MANAGING THE HEAT IN WHEAT

Nov 23, 2023

Over the past 20 years, Canada’s barley acreage has shrunk by nearly 155,000 acres annually, while both wheat (up 440,000 acres annually) and corn (up 300,000 acres annually) have grown. A smaller barley supply has prompted Western Canadian cattle feeders to look at alternate grain sources. Cattle feeders in Central Canada and the U.S. have fed corn for many years, so a lot of scientific and practical information already existed to ease its adoption.

But there was less knowledge and experience when it came to feeding wheat. Nutritionists and cattle feeders know that wheat’s higher starch content increases the risk of digestive upsets like acidosis. They also know that red wheat (bread) varieties had more protein and a harder seed than white (pastry) varieties. These differences in protein content and hardness will impact how they respond to processing, as well as their nutritional value for different types of cattle.

Dr. Tim McAllister led a team of researchers from AAFC Lethbridge and the University of Saskatchewan to refine grain procurement, processing and management recommendations for including wheat in feedlot diets (Effect of dry or temper rolling of high- or low-protein wheat and its impact on rumen parameters, growth performance, and liver abscesses in feedlot cattle; https://doi.org/10.1139/cjas-2022-0110).

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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