The situation is another hit to global grain supplies that have sunk to the lowest in a decade since Russia invaded corn and wheat producer Ukraine. Drought has also slammed U.S. and European crops.

Feed made from grain contaminated with concentrated levels of the plant toxin can sicken livestock and lead to low weight gain, particularly among hogs, and grain buyers can reject cargoes or fine farmers for shipments that contain it.

Early signs of the toxin are emerging in Ohio, according to a weekly report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Grain buyers in eastern Indiana are also starting to more rigorously test corn deliveries for vomitoxin, according to farmers and elevator sources.

The toxin is also a problem for ethanol producers who sell a byproduct called distillers dried grains (DDGS) for animal feed. In the process of making ethanol, vomitoxin becomes more concentrated in DDGS, said Pierce Anderson Paul, a professor and epidemiologist with Ohio State University’s department of plant pathology.

POET LLC, the world’s largest ethanol producer, is testing for vomitoxin in grain being delivered to its plants in Fostoria, Leipsic and Marion, Ohio, and Portland, Indiana, according to the company’s website and corn growers who sell to these facilities.

That, in turn, has led to longer-than-normal traffic for farmers, who must await test results to know whether Poet will accept their loads, according to three producers.

Poet did not respond to a request for comment.

With just 56 per cent of Ohio’s corn crop harvested, according to the latest government data, it is not known how widespread the issue is in the state or beyond.

The problem can emerge in areas where wet weather leads the fungus to grow in corn ears when harvest is slowed or delayed, Paul said.

Lane Osswald, a farmer who grows corn, soybeans and wheat on 1,500 acres of land near Eldorado, Ohio, said his crops were sheltered from disease by dry conditions throughout the summer.

But late season rains left some farmers’ crops vulnerable to vomitoxin, he said, particularly after wet fields delayed planting during the spring.

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“The No. 1 most influencing factor in mycotoxins is weather,” said Max Hawkins of Alltech’s mycotoxin management team.

“Weather determines which moulds we’re going to have, the amount of those moulds, and those moulds determine the variety of mycotoxin.”

Mycotoxins are a toxic byproduct of moulds and fungi that can create a wide array of health problems in livestock when they ingest contaminated feed, Hawkins said during an Alltech webinar last month. In most cases, mycotoxins will cause some degree of performance loss, but in severe cases, they can significantly reduce feed intake and feed efficiency, cause digestive disturbances, compromise reproductive performance, and even kill the animal.

“We’re concerned about mycotoxins in animal production because of the broad array of animal health and performance challenges it causes,” said Hawkins.

But livestock producers may not even know they have a problem with mycotoxins, as the symptoms can be both subtle and varied.

“In order to control or mitigate a mycotoxin situation, we have to identify what that mycotoxin risk is in our own particular situation,” he said.

“You can have quite a variation within a small geographic area, so each individual producer really needs to get an idea of what their own individual risk is.”

Mycotoxin risk

And the first thing to consider is growing conditions on your farm last year, particularly rainfall.

Some moulds, such as fusarium, thrive in wet conditions and moderate temperatures, while others, such as aspergillus, are more prevalent when it’s hot and dry. Extreme weather events such as hailstorms and windstorms create a perfect breeding ground for mycotoxins.

“This year, like many other years where we’re seeing particularly high rates of fusarium mycotoxins such as DON and T2, it’s in areas where we had high incidence of crop damage due to hailstorms, wind, and heavy rain,” said Hawkins.

And because of wet weather later in the season and straight through harvest, livestock producers are likely to see problems with fusarium mycotoxins, including DON (deoxynivalenol, also known as vomitoxin). Crops that were harvested early seem to have little risk, while the later crops — especially corn — could be a bigger concern.

“A lot of the high-risk samples came from where we had excess rainfall that the crop was exposed to late,” he said.

“Essentially what we have is two growing seasons back to back that are both the wettest we’ve seen in 127 years of recorded weather history. So it’s put the crop in those areas into really high stress, and that’s where we get into all sorts of problems.”

Feed testing

Compounding the issue is the number of different mycotoxins that can be found in feed.

In Alltech’s 2019 harvest analysis, the team found an average of 5.25 different mycotoxins per sample, with some samples containing nearly 10 different ones.

“That 5.25 is just a number. It doesn’t indicate how high the mycotoxin levels were, but ultimately, multiple mycotoxins are more challenging to animal production and health than one mycotoxin. So it’s meaningful to overall risk,” said Hawkins.

“What we see here is high risk levels that could certainly cause impact and risk to animal health and performance. If you have one of them, you can manage through it pretty easily, but when you begin to have two or three, it makes it much more challenging.”

But your risk level will depend on your own operation, Hawkins added. Feeding corn this year will come with higher risk, particularly if you’re feeding dairy cattle or swine.

“If you were feeding the average silage sample in Alberta, I would feel pretty good about your chances in 2020,” said Hawkins.

“But this year, with the lack of forages in North America, that corn silage inclusion is going to be much higher, so there may actually be more risk from corn silage than we’ve had in the past few years.”

So livestock producers will need to test their feed ingredients for contamination and get a good handle on the risk level on their own operations.

“The take-home here is that everybody needs to test their own ingredients,” said Hawkins. “It’s important to get that data so we can formulate a risk management program and control the mycotoxins that go into these finished feeds.”

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The December contract hit a multi-year low of $4.865 per bushel at the beginning of September, but has since rallied to settle at $5.535 per bushel on Wednesday (all figures US$).

Good crop conditions earlier in the growing season accounted for the past weakness in spring wheat, with the Minneapolis futures only trading at 20 cents above Chicago wheat as recently as Sept. 16. That spread has since widened above 70 cents.

“The quality of this crop has really gone downhill as this crop stands out there,” said Tom Lilja of Progressive Ag at Fargo, N.D. Harvested samples were showing low falling numbers and high vomitoxin, he said, while wheat still standing was dealing with heavy rains.

“Harvest problems always tend to get the market excited,” said Lilja.

The U.S. spring wheat harvest was 87 per cent complete as of Sunday, which was 10 points behind average, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture report. Canada’s spring wheat harvest is also running behind normal, according to provincial crop reports.

In addition to the North American crop concerns, dryness in Australia is also propping up spring wheat futures, said Lilja. He expected any rains in Australia would temper the upside in the U.S. futures.

Europe had a relatively decent wheat crop this year, according to Lilja, which could also limit the upside in the futures and cut into some demand.

However, “our higher-quality wheat is having some problems and there is still decent demand for higher-protein wheat, said Lilja.

Protein premiums are already being offered at some elevators, and Lilja expected the spreads for higher-protein wheat would likely widen in the cash market.

“The futures market doesn’t necessarily have to run, you could take care of some of this with basis levels.”

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm, a Glacier FarmMedia division specializing in grain and commodity market analysis and reporting.

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“We want the grain commission to make a whole bunch of changes,” said chair Gary Stanford. “We think the grain should be sold by falling numbers… Everybody wants to sell at Grade 1 because you get more money for it, but it’s more often than not that the falling number would get us a better price.”

The farm group has long called on the grain commission to “modernize” its grading system by using testing machines to measure falling number instead of relying on a visual inspection. For the former, you want the falling number to be 300 or above.

“As a farmer, if I’ve got a Grade 3, instead of you discounting me a dollar a bushel, I want you to pay me by the falling number,” said Stanford.

“If it’s over 320 to 330 falling number, that means that the quality of the wheat is very good. It could be a Grade 1 and have a 350 falling number, which is good. Up to 400 even. It can be a Grade 2 and not look as nice, but still have a 350 to 400 falling number.”

Both the falling number and a visual inspection of sprouting in wheat samples are a way to estimate alpha-amylase, the enzyme that plays a major role in producing quality bread and pasta. But the latter is a much rougher guide.

“This is where the big debate came in,” said Stanford. “Are we selling wheat to Asia by the falling number or are we selling strictly based on the visual look of the grain?”

If the falling number is the key to price, then having that test done at the elevator could put more money in producers’ pockets.

“The elevator will say, well this is a Grade 2 CPS wheat, so we can only pay you $6 a bushel for it. But the falling number is very good, it’s still 350, so then we say the falling number is still good, so you should have to pay us the Grade 1 price. And they say, ‘No, grain is sold on the grading price, on the visual look of it.’”

It only makes sense to pay farmers according to the value of the wheat, said Kevin Auch, a former Alberta Wheat chair.

“If wheat’s got a high falling number, it’s going to be good for uses like bread flour and that sort of thing,” said Auch. “That would definitely be a value that they would pay more for.”

Technical challenges

The grain commission has resisted a move to measure falling number at elevators, arguing machines that measure it don’t provide sufficient accuracy when used outside a laboratory environment. But the commission also acknowledges that the technology is improving — both for the falling number and deoxynivalenol (DON).

“Advances in technology and analytical testing now provide the opportunity to test directly for these important characteristics using methods that are increasingly accessible to the sector,” the commission said in announcing its review.

As well, testing for falling number and for DON has “escalated” in importance “due to increasing buyer demand for wheat purchases by specification,” it added.

However, there’s still a lot of factors to be considered when it comes to this issue, said Alberta Wheat officials.

“Would it be a driveway test, for example? That has a lot of cost implications and speed implications for handling system,” said general manager Tom Steve. “We need to know a lot more about the nature of what the discussion is before we could take a formal position.”

“Not every grain elevator has a falling number tester,” added Stanford. “And it takes a long time to do it. It takes a couple of hours to do a test.”

But there are ways to deal with that if the falling number is valuable enough, said Auch.

“Rye has been tied to falling numbers for years, if it’s milled rye,” he said. “There were always falling number specs that were important there. Companies can buy based on falling numbers. If they’re looking for those grade specs, they get samples from the farmer.”

However, falling number is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card for a poor crop.

While a sample that gets a lower grade can have a decent falling number, quality factors often go hand in hand.

“If you have too many sprouts in a Grade 2 or a Grade 3 wheat, then the falling number falls off,” noted Stanford. “If it has too much disease on it, or mildew on it, the falling number will fall off.”

Review underway

The grain commission review is focused on whether those in the grain sector “support the use of falling number and DON as grading factors… and what the impacts would be if these changes were implemented.”

Many of the questions listed in a background document (available at www.grainscanada.gc.ca) are focused on grain companies or buyers. (Such as whether their contracts require falling number or DON specifications, and what tests they currently use for those two factors.)

But the commission also wants to know if the grain sector wants them to be official grading factors, and if they do, whether it should be for wheat or other types of grain (such as barley). It also wants to know if respondents think such a move would affect grain prices or increase profits, and how it might “affect the dependability of Canadian grain.”

DON, or vomitoxin, is produced in grain infected by certain types of fusarium head blight, a fungal disease of wheat, barley, oats, rye, and corn which produces shrivelled, chalky-white kernels. Currently, the commission visually inspects grain for fusarium-damaged kernels (FDK) to gauge DON levels. But FDK isn’t a precise predictor and “may not ensure sufficient accuracy for grain contracts with defined DON specifications,” the commission said.

If DON becomes an official grading factor, the commission is proposing there be a maximum allowable level for all grades within a class. FDK would remain an official grading factor, though, since fusarium has “other significant end-use quality impacts.”

Moreover, falling number and DON grading factors “would not take precedence over other official grading factors.” That means factors such as mildew, frost and percentage of hard vitreous kernels (HVK) “would continue to apply.”

Before any official changes are made to grading factors, the Eastern and Western Standards Committees would also be required to conduct “a careful review and consideration,” the commission added.

Comments need to be sent in by May 10 via email (discussions@grainscanada.gc.ca), fax (204-983-2751), or mail (Canadian Grain Commission, 600-303 Main Street, Winnipeg, Man. R3C 3G8).

— With staff files

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The Canadian Grain Commission on Monday put out a call for “grain sector stakeholders” to submit their views before May 10 on a proposal for falling number and deoxynivalenol (DON) to both become official grain grading factors.

Testing for falling number and for DON has “escalated” in importance “due to increasing buyer demand for wheat purchases by specification,” the CGC said in its consultation document.

Both of those specifications “increasingly play a critical role in grain contracts and the assessment and price that grain sector participants, including producers, receive for their grain.”

Also, advances in technology now allow direct testing for both characteristics, using methods that “are increasingly accessible to the sector,” the CGC said.

The commission, in its consultation, wants to know whether stakeholders support use of falling number and DON as grading factors, and what the impacts would be for those stakeholders if those factors are added.

From the grower’s standpoint, adding falling number and DON as official grading factors could lead to “greater price transparency,” the CGC said.

Producers have no visual means of assessing falling number or DON values themselves, “but these specifications often play a critical role in the assessment of, and price received for, grain deliveries.”

A falling number test, done by passing a plunger through a sample of ground wheat mixed with water, is used to gauge sprout damage in wheat by measuring viscosity — an indicator of elevated levels of the enzyme alpha-amylase.

The level of alpha-amylase in wheat kernels rises in response to hormones triggered by germination and leads to lower viscosity and a lower falling number. A falling number of around 300 seconds shows wheat is of sound end-use quality for most milling, bread baking and pasta making processes.

For official grading purposes, the CGC instead visually assesses whether grain is sprouted or severely sprouted as “rapid, low-cost proxies” for alpha-amylase activity or falling number.

Apart from the official grade, however, the grain industry often uses falling number as a specification in sales contracts with buyers of Canadian wheat. Visual assessment of sprout damage alone doesn’t accurately reflect actual alpha-amylase levels in grain, the CGC said.

DON, or vomitoxin, is produced in grain infected by certain types of fusarium head blight, a fungal disease of wheat, barley, oats, rye, and corn which produces shrivelled, chalky white kernels.

For official grading, the CGC visually inspects grain for fusarium-damaged kernels (FDK) to gauge DON levels. FDK, however, isn’t a precise predictor of DON levels and “may not ensure sufficient accuracy for grain contracts with defined DON specifications,” the commission said in its consultation document.

In the document, the CGC proposes to add falling number as an official grading factor and set a minimum falling number level that applies to all grades within a class. It would also consider removing the existing “sprouted” and “severely sprouted” kernel official grading factors.

The commission also proposes to add DON as an official grading factor with a maximum allowable level that applies to all grades within a class. FDK would remain an official grading factor, though, since fusarium has “other significant end-use quality impacts” apart from DON level.

Falling number and DON grading factors “would not take precedence over other official grading factors,” the commission proposes. Other grading factors such as mildew, frost and percentage of hard vitreous kernels (HVK) “would continue to apply.”

Before any official changes are made to CGC grading factors, the Eastern and Western Standards Committees would also be required to conduct “a careful review and consideration,” the commission said.

Some grain sector groups have pressed for years to add DON and falling number measurements in official grading. The Alberta Wheat Commission made such a request in 2016.

“We may not be getting paid for the quality that we are getting if you’re not measuring those things because we are using (visual) proxies” instead of objective measurements, Kevin Auch, AWC’s chair at the time, told the Manitoba Co-operator.

“We don’t want them to do anything that is impossible, but there is an objective measure for something that millers do care about and feeders too (when it comes to DON).” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Why it matters: OSCIA says cost-sharing will help farmers know how severe their deoxynivalenol (DON) issues are, and how to market their grain. However, the program applies to DON testing only.

The program is a targeted initiative under the federal government’s Canadian Agriculture Partnership (CAP) – a five-year, $3 billion joint investment from the federal government and provinces. As the administrators of the program, Barb Caswell, protection and assurance coordinator for OSCIA, says, three areas are covered:

• Testing at a lab or elevator;
• Purchasing test kits for DON; and
• Purchasing equipment for testing on-farm.

How it works: The program operates at 50 per cent cost share up to a maximum of $2,500 per farm business location (meaning every farm with a unique Premises Identification Number). To qualify, producers must identify at least one load – regardless of how many total loads there are – of corn with DON levels above five parts per million.

Caswell said this threshold was set to reflect Agricorp’s crop insurance numbers, in part because the levels accepted at each elevator can differ based on end-buyer stipulations.

The program is specifically focused on DON and not mycotoxins more generally, she added. For this reason, a $25 funding cap for elevator testing costs and the purchasing of individual test kits applies.

Most elevators perform a free test before accepting grain. In some cases, though, she says a cost can apply – up to $100 at the high end, thereabouts – if it looks at more than just DON levels. Similarly, individual DON test kits range from about $25 to $35, though can be more expensive if the scope is similarly more expansive.

For the same reason, a cap of $2,500 also applies to those wishing to take the more expensive route of buying full testing equipment.

“On-farm test equipment also varies […] it can run anything from $4,000 to $9,000 or more,” Caswell said. Farmers will then also need to purchase the necessary “consumables,” she added, such as test strips.

Removing (some) guesswork

Ben Rosser, corn specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, says the program is a good thing from a management perspective because it reduces the barriers associated with testing.

Performing more tests in a more cost-effective way, he says, allows producers to get a handle on otherwise unexpected variability. This is particularly significant given on-farm DON tests can be used to measure infection in both stored and newly-harvested grain – as well as in corn still standing in the field.

While options for marketing corn with high DON levels are limited, Caswell reiterated the cost-share program is part of a wider commitment under CAP to address DON issues. Other areas of support announced include research into the processing and marketing of DON-infected corn, as well as strategies to reduce the impact and frequency of the toxin.

“Farmers need to know what the levels are in order to try and market the product. The funding program is that first step […] it doesn’t help much after that,” Caswell said.

According to OSCIA, all costs must have been incurred after Oct. 12 this year to qualify. A close date for application submission will be announced at a later time. Producers can get more details and applications online or contact OSCIA by email.

— Matt McIntosh is a farm writer based between Essex County and Chatham-Kent, Ont. and works with his parents on a sixth-generation family farm.

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Vomitoxin sickens livestock and can also make humans and pets fall ill, and grain buyers can reject cargoes or fine farmers for shipments that contain it.

More cases than normal are likely in the corn crop because wet weather this autumn caused the fungus to develop while delaying harvests, Iowa State University grain quality expert Charles Hurburgh said on Monday.

About three-fourths of U.S. corn is used domestically to feed livestock and make ethanol and a byproduct called distillers’ dried grains that is fed to animals. However, livestock and ethanol producers need to blend corn that contains vomitoxin with corn that does not to make it suitable for feed when toxin levels are high.

“Hogs don’t like the taste and don’t like the smell. They will literally starve to death before eating it,” said Indiana grain inspector Doug Titus of Titus Grain Inspection, whose company has labs at Andersons Inc, a crop handler, and energy company Valero Energy Corp sites.

The quality worries come as U.S. farm income has plunged by half over the past five years and as the deepening trade war harms demand for soybeans, the most valuable U.S. agricultural export product to China, and one frequently rotated with corn.

WH Group Ltd’s Smithfield Foods Inc, the world’s biggest pork producer, has detected vomitoxin in corn in Iowa and Nebraska, where it is not normally a problem, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

The company, which feeds corn to hogs, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows vomitoxin levels of up to one part per million (ppm) in human and pet foods and recommends levels under five ppm in grain for hogs, 10 ppm for chickens and dairy cattle. Beef cattle can withstand toxin levels up to 30 ppm.

Ohio-based Andersons is warning farmers delivering corn to an ethanol plant in Albion, Michigan, that corn with vomitoxin levels above five ppm is subject to rejection.

Ethanol plants in Michigan and Ohio are also testing corn deliveries for the toxin and charging farmers financial penalties if their loads contain too much, a grain dealer in Michigan said.

In upstate New York, farmers are feeding dairy cattle with millfeeds, a byproduct of wheat flour milling, instead of contaminated corn, according to a feed broker in upstate New York. Prices for millfeeds rose about $5 per ton to $100 per ton for trucks in Buffalo, New York, on Monday.

Problems stretched over the border into Canada, too.

“I’m already getting the panic button pushed in Canada in Ontario,” said Max Hawkins, a nutritionist with Alltech Inc, a Kentucky-based feed supplement company.

Alltech had tested 45 samples of this year’s U.S. corn harvest as of Friday and found 80 percent contained vomitoxin, Hawkins said. That is about average, Hawkins said, but he expected further testing to reveal bigger problems.

More samples have not been examined yet because of the rains that delayed harvesting, which was 76 percent complete as of Sunday.

“It’s going to get worse,” Hawkins said. (Reporting by Tom Polansek and Michael Hirtzer in Chicago; Additional reporting by PJ Huffstutter in Chicago Editing by Tom Brown)

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Producers now have until Nov. 30 to register online at www.grainscanada.gc.ca and until Dec. 31 to submit samples taken from their crops.

There is no cost, and participating producers are emailed a report that includes an unofficial grade, protein, and dockage for their grain. As well, this year, producers who send in wheat samples will get Falling Number and DON (deoxynivalenol) results.

“Having quality results in hand when they go to the elevators will help producers make the best of a challenging year,” said chief commissioner Patti Miller.

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That was the message that Amanda Van De Kerckhove, ruminant nutritionist with Co-op Feeds, brought to Northlands’ first BeefTech event.

“It can be a little overwhelming when you look at all the factors that go into putting up quality feed,” said Van De Kerckhove. “A lot of it has to do with weather at the time of harvest.”

When it comes to grasses, it’s best to knock them down as soon as possible. The lignification process at maturation happens so fast that feed quality will go down rapidly. Rain will not only leach nutrients out of grasses lying in swath, but give moulds the opportunity to grow.

It’s also a good idea to consider what was in the field before because inoculum could be present from the previous year. Ergot and sclerotinia can also infect feed if weather conditions are correct.

It’s also important to cover your feed and stack it appropriately. The worst way to stack bales is in a mushroom-shaped stack, said Van De Kerckhove. Instead, put them in long lines in the direction of the prevailing wind.

“If you are putting up silage, get that harvest right,” she added. “The moisture content from the plant will target the right maturity level in that plant.”

It all comes down to packing and getting oxygen out of that silage.

“If there is oxygen left in there, there’s opportunity for mould,” she said.

An open flap on silage can allow oxygen to come in and contaminate the feed. Mouldy feed can also cause intake and palatability concerns. There’s also the risk of air contamination, when spores and fungus growing on mould are released into the air.

“If you are feeding, you can bust it up in a hay buster or shred it and you can get that blown off,” she said. “Just know that when you’re releasing those spores, you can have the potential to cause respiratory issues in the animal.”

Along with reducing feed quality, fungus or mould “also impairs the digestibility up to 15 per cent in terms of reduced production and reduced digestibility of that feed.”

The best solution is simply to not give mouldy feed to animals.

Invisible threat

Moulds can also produce mycotoxins, which are the secondary toxic metabolites of a stressed mould.

“Mycotoxins are really a mixed bag. They’re invisible, colourless and odourless. You do need a chemical analysis for mycotoxins,” she said. “If animals are refusing feed, take note of that. It’s not something to take lightly.”

Mycotoxin tests cost about $150 a pop and you need to submit a representative sample. There are multiple fungal classes that impact the crop and lead to mycotoxins. Fusarium produces Type A and Type B tricothecenes, also known as deoxynivalenol (DON), which causes cattle to go off feed and cause diarrhea or digestive problems. Fusarium mycotoxins can cause a secondary infection, such as pneumonia, and can also affect sperm motility. A less common mycotoxin, an estrogen-like compound called zearalenone, doesn’t have an effect on feeder cattle but can cause reproductive issues in cows.

“By far, zearalenone is pretty low on my list of concerns,” said Van De Kerckhove.

The big mycotoxins are T2 and HT2, which are commonly — but not always found — with DON.

Another concern is ergot, which appears at the honeying stage of flowering. Cool, cloudy weather at that time precipitates an elongation of that flowering. The honey dew can often infect more plants in the field, and change wheat and barley kernels into an ergot sclerotia.

Ergot can affect all cereal grains and forages, as well as any cool-season grass. The ergot body develops in the seed head, and in some cases, gets knocked off in the harvesting process. In this case, it can affect the plant the next year.

“Everybody likes to think about the barley and the wheat — those are easy because you can see those when they come through the mill,” she said. “It will be those hays and grasses that you’re not suspecting to be a problem, and any cereal byproduct. Keep in mind that your forages can be contaminated.”

Cereal screenings are high risk, as are distillers grains.

The good thing is that fusarium mycotoxin effects are reversible — “get some clean feed in front of them, and it will be gone,” she said.

Ergot can cause vasoconstriction, which results in less blood to the extremities and can cause ears, tails and feet to fall off. Animals may stamp their feet in order to try and get blood flow to their feet. Ergot can also cause reduced milk production if the cow eats infected feed when she is pregnant.

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“The market has changed (gotten stronger) from last year when high-vomitoxin wheat was trading at a discount,” said Jim Beusekom of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge.

He pegged the feed barley market at $208-$210 per tonne, while feed wheat is around $210-$215.

The two feeds are up against U.S. corn values as supplies from the U.S. are being imported into southern Alberta, he said.

“The market over the course of the fall has rallied up to where U.S. corn comes into the feed market and that’s where we stand right now,” he said.

Feedlots are using their options right now but still willing to pay the going rate for feed barley and feed wheat.

“If it’s much more than that, though, they’ll switch to U.S. corn,” said Beusekom.

Some feeders, he added, have already brought in corn from the U.S. and are using some of it in their rationing.

Producers who are wondering where the market is going to go should just watch the corn market, he said.

“The market is lockstep with U.S. corn right now,” he said. “Keep that in mind for your upcoming winter price potential.”

— Dave Sims writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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