APRIL

April 1, Mother Nature and Old Man Winter must have been playing tricks with us when the snow appeared on April Fool’s Day. The weather keeps changing from day to day.

CHICK DAYS Continue!

Second delivery date for Chicks, Ducks and Turkeys will be April 27

Get your orders in to prevent being told they are sold out for a given delivery date.

Equipment for Chickens

    Brooder Lamps,        Brooder Bulbs

    Feeders                        Waterers

    Egg Cartons           Shavings for Bedding

   Dates to Order                Delivery

March 22                                 April 27

April 12                                   May 18

May 3                                      June 8

May 25                                    June 29

    RTL – order by May 17   

               Delivery  June 29

June 28                                    August 3

August 3           Wednesday, September 8

     RTL – order by July 29       

              Delivery September 8

Shur Gain APRIL Feed Specials

               $2.00 Off Per Bag

         $25.00 Off per Metric Tonne

DAIRY

Optivia Dairy Heifer Mineral (medicated or non-medicated)

Shur Step Heifer Premix (Medicated)

On EQUINE

      Save $2.00 per Bag

Equiline Armour Performance Horse Ration

SMALL RUMINANTS

Optivia Dairy Heifer Mineral (medicated or non-medicated)

Shur Step Heifer Premix (Medicated)

Rich's Remarks

Ontario Pork’s report on March 26, 2021 states that the 100% formula price was $217.22/ckg DW.  This is up $35.48 from last month’s newsletter.  This is up $61.70 in last 2 months.  The CME price was $95.16, which is up $14.97 from last month’s newsletter.  The Canadian Dollar is at $0.79327, which is down $0.00187 from last month.

OMAFRA’s Ontario Market Hog Price Trend Sheet is not being produced right now.  Therefore I have looked at the futures numbers from Ontario Pork’s report on March 26, 2021 and calculated out the 100% formula prices for April $227.60, May $225.64, June $236.12, July $234.62, August $229.00, October $191.83 and December $172.83.  These are all up significantly from last month’s newsletter. 

Trouw Nutrition is hosting 2 LifeStart Swine Webinars on April 6 and 13, 2021.  An invitation should be in your email.  The April 6^th Webinar will introduce the LifeStart concept and discuss how to manage piglets from birth until day 70 of age.  The April 13^th Webinar will discuss the sow’s role in ensuring lifelong health and performance of piglets. 

     The USDA Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report came out on March 25, 2021.  Couple of interesting points in it are: 1) Sow Farrowings from December 2020 to May 2021 are estimated to be 2% below 2020 and 2019 numbers.  2) Sow Farrowing intentions for June 2021 to August 2021 are estimated to be 4-5% below 2020 and 2019 numbers.  3) Estimate market hog inventory numbers in all weight categories are 1% to 3% below 2020 inventory numbers.   All these would are a good indication that we are in for some good prices this year.   Listening to Pork Checkoff’s analysis of the report, it was said that China’s rebuild of their pork industry is not going as well as hoped and they are still importing a lot of American Pork.  

Restricted or Commercial 

           Rat/Mouse Bait

As a reminder, please update your name on file to include your updated Pesticide Licence in order to purchase, restricted or commercial Rat/Mouse Bait.

As stated – “Effective January 1, 2021 every farmer must be certified by successfully completing the Grower Pesticide Safety Course to purchase and use pesticides that are federally designated as Restricted or Commercial.  These pesticides are now classified as Class B and C in Ontario respectively.”

The regulatory amendments 63/09 of the Ontario Pesticides Act came into force on May 1, 2020 changing Class 4 restrictions. Beginning January 1, 2021 a farmer will need a Pesticide Certificate to purchase Restricted or Commercial Products. The amendments will include changes to training requirements for farmers as well. 

Wool Growers

If you are in need of the Government Sheep tags, contact:    Ontario Sheep Farmers

                        130 Malcolm Road, Guelph

                        Ontario N1K 1B1

                        Telephone:  519-836-0043

                        Fax: 519-836-2531

                        www.OntarioSheep.org

CARL’S  CORNER

       Because of the fatality of one of our feed truck drivers in western Canada company drivers nationally are prohibited from climbing any feed bins to open/close the lids. If the lid is not open when they arrive, the feed will of necessity be blown into the bin, even though augering is gentler on the pellets and faster. They have been threatened with dismissal if they are caught breaking this rule. Shur Gain is, however, making a free spring-loaded lid kit available to you to avoid this risk at no cost in two lid sizes: 21” and 23”. The lid can be opened from the ground by a rope and works well. Although designed to fit round holes they can be easily adapted to fit square lids using a bit of ingenuity. Ask me for one if you need one for any of your bins.

      I asked the St Mary’s Quality Assurance Manager for a mycotoxin (DON) summary of the levels in our corn and distillers ingredients from the day the 2020 harvest began until now. Out of the 331 truckloads of corn received since that time the vomitoxin levels ranged from 0.3 – 5.4 ppm with an overall average of 1.1 ppm. The distillers values    (55 loads) were 5 times higher: 2.3 – 8.8 ppm with an average of 5.1 ppm. On the other hand the high protein distillers was much lower with an average of only 2.3 ppm in the 64 loads received. Because the corn zearalenone levels (60 loads) were minimal they should not pose any challenge.

       The discovery of BSE in a small number of western Canadian cattle almost 20 years ago has adversely impacted our international trade ever since. In mid-March the Federal government submitted all the necessary documentation to have our national status changed from that of a “Controlled-risk country” to one of “Negligible-risk”. It is anticipated that this will allow Canadian beef producers to expand their beef exports to those countries that require that their beef products originate from BSE-risk countries.

       The concern over limited soybean ending stocks at the end of this crop year could keep the price of soymeal high.  This increasing demand for soymeal which in turn often results in high feed prices.

       The Distillers’ grains supply situation has improved somewhat which should have a positive effect on the price of DDGs.

       Look elsewhere in this newsletter for the featured feed products this month so that you can take advantage of the savings on those feeds that you may currently be feeding.