The Rural Voice, 1978-10, Page 13i
A matter of principle
by J. Carl Hemingway
Silo -gas! This seems to be a very popular topic for our
agricultural information writers for several months.
There are a few important points that it seems to me were
missed or passed over lightly.
High nitrogen fertilizer and or the application of large
quantities of manure produces corn with high nitrogen content
which makes the production of "silo gas" in dangerous
quantities -it can also produce sileage that will have varying
degrees of toxic affect on cattle, even to being fatal.
However. there can be "silo gas" even when the nitrogen
content in the soil is comparatively low.
Excessive nitrogen builds up in the corn plant during extended
periods of drought. The earlier the crop is put in the silo, the
greater the danger of "silo gas".
There can be three poisonous gases formed.
Nitrogen tetroxide is yellow.
Nitrogen dioxide is red -brown.
Nitric oxide is colourless.
These three may be mixed or separate so the absence of colour
is no safe guard.
The formation of these gasses occurs to some extent in all
sileage but can also be produced in silos filled with high moisture
grain corn.
This I know because 1 spent two weeks in hospital two years
ago and learned the hard way.
Much emphasis is put on the fact that these gases are heavier
than air, therefore be sure the silo doors are not closed higher
than the level of the corn in the silo -and leave it for three weeks.
This can be a real "death-trap"!
I wonder how far the top of the sileage will be below the top of
the door after three weeks settling in an 80 ft. silo?
This space can still be filled with the deadly gas after three
weeks.
How do you get it out safely?
If your silo has continuous doors all the way up you could open
the sides of your silo room at the bottom and get good
ventilation. especially if there is a good breeze blowing. You could
then go up the silo and kick in the first door that would open.
But what if there is a breeze coming up the silo chute? Just a
bit risky isn't it?
You can put the tractor on the "blower" but since the sileage
has probably settled ten feet there is no guarantee that it will
remove the gas.
Better have another source of air supply -either an oxygen tank
or a fresh air hose and a good mask.
An alternative?
Feed out the corn immediately as many people do. At all times
keep the doors dug out a little below the level of sileage.
Again there is a real danger and I got caught.
While these gases are heavier than air of equal temperature
the gases are definitely lighter than the air when they are heated
by the corn.
You don't need to worry about the "silo -gas" when you go up
the next day. But as soon as you start forking or shovelling it out
the warm gas. fortunately mixed with air hits you in the face and
quickly fills the silo to the roof which isn't far away the first week
or so.
If you have your own blower leave it hooked up to the tractor
and the next morning start it up and let it blow for ten minutes
before you go up the silo and leave it running aintil you come
down again.
And do it for three weeks?
Sorry you won't get to the hospital with all the pretty nurses,
but maybe working at home isn't so bad.
If you do get caught get oxygen as quickly as possible.
And now for pigs and strikes!
This past summer there was a strike and lock -out which closed
down the two largest plants that purchase pigs in Ontario. The
plants were closed for seven weeks. During this period the
average drop in price was approximately $8.00 per cw t . as
compared to the previous price and present price.
Since the latter part of June, July and August are traditionally
the highest priced period of the year for market hogs I can only
conclude that the strike caused the drop in price to producers.
Certainly the volume of hogs going to market was much less
than during the weeks before the strike and much less than the
volume since the strike ended.
It is estimated that Ontario hay producers lost 6.3 million
dollars during the strike.
I don't know much about millions but 1 do know that we lost
$100. per week for the seven weeks and we are only small
producers. This is only a comparatively small percentage of the
gross sale of hogs but it is a very large percentage of our income.
I suppose most of you have read or heard all the wonderful
compliments heaped upon this super -star Mohammed Ali who
came back three times to win the heaveyweight boxing
championship of the world.
I wonder how many farmers who have spent a lifetime farming
have had to "come back" in order to have a minimum income for
their retirement even with the Old Age Pension.
During that period of forty or fifty years they provided an
abundance of cheap food (at least at the farm gate) for humanity.
Mohammed Ali has provided two or three hours of
questionable entertainment per year for the past 12 years or so.
Is it any wonder that farmers are just a bit bewildered by the
consumer's sense of values?
In spite of all this, hog producers have been doing
comparatively well this past seven or eight years. We have been
net importers of pork which has kept our price considerably
above the U.S.price.
Presently the dressed weight price for hogs is something over
$60 per cwt. in U.S.
Due to the favourable exchange rate, shipping costs and a
minimal tariff our price is about $70 per cwt. or about $10 . per
cwt. above the U.S.price (the exchange rate is currently about
15%1.
This past couple of weeks the volume of market hogs in
Ontario has jumped to close to 70 thousand per week from a
previous twelve month average of about 55 thousand.
When will we become net exporters of pork with our big
market in United 'States?
If and when that time comes the price Ontario Hog Producers
get will be in reverse- we will receive at least ten dollars per cwt.
less than the U.S. price or about $50 per cwt. dressed weight.
Is there any possibility that a farmer with a $1,000 per acre
farm can earn any profit at all on his investment? ,
Can he have even a survival income for his labour?
Presently we are at the mercy of the producers of feeder pigs.
If all the reports of the expansion in sow herds are true we hog
producers should be seriously looking for alternative sources of
income.
Farmers for years have feared this "boom" and "bust"
- program and have tried to develop plans to overcome the "bust"
and promote the "boom" without much success.
In my experience over the past fifty years or so it seems that
that the weatherman has had the most control of our destiny, and
it hasn't been too happy. Surely there must be a better way.
I feel that there must also be a better way of settling labour
disputes than strike action.
If labour and management can come to an agreement after a
seven week strike why can't they come to an agreement a week
before the previonc control expired?
THE RURAL VOICE/OCTOBER 1978 PG. 13