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CARIBOO FARM NEWSSpring 2000
Weather Line 1-877-728-2288Daily weather forecast from Environment Canada starting JUNE 19th, 2000 Call the Weather Line Toll Free 1-877-728-2288 The forecast will be recorded every weekday morning and we will try to have the latest forecast on the tape by 9:00 a.m. Please give us a call if there are any problems with the recording. Long Range Forecast from Country Guide for June – July - August June – Weather disturbances from the Pacific are expected to drop moisture in western B.C. resulting in greater rainfall than normal while eastern B.C. and Alberta should be near normal. July – August 19th - Pleasant weather will be interspersed with showers, resulting in near normal temperatures and rainfall amounts close to normal. Tick Control – Now and in the FutureHugh Phillip, P.Ag. Lindane WP is still the product of choice because of its reported longer residual activity to the alternative product Delice 1% pour-on containing permethrin, a synthetic pyrethroid. The Pest Management Regulatory Agency announced last year that all lindane labels in Canada will not be approved for renewal after December 31, 2000. This move is part of an international protocol to restrict or eliminate chemical substances that contribute to transboundary pollution. What this means is that lindane can be used this year on your cattle, but not after December 31, regardless if you have stockpiled some product for future use. Residue tolerances for lindane in meat could be eliminated such that any meat found with residues could be confiscated in Canada, the US, Europe and Russia. In response to this loss of lindane, a 3 year research project is planned to develop replacement control products, including a vaccine. This proposal is a joint project of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Branch (Lethbridge & Kamloops) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (Kelowna) in cooperation with BCMAFF staff in Kamloops, B.C. Cattlemen's Association and local livestock associations (that have provided 'seed' funds). Earlier research showed that permethrin insecticide applied as either a 1% pour-on or as a 0.5% back-line spray performs as well as lindane wettable powder back-line spray. A minor use application will be submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture for the registration of a permethrin back-line spray, hopefully for the 2001 tick season. This would give producers two methods of applying permethrin. It is important that other control products are developed as reliance on a single chemical or class of chemicals (such as synthetic pyrethroids) can lead to insecticide resistance among tick populations. In summary, use up any stocks of lindane this season as its use will not be allowed after December 31, 2000; an application for registration of a permethrin back-line spray will be made to complement permethrin pour-on products; and a project will be started to develop alternative tick control products. Some site for further information: Chemical control recommendations: http://www.agr.gov.sk.ca/livestock/wclp/beef/brocktck.asp Life history with pictures: http://www.agr.gov.sk.ca/livestock/wclp/pests/rocktick.asp The BC livestock and poultry pest control fact sheet is at: http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/livestck.htm Small Farm Development CourseA Small Farm Development Course is planned for the Quesnel area in the Fall of 2000. The course will be held 1 evening a week for 6 weeks during October and
November. Further information will be available at a later date. Corn Grazing Project - What happened this Winter in KamloopsTed Moore, P.Ag. Data was collected on yield and quality of the corn at the end of October, as well as quality assessment made in December and January. In addition, at the rancher project (Gus and Anne Fischer’s, Old Jackson Ranch, Cache Creek) cattle were grazed on corn from mid-December until the end of February. A brief description and summary of the project follows: Gus Fischer seeded 76 acres under a center pivot to corn on May 19, 1999. The field had been in barley/ryegrass the year before, and a fall (1998) application of Roundup was made to clean up some couchgrass and other weeds. The field was disced and harrowed, prior to seeding the corn with a grain drill with every other run blocked. This resulted in corn rows at a 17" spacing. The target population was 30,000 plants per acre, with the actual plant population (based on sample plant count) of 34,000 plants/acre. Two varieties of corn were seeded – Amaizing Graze 110 day corn and a Hyland silage corn. Primextra herbicide was applied post-emergence to provide broadleaf weed control.
As you can see from the tables, yield of the 2 varieties was essentially the same and the quality was remarkable consistent between October and the end of January. Feed values are typical for corn, with moderate protein levels, but good energy (TDN) levels. Cattle Results On December 15th, 392 bred cows were put onto the 76 acre corn field. The field was subdivided into 8 paddocks (size from 8 – 10 acres), using electric fence. Thirty head of cows were weighed prior to turnout and again on February 11, 2000. During that time period (74 days) the cows on average gained 76 lbs. or 1 lb/day; this is adequate for the cows to maintain condition, plus account for fetal growth and birth fluids. Cows continued to graze on the corn till the end of February with calving starting by the end of the month. Gus reports calving is going well, with calves lively at birth. This 76 acres of corn provided over 28,000 cow days of grazing or about 375 cow days of feed/acre. While not suitable for every site (e.g. wet fall weather can result in fungus growth and loss of the crop) corn grazing offers the potential for our drier areas to reduce wintering costs. A cost comparison between growing, harvesting and feeding alfalfa hay and corn grazing estimates the hay system costs 1.65/cow/day and corn grazing costs .96/cow/day. If you have any questions, please contact Ted at the Kamloops Ministry of Agriculture office 250-371-6050. Cattle Inventories – Where Canada fits inThe top world Cattle inventories, Beef producing and Cattle exporting countries
Too Many Information Adventures on the Internet?Locating web sites that provide current and relevant farm business management information continues to be quite an adventure for many BC farm managers. The new FBMInet-BC page link, 'Internet Sites of Interest' has been developed to allow the farm manager to spend less time on the information adventure…..and more time viewing the type of information they can apply to their farm business. The series is a set of 10 factsheets…one for each of the following commodities: Beef, Hogs, Dairy, Poultry, Berries, Grapes, Vegetables, Greenhouse, Tree Fruits and Direct Farm Marketing…listing 50 - 60 key web sites. The series is available online at http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/busmgmt/info_mgt/handbook.htm. This series was compiled using on-line searching, references from commodity experts, agri-databases and through "hands-on" experience on the web. The web sites included in the series have been selected because of their strong content, applicability to BC agriculture and because many of them provide the user with information plus a whole new set of links to web resources. Business Management Specialists
Ministry Web SiteField Crops factsheets now posted:
Access these factsheets at: http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/forage/index.htm or go to the main BC Agriculture website -- select the crops and livestock button -- follow the links to the Field Crops Factsheets. HERBS 2000 - International Herb ConferenceSaskatchewan – – July 18th – 23rd, 2000Herbs 2000 is an international celebration of the herb and spice industry and is comprised of two events: the International Herb Conference being held in Saskatoon July 18th – 21st and Herbfest being held in Outlook on July 22nd – 23rd. This will be an opportunity to network with top experts from areas like herb production and processing, marketing, the essential oil industry, traditional Chinese medicines, aromacology, culinary herbs, indigenous plants, plus retail and innovative herbal products. Educational and recreational tours of herb research plots, commercial herb production, retail outlets as well as historical and wildlife sites will be offered. The Trade Show will provide an opportunity to network with companies which have products or services of interest to the herb and spice industry. Further information is available from the conference web site: http://www.extension.usask.ca/conferences/herbconference2000 The conference brochure and registration information is available from the Ministry of Agriculture office in Williams Lake. Please give us a call if you would like a copy. Staff List . . .Peter Fofonoff, P. Ag. Ken Awmack, P. Ag. Martin Sills, P. Ag. Lynn Wright Tania Bonner Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Return to Regional Newsletters
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