Rain, rain go away

Harvest is looking like spring — too wet. Most of agro-Manitoba received rain last week, and again over the long weekend with more was forecast for this week, prompting concerns about harvest delays and deteriorating grades. “I think everyone is pretty worried about this is affecting the quality of grain, especially wheat,” Keystone Agricultural Producers’[...]

Put these crop pests on your radar

Which pest is going to strike where next and how hard ranks right up there with weather forecasting for jobs that are difficult to get right. 
But extension agronomists say these are some of the yield robbers on their watch list.
Soybean cyst nematode
This pest hasn’t been found in Manitoba yet, but it could already be[...]


Nufarm’s new 
soybean herbicide


Manitoba soybean growers have a new herbicide option.
Nufarm’s Valtera, with the active ingredient flumioxazin, controls a number of broadleaf weeds early, while suppressing annual grasses such as green foxtail, says Myles Robinson, the firm’s Manitoba sales manager.
“Soybeans do not like competition” and that’s why early weed control can pay off in higher yields, said Robinson.
Flumioxazin[...]




S - for Sep. 2, 2010

hould you be applying nitrogen when you plant your winterwheat?It turns out there’s no rightor wrong answer.Twenty to 40 pounds of phosphorus with the seed is a no-brainer, says John Heard, a soil fertility specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (MAFRI). The nutrient is necessary for establishing a good crop in the fall[...]


Cool Spring Delays “Hay Day”

Historic Relative Feed Value of 1st Cut Alfalfa -Steinbach RFV (NIR) 300280 260 240 220 200 180 160 140 120 14-May 21-May 28-May 4-Jun 11-Jun Avg 95-08 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 18-Jun 25-Jun “Hay Day” – the day alfalfa should be cut to capture its peak feed value – is June 18 in the[...]

Winterkill Takes A Toll On Alfalfa Stands

Some of Manitoba’s alfalfa stands took a beating this year, not unlike a lot of winter wheat crops. In some areas half of the stands were 80 per cent killed, said Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives’ forage specialist Glenn Friesen. Alfalfa stands two years old ideally should have 30 stems per square foot. That[...]