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The Sagerts' home village of Minitonas is nestled near the north slopes of the rolling, heavily forested Duck Mountains, approximately 300 miles northwest of Winnipeg. It has long daylight hours in mid-summer, a cool season and good moisture for traditional Prairie grain crops. "We have just a two-year rotation of canola and wheat, half and half," Derek says. "We're not the only ones. A lot of guys here used to seed canola every third year, but now a lot just go back and forth like we do." The two-year rotation has worked well for them since herbicide-tolerant canola became available about ten years ago. "We're still seeing good wheat yields and very good canola yields," Ryan says. "Growing herbicide-tolerant canola, you can hit your wild oats with something different every year. That seems to be saving us wild oat resistance problems. And, we're not having disease problems yet with wheat or canola." The Sagerts grow two types of herbicide-tolerant canola, Roundup-Ready and Liberty. The two systems give them some diversity and a stronger weed control program. Normal yield expectations are 35 to 40 bushels an acre. "You do better with wheat than barley, and you need less bin space, less trucking. Other than feed on a farm, there isn't a lot of barley or oats grown here anymore," says Derek. "Flax seems to give us more trouble than it's worth. Farmers here tried peas a few years ago, but the market has fallen again." Field operations For seeding, the Sagerts use a New Holland 9882 4WD tractor to pull a 52-foot conventional air seeder. "It's pretty easy to seed a half-section a day," Ryan says. "I do the seeding, and with the right weather we can easily be done seeding in less than two weeks. When we're done, we usually will custom seed two or three fields for a neighbor."
Straw management When the brothers talk about harvesting, heavy yields, long straw, sticky clay and very unpredictable fall weather are all part of the discussion. To be safe in case of adverse conditions, they operate two New Holland CX860 combines. "We've always run two combines. We have two so we don't fight over them," Derek jokes. "Dad always figured it's better to have more power than not enough, so we've always had a lot of combine for our acres." "We'll go out and do some custom work as soon as we're done with ours," Ryan says. "Last year we did 1,000 acres custom." Including the custom work, the Sagerts put about 280 threshing hours on the combines. Conventional combines are better suited to their conditions than rotary, says Ryan. "We grow tall straw. In the fall up here, the days get short. We need something tough that can go through tough and damp conditions. And that's where these combines shine." Their 30-foot draper header is "pretty standard" in the region but "almost on the big side" due to the straw load. They harvest at 4 mph most of the time. 70-bushel wheat A new line of bearded, hard red spring wheat (Superb) was averaging more than 70 bushels an acre in 2004 on the Sagert farm. "The yield monitor hit 80 in a few places," Ryan says. "It was an excellent time to have that big hopper!" The brothers had traded up to the CX860 from the CX840. The CX860 has more power and a 330-bushel grain tank, 40 bushels more than the CX840. Both combines are equipped with yield and moisture meters. The Sagerts are especially happy with the straw and chaff handling system on the high-capacity combine. "This thing has just an unbelievable chopper on it," Ryan says. "It just smashes up the straw into small pieces, and we don't have to worry about trash the following year." He adds, "And now the chaff goes through the chopper. That makes the CX system even pulverize it more. There isn't a windrow left behind you, the chaff and everything just disintegrates." Derek adds, "You don't need a heavy harrow when you've got a straw chopper like that." Keep it simple As with the crop rotation, the brothers like to keep it simple with equipment management. They also have a New Holland 8870 tractor, a TM140 tractor, a TC33 compact tractor and new for next year to keep their mother Ruth happy — a TZ25 subcompact tractor with mower. The Sagerts have worked into the position of being able to trade and update for a new tractor or pair of combines every year or two. "It's a price thing," Ryan says. "When the deal almost looks too sweet to pass, it's when we indulge. So, we traded combines and tractors again this past fall." Neighbors have noticed the CX combine, too. Ryan harvested canola for a neighbor last fall. The neighbor had operated green equipment as long as Ryan's known him, and was using a John Deere 9600 in the same canola field. Ryan says his neighbor was quite impressed with the New Holland CX combine. "He was joking with us the whole time during harvest, telling us to take care of that combine because he's going to buy one someday. Well, less than a week after we drove our combines into the dealership to trade it for a new one, he bought it! Now I've got to watch where I custom combine!" |
