“We did kind of chase him around for a while before he agreed to do it,” laughs Kim Moffat, one of the counsellors.

She first saw Grossart when he presented at a conference in Souris. He spoke about the difficulties of losing a loved one to mental illness.

“I was just so impressed by how honest and authentic and real and brave he was to be talking about this in such a public way. I thought that’s the kind of person we need working on these lines.”

Grossart lost his son several years ago, in 1990, to suicide. He thinks his personal experience has strengthened his empathy and helps him better understand the struggles other people go through.

“I guess it’s made me more accepting that what you think is normal may not be normal for a lot of people,” he said.

Grossart is one of several volunteers working for the stress line, a program of Klinic Community Health Centre.

Klinic, along with the Winnipeg Suicide Prevention Committee and Winnipeg-based Tactica Interactive recently launched an app, called The Calm in the Storm, available this month for free through iTunes and the Google Play store.

The idea was born during the 2011 flood when rural Manitobans and farmers were experiencing higher-than-average stress. Initially the organizations put together a small booklet with resources and coping skills.

When the 2014 flood hit this year staff decided to build an app that was free and easily accessible.

“There are a number of health-based mental health support apps out there, but this is the first one we’re aware of that ties in the idea of stress and suicide prevention,” said Janet Smith, program manager for the Manitoba Farm and Rural Support Services.

The app has users rate their stress level, and then depending on the rating, suggests steps for managing that stress. Medium ratings may be directed towards guided meditation or breathing exercises, while high levels of stress may be directed to call 911 or the local crisis line.

Research on suicide doesn’t often survey rural populations, but there is reason to believe it occurs more often in remote areas.

Farmers often face unexpected challenges — such as inclement weather, crop loss, or biosecurity issues.

“In rural areas as a whole there’s less access to services and less anonymity,” said Smith. “So it can be a barrier to people getting the help they might need.”

The app, along with the help-line, provides a safe space for people to call in and speak with someone disconnected from their community.

Grossart said he has learned a lot since starting at the crisis line. Not much surprises him anymore, and he has learned the importance of asking difficult, but crucial, questions. He has found asking someone whether or not they are suicidal can be a relief to them. Sometimes he is the first person they admit this to.

“It’s a matter of providing some hope,” he said. “A lot of people for whatever reason might have been made to feel like they didn’t count. We try and tell people they’re a worthwhile person.”

Some calls hit closer to home than others. One that particularly stands out to Grossart was when a father phoned in because he was worried his son was suicidal.

Though he is sensitive to the fact that everyone’s experience is his or her own, Grossart felt that he could really understand what that father was going through.

According to the Canadian Mental Health Association mental illness indirectly affects all Canadians at some point through a friend, colleague or family member. Twenty per cent of Canadians will personally experience a mental illness in their lifetime. And yet the stigma remains, because people are often afraid to admit their invisible struggles.

At his son Bill’s funeral, Grossart said, the funeral director told him that his family was the only one to acknowledge the death was a suicide.

“I think we got off on the right foot by doing that,” he said.

“None of us can go back to yesterday. You do what you can and you hope for the best.”

The post Lessons from the front line of the rural stress line appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Some of the cattle had to swim to get across to the dry hayfield before they were moved 12 miles across the highway to a rented pasture on higher ground.

Several days later a windstorm hit, blowing at 90-100 km per hour for nearly 36 hours, lifting the south basin of Lake Manitoba and effectively flooding his and many other people’s land. His once lush and green land was nearly unrecognizable.

Teichroeb shared his story, one that is familiar to many Manitoba producers, at this year’s Forage and Livestock Symposium in Portage la Prairie recently, and talked about some of the techniques he has used to restore forage and feed acres on his farm.

“We try and use sustainable practices that are going to be there for this generation and the next,” he told the Co-operator.

Water covered most of his land for the first year and into the second year. It wasn’t until the end of 2012 that he and his wife could begin rehabilitating the pastures. They cleaned up the debris that had washed in with the water and then surveyed the damage.

The water levels were still high so they focused on the land that was at the lowest risk of flooding again. Teichroeb knew desiccating the land would likely alter the soil biology and damage the biodiversity of the grass so burning was out of the question. Instead he brought his cattle in to do some high-impact grazing and bale grazed on top of that to restore nutrients to the soil.

The family tries to tend the land as sustainably as they know how. Teichroeb likes to refer to himself as a steward of his children’s land. “There isn’t much sense in doing what we do if we don’t have a bigger picture in mind of what we do,” he said.

In 2013, the water had largely retreated and they could tackle the hayfields. They did have to burn areas of their forage land. About 30 per cent of the fields were under water for so long that reeds sprung up.

He burned heavily weed-covered areas and hired his grain-farming neighbours to reseed the alfalfa grass mix for hay and forage seed with their high-speed double disc and John Deere disc drill because the new equipment could disc the crops without disturbing the soil.

As time passed, the grass returned. First the flat grass, then the slender wheat grasses and finally the broad-leaf grass.

Then the floods hit again in 2014. The Teichroebs, and many other producers around the Interlake area, took a step backwards again. Though the effects weren’t as severe as the initial event, he estimates the water affected about 30 per cent of his feed production and 40 per cent of his total acres.

“It’s overwhelming and you feel a tremendous sense of loss,” he said.

The future is uncertain. Will the land be flooded again? Meanwhile he does the best he can with what he has left.

Teichroeb doesn’t claim to be an expert. He has experimented with different methods on his ranch and simply wants to share what has worked well for him. But his advice to other producers is cautious.

“Find out what’s economic to you. What’s more effective, what’s most efficient, what’s a sustainable practice that’s going to turn that land back into an economic engine.”

The post Struggle to rebuild pasture after the flood(s) appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The latter is the subject of new soil research from the University of Manitoba. The satellite, set to launch on January 29, 2015, could contribute to a greater understanding of how moisture affects agricultural lands.

“Most people don’t care much about soil moisture,” said Paul Bullock, head of the soil science department at the University of Manitoba. “But soil moisture affects a lot of things people do care about like flood risks. It will impact your crops. It will impact whether you have some insects and other types of pathogens develop in your crop.”

The satellite, being launched by NASA and researched by American and Canadian interest groups, will measure soil moisture, using active and passive microwave sensors. “We don’t have any mechanism in place right now for monitoring soil moisture on a continuous basis,” he said. The hope is this satellite will produce accurate, more economical, measurements.

Timely updates

SMAP will be able to get an image of the Earth every two to three days. So any person or group who wants this information can receive an updated status of soil moisture from their area of interest every few days.

To ensure the satellite measurements are accurate, researchers have inserted soil moisture sensors in the ground that will measure the moisture directly and can be used to test the satellite measurements. Once they are confident that the satellite readings are reliable in the locations with ground measurements, the technology can be applied to the entire landscape and used to benefit farmers, the agriculture industry, planners and policy-makers.

Healthy soils, an important part of food security and functioning ecosystems, are a global focus this year since the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations declared 2015 the International Year of Soils.

A movement, called the Soil Renaissance, launched a year ago, is attempting to bring attention to the crucial role soil plays in our natural resource systems.

The group, partnering with producers, educators, researchers, NGOs, foundations and governments, began implementing a strategic plan focusing on four key issues — economic tools to assess the value of soil health, a standard for measuring soil health, determining research needs and educational outreach.

Tackling flood risks

Soil research may be given a seat in the global spotlight this year, but small-scale soil surveys in Manitoba date back as early as 1926. The first reconnaissance soil survey in the province covered the southwest area of Manitoba and was published in 1940.

Since then the research has become more complex.

Topographical challenges have changed as well. Historic drought areas, such as the Palliser’s Triangle, once plagued by grasshoppers, have been flooded beyond recognition.

Extreme weather and wetter-than-usual conditions make SMAP satellite research timely for Manitoba. Soil moisture distribution is an important input variable that goes into flood-risk models because the amount of water in the soil changes how much precipitation can be stored and how much runs off into streams and rivers. The greater the soil moisture levels, the greater risk an area has of being flooded.

Being able to consistently and regularly measure the amount of water in the soil could help flood-laden areas prepare.

“At the time that the 2012 SMAP validation experiment in Manitoba was being planned, we did not anticipate the extent to which flooding would affect the province of Manitoba, but the project seems to have become more relevant ever since,” said Bullock. “There’s a bit of serendipity to have this research happening at the same time that the province is dealing with such an extreme bout of flooding.”

The post Not your average soil moisture-measuring project appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The day before, someone had tipped authorities off, naming an individual who had shot a deer and only taken the head. It is an offence, under the Wildlife Act to waste any edible portion of a big-game animal, so Brouzes got to work questioning neighbours and gathering statements.

His sleuthing led him to a farmer’s field near St. Amelie, Man. where he tracked the prints to a cluster of bushes where the buck had fallen. Not much was left but the leg was enough DNA material to send to the forensic lab. He got an axe from his truck and salvaged the bottom eight inches of the limb.

“All you need is a small piece of tied meat and the hair,” he said. “Usually they want a piece of two square inches, but you always take more than what you need.”

Conservation officers have used forensic evidence to track poachers for nearly 15 years now. Back in the 1980s, prior to the advent of DNA analysis, officers used blood analysis to determine the type of meat from a chunk of tissue. They would partner these findings with other evidence, like firearm forensics, to make a case.

“On our better cases and in good investigations we’ll have a number of methods you might see on programs like CSI,” said Jack Harrigan, head of enforcement.

“It’s not quite the same though,” he laughs. “It takes longer than an hour to solve. Literally it’s like connecting the dots. Establishing reasonable grounds to lay charges against the offender.”

Though conservation officers act as enforcers, and have since the 1940s, their role has only just been recently clarified. At the end of November the Manitoba government introduced legislation that will formally recognize conservation officers as law enforcement officers.

“The announcement won’t give us new responsibilities as much as it will confirm our existing roles,” said Harrigan. “What it does is strengthen our authority to conduct enforcement.”

Conservation officers in Manitoba have carried firearms since 1998 and enforce all laws related to wildlife and the environment — including wildfires and poaching.

Caught deer headed

Less than a month after collecting the samples, eight officers entered a property owned by the suspected poacher, 23-year-old Brendon Peeler.

Some patrolled access routes so no one could enter or exit and another stayed with the suspect. The others searched each building for the missing deer head.

An officer with a video camera panned each space before and after entering a room, to ensure there would be no complaints about property damaged during the search.

They found what they were looking for amongst the outbuildings.

In a garage, between piles of tires, they found two deer heads with tags on them. The eyes, still open, looked fresh.

“You can tell how old and how long ago the deer had been shot by the eyes because the eyes begin to shrink and sink into the head,” said Brouzes. He guessed these had been killed around the time of the crime.

A seizing officer took the frozen deer heads and tagged them for the evidence locker. DNA from one of the heads matched the torso of the found deer. On July 8, 2014 Peeler was fined $1,297 for unlawful possession of an illegally taken deer and $673.65 for wasting the edible portion of a deer. He was banned from hunting for two years.

The other head was returned to Peeler because it had been killed during hunting season and could have been obtained legally.

“Of course the guy lied his face off,” said Brouzes, “but once the DNA is matched you’re toast.”

DNA analysis was also used in an investigation involving allegations a hunter had illegally shot a whitetail deer and then entered the buck in two hunting contests. The buck won both contests, but information emerged the deer had actually been shot from a vehicle on a road within Hecla Provincial Park. Officers were able to find the original kill site and collected photographs and samples of deer hair that were sent for DNA analysis.

Those samples were compared to the hide which was located at a local taxidermist and the hunter was charged with possessing illegally taken wildlife, hunting big game in a prohibited area and discharging a loaded firearm from a vehicle. The accused was found guilty and fined a total of $3,418.25 for the offences.

The post CSI forensics used to nab poachers appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“We’re looking at very solid prices for 2015. At the risk of saying it, there’s potential for even higher prices,” Brian Perillat, manager and senior analyst for CANFAX, told a group of producers at this year’s Manitoba Forage and Livestock symposium in Portage la Prairie.

He said the next six months will be a good marker, but the steady rise in beef prices bodes well for the industry. Low beef production in the country set the prices high while strong local and global demand maintained strong prices.

Ground beef sales — with prices increasing 50 to 70 per cent in the last few years — have played a large role in this, according to Perillat. Middle meats, including steaks, have also gone up 20 to 30 per cent.

“Consumers are willing and able to pay for beef and that’s brought prices to extremely record-high numbers,” he said.

Cow-calf producers will likely be the biggest beneficiaries in this market, thanks to tight calf supplies and strong competition.

Factors, including high fed cattle prices, cheaper grain, a lower Canadian dollar and tight cattle supplies, mean these market signals are bid into calf prices, giving cow-calf producers higher profits from the high-priced calves they sell.

Manitoba producers will particularly benefit, since calf prices rose 70 per cent in the fall. Perillat projects there will be even fewer calves around in 2015, which is good news for cow-calf producers, but remains a challenge for the industry, which is in need of expansion.

Labour shortages are causing packers to choose between killing more cattle and doing more processing. This puts them at a disadvantage, causing many producers to export their cattle elsewhere, often to the United States. In 2014, Canada will have exported over 1.2 million head of cattle out of the country. Last year this country doubled feeder export numbers and this year is 50 per cent higher again.

“We’re probably going to have the third- or fourth-biggest export number in 20 years,” he said.

High export numbers combined with labour shortages have created a perfect storm for packing companies.

There has been a substantial drop in the national slaughter number, leading three Canadian plants, one in Quebec, one in Moose Jaw and one in Calgary, to close their doors in the last three years.

Utilization rates in slaughter facilities hang just over 80 per cent, which Perillat said, “is OK, not great.”

He forecasts slaughter numbers will be tighter in 2015 and hopes the consistently good prices will lead more producers to expand. “Somehow we’ve got to be competitive and keep cattle in Canada,” he said.

What’s it going to take to expand the beef industry in Canada? Perillat said the key is confidence.

“Rightfully so, there’s still a lot of people skeptical of how long this will last. They’ve tried it and been kicked a few times.

“We’re still a little hesitant while the U.S. is a lot more aggressive. We need to keep a heifer. Otherwise she’s going to go to Nebraska and be put on feed and never seen again.”

The post CANFAX bullish on beef market outlook appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Beaulieu’s company, Canadian Prairie Garden Purees, has recently received letters of intent to purchase from Nestle and Campbell’s after sending them samples.

The deals have yet to be finalized, but Beaulieu said it looks promising.

“It’s really exciting to have the big guys notice you,” she said.

Beaulieu started the processing company because she wanted to address the amount of waste being created in the development and production of retail vegetables. Around 40 to 60 per cent of the produce in Manitoba is deemed unsellable and instead fed to animals or used for compost.

“It’s still top quality, it’s only visually imperfect,” she said. The agronomist-turned entrepreneur said looks don’t matter to her process because vegetables lose their shape soon after entering the building where they are turned into purées.

“Since we grind it up right away I don’t really care if the carrot is crooked or the cauliflower is the wrong size,” said Beaulieu.

Working through the Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie, she can process 8,000 lbs. an hour with only a five-person team. They process around 30 different types of vegetables that are all sourced from Manitoba, with the exception of Ontario sweet potatoes.

The steam-fusion cooking process flash cooks produce, locking in nutrients — even the vitamin C, vitamin A and vitamin B that is usually destroyed by heat.

With the help of a food scientist, they identified the temperature and duration of the processing that would cook the vegetables while still maintaining the nutrients.

After the vegetables are cooked they are dropped into an ice bath, which stops the cooking process quickly, and preserves the colour, flavour and health of the product.

The product is also designed to appeal to gourmet restaurants. Her company currently supplies several restaurants across North America, including Prairie 360 in the Fort Garry Hotel.

John Placko works as a consulting chef to craft recipes that swap raw ingredients for the purée.

Then chefs are invited to taste test. While pitching to a bakery, Placko demonstrated how it could use beet purées in its meringues. For another restaurant he replaced some ricotta cheese in a lasagne with navy bean purée.

“It reduces the fat content, reduces the calorie content, increases the protein and decreases the cost, so it’s all a win-win,” said Beaulieu.

Not to mention the time saved. Canadian Prairie Garden Purees have a shelf life of two years. The company washes the veggies, peels them, cooks and processes them. They even tackle produce that draws tears.

“You don’t have to cry over my onions,” she chuckled.

The post Campbell’s for Christmas? appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Beef InfoXchange System (BIXS), founded by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) declared Dec. 8 it is transferring ownership to a new privately held company, of which the initial shareholders are the CCA and ViewTrak, an Edmonton-based technology and traceability company.

“We’re very pleased ViewTrak has recognized the value of this system and we’re very pleased to enter into a partnership and the formation of a new endeavour to take BIXS to the next level,” said Rob McNabb, general manager of the Canadian Cattlemen Association.

This won’t be ViewTrak’s first brush with livestock information technology. The company produced a pork-grading tool for China and is a partner in the Canadian Lamb Co-operative grading program. It also developed a web-based software program, for the Department of Agriculture in South Dakota, that allows participating producers to market specific claims about the quality of their beef.

BIXS 2.0, the second attempt to establish a system that will transfer data between producers and processors, was quietly announced at the end of March after its predecessor was put on hiatus.

The program records information including radio-frequency ID tags, including birth dates, grading data, weight at feedlot, slaughter date and hot carcass weight. The original database was given $8 million from the federal government, with the condition that it become self-sustaining.

While its predecessor did not garner enough interest from producers, McNabb hopes that will change now that the kinks have been ironed out of the system.

“In this last year a significant effort has been undertaken to streamline and make the system more user friendly and more benefits driven to each member,” he said.

To date, less than 1,000 operations are registered — representing nearly three million detailed carcass records and 3.4 million animal birthdate records, making it the largest database of its kind in Canada. McNabb hopes those numbers will grow substantially; he is aiming to recruit at least 50 per cent of the cattle in the system in the next few years.

Good timing

Processing companies, including Loblaws and McDonald’s, will soon sell sustainable beef and so are increasingly interested in an animal’s history of health and care. BIXS addresses this need.

“The timing is perfect to act now and there’s no time to lose,” said Hubert Lau, executive vice-president of ViewTrak. He thinks this system will improve quality standards and perhaps even pique interest internationally.

“It is a way to circle the wagons,” said Lau, “to enhance competitiveness in the industry and create best practices that will allow the Canadian cattle industry and Canadian beef to dominate world markets.

“With combined efforts I believe we can dominate the world markets, bring together great minds and create amazing outcomes. If we don’t, another country will.”

The post BIXS transfers ownership to new privately held company appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

While Hydro says it has secured 90 per cent of the land it needs to begin building the 1,400-km project, those opposed to the line say these numbers are misleading because many landowners signed away their land under duress.

Recently Manitoba Hydro announced it is close to securing the land needed to begin construction of the Bipole III transmission line and, according to their media spokesman, are getting closer every day.

“We’ve been averaging about six sign-ups per week since the beginning of October,” said Scott Powell, public affairs officer with Manitoba Hydro.

Members of the Manitoba Bipole III landowner committee, representing 120 landowners, says Hydro is being disingenuous with the facts.

While Hydro says it has secured 90 per cent of the route, a large part of that — over 60 per cent — is Crown land. The utility has actually secured 60 per cent of the private land needed under voluntary easement agreements.

Jurgen Kohler, from the Manitoba Bipole III landowner committee, representing 120 landowners, does not parse words when talking about the negotiation process, or, according to him, the lack thereof.

“Not only is Manitoba Hydro not listening to our concerns, but it is also misleading the general public,” he said.

Powell said since 2012 they have sent out seven different letters to landowners. It undertook four rounds of public engagement and held several stakeholder meetings, open houses and set up landowner information sessions.

In October, Manitoba Hydro met with the Canadian Association of Energy and Pipeline Landowner associations (CAEPLA), a group hired to represent the interests of the landowner committee.

“That meeting was simply an attempt to get the process going,” Kohler said. He calls the threats of expropriation nothing more than “bullying.”

Hydro has said it will begin expropriating land from the holdouts. In those cases, the compensation is determined by the Land Value Appraisal Commission (LVAC) of Manitoba. Powell said landowners will be receiving individual notifications in the next month.

“Expropriation was used in the past on floodway projects, road projects, any long linear project,” said Powell. “It’s not uncommon to have expropriation as part of the process of securing a route.

“Our preference, obviously, is that we would reach voluntary easement agreements with all landowners.”

Voluntary agreements include a single payment of 150 per cent of the market value of the land, construction damage compensation, structural-impact compensation for each tower, and ancillary damage compensation if property is damaged during land use.

So far, according to Hydro, as of November 21, 258 landowners have signed and Hydro is in conversation with an additional 79. That leaves approximately 120 to 150 landowners, primarily on agricultural land in the south of the province, currently opposed to the construction.

This project has been controversial amongst farmers who are concerned the line will damage infrastructure and interfere with agricultural practices.

“There’s huge liability issues,” Kohler said. He’s concerned some of his most productive farmland will be negatively impacted.

He will have to steer clear of the hydro poles with his heavy farm equipment. Aerial spraying, in wet seasons, may not be an option since operators refuse to go near Hydro towers and lines.

Weed control is another concern for farmers. Weeds will be able to thrive in areas near the pole that farmers won’t be able to reach and treat. Landowners will be responsible for any noxious weeds that grow in these spaces.

“We’re not here to stop Bipole III,” said Kohler. “We know it’s coming. We’re not against development. We know it’s coming so we’re going to try and work with it but we want to minimize the impact on our farms.

“We’re standing up for our property rights, for our family farms, for the future of our family farms, and we want an agreement that works for us.

“So when my children farm and they have issues and ask, ‘Dad why did you sign this?’ then I can say, ‘well we did the best we could.’”

The post Landowners opposed to Manitoba Hydro Bipole III vulnerable to expropriation appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“Grain might be the ideal part of your diet this year,” Ray Bitner, livestock specialist with MAFRD, told listeners during the latest Stocktalk webinar.

After calculating the costs of various grains, he determined corn at today’s low prices, is the cheapest this year because farmers get approximately 12.9 lbs. of total digestible nutrients (TDN) for every dollar spent.

Oats, feed well and don’t need to be processed, but only produce around 6.9 lbs. per dollar of TDN.

Feeding cattle primarily grain, instead of an entirely alfalfa-grass diet, this winter could save producers approximately 40 cents per head a day, he said.

Grain-heavy diets have some drawbacks though. Cattle on high-grain diets might start chewing wood, looking for trees and old wood fences. High-grain diets also put cattle at risk of developing acidosis — an increased acidity and upset in the rumen and digestive tract.

Cattle that have consumed a toxic amount of grain may lie quietly, often with their head turned toward their flank, and exhibit signs of severe dehydration. Sometimes their eyes may be sunken.

They may stagger and bump into objects as they walk, exhibit an abnormal gain, swelling legs and they almost always have diarrhea.

If these symptoms are spotted the animal should be denied access to water for the next 12 to 24 hours and taken off grain altogether. Supply good-quality, palatable hay and antacids to neutralize the lactic acids. In severe cases, the most economical response is to put the animal down.

But such wrecks are preventable. Bitner recommends feeding cattle consistently, not changing their diets abruptly and observing the animals regularly.

He gathered a team of MAFRD nutritionists to determine a ration schedule that is safe, but also economical: feed 16 lbs. of hay daily for every cow along with 12 lbs. of corn and 1.5 lbs. of beef protein supplement, which is high in vitamins, minerals, and contains monensin, every day.

“That’s it. That should work for a body condition score of 2.5, 3-3.5 out of the five systems.” Be sure to also include a high calcium mineral and extra vitamin E.

Since the ration is minimal, he warns, the cattle may race you to the trough and feeder every morning.

“So going out there with a pail is not going to work. They’re going to bowl you over and it’s going to hurt.”

He provided some practical, on-the-ground advice, on what to do instead.

At 8:30 in the morning, put 50 per cent of the corn in the troughs of a locked pen so the cattle can’t get in. Then open the gate and, as the animals file in, place the hay outside the pen. Once they finish eating move them out of the pen and close the gate again. Do the same at 3 in the afternoon.

As the temperatures cool, increase the amount of feed. “Normally when we say increase the amount of feed we mean increase the amount of grain product. In this case, we’re going to say the opposite,” said Bitner.

For every animal, add two pounds of hay for every 5° it drops below -15 C. So on days the temperature dips to -20 add two pounds of hay. At -30 add six pounds.

Don’t worry about processing corn or oats for the cattle — the cost of labour is not worth the time spent doing the extra work with today’s prices.

Before starting the high-grain diets, Bitner recommends producers stop by their local GO office.

“We have some experience that will help you get this done properly. We want it to go well for you and we want to document if it doesn’t go well for you.”

The post Short hay this year? Try grain appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“What we call a weed is just a plant that hasn’t learned to grow in rows yet. Or we haven’t got a purpose for it yet.”

Kenyon, an Alberta beef producer, tours the country speaking about land management and grazing practices. Last week he visited Pipestone, Birtle and Boissevain.

He preaches the benefits of following four grazing concepts — short graze periods, long-enough rest periods, adequate stock density and increased animal impact on problem spots.

To illustrate his points, Kenyon showed a photo of a field he took over. The pasture, once a silage field, was now covered with Canada thistle.

Kenyon got to work, broadcasting seed over the land and letting the cattle graze the weed-riddled area, pushing the seeds into the ground with their hooves, and trampling the thistle, creating a trash cover to conserve moisture.

He encourages producers to think of weeds as scabs that are trying to heal the land when conditions are harsh. They are able to dig deep down into the toughest soils, reaching for moisture and nutrients and pulling that good stuff to the surface.

“I want it to grow and complete its cycle,” he said. Then, so long as the pasture is not overgrazed, baby grass has a chance to grow the next season.

“Favour the conditions for the desired species to outcompete the weeds.”

Canada thistle does not do well in good soil conditions, and as the grass gains strength it chokes out the weeds. If the conditions are more desirable for grass and other forage those plants will outcompete the weeds.

Some weeds, like stinging nettle, can even have positive health benefits for the animals. Stinging nettle contains multivitamins that are appealing to cattle with few minerals in their diet.

A producer from the crowd piped up, “Have you heard about leafy spurge?” The noxious weed is costing Manitoba graziers millions in lost productivity.

Kenyon seemed to anticipate the question. “Everybody always has a weed they’ll come up with,” he said. Though he has not dealt with leafy spurge, he feels confident his approach, with relevant modifications for the environment, applies to any weed problem.

He referred back to the four fundamental grazing practices, emphasizing the importance of solving the underlying problem.

“Is there a mineral imbalance? Whatever the plant is, it’s got an advantage and that’s why it’s there.”

In the past, when he has come across particularly difficult weeds, Kenyon said he bale grazed problem areas on the pasture. This increased the animal impact on the area, enriching the land by depositing nutrients from the feed.

Of course these practices don’t eliminate the weeds altogether. The plants are suppressed and the seeds are still underneath the surface waiting for the next strain on the land, like a drought.

And during that time whatever you do, according to Kenyon, don’t spray or till the land to get rid of weeds. If the county is pressuring you to address your weed problem, he recommends mowing the land.

This will leave the residue you need behind so the grass can grow. Again he likens a weed to a scab. “What happens when you rip off a scab? It bleeds.”

The post Steve Kenyon: The weed whisperer appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.