12 Our Advertisers Appreciate Your Business Better Farming | May/June 2024 Beyond the Barn WHEAT, BARLEY GROWERS GET NEW HERBICIDE Corteva Agriscience has launched a new herbicide for wheat and barley growers in the black and grey soil zones across the Prairies. Extinguish XL, which is available for the 2024 season, combines two systemic auxin-type herbicides (Group 4) and an ALS enzyme inhibitor-type herbicide (Group 2) in a pre-mix formulation. “This is a high-performing, broad spectrum broadleaf herbicide,” Jason Smith, portfolio marketing manager for cereal herbicides with Corteva Agriscience, recently told Better Farming. “It’s a nice marriage between high performance and ease of use that farmers are looking for when making decisions around herbicide.” Extinguish XL provides control of weeds like flixweed (up to 8-leaf and 8 cm in height), Canada fleabane (up to 15 cm in height) and velvetleaf (up to the 5-leaf stage). Other broadleaf weeds controlled include common ragweed, lamb’s quarters, and shepherd’s purse. It can also suppress weeds like white cockle and perennial sow-thistle, along with hemp-nettle, kochia, and Canada thistle. The herbicide can be tank-mixed with products like Axial, Everest 3.0 and Tandem. The recommended application rate is 337ml/ac. One jug will cover about 20 acres and one case will provide coverage on about 40 acres. And its wide application window provides farmers with flexibility when using this post-emerge product. “We’d be looking at the 2-leaf stage just before the flag leaf,” Smith said. “It’s always best to apply earlier-on, when weeds are smaller, but we do have the flexibility to go at the more advanced stages as well.” Livestock may be grazed on treated crops seven days following the application. BF - Diego Flammini Gary These remembers seeing the flames from the 2023 wildfire season from his ranch near Peace River. “You could look across our yard and see them,” he told Better Farming recently. “Luckily the fires didn’t jump the river in our area, but it was too close for comfort.” These’s herd was in the middle of calving when the fires got close. He had plans to move his cattle to a 100-acre plot of land where they would be safe if evacuations were necessary. But he knows it would have been a difficult undertaking. “There would’ve been almost no way to evacuate the cattle, and I don’t think there would’ve been enough trucks in the area to do that anyway,” he said. “And it’s not like you could chase them there. Our oldest calf at the time was three weeks old.” Oct. 31, 2023, marked the end of that year’s wildfire season in Alberta. A total of 1,092 wildfires burned about 2.2 million hectares (5.43 million acres), according to data from the provincial government. In February 2024, the Alberta government declared an early start to this wildfire season – 10 days earlier than last year. And current information from Alberta Wildfire indicated there were 57 active wildfires across the province at press time. In advance of any wildfires in his area, These has made sure his insurance policies are in line, and is preparing his equipment. “I’ve got an old 800-gallon sprayer, and I’m going to make sure that’s full of water in case we have to act quickly and fight a fire that’s close to the yard,” he said. As an Alberta resident, These is concerned about how this point has arrived. “I think we’ve been setting ourselves up for this by letting so much fuel build up in areas,” he said. “And when it gets very hot and very dry, it gets to be a very hot fire when they do start. It’s scary.” BF Don White/iStock photo PREPARING FOR ALTA. WILDFIRES
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