Cedric MacLeod
From the executive director's desk
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It is a busy time for the CFGA as we approach the 12th annual conference on Dec. 14 to 16. With simultaneous translation for French and English delivery, this year's virtual event provides us with an exciting opportunity to showcase the forage sector in Quebec. You can read more about the conference in this newsletter. I want to express our sincere thanks to the Conseil québécois des plantes fourragères (CQPF) for being such gracious hosts for this year's event and all their help organizing and creating a fantastic agenda. I encourage you to register for what is guaranteed to be an insightful event as we open the window to forage and landscape management innovations from Quebec, across Canada and the United States.
As we come to the end of the year, it is an excellent time to reflect on what we have done throughout the year and how we move forward. In the spring of 2021, CFGA/ACPF released a progress report that outlined much of the work that had fulfilled the current strategic objectives. The Board decided it was a good moment to set some new goals and review high-priority processes to move into the next few years with a solid plan.
Strategic planning process
The CFGA began an in-depth strategic plan review process in early winter 2020 to examine the state of the forage industry and how the CFGA can benefit the Canadian forage system in all its parts. This process began with one-on-one discussions with all board members and provincial forage association general managers to garner insight on the forage industry, discover issues that link CFGA nationally and give perspective on regional issues that require specific attention.
At the intermediate stage in August, after initial feedback was reviewed and assessed, the CFGA Board of Directors was further engaged to provide feedback on the overall direction of the review process and results to date. While COVID-19 necessitated the new approach compared to gathering in person, it has proven that we can use electronic and virtual engagement vehicles to complete this critical work. The last strategic organizational review was conducted throughout the 2015-2016 fiscal year and has guided the organization to this point, so we are excited for this update to include an organizational assessment, strategic goals and key performance indicators for continuous measurement and evaluation of success.
A full report will be presented to the Board in December and include an organizational assessment, strategic goals and key performance indicators. Thanks to the efforts invested by all who have contributed to this process.
Human resource strategy
During the strategic engagement process, a review of human resources needs for the association was a common theme. As the association has grown significantly in terms of project delivery and overall reach over the past several years, the Board determined that exploring HR infrastructure needs was necessary to ensure that the association can proactively and effectively leverage opportunities and mitigate challenges. A professional human resources advisor has worked alongside the CFGA contract staff and the strategic planning lead to complete this work. Final report delivery and action plan development are both planned for December.
Communication strategy
Creating effective communications must be built on a strategic foundation with adequate human resources to execute it. We recognize that effective communication is critical to organizational success and impacts how information flows externally to members, partners and stakeholders and internally within the association. While we work on the strategic direction for the association and review our human resource needs, we are bringing the communications strategy along at the same time.
It's been a big year all around. Lots of changes, lots of additions, some subtractions and much development as described here and more. Thank you, as always, to those who have continued to engage with and support the CFGA as we expand our service offerings and industry reach. Welcome to our new members; we look forward to working with you to achieve our collective goals of advancing the Canadian forage sector. I look forward to seeing you in December at our 12th Annual conference.
Don't hesitate to pick up the phone if you have suggestions for improvement or challenges we can help you overcome. As always, be well, stay safe.
- Cedric MacLeod
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CFGA Conference
Don't miss out - register now!
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The Conseil québécois des plantes fourragères (CQPF), Quebec’s forage association, is our virtual host for the 2021 conference. Participants will learn about exciting and cutting-edge forage happenings in that province and broaden the learning to include valuable information and inspiration for forage producers across the country.
Participants will hear from industry's leading experts on topics such as:
• ecological services and grassland ecosystems
• building a resilient agrisystem
• export market opportunities
• Quebec forage focus
The complete agenda is on the CFGA Conference Website. All sessions will take place in English and French and be held at Eastern Standard Time.
New for 2021 – Group Registration
There are three levels of registration access available: VIP, Standard and Student. VIP registration is $300 (plus taxes and fees) and provides a full year of access to all conference proceedings. Standard registration is $150 (plus taxes and fees) and provides one month of access to the conference proceedings. Student registration is $150 (plus taxes and fees) and provides VIP access for a year. Students can also enter the Poster and Infographic Showcase for an even deeper discount rate.
New this year is a group registration discount of $1,000 when at least 10 people register as VIPs. Gather 10 of your colleagues, association members or neighbours and receive a $1,000 discount for the group. Contact CFGA for full details.
All registration levels provide access to the conference, the Q&A sessions, panel discussions, trade show and networking opportunities at the time of the event. It's a win-win-win opportunity!
Student Poster Showcase
The CFGA Student Poster and Infographic Showcase is open for submissions. Students can showcase their research or planned research on forage or grassland-related topics and submit an infographic or poster, along with a video explaining the research. There is no fee to enter the showcase; however, students who do enter are encouraged to register for the conference for only $50 (plus taxes and fees), which will give all the benefits of VIP access. No poster? No problem! Register for the student rate of $150 (plus taxes and fees) and receive VIP access.
This project is funded through the Program Innov'Action agroalimentaire, under the Canadian Partnership for Agriculture, an agreement between the governments of Canada and Quebec and the generous support of CFGA’s conference sponsors and annual partners.
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CFGA welcomes Marie-Claude Bibeau back as Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
The Canadian Forage and Grassland Association (CFGA) congratulated Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on her re-appointment to the federal cabinet as the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).
The CFGA looks forward to continuing to work with Minister Bibeau on several ongoing projects, says CFGA chairperson Chris Martin. He points out that a number of current CFGA projects are focused on climate change mitigation and the enhancement and preservation of grasslands across Canada. Grasslands and pastures remain the single largest land use component of Canadian agriculture, covering over 70-million acres of agricultural land area.
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The Hoyt Report comes to CFGA members
The Hoyt Report is the authority covering forage markets and prices in the Western United States. With contacts around the world, its experts are plugged into the world forage market.
Josh Callen, market research analyst and owner of the Hoyt Report, will provide quarterly updates on the Canadian and world forage markets to CFGA for its members. This will include number and value reports of Canadian forage exports along with analysis on trends. Export totals from the other main exporting counties will be included and explained.
“International trade is a complex endeavor and I hope to provide some actionable information to the CFGA’s membership,” says Josh, who will also present and provide a market update at the CFGA’s annual conference in December.
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New Brunswick Soil and Crop Improvement Association
Thriving in New Brunswick
by Zoshia Fraser & Joseph Graham
The New Brunswick Soil and Crop Improvement Association (NBSCIA) had a busy summer participating in forage and pasture research, providing agronomy support to New Brunswick farmers and preparing for the programs coming out under the Agricultural Climate Solutions Program.
The local Kings County Soil and Crop Improvement Association held a forage field day Aug. 31 at Giermindle Farms in Knightville. The focus of the field day was on forage and forage harvesting equipment. The local John Deere Green Diamond, Hall Bro’s Kubota and Millstream Agriculture all brought equipment to display.
Before the main event, NBSCIA hosted a forage plot tour at 8:30 a.m. It was great for anyone interested in learning more about the forage trial site at Jopp’s Farm in Knightville. New Brunswick Department of Agriculture, Aquiculture and Fisheries livestock feed specialist, Jason Wells, led a discussion focused on emergency forage crops and showed off new forage soybeans varieties. It was a nice bonus to have both events in the same area and it led to a very good turnout and a lot of interested participants.
Following all Covid-19 guidelines, NBSCIA had many people out to the field with more than 90 participates during lunch. The lunch was sponsored by the local Sussex Co-op and was held at Gasthof’s Old Bavarian Restaurant across from the main event.
Dealership introductions began at 10:30 a.m. and equipment demos began around noon and continued until 3:30 p.m. following lunch.
NBSCIA also extends a save the date for its 43rd Annual General Meeting. COVID-19 regulations permitting, NBSCIA hopes to host an in-person meeting Feb. 24 to 25, 2022 at the Atlantic Host Hotel in Bathurst. NBSCIA continues to explore virtual options as a backup to its traditional meeting. The theme of the AGM will be A Deep Dive into Agricultural Climate Solutions in the Province of New Brunswick and will feature speakers from Agriculture Agri-Foods Canada, representatives from local New Brunswick producer groups and relevant subject experts.
NBSCIA is also happy to announce the return of its Annual Farm of the Year Banquet and extends its gratitude to Pioneer for sponsoring this award and banquet. Five farms from across the province were nominated for the honour in 2021 and winners will be announced the evening of Feb. 24, 2022.
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Québec Forage Council/Conseil Québécois des plantes fourragères
Hay Days Wrap Up
The Quebec Forage Council (CQPF) invited its members and partners to its Hay Days on Sept. 14 to 16. Under the theme Forages at the base of local agriculture and sustainability, the members of the organizing committee presented three webinars including videos of producers and discussion panels, bringing together approximately 145 participants.
Professionals, excellent communicators and committed experts in their respective fields, the
producers and speakers demonstrated the importance of producing commercial hay
to meet specific customer requirements, such as quality fodder for cows that will produce milk for farmhouse cheeses or grass-fed beef raised in permanent pastures that sequester carbon.
The Hay Day enables the CQPF to carry out part of its mission, namely the transfer of knowledge and the exchange between partners in the forage plant sector. To this end, JAF participants can preview the recordings of the three webinars for 90 days. For any person or group of persons involved in the
fodder plant sector, you can get access to the recordings via the CQPF store or, better yet, visit the site www.cqpf.ca and assess the various options available to members.
Thank you for supporting the CQPF.
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Photo contributed by Zoshia Fraser |
Ontario Forage Council
Leeds County farmer receives Ontario Sheep Pasture Award
The recipients of the 2021 Ontario Sheep Pasture Award demonstrated their ability to utilize forages on farm and use of the concept of rotational grazing to its maximum.
The award, sponsored by MAPLESEED, the Ontario Forage Council and the Ontario Sheep Farmers, was presented virtually to Brad and Karen Davis of Black Kreek Ranch in the Lansdowne area of Thousand Islands Township on Oct. 29 at the Ontario Sheep Convention. For their environmental and pasture improvements and management, the recipients receive $250 and a bag of forage seed.
The sheep operation includes 950 ewes that are rotationally grazed, which is the main source of feed for six to seven months of the year. The flock is moved every seven to 21 days, depending on the time of year and growing conditions. The Davis’ aim for a 30 to 40-day rest period between grazings and paddocks are grazed anywhere from three to five times per year.
The entire farm is hard fenced into 15 to 20-acre paddocks and Brad and Karen use portable electric net fencing to split them during certain times of the year. Fresh water is considered an essential to a healthy flock so an above-ground water pipe (approx. 5,000 feet) is provided throughout the entire farm to get water to each paddock.
Grass seed species vary across the entire farm. Species include timothy, reed canary, brome, fescue, red clover, alfalfa, trefoil and ladino clover. All paddocks are clipped off following the first grazing and sometime the second grazing to chop down any headed-out or mature grass stalks.
“Most years, we feed hay for two to three weeks in the fall to let pastures rest and then graze a final time before breeding to flush the ewes,” says Brad.
Most pastures on Black Kreek Ranch have trees for shade; however, this is becoming a bigger issue with their elm and ash trees dying off. Karen says they are planning to transplant a couple hundred trees over the next two years to try to provide more shade for hot summer conditions.
Presenting Forage Focus: Field to Feed
The Ontario Forage Council is pleased to bring back the Forage Focus conference. This year, under the theme Field to Feed, OFC will host one webinar per day for three days during the first week of December.
Here is the schedule:
Tuesday, Nov. 30: Dr. Renato Schmidt (Lallemand) – Minimize losses to get the most out of your silage
Wednesday, Dec. 1: Anita Heeg (OMAFRA) – How to use your forage analysis on-farm
Thursday, Dec. 2: Dr. Kim Cassida (Michigan State University) – Alfalfa quality and lessons from forage trials
The OFC thanks its sponsors: Dairy Farmers of Ontario, A&L Canada Laboratories, SGS Canada Inc., SteelHead Ag, CleanFix, Semican, Nuhn Forage Inc., Trillium Mutual Insurance, and Minto Ag.
All webinars are free and take place from 12 to 1 p.m. EST (11 a.m. to 12 p.m. CST).
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CFGA Gold Sponsor
News from Dairy Farmers of Canada
DFC partnering with leading Canadian organizations to promote and advance sustainability
New campaign will highlight collaboration between dairy sector and Tree Canada, Cleanfarms and Ducks Unlimited Canada
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On Oct. 18, Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) unveiled new partnerships with leading environmental organizations to promote and advance sustainability in the dairy sector. In collaborating with forward-thinking Canadian organizations, including Tree Canada, Cleanfarms and Ducks Unlimited Canada, DFC is further solidifying the sector's long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship and responsible farming practices.
"DFC and our farmers are committed to finding innovative new ways to foster sustainability in dairy farming," said Pierre Lampron, DFC president. "We are excited to work with these exceptional organizations to improve farming productivity, reduce waste, plant trees and manage resources responsibly to the benefit of all Canadians."
Dairy farmers are naturally committed to sustainability and the environment. Our farmers take great pride in producing milk under some of the most stringent standards in the world. Our proAction® quality assurance program is continuously evolving to reflect the latest best practices in areas like sustainability, animal care, food safety, milk quality and more.
"Driving ongoing improvements and optimizations is part of our unwavering commitment to Canadians," added Lampron. "We are thrilled to work with Tree Canada, Cleanfarms and Ducks Unlimited Canada, which all share a common interest in preserving our resources for the next generation."
DFC will highlight these unique partnerships and its efforts to reduce the environmental impact of dairy farming through a new marketing campaign, Here for Tomorrow. By sharing real stories of projects underway on Canadian farms, the campaign will help shed light on the sector's work towards a more sustainable tomorrow. DFC's commitment to sustainability is also featured in a separate campaign called Hey Dairy Farmer, which will launch in parallel.
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CFGA Silver Sponsor
News from Kemin
Influence of bale size and acid preservatives on hay quality
by Eugene Rodberg, Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health – North America
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Over the past few years, there has been a dramatic change when it comes to round hay balers. Round bales are getting bigger. The increased volume of five-foot round bales versus four-foot round bales is 56 per cent larger. This means we can store more hay in less area. If facilities are properly designed, that additional foot in diameter greatly increases the capacity to store large volumes of hay. The larger bales are not free, however. Larger bales also mean larger, more robust hay handling equipment so the added volume can increase costs in unexpected areas.
Watch the cure rates
One unexpected consideration when making and storing bales which are 56 per cent larger is the cure rate of these bales. Curing is the term used to describe the process of dry-down. In the field, hay rapidly dries as moisture is still moving from the stem to the leaves. Wind and sun exposure also increase the rate of curing before baling. After baling, the rate of curing slows. Moisture inside the bale can migrate to the surface and evaporate, but the density of round bales slows the rate of this migration. Plus, the rate of curing for a four-foot bale with 56 per cent less volume is much faster than a five-foot bale.
What technology can a producer use to help preserve the quality of larger bales while they cure? Research recently complete in the United States can help answer this question. Dr. Wayne Coblentz evaluated the heating rate of four-foot and five-foot bales. He and the research team inserted thermocouples inside each of the bales to measure the heating degree days (HDD) of each bale. HDDs are calculated by determining the daily difference between the internal bale temperature and a 30°C threshold. These differences were calculated over 76 days to arrive at the total value.
As expected, larger bales were hotter. Generally, heat inside of hay bales is generated from microbial growth. Since larger bales contain more volume, the heat from microbial growth is trapped inside the bales and dissipates very slowing. This evaluation demonstrated that five-foot round bales were five degrees hotter (46.1C versus 41.6C) and accumulated more HDD than smaller bales (334 HDD versus 106 HDD for four-foot bales). It should also be noted that the moisture of all bales was around 20 per cent.
Bale heating
Why is bale heating a concern? For two reasons: forage quality and spontaneous combustion. Each year, millions of dollars worth of hay and hay storage facilities are lost due to hay barn fires. When bales heat due to microbial growth, they can combust and ignite. Even if bales do not catch fire, the heat inside the bale degrades the nutrients in the hay. Heat degrades protein and starches and results in less digestible hay. The cattle will readily eat heat damaged hay, but the calories and protein are greatly reduced.
What did the research team learn about hot hay? As expected, crude protein was not impacted; all bales had crude protein values of 18 to 19 per cent. However, neutral detergent insoluble crude protein (NDICP) was much higher for the five-foor bales (6.10 versus 3.30). NDICP is a measure of fibre-bound protein which is unavailable to cattle. The excessive heating significantly degraded the quality of the protein. Excessive heating also impacted the starches. Net energy for lactation (NEL) is a laboratory analysis completed to measure the amount of energy in feed which is available for milk production and body maintenance. In this evaluation, four-foot bales contained 1.23 megacalories per kilogram (Mcal/kg) while the five-foot bales had 1.16. So, larger bales heated more and as a result were less nutritious than smaller bales.
At the same time this research team was evaluating the impact of bales size on hay quality, they also evaluated using buffered organic acids to control bale heating. Hay treated with 4.5 kilograms of an organic acid blend was cooler than untreated hay. Acid treated hay had a maximum bale temperature of 43C versus 46C for untreated hay. Treated hay also accumulated fewer HDD; 164 versus 319 for control hay.
Nutrition
How did nutritional value change when bales were treated with buffered organic acids? For four-foot bales, acid treatment reduced NDICP from 5.48 per cent to 4.44 per cent. NEL did not change dramatically as both treated and untreated hay had values of 1.23 and 1.22 Mcal/lkg. For five-foot bales, acid treated hay had lower NDICP (6.10 per cent versus 4.64 per cent) and retained more NEL (1.16 versus 1.21 Mcal/kg).
This research demonstrated two very important management considerations hay producers can use immediately. First, storing larger bales requires different handling when compared to smaller bales. Large bales will generate more heat and producers should consider leaving larger bales outside of enclosed facilities to prevent facility fires, at least until curing is complete. Second, applying a high-quality organic acid to all hay, regardless of bale size, can result in reduced heating, higher levels of unbound protein and more energy for cattle.
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Calendar of Events
At the time this newsletter was distributed, all event times and locations were accurate, but please check event websites for the most current information. Some events may have been postponed or cancelled.
Nov. 26-28: BC Forage Council's Forage Quality Workshop, Williams Lake, Quesnel and Prince George. For more information, or to register, email BC Forage Council.
More event listings:
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