The Rural Voice, 1993-05, Page 26At a time when many
farmers are moving
to big bales, some
very tiny bales are
providing a new
markct for hay from Bruce
County farms.
Alfalfa cubes, produced at
the Canadian Agra Cubing
Plant at the Bruce Energy
Centre at Tiverton, look just
like miniature square bales,
but they pack a big punch in
nutrition and have become a
favourite feed for many horse
and dairy cattle owners.
Clarence Ackert, field
manager for the plant, says the
food may look different, but
animals soon figure out what
to do with it. The horses and
calves he keeps at home took
to it quickly. "Let the animals
at it and they'll soon figure it
out. They like it."
The cubes have been
shipped as far as Germany,
England, Portugal, Venezuela
and Puerto Rico but more and
more marketing is concentrated
on dairy farms in Vermont,
New York, Ohio and Michi-
gan and horse farms in Onta-
rio, Georgia and Florida. The
cubes are sold in 55 pound
bags for horses and by the
bulk truckload for dairy farms.
The plant expects to
increase production this year
as it continues to gear up from
its start back in 1990. This
year the alfalfa from 13,000 acres in
the Bruce arca will go through the
plant. From late May to late in
October (last year it was November 1
because of the bad weather) there
will be four crews working 24 hours
a day to process the hay while it is
still as fresh as possible.
Ackert is concentrating on an area
no more than 50 km from the plant
now, after starting out contracting
farmers as far as 95 km away. The
original wide area was chosen
because it was felt they'd have to go
that far to get enough alfalfa, he says.
The idea has caught on and now there
is plenty of alfalfa being grown
closer to the plant which saves
trucking costs and transportation
time. Some of the old contracts won't
expire until 1995 but no new
Alfalfa as a
cash crop
Cubing process gives farmers cash -crop
alternative for good soil management
By Keith Roulston
Alfalfa cubes: winning new markets.
22 THE RURAL VOICE
contracts beyond the 50 km limit are
being signed.
The typical person contracting
alfalfa with Canadian Agra may be a
landowner with an off -farm job who
wants his land nice and green so
wants to grow alfalfa, Ackert says.
Cash crop farmers may also want to
grow alfalfa as part of their cycle and
earn money from it, even if they have
no animals to feed it to themselves.
Alfalfa, Ackert points out, is an
important crop to break the disease
cycle from other crops and with its
long tap roots, loosens the soil and
leaves root holes behind to help
drainage after the crop has been
plowed down. Plowing down alfalfa
can also leave 100 units of nitrogen
per acre behind for the growth of the
next crop, a value of $30 per acre at
today's price.
Another typical seller to
Canadian Agra may be a
mixed farmer who feels he
can spare one of the cuts of
hay on his land.
Farmers may contract for
a whole season or for any
one of the three cuts to be
taken from the field. If there
is too high a grass content
in the hay, only the second
and third cuts might be
suitable for cubing.
By early April, Ackert
had already been busy
arranging contracts with
farmers, some for the 1994,
1995 and 1996 seasons for
an alfalfa crop that won't be
planted until this spring.
The farmer is guaranteed a
price that is the lowest he'll
get. If the price goes up, the
farmer will get the higher
price, if not, he'll get the
base price. By April this
year Ackert had already
contracted 50,000 tonnes
for 1994.
Growers can make a
good return on their land
from alfalfa considering
they don't have much work
to do once they've planted
the crop (Canadian Agra
looks after harvesting to
maintain quality control). A
farmer with a yield of 3.5
dry -matter tonnes per acre
(the average yield last year)
will receive $120 per acre. Four
tonnes (12 growers made that average
last year) will mean $150 per acre
and a grower with a five tonne yield
(one made that last year) will get
$190 per acre. The average yield is
1.5 tonnes for the first cut, 1.25 for
the second and one tonne for the third
cut.
0 ne of Ackert's jobs this time
of the year is to scout the
fields looking for early
problems. With last year's
terrible weather that
prevented some third cut hay from
being harvested, he's looking to make
sure there isn't too much aftermath
left on the fields that might be picked
up in the new crop. If there is, the
fields might have to be clipped or
rolled to get the old stalks down