weather. The other is a parasite wasp. Of course, if you spray to control the alfalfa weevil, you alwo will kill any parasite insects. Another insect in alfalfa and a relatively new one to Huron and Perth Counties is the Alfalfa Blotch Leaf Miner. This insect lays its eggs on the alfalfa leaves. The egg hatches and the larva eats part of the leaf between the outer layers of each leaf. It eats the centre part of the leaf producing mines or tunnels that end in blotches. Again the best way to control this leaf miner is by early cutting. Armyworm Numbers up The adult armyworm moth is also flying now. This moth flies into our areaevery year. The number of these moths caught in the insect trap this year seem to be more numerous than normal years. There is no way of knowing how severe this insect will be. However, you should check hay, grain and corn fields around the time when the wheat is starting to turn colour. We thought you should know that they are all present. You can check your fields and watch them develop. No doubt some areas, or even some fields may suffer economic damage. Annual Grass Escapes If you have applied your annual grass herbicide and the annual grasses reach the three leaf stage your her- bicide will not kill them. Now the best method to get rid of this is scuffling. Don't go deep - just shallow enough to cut them off. Even atrazine and oil will not kill annual grasses past the 2 -leaf stage. If you think you have applied your herbicides properly and still the annual grasses are alive you may have proso millet. Last year proso millet was found by the weed survey crews on a number of farms in Huron and Perth Counties. It was exceptionally bad in the Seaforth area. This weed in its early stages looks like foxtail. However, the plant is quite hairy (leaves and stem I Foxtail has few hairs. Proso Millet is as hairy as old witch grass. Also, Proso Millet has a small shiny (black to light brown) seed attached to the roots. Pull the small plants up and check the seed. If you have it in corn the only way to get rid of it is by repeated scuffling. Any field with this weed should be taken out of corn as soon as possible. Treflan gives satisfactory control in beans. Grain seeded down to Red Clover also seems to smother this weed. Pat Lynch Soils & Crops Specialist John Heard Assistant Agricultural Representa ti ve f� FARMERS IN HURON COUNTY "THINKING OF REAL ESTATE, THINK STEVE BUCHANAN" SPECIALIZING IN THE SALE Of FARMS FOR 26 THE SQUARE GODERICH CALL 524-4700 EVENINGS 524-9097 OFFICE A, wthreci JIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII.IIi1IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL EE Dietrich Metal ProductsEi Manufacturer of Metal Trim Sales of Steel Siding Farm Building Construction Concrete Forming Complete Building Sales fora Self -Erected Structures 1 1/4 Miles West of Mt. Carmel and /2 Mile South IR.R.# 8 Parkhill Phone 294-69401 �11111111111111111111111111111111111111111H111111111111111111lIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIItlllllltr BETTER BY V DESIGN G • T IM fre f rr C"� .fes Versatile Model 4400 Hydrostatic Swather Check These Features 1 ONLY • 18.4 x 16.1 6 ply Drive Tires • Choice 12' or 15' Header • Hay Crimper • Skid Shoes • Hume Reel & Bat Reel • Incomparable Cab Design with Heater & Air Conditioning • Widest Header Selection on The Market • Completely Controlled Windrow Formation • Heavy Duty Headers • Dual Tail Wheels • 80 Hp. Engine • High Capacity Hydrostatic Drive • Accoustically Insulated Cab • Hydrostatic heel & Drap!•. Control • Tilt & Telescopic Steering Wheel Lease This Unit For 4 years 4 payments x4,553.76 per year ALLIS-CHALMERS 7060 Demonstrator Tractor 1 ONLY • 160 N.P. • 20.8 x 38 Rear Tires • Cab Heater & Air Conditioning • Stad lights • 540 x 1000 P.T.O. • Dual Remotes • 20 Speed Transmission Lease This Unit for 5 years 1st payment $7,424. 36 Following s9674.36 4 • a ments year 11111%9111111 HYDE � 1