The most expensive lessons are never forgotten. Ask an old farmer. Did you ever look out the plane window at those pretty stone fences in the Irish fields just before the plane landed? The farmers that cleared the fields didn’t build those crooked stone fences so you could have a nice view from the aeroplane. Farmers spent years picking stones so the plow, cultivator, and other equipment would not get broken hitting stones that were invisible just below the surface.
Today, if a million-dollar combine picks up a stone the size of your fist and that stone gets into the rotor that thrashes the grain, it could cause several thousand dollars of damage. Yes, it’s better to pick the stones than have them break equipment for your entire lifetime.
Every few years, a new breed of cattle is introduced in Canada. About 30 years ago the Belgian Blue breed was introduced in Canada because that breed had double-muscle on their hips. That’s where the best steaks come from when the animal is butchered. When a farmer breeds his cattle with any other breed, it causes hybrid vigour and the resulting calf is bigger and stronger. A huge problem also arrived with that new cross-bred calf. The calf was larger and because it had the double-muscle hips, the calf was too big to be delivered without a C-section birth. This lesson was too often learned the hard way when both the calf and its mother died at first calving. If you have walked through an old graveyard, you could have noticed some young women were buried with their first child who both died on the same day. My dad had three aunts who died with their first child that same way. That was before there were many hospitals and no C-section births. Today, most farmers select herd sires with high calving ease so calves can be born un-assisted. A calf a little smaller at calving is a lot more valuable than a dead calf and mother!
One of my best veterinarian friends told me that 90 per cent of the vet calls were caused by improper feed. Often, the pregnant cows were fed too well, and both the cow and unborn calf were too fat. Metabolic problems are also caused by improper feed ingredients. One of the dairy information days that I attended every year (before the U.S. border security laws) was at a college that specialized in dairy production. The “crop-dude” (crop specialist) and the best dairy nutritionist in North America always worked together explaining that the soil balance of the field controlled the nutrients in the feed grown on that field. A field that is high in potash will grow crops that are also high in potash and that feed is too high in potash to feed a dry cow (a cow on holidays before calving). This feed can increase milk fever in cows during or just after calving. A cow that has milk fever not only needs lots of veterinary assistance and drugs to help her survive, but that cow will never reach her potential in production for that lactation. It’s much less expensive to feed that dry cow low potassium feed than to pay the veterinarian to try to cure the cow and put up with the below potential milk production for an entire lactation.
Weed control in gardens and in farmers’ fields are also a cause or cure decision for the person in charge. Weeds are a lot easier to control if they are just not there. A little book that I was told about many years ago is called, “Weeds: Control Without Poison”. Every plant, weed or crop has different fertility requirements. Most crops like calcium but weeds don’t. Many weeds like high manganese but too much in fields ties up other necessary fertility ingredients making the farmer think that he needs more fertilizer. Some bugs and worms are attracted to certain weeds. Many destructive pests are attracted to “unhealthy” plants – God’s way of eliminating the poorest plants. Many of the most popular weed sprays that not only kill weeds but also may be a cause of some cancers are produced by the same pharmaceutical company that makes the drugs and medical treatments that prolong your life!
One of the most common health problems in humans today is obesity, which is often caused by too much sugar and starch, and not enough fibre. Did you notice that most junk food contains lots of sugar, starch, and salt to make it more addictive? Many other health problems can be traced back to obesity. Since I am not as active as I used to be, my most important exercise today is to push away from the table before I’m full. Often, the cause is cheaper to get rid of than the cure.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations. gladcrest@gmail.com
