Combine cab snacks, tires vs tracks, and the value of a grain dryer

Thanks for tuning in to the Farmer Rapid Fire on RealAg Radio, brought to you by Pioneer Seeds Canada! On today’s show, your host Lyndsey Smith, is joined by Kara Mastel of Bow Island, Alta, Colin de Moissac of Biggar, Sask, Gunter Jochum of St.Francois Xavier, Man, and Sandi Brock of Staffa, Ont. 00:00 - Coming up… 01:39 - Kara Mastel of Bow Island, Alta. 12:55 - Colin de Moissac of Biggar, Sask. 23:47 - Gunter Jochum of St.Francois Xavier, Man. 36:40 - Sandi Brock of Staffa, Ont. 48:20 - Pioneer agronomist Paul Hermans Thoughts on something we talked about on the show? Connect with host Lyndsey Smith at lsmith@realagriculture.com, on X/Twitter by using the hashtag #RealAgRadio, or give us a shout on the response line, 1-855-776-6147. Three nominees have been acclaimed to the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (SPG) board of directors and four directors have been acclaimed to SaskOilseeds following the close of the 2026 call for nominations. For SaskOilseeds, the following individuals who have been acclaimed and will join or continue on the SaskOilseeds board: Jon Fehr, Herschel SK; Kaitlin Lake,... We are all about the tractor snacks, combine snacks, truck snacks, I don't care. Snacks are the most important thing when it comes to any busy farming season, and we are into harvest. And on this week's Farmer Rapid Fire, brought to you by Pioneer Brand Seeds, we are talking much more than tractor snacks. We're going to talk tyres versus tracks, the importance of a grain dryer, that when moisture is needed, oh my gosh, it can be great. And we'll be talking to Paul Hermans as well about what's going on here in Eastern Ontario. Cheque it out. This land isn't just in your blood. It's under your fingernails and worn with pride. It's not a job. It's your livelihood. Here, overtime is all the time, but you wouldn't have it any other way. It's written into your DNA. It's what you thrive on. And while farming will never be easy, We can make it better. Introducing the Pioneer 100 Series. Meaningfully different canola hybrids. It's time for RealAg Radio on Rural Radio, channel 143 on SiriusXM. RealAg Radio and RealAgriculture.com are your home for insight and analysis of the issues that are impacting your farm business. Let's get real and get connected with RealAg Radio. Hello and welcome to RealAg Radio here on Rural Radio Channel 143 SiriusXM. I am your host Lyndsey Smith and it is Thursday and that means it's time for the Farmer Rapid Fire. Brought to you by Pioneer Brand Seeds, celebrating 100 years of helping growers maximise yield potential. Contact your local Pioneer sales rep or visit pioneer.com/canada to learn more. We have got a fantastic lineup for you today. We're going to start in Alberta, hop to Saskatchewan, end up in Manitoba, stop in Ontario 2 times. We're going to talk to Sandybrock and then to Paul Hermans. I am super excited to talk to all of our farmers today, and the question I'm going to ask them, We'd love your feedback on what's the best tractor snack. What's your favourite? Let us know. Let's get going. We're going to start in Alberta with Kara Mastel. We head now to an island that's not an island, but it's Bow Island, Alberta. I've got Kara Mastel on the line. Kara, how are you? Oh, I'm good. And, you know, it does kind of feel a little like an actual island. I mean, minus the tropical— although I'm looking out the window right now and it is like super, super foggy here, so I mean, maybe it's just like jungle humidity here today. Maybe. Okay, so catch everybody up to speed. Where in Alberta is Bow Island? It's not an island. And what kind of autumn are you having? Because I'm looking at the maps, Kara, and it's kind of ugly. Yeah, it's not awesome. So we're in southeastern Alberta. If anyone knows Medicine Hat. We're about half an hour west of Medicine Hat, just usually in a really dry corner of the province. Like, I mean, I don't even want to say anything about the rain, and I feel terrible saying anything about the rain because usually we're like, please, Mother Nature, let it rain. But it's been coming and coming. Like, I think since August 1st, we've had like 4 inches of rain. And I mean, I know you talked to— Yeah. I always think when I got 4 inches and then you think of the people in the Midwest and they're like, 4 inches, we get that in a couple hours. Mm-hmm. But for us, like, that's a lot of rain. We usually average, you know, I think like 9 to 10 inches in an entire growing season, not just during harvest. So it's been a wet year and there are— it's kind of ugly out, you know, there's lots of beans, like, especially anyone that grows pulses is really struggling. I think we got beans on the ground, there's tonnes of Beans just laying there and they're just getting wetter and wetter and wetter. And, you know, we get a couple, couple days break from the rain, and but it's not warm either. We're getting like 10, 12 degrees and it's not drying up. So, and that's, that has been, I think it feels like anyway, the storey for a lot of southern Alberta is not just that it's been wet, which you're right, please don't complain about it because Sometimes the tap turns off, but the flip side of that is that of course it's also been cool. So like staging-wise, was the crop late reaching maturity? Yeah, yeah, I would say it was definitely— it like we had honestly, my husband and I were talking about this the other day and, you know, we had like 3 weeks of in July, it was like hot, hot, hot, just enough for you to start complaining and being like, okay, I'm tired of 39 degrees, but that was our summer. Like it really That's as hot as it got and the rest of the time it's been pretty mild and that's strange too because I think our canola really struggled too because we always are talking about heat blasting down here and how that really impacts flowering but we just didn't get the heat any of the crops really needed. Now, you mentioned the pulse crops, I mean, we could talk about pinto bean if we really want to, but what different crops are in the rotation this year? We got quite a few different crops going on. Of course, southern Alberta, we got a lot of durum, we have canola, we grow beans, we grow lentils, chickpeas, some canola, some perennial ryegrass, some alfalfa, some hemp, so we kind of got a mix of a few things going on. Yeah, more than a few. That seems like a lot of coordinating, to be honest. Now, are there any goats left? The goat herd is still growing, and I mean, I will say the positive of this rain, like, I would not want to forget about our livestock people because man, oh man, the grass looks good. It's been nice for the goats. We have not ran out of pasture, but I think A lot of people are going to struggle to get the hay off, especially, you know, Central Alberta. It is wet, wet, wet. Like, we— yeah. Yeah, I— we are in such a different— here in Ontario, we're in such a different climate that, like, for me, I'd rather take a dry year over a wet because when we're wet, it's like you can't get one day without rain, let alone try to put together 2 or 3 to take in hay. And when it's dry, it's actually not that dry. Like, We very rarely get an actual drought like Western Canada does, whereas where you are, I could see where this extra rain is like, yes, finally some hay, some pasture. Totally. And like, the positive, the silver lining, right, is like, well, that moisture profile has been depleted for so long that, well, maybe we'll have a better year next year because at least the soil profile is building up because I know that's— we've been in so many years of drought where it just, you never ever can catch up. You know, you get a tiny bit of rain and it's, it's being sucked up immediately. Now, so yesterday on the show I had Matt Makins on to talk about the weather and do a weather outlook, and we are shaping up apparently for a super El Niño, and that apparently means for the prairies anyway, like a milder winter. I feel like As long as there's still some snow, that's fine, but that is what worries me. Yeah, that's, that's what I keep hearing too, is it's like I've been reading more on the whole El Niño front. They're saying like hardly any snow for the winter, and I mean, we are also in irrigation land here and we need the mountains to get some rain or some snow, I guess. We need the snowpack up or we're going to struggle for how much irrigation water we'll have access to next year. So that's definitely another concern. And I mean, yeah, we don't want to have— it's nice if we don't have those crazy snowstorms and blizzards, but it's— I know personally, even from my yard standpoint, like, we've had a few mild winters and the trees start coming back to life in December, and that's never great either. Yeah, no thank you. Things are supposed to at least be sleepy from like November to March, maybe not. Yeah. Well, and then January rolls around and it's -40, and then they're all mad because they think it's spring. Yeah, these things happen. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, well, we'll see how it ends up. I do hope— like, I like winter. I just don't want it to be 6 months, you know? Oh yeah, totally. And I like fall too. That's maybe my one complaint right now is like, it's just been— we went from warm summer to like 10 degrees every day. It's been— I know parts of central Alberta seen frost in the last couple days, and, and down here we haven't gotten frost, but it's been like you're getting up in the morning and it's 2 degrees. We're close. That's sweater weather. Um, so that— yeah, that it is. Okay, I have my question of the week, and I did not tell you ahead of time, uh, because I don't, because I like to spring it on people, but it's an easy one this week. Um, favourite cab snacks? Harvest snacks, cab snacks, tractor snacks? What's your favourite one? This is hard-hitting news, Kara. This is a big deal. This is hard-hitting news. I feel like, I mean, you always go for like the trail mix, that sort of thing's always easy to throw in, but I do— a good coffee delivery is always good, like a nice fresh iced coffee that was not made at home and purchased somewhere and brought out to the field. That That's always a good thought. If your husband listening will write it down, just so you know, pick it up in town. Don't just make it. I like it. A good iced coffee. I will— so I would say I don't mind an iced coffee, but I'm a hot coffee person. And it is true, a fresh hot coffee when you're not expecting it is like a surprise and you get a visit and then you're ready to go, ready to keep rolling. So there you go. I will take that. Checkmark plus. Kara, I hope the tap turns off just for a little while. Get the harvest done and then it can turn back on. Let's hope. Yeah, absolutely. Just, just come when we need it. If Mother Nature could just, you know, us farmers, we're always complaining about something, but line up with our timeline, that'd be great. Yeah, just once, it'd be great. Okay, Kara, we'll leave it there. Thank you so much for joining me here on the Farmer Rapid Fire. Really appreciate it. Oh, absolutely. Great to be back here. All right, we will be back with more of the Farmer Rapid Fire brought to you by Pioneer Brand Seeds. Right after this. Today is part 5 of our Future of Canola series brought to you by Bayer CropScience and Karen Clements, Chief of Staff, North America Breeding. Canola is a real Cinderella storey. It's been an incredible crop for us, I think is highlighted by a recent R&D investment that we've made announcing a $45 million investment in a new canola innovation facility to be built in Winnipeg over the coming years. Really, that sort of investment when you're competing with other crops like corn and soy doesn't unless we see a future not only in the crop but also in the growers and in the real estate and the environment. Where do you see some of the innovation gaps for canola when you look at the R&D programmes? We leave a lot of yield in the field and this kind of notion of we need to target the yield ceiling so that when the plant gets everything that it needs, the right amount of heat, the right amount of rain, the right amount of sun, that ceiling is really high, sort of 70, 80 bushels for canola. But we also need to make sure that we bring the floor along with it so that in the years that we don't get all of those things, It's not an absolute wreck and the yield monitor is only showing single digits. It feels good to get the last of the crop in the bin. Sure does. And next is figuring out our grain marketing plans. Lately, I've been hearing a lot about a CCGA cash advance and how we can use it for cash flow on the farm now so we don't have to rush to sell our crops. This year we can get up to $500,000 interest-free. Hmm, a CCGA cash advance could be a good idea. I'll give them a call in the morning. Visit ccga.ca for details. Cash advances are made under the Government of Canada's Advanced Payments Programme. Welcome back to RealAg Radio here on Rural Radio, Channel 143 SiriusXM. It is Thursday, it is time for the Farmer Rapid Fire brought to you by Pioneer Brand Seeds. We head now to near Biggar, Saskatchewan. I've got Colin DeMossack on the line. Colin, how are you? I am okay, how are you, Lyndsey? I'm doing well. I am really hoping you've got a great harvest report for me because they are hard to come by this season. I wish I could report that but I do not have that. That is too bad. Tell me then your terrible report. Is it terrible? It's not good. We are— I'm best friends with the propane guy right now. Drying a lot of grain, but today is better. We've got some sunshine finally and it's not raining for a little while, so we should be good to go for a bit. I'm a little concerned you said propane guy. Does that mean that natural gas is just not even an option where you are? No, I got quoted like $650 to bring my propane or my natural gas into my yard, so I can burn a lot of propane for that price. Yeah, that's maybe in your other pants. Did you try Try, yeah, that is— yeah, no, me neither. That is a chunk of change. So that's really what you were quoted to bring natural gas to the farm? Yeah, it was, it was wild. So yeah, thank you. Yeah, exactly. Well, okay, and so to back up a step, because I'm always fascinated by grain dryers, um, how long has the farm had one? Uh, we've had one for 4 years now. Okay, and well worth it? Yeah, it's been a game changer for us because we can kind of go and make things work when you can't normally, and it really set those things out for us. And has it made a difference? Like, I hear a lot about like you can keep the combines rolling longer, or, you know, outside those times. Has it helped on like the bin heating or losses, or are there quality or other advantages to having it too that you've like been able to quantify? Oh yeah, big time. When we take off Tough Grain and it goes through the dryer, I know it's looked after and I know that the quality is there and I don't have to second-guess, did I get it dry enough, did I not get it dry enough? Because we can go earlier, we do usually typically get better quality because we're rolling when we probably shouldn't be sometimes, but at least it's coming off in good colour and good grade. We deal with it that way. That I think is also an important point for those listening. What is the crop mix that you are running this year at least? This year we are mustard, canola, lentils, and wheat. We are drying a lot of wheat right now. Yeah, I would imagine. You can grow mustard and canola? You can. As long as you're very careful. Right, yeah, so that's because now I'm also thinking about it from like an agronomic standpoint. Usually people grow mustard because they can't grow canola, so is it that you just can grow both and so you may as well? Yes, I have a bunch of land that has never seen canola before and I don't know how long it's going to stay mustard land because it doesn't make a whole lot of sense sometimes, but Currently it's in mustard and it made sense this year to put it in because it was, at the time, it was pricing out better than wheat. But yeah, right now it doesn't make sense and we should be growing more canola, but it's good to have a crop mix, right? Yeah, no, absolutely. And so mustard is one of those, like, is that on contract or do you grow it on spec or how does mustard work? It is on contract, or some of it's on contract. It has an act of God and It has benefits that some of the crops don't for sure, but you have to be very careful growing it with canola. I put it in my rotation strategically so that we're combining mustard before we're touching canola ever with the combines. There's less cleanouts that way. Like I said, you got to be careful. Definitely takes a bit more planning and being strategic with things. Yeah, for sure. Now, and lentils, which I hear everybody loves, I'm being Facetious. Anyway, and wheat. Lentils always ranks up there as like worst crop ever. I don't know anyone who loves them. Now wheat, why not other cereals? Are there other cereals that make the rotation, or if it's a cereal, it's going to be wheat for you? No, we do have other cereals that make rotation. We did fall rye last year and that worked out okay, I guess, but I think with everybody pushing the hybrids, it kind of got really overproduced. So the price went down and now it's kind of— wheat was the one for us this year and I've got 3 different varieties in and it's working out well, I think. So our yields are good if we can get it off. It's just been a slog the last couple, 3 weeks have been off and on rain and trying to grind it out. So yeah, but yeah, we're getting there. Yeah, what is the next week look like for weather? Like, does it look like it's finally going to dry up or? Do you not want to look? It does. Oh no, it does. That actually looks like we're gonna get some somewhat stable weather for the next week, so we're gonna try and go as far as we can here. And who knows how long that holds out for though. The weatherman has not been my friend this year. So, you know, yeah. And so we had, uh, we had Matt Makins on the show yesterday, and a super cheerful fellow. But you know what, maybe I would be too if I never had to be right. Like, I totally respect where they're coming from, but they don't have to be right. They just try to be right. It's an educated guess. It's an educated guess. High five, Matt. We really appreciate you. Okay, so yeah, it's true. Now this though, so it sounds like then hopefully you've got a good stretch ahead of you of maybe some more stable weather, maybe a bit drier, which brings us to my question this week, which is hard-hitting news, Colin. I hope you've got this one ready. Favourite cab snacks? So combine snacks, tractor snacks, truck snacks. This is snack season. That's a tough one. I know. What's your favourite? Probably real fruit gummies. Oh, okay. It's got to be the real fruit though, because you have to pretend to be healthy. Is that— Well, I don't, I don't think it's actually healthy. I just, that seems to be my favourite. So we, yeah, we have a— and gummy bears. We have a local My local co-op brings out harvest buckets for us every year and they always stack mine with extra gummies, so that's quite nice. They know their customer, Colin. They do. I like this harvest buckets. Please send a picture because I will— I'm envisioning like a 5-gallon pail full of treats. A 5-gallon pail. It is phenomenal. It's got window cleaner in it, it's got Snacks in it, drinks. This is awesome. Companies take note. We may have started like a snack war in Western Canada. They are by far the best company resource. Okay, so you heard it here first, folks. If your company wants to outdo, you need half-gallon pails, snacks, window cleaner, the whole bit. I like it. Yes, air freshener is very important. We're gonna start a list and keep adding to it. We've actually done that in past years where it's like, hey, what's in your like crop scouting bag or box or bucket? This is the next one, is like, what are we missing? What should be in— Snack bucket. Yeah, in the snack bucket. This is— have you ever seen the snackle boxes? Oh, now we're on a tangent, but that's fine. Now I just hope that people are using clean taco boxes to turn into snackle boxes. That's all I hope. I hope so. I hope so, because that would be a good idea. Nobody wants, you know, a used taco box for such things. Okay. No. All right, okay, so real fruit gummies, gummy bears, very important. Dryer definitely earning its keep. I guess my last question before I let you go, how are you feeling about marketing into the year? It seems like prices are on their way up. Are you feeling confident? How are you feeling? It's kind of all over the map, you know, it's a wave that we're riding up and down, and I'm feeling better that the prices are coming up for sure, but We're kind of on the edge of our seats a little bit all the time. And yeah, I've noticed with the recent rains that the local line companies are giving us the protein shakedown and the grade shakedown and moisture shakedown, and you have to try and weave through that as best you can. Knowledge is power, my friends. Make sure you got a good sample. And, uh, yeah, exactly, samples are good. Okay, all right, Colin, we're gonna leave it there. Thanks so much for joining me here on the Farmer Rapid Fire. Really appreciate it. You bet. Thanks for having me, Lyndsey. All right. And we'll be back with more RealAg Radio and the Farmer Rapid Fire brought to you by Pioneer Brand Seeds right after this. Looking for expert insights to power smarter decisions on your farm? The Dirt Podcast features industry voices diving into what matters most: soil fertility, market trends, agronomic strategies, and practical tips you can use in the field. Get the information you need to stay ahead in today's evolving ag landscape. Search The Dirt: An Economics Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, or visit Nutrien-eKonomics.com to tune in. Get all the information you need to keep your pulse crop healthy and profitable with the Pulse School on RealAgriculture.com. The Pulse School is a free YouTube video series covering agronomy, research, and more across a host of different pulse crops. It's also available as an audio podcast wherever you download or stream your favourite podcasts. Cheque us out on YouTube or visit RealAgriculture.com/ThePulseSchool, brought to you by BASF Canada. I'm Lyndsey Smith, host of The Agronomist, and I want to thank you for tuning in for over 200 episodes of our beloved little programme. Join me Monday nights, 8 PM Eastern on YouTube for our live and interactive agronomy Q&A. Each week, our guest panel will handle some of your toughest agronomic questions live streaming on YouTube, Facebook, X, and RealAgriculture.com. Tune in Monday nights or go to RealAgriculture.com/agronomist and sign up for our email notifications and don't miss an episode. Welcome back to RealAg Radio here on Rural Radio Channel 143 SiriusXM. So far I have remembered every time. I am your host, Lyndsey Smith. It is the Farmer Rapid Fire brought to you by Pioneer Brand Seeds. We head now to near St. Francis Xavier, Manitoba, the very muddy, the very mucky. I've got Gunter Jochum on the line. How are you, Gunter? I'm pretty good, Lyndsey. How about yourself? Like, all things considered, I'm pretty good. Yeah, I was gonna say, so all things considered, I'm also well. Thank you for that. But Gunter, We've been following along online, here on RealAg Radio, etc. Your farm is one of those that in Manitoba was part of that just awful rainstorm in June. I feel like maybe things have not improved since, but maybe walk us through it. How are things now? Well, yeah, it was June 9th. We got anywhere from 7 to 10 inches Across the whole farm, like nothing was spared. Out of all the fields we have, I believe there were 2 that we had minimal damage, and all the other ones, anywhere from, you know, 20%, no crop, to over 50%, no crop. And yeah, it So some of it recovered to varying degrees and some of it didn't. Yeah, that's the gist of it. Which, I mean, in and of itself, Gunter, I'll be honest, is like quite amazing to think that anything like actually made it through the 7 inches or 8 inches or 9 inches of rain. It was, as you said, early-ish June Was any, like, did you keep seeding after that? Like, did you try reseeding? Like, I can't imagine you got back on the field. No, no, we never, like, that thought had crossed my mind, but I mean, it was June 9th and then it didn't really dry up. Yeah, like, it took quite a while. I think some guys put some green feed in late June, but you, like, here we couldn't really, there was no way for us to get out there and fill in some of those drowned out spots. Not, no, not a chance. Just no way. That being said, it was interesting because the canola, most of our canola was seeded quite late, so it was in the 1 to 2 leaf stage, and some of it was underwater for a long time, and that was no good. Other stuff was underwater for like 5 days, and when the water ran off, It kind of started growing again and it filled in some holes. Some soybeans that we thought were gonzo came back and there's beans there now. So, wow, it's— nature is remarkable. Yeah. But overall, it's— no, it's not a good year. We, our wheat, we finished our wheat and that I thought we were going to be maybe out of crop insurance, but we're just into crop insurance. Our oats has been the worst oat crop that we have ever grown since we started growing oats, and that is mainly due to it just got hit real bad and it never really recovered. Yeah. The canola is, where there is canola, it's actually pretty decent, but then like I said to my neighbour, you know, where there's no canola, it's really bad. Yeah, you can't grow plants to actually make the crop. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's weird how that works. But, you know, people ask, so how's the crop? I said, well, we You know, we combine the field and then we divide what we get. We know because we put everything through our grain cart with the scale on it, and then the final, we divide it by the seeded acres, and it's quite often very depressing. Yeah, right. So for the areas that you're harvesting, maybe not the worst, but you have to think about how much you lost in an actual field. I will share, I was in your neighbourhood last week. I'm sorry we didn't stop in. It was actually on the list to surprise you. Right. I didn't want to get run off the field though, but we stopped in at a friend's and they, just based on like on/off of the fungicide on their canola, they figured on a quarter they had a drownout of at least 100 acres just on like on/off, like fungicide, no fungicide, and they weren't nearly as as badly hit. So I can, I mean, and yeah, and touring around, it was really hard to look at just how much standing water there was in the field, how many drowned-out spots. Right. One of the observations though that I did want to touch on, and I saw it on your social feeds, is because I always think about, of course, compaction, rutting, the mess you can make. You ran tracks and observed that even in these conditions doing a pretty decent job. So how has the equipment side of this year gone for those kind of observations? That's the reason we run tracks. Initially, to get into tracks can be quite daunting, expensive, you name it, but we would not have a grain cart without tracks, we won't have a combine without tracks, and our tractor is on tracks. And it, yeah, we were combining yesterday and it was really muddy and the ruts we're making are maybe inch and a half to 2 inches deep, right? It's not a big rut. It's not really a rut. And so, and we can go. Mm-hmm. We don't get stuck. It's been a game changer for us. It took a long time to get there. It was a slow process. The same with our storage. We have all our bins are flat-bottom bins with aeration, good aeration. We have 20,000 bushels of 20 to 23% wheat, and it's right now just on aeration, and I'm not worried about losing that bin. Right. So it's just, it's all geared towards So that we can combine, get the crop in the bin, we'll deal with it after if we need to dry it or whatever. So it's, it's taken decades to get to this point, but I'm so glad we are at that point. I was going to say, this isn't like an overnight, like one year you decided we're switching everything over, right? It takes time to make these changes. Yeah, um, question on Because I have, like, I feel like personally attacked when tyres blow up or go flat or explode or whatever because it's just so expensive. I can't imagine it is, you know, cheap to fix tracks, but what's your sense on like the reliability of tracks over tyres? Like, do they last longer as well? Are they— it just, because tracks kind of scare me when it comes to like fixing them. Yeah, we, on our oldest tractor, it is actually 21 years old now, has over 8,000 hours on it, and at, I believe it was at 7,000 hours, we decided to change out the tracks and put new tracks on, and it was not as bad as we thought it could be. Okay. Like if we had, you know, like the new fancy four-wheel drives with the fancy big fat tyres, it can be just as expensive to get 8 new tyres on there. Yep. And other than that, we've had a couple of issues with the track system on our cart, but it was never anything that wasn't fixed quite quickly. Okay. And it wasn't, wasn't, uh, no, I, I would say yes, there's maybe a little more maintenance, but it's been pretty trouble-free. Like the tractor and the combine, we, we've had zero issues over the years, um, and it was just a grain cart, and, uh, even there it was fixed quite quickly, and it wasn't, wasn't even Expensive, you know. This year we had a tensioning hydraulic ram go out, leak, and we got a new one in there. We were going within an hour, like it took an hour to switch it out and we went. So yeah, it's— no, reliability is pretty darn good. Okay, that's a cheque mark for tracks because I don't like tyres and they don't like me, so it's mutual, so it's fine. So it's okay. Okay, so Gunter, Unfortunately, you're not in the combine as much as you could be because of such a tough year, but when you were in the combine, this is my question this week, what is your go-to tractor snack or combine snack? What's your favourite one? Oh, it's a good question, I know. This is, no, no, this is from my third daughter Renate, and anyways, she We— her and I have a great relationship. And when, when harvest started, she bought me 61 little Snickers bars. And is that because you're 61 or why 61? No, I think that's how many were in the package. Well, no, yeah, because I was 61. That's right. She— that's why she did it. They know daughter's sense of humour. And, uh, and she said, Dad, that's to calm you down, right? Yeah. Yeah, I'm out of Snickers bars. You did not limit yourself to one a day. You are— Well, no, because sometimes there's stuff happening and I get angry, and before I let loose on the two-way radio or something, I have a Snickers bar and calm down. And everybody still talks to me afterwards instead of flipping me off or telling me to go away or go home or don't be around them. So The marketing worked then, Gunter, because that's right, that's what you're supposed to do is maybe, maybe you're just hungry, hangry, maybe you just need a snack. There you go. Okay, somebody send Gunter more Snickers, he's out. Okay, we're gonna leave it there, sir. Thank you so much. I hope that it does dry out and that next year is just, it'll be your year. Fingers crossed. You know what, even this year, it's, we're good. It's, we're into crop insurance, our coverage is not bad. We're getting stuff done, we're over half done. You know what, it's, uh, we're gonna, we're gonna get it done, it's fine. Yeah, all good. Okay, thank you, sir, have a great day. Thanks, Lyndsey, bye-bye. All right, we'll be back with more RealAg Radio right after this. Get ahead for next season and get rewarded for planning early. 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Welcome back to RealAg Radio here on Rural Radio Channel 143, SiriusXM, or wherever you get your audio. It is the Farmer Rapid Fire brought to you by Pioneer Brand Seeds, and joining me now, it is Ms. Sheepishly Me, Sandy Brock out of Staff, Ontario. How are you, Sandy? I love, I love the different intros. I am great. How are you, Lyndsey? I'm doing well. I was thinking, I was going through for today's show, and I was looking at who's on my list, and I was like, I think the last time that I talked to Sandy, we talked about that you were, uh, switching over to fewer lambings per year. So that's maybe where I want to start, is how is that going? Well, we just finished about, uh, well, I guess it's been almost 4 weeks ago now. Okay. Um, and It feels good now, but all of a sudden I'm like, should I have done one more? Yeah, it's like having kids, right? You forget, you forget, you forget. They become cute and they become less work, and then you forget the pain you were in for, you know, yeah, 4 or 5 weeks. That's right. But, but we're good. We're recovered and we're feeling fresh, farmer fresh, if you will. Now, there's always trouble. Well, I was going to say, so now you have just enough time to make bad decisions. Um, yeah, now, but, but part of— and for those who don't know, um, so, Sander, you also have the grain side, and the sheep dovetail quite nicely into the grain system. But I mean, you, you lamb several times a year to make sure that you're not lambing at the critical times for the grain, right? But does it sometimes overlap anyway? They quite often do, yes. Well, the one, definitely the one in the summer is just the hardest one to plan around because you just don't know when stuff's going to happen. So I was doing it in September and then that usually fell into corn silage and early soybeans, or at that point we were doing edible beans. So I kind of got rid of the September, went to August, and then August, well, we all know it falls on wheat harvest. So I, we're just It's kind of just a— you kind of just got to pick one now. And thankfully for us, we have Jess home, our daughter. And this has been her first season with us, and I can already feel like just the pressure being lifted. So although they need me in really, really high, high-pressure volume time, it's not quite what it was. And that's a huge relief. That is. That is huge. Now, so does that— but you're going to stick with, at least for the next little while, how many, like twice a year lambing, 3 times? What are you going to do? Yeah, so I really didn't reduce the numbers. What we're going to do is just do 2 because, yeah, you know sheep, you have to, you have to book them. You have to book them about a year in advance. So this year is kind of already locked, locked and loaded just because I've already missed that winter lambing period, which I would do in December. So I'd be breeding them in July. I just skipped it. So for 2026, we're already We're finished. Yeah. It's all it's ever going to be. Uh, will I go back? I don't know. We're gonna see if the 2— we'll see. We're gonna— you know what it's like with living— well, living with a numbers person. You're probably a numbers person, but we'll have to see if, if it's about the same. Right. Yeah. You know, I'm not really changing the flock number. I'm just lambing more at one time. So, uh, and, and what I am trying to do over I definitely over the last couple years is trying to really reduce the flock and keep the more productive, less high maintenance ewes around, which if you do watch my videos, that looks like a complete lie and that I'm failing at that. But as we all know, YouTube only likes drama, the stuff that goes sideways. Yeah, so you need drama. That's usually when I turn on the camera and then farmers are like, your sheep suck. I'm like, yes, I realise that, but the other 70 you don't see are pretty good. That's right. Yeah. So That's, that's, I think, like, that's a key here, is that you've reduced the number of lambings but not your flock size per se. You're just having more lamb at different times. Um, I mean, over a number of years, it may reduce the total number of lambings per ewe, let's say. Um, right. You notice though, I mean, one of these things is the human factor, right? Is that, um, exactly that, you're exhausted doing it so many times a year. Yeah. There's a lot of work that goes into it. Um, you might be exactly that needed on the grain side or the hay side or the wheat side, whatever it might be. Um, did you notice so far anyway any other sort of, um, improvements or, or advantages to the fewer lambing groups? I think of course like top of mind would be feed cost, right? We're not feeding, we know we're one less flush, we're one less close-up ration, we're one less lactating ration a year. Now granted, we're feeding more in those periods, so is it— we'd have to, I'll have to go through a whole year. Yep. Um, but I do feel like we're gonna have, we're gonna have some feed savings there. We definitely did not put up near as much haylage this year, so I'm hoping this hay stand that looks like a really nice 4th cut that we didn't take off, hoping that isn't going to bite us in the spring. But, um, yeah, we kind of got to get through a year and just see how this The whole side we're not really talking about, part of it is, although I'm not— I might have less lambs to sell for meat, we have been expanding the wool side of the sheep business. And I know that's not a popular thing to talk about in production agriculture necessarily. It's been, it's been a really fun and interesting sort of diversification for me just because I do— I don't do well with numbers, we all know this, but I really My skill set is maybe on more on the creative process side of things, much to my family's dismay. So it's been a really nice diversification for the farm and for the sheep that I can, you know, get an income off them in a different way necessarily than just making meat out of these lambs. Yeah. It's been fun, and that's really helped free up some time, especially this fall, because that's when my wool actually comes for sale. So although I don't have my winter lambing, I'm hopefully selling quite a bit of wool. So I'm hoping that will sort of offset the— when those winter lambs get sold, which is Easter, right? We all know it's the higher prices. I'm hoping, you know, bringing in the wool sales will help offset that. Yeah. And that's the goal. Yeah, no, and I think it's a good one because also, uh, the winter lambing is the most work, right? It really is. It really is. It's cold, you're dealing with cold, you're dealing with cold weather. So I mean, there's the hours you put in, um, and, and I mean, we could do a whole show really on the diversification side, um, but it is pretty cool because, Sandy, you and, and there's a handful of producers in Canada really that are Owning really the wool, wool products all the way through and hosting your own shops and the whole bit. How I've, I've watched it, I love watching it, it's super cool. Everyone's always like, there's no money in wool. And I mean, we compost ours, whatever, but it does take an incredible amount of commitment and a whole other skill set to make money at selling this other product, which is an amazing product, by the way. I am so pro wool. But the, the amount of work you put into selling it is truly remarkable. I know, it's— and honestly, I wouldn't even do it. I wouldn't even look at it because I'm with you, like, it would probably get composted. But because I have a built-in sort of customer that's asking for it just by sharing our storey online, it seems like a wasted opportunity when there's demand before I even make the product. So it would be silly not to put the work into it, and I mean, it's been a lot of work and a lot of learning. What I have found out is I don't know enough about it, and instead of just being an imposter to it, which I still feel like, I'm gonna talk to people that know more than I do. So I've got some really good mentors on the wool side with Jane Underhill and Lemieux out of Quebec. So it's been a big learning curve But I find that, you know what, I'm just gonna let people that know what they're talking about and know what they're doing kind of work on my behalf and leave me to the creative side and figure out what I want to make, sort of. I love that. And I think for anyone listening out there who's ever taken a marketing course, one of the things in agriculture we're maybe not very good at is responding to the pull of the market, right? We always try to push. stuff onto the market when we want to sell it. You're exactly right, there's a pull, there's a demand, there's a built-in market right there with your audience. Why would you not? And it's fun for us to watch, so thank you for doing it. Quickly before I let you go, best— your favourite tractor snack, cab snack, combine snack? This is very cool. You are catching me off because I haven't been in the tractor. You'd be a good one to talk to Jess about that, right? Yeah, I will ask her. Oh man. I'm a sucker for pita, like the pita cracker chippy things with hummus, the little travel hummus thing. Yeah, perfect. Okay. Yeah, I would say that's my kind of go-to. Meat sticks and cheese, always. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And Halloween candy when it comes. And to the 180, the other side, Halloween candy. Yeah. Yes, it's all about balance. Absolutely. Okay, let's leave it there. Sandy, thanks so much for joining me here on the Farmer Rapid Fire. Really appreciate it. You as well. Bye. Bye. All right, we're going to take our last break of the day here on the Farmer Rapid Fire, brought to you by Pioneer Brand Seeds, and I will be back with Paul Hermons right after this. Built on over 100 years of seed innovation and unwavering commitment to farmers, Pioneer 100 Series canola hybrids deliver a step change in yield performance and agronomic traits. This isn't just better canola, it's different canola. Pioneer 100 Series. Contact your local Pioneer sales representative or visit pioneer.com/100series to learn more today. In crop protection, you know the drill. Pay more for the brand or choose a generic and hope for the best. Life Scientific believes you shouldn't have to choose. Using reverse engineering science, we replicate the full formulation of proven products, delivering performance you can trust at a price that makes sense. Life Scientific— no secrets, just science. Visit lifescientific.com/north-america for products and retailers near you. Welcome back to RealAg Radio here on Rural Radio, Channel 143 SiriusXM. I am your host, Lyndsey Smith. We're wrapping it up here on the Farm Rapid Fire with Paul Hermans. Paul, how are you doing? I'm doing great, Lyndsey. It's great to be on the show and it's actually sunny today, so life is good. It is. We may get 4 dry days in a row. We'll see. Exactly. Now, Paul, you cover— this is actually really fun because you cover the area that I live in for Pioneer. How are the crops looking specifically? I want to know about corn silage, if any's come off, and if you've got any insights into the corn crop. Yeah, so things are looking really good, I think, overall, Lyndsey. I mean, every year's got its challenges, but in general, a lot of optimism. Higher yields this year, I think, than 2025. Corn silage, I've travelled pretty much most of my area today, Eastern Ontario, God's country, and saw 2 people taking off corn silage. All right, so I'm not really getting full bore, but I think looking at milk line A lot of the fields are half milk line out here. We're encouraging folks to go 2/3 to get more starch, more energy. So I think next week's going to be a big silage week. Yep, okay. Now, earlier in the week, talked to Wheat Pete. He was in a drier area of Ontario, so seems to think that disease is like no biggie. Here in the east though, we were in an absolute sauna for huge parts of the season. What are we seeing on the disease side? Maybe we can start with corn, but I got questions about soybeans too. Sure, so corn, it's kind of interesting. In the last few years, hardly saw any diseases. This year we had northern leaf blight mainly showing up in the area, but really didn't show up until about 3 weeks ago. But again, it's easy to find. Certain hybrids have got lower scores, and you go to those fields, you can find 1 or 2 lesions. Nothing to worry about though. I don't think we're gonna lose yield. Big question, tyre spot. I haven't found any in my area. But the agronomist to the west in Oshawa, they found some last week, so who knows, it could be over there, we just haven't found it yet. Okay, now but soybeans, now the east is known for white mould, but I'm sure I saw more SDS, more sudden death syndrome, than I think I've ever seen. What are you seeing? Same thing, Lyndsey. It's, you drive by and, you know, if you're doing 60 miles an hour, you think it's white mould, but get out, we've definitely seen a lot more sudden death SDS this year, and that's just conducive, I think, to the weather. You think about the disease triangle, more of that wet weather and everything else in the area. But what I'm kind of worried about is, is this going to be a pattern going forward? And SDS, sometimes soybean cyst nematode comes with it, right? So encouraging growers to really take a look at what they have out there, and if they have SDS, send a sample in now for egg tests and see if we have soybean cyst nematode. in the area because we definitely do have it in Eastern Ontario but not as widespread as Southern Ontario for sure. Right, and there is a test you can test to find out if you have it or not? Yes. Right, so I mean you may as well know. Exactly, and it's good, you're taking about a pound of soil, sending it in this time of the year that the eggs are in the soil, and they'll give you basically a red, green, yellow light indication how severe the soybean cysts are, and then you can kind of plan from there. You know, you got a seed catalogue the other day, it's like Christmas time, right? You can plan for next year's toys, but quite seriously, we have to look at the fields and what's our worst poison. Is it SDS? Is it white mould? Because every variety's got different scores out there, different traits, and knowing what you have just, you know, lets you plan for that Christmas gift to make sure we've got an even better gift next year in 2027 harvest. I was going to say, as a seed guy, Because you are. How exciting is the new catalogue? Like, is it— I love it. I know I'm an agronomy geek, right? But I mean, you kind of peruse through, you see, yeah, every year it's a different layout, different cool look to it, but more so it's the new products that are coming out that are mentioned new and what are the scores, what are the traits, how does it fit in, and then it's my, you know, role to help my sales reps and customers understand that and get a better feel for New stuff that's coming out next year. We're always changing, Lyndsey. That's the exciting thing about the seed industry. That's right, no moss growing on these rocks. Exactly. Keep rolling now. Okay, so, and let's maybe recap because certain things obviously are very much variety or hybrid dependent, other things of course not so much. And so in looking at the kind of year we had, I know, and I'm pretty sure you're the one who tells me this, is that we don't farm for this year's weather, right? We have We'll deal with the season we get, but when you're looking through that catalogue, where would you put some of your bigger questions? Let's talk soybeans maybe. Is it SDS that you're maybe more concerned about? It's still, I'd say, Lyndsey, the number one is white mould in my area. That's number one diseases over the years, right? SDS, this has been probably the worst year I've had in my career, and I've been out here for almost 30 years. The worst I've seen, right? but we still got to manage for white mould, that's number one, yield, and then I would look at SDS, soybean cyst nematodes, probably being number 2 ranking in scores and everything else that I'm looking for traits and those kind of things for soybeans in 2027 and beyond because who knows, right? It's going to be a totally different year, we know that, just what kind of a year is it going to be. Yep, absolutely. Now, and corn's always the most exciting Do you have a favourite in the catalogue that you're excited to have in there? Well, there's 2 new ones, P94-160V, a 94-day, and then we have this new one, P90-816PCE. So it kind of fits in my wheelhouse, maturity for Eastern Ontario, new last year. We've got them under test under populations, split planters, and so on. Yeah, I'm excited to get the data off and look at what the what the Christmas gift is going to be. All right, okay, we shall leave it there, Paul. Really appreciate it, and thanks for making time. It's a busy time of year, I know, but thanks for joining us on the show. Really appreciate it. Thanks for having me in. All the best. All right, okay, that does it for today's episode of the Farmer Rapid Fire, brought to you by Pioneer Brand Seeds. If you've got any feedback, you can zip me an email, lsmith@realagriculture.com, and of course I'll be back hosting tomorrow's show. We've got Megan Murdock, Kelvin Heppner gonna join us for the issues panel. So cheque it out. Have a great Thursday.