Take advantage of any little break you get in the weather. As I read emails from producers around the province, that’s a theme that emerges this year. Whether it was seeding, weed control, or now harvest, the producers with the best success are those who jumped on any reasonable window of opportunity to get the equipment rolling. It doesn’t always work that way. Some years you kick yourself for pushing the envelope. You regret not waiting for more optimal conditions. Patience would have been the correct course of action. This year, optimal conditions for field work have been fleeting. Jumping the gun has been the right decision. So far, the wet pattern that has prevailed throughout the growing season shows no sign of changing. Hopefully, we’ll get a break and see an extended dry spell at some point. In the meantime, there will be combines rolling and lots of tough and even damp grain going into aeration bins whenever an opportunity arises. It’s better to be putting tough grain into aeration now versus a month from now. I’m Kevin Hursh.
DynAgra, an independent Western Canada-based Company, is dedicated to providing growers with the tools to manage the risk and maximize the profitability of their farm business through the continued innovation of agricultural products and services. We are committed to developing and providing growers with the latest in precision agronomics, variable rate technology, soil fertility, crop protection, fertilizers, custom application and financial solutions.
Tags: aeration, agricultural products, agricultural services, crop protection, custom application, Dynagra, fertilizers, financial solutions, grain, harvest, precision agronomics, seeding, soil fertility, Variable Rate Technology, weed control
Tags: agricultural products, agricultural services, crop protection, custom application, Dynagra, excess moisture, Farm Progress Show, fertilizers, financial solutions, flooding, heavy rainfall warnings, precision agronomics, production shortfall, rainfall, seeding, soil fertility, Variable Rate Technology
GPS satellite systems are going to be non-operational for the next three days…Just kidding, but I bet I caught your attention. It’s amazing how crop agriculture has come to depend on GPS. In just a few short years, there has been a mass conversion of seeding and spraying systems. First it was just light bars to tell you where to drive. Now, it’s rare for anyone to be seeding or spraying without a full auto steer system. The systems are not trouble-free, but they’ve become better with time. The efficiency gains are amazing. Large savings are being realized on input costs with the reduced overlap. Operators can log longer field hours with reduced fatigue. Night work has become more feasible. As you drive around, you’ll see field after field seeded in perfectly straight rows. An entire generation of new farmers is not developing the skill of doing freehand field passes. It is scary to think of what would happen if navigational guidance was ever lost for an extended period of time during the busy seeding season. We could muddle through with the seeders, but most of the sprayers would be totally lost. All systems will be full steam ahead in the next few days with most areas of the province expected to see wet weather by the weekend. I’m Kevin Hursh.
DynAgra, an independent Western Canada-based Company, is dedicated to providing growers with the tools to manage the risk and maximize the profitability of their farm business through the continued innovation of agricultural products and services. We are committed to developing and providing growers with the latest in precision agronomics, variable rate technology, soil fertility, crop protection, fertilizers, custom application and financial solutions.
Tags: auto steer, auto steer system, crop agriculture, crop protection, custom application, farmers, fertilizers, financial solutions, GPS stellite, input costs, navigational guidance, precision agronomics, savings, seeding, seeding season, seeding systems, soil fertility, spraying, spraying systems, Variable Rate Technology
Canola seeding recommendations have changed over the years. Conventional wisdom was that you wanted to seed a little later in the spring so that emerging canola would be more likely to escape frost damage. In the 90s, conventional wisdom was challenged. It was found that canola could harden off and withstand a significant frost. In fact, there was work on seeding canola late in the fall so that it emerged very early. That worked well sometimes, but eventually the recommendation was developed to seed canola in the early spring. Trials conducted in a number of locations in the late 90s showed that in seven out of 10 cases, seeding as early as possible gave higher yields than the “normal” seeding date. Oil content was also higher. Over the past ten years, most observers have gone back to recommending a later seeding date. One of the reasons cited is that canola seedlings that don’t have cool temperatures prior to a frost may not sufficiently harden off for when a frost does occur. Of course, later seeding doesn’t provide a guarantee of no frost, but it does improve your odds. These days, you can find producers who seed their canola first, but for many others, canola goes in the ground a bit later. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: Canola, seeding
A couple weeks ago, many areas of the province were anticipating an early start to seeding. In fact, there could have been a lot more seeding done but producers held off because it was so early. Since then, we’ve had a major rainfall event and now we’re into damp, cool weather. There was snow over the weekend and showers and rain are in the forecast for the days ahead. It will be at least early May until a significant amount of seeding starts and for most eastern regions of the province it will be much later than that. It’s still early in the season, but producers are going to be anxious to make progress as soon as the weather allows. The warm weather in the first part of April warmed up the soil and spurred weed growth that requires attention. And the clock is ticking for producers who have a lot of ground to cover. Showery, cool weather could delay seeding and spraying without providing much in the way of meaningful precipitation. Or there could be significant amounts of precipitation causing longer delays. There are areas still short of soil moisture, but there are also areas dealing with excess moisture and they’d prefer not to see any more wet stuff for a while. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Tags: rainfall, seeding, weed growth
The Farm Progress Show is a great place for comparing seeding systems. Saskatchewan brand names are everywhere – Seed Hawk, Seed Master, Morris Industries, Bourgault, Harmon and K-Hart, just to name a few. Saskatchewan farmers use a wide variety of seeding systems. All have their advantages and disadvantages. This year, producers using long-obsolete discers often have better crop establishment than they’re high-tech neighbours. There are also producers still using airseeders with sweeps, followed by harrow packing and they seem to get good results most of the time. Disc openers typically provide accurate seed placement with minimal soil disturbance, but sometimes you hear report of more severe frost damage on emerging plants because the system doesn’t leave as much black soil. For airdrills, there are all sorts of options for openers. This gets especially complicated if you’re double shooting and need separation of the seed and fertilizer. Several systems are now available that provide depth control for each individual packer and opener. Downward pressure is applied hydraulically. These systems follow the ground very well, but some observers worry about long term maintenance of the hydraulic systems. Which seeding system is best depends on your region, soil type, moisture conditions, fertilizer use, budget and personal preference. You can hear all the pros and cons while touring through the Farm Progress Show. I’m Kevin Hursh.
www.hursh.ca
Kevin Hursh, PAg, CAC
Tags: crop production, Farm Progress, seeding
DynAgra’s Get More Bushels Super Crop Plot was seeded on May 12th and 13th. A few short showers put a damper on us on Tuesday, but we were back at it on Wednesday morning. The moisture levels were great, perfect seeding conditions!
The plot was seeded with a 54 foot Bourgault air drill with eight inch spacings and mid-row disc banders, at a constant speed of 4.5 miles per hour. We seeded the all of the 13 canola varieties at five pounds to the acre, along with 280 pounds of Urea and 88 pounds of 0-20-5-10 (seed blend). Each test strip contains 5.3 acres. 18 strips in total were seeded in this 2009 plot.
The wheat stubble was heavy harrowed last fall, and had a pre burn of glyphosate in the past week.
DynAgra’s Agronomy team assisted Wheatland Colony in seeding the plot. From calibrating, soil temperature testing, mapping, depth testing and filling the carts.
We will be monitoring closely for germination, so keep checking www.getmorebushels.com for more updates.
Tags: agronomy, Get More Bushels, seeding
