The Owner of Marc Hutlet Seeds at Ste.Anne says dairy is a huge part of their business and so they like to keep producers in the area informed. Hutlet says that is why they annually host a dairy meeting in Steinbach. That meeting took place Wednesday, attracting about thirty-five producers.

Hutlet says the event featured three guest speakers who presented information on some of the latest tools, trends and techniques that recent advances in technology have made possible. The list of guest speakers included Bill Mahanna with DuPont Pioneer, Rick Van de Kerckhove of Nutriag Ltd and Josh Messer representing 360 Yield Center.

Mahanna is the Global Nutritional Sciences Manager at DuPont Pioneer. He spoke about key timing with putting up your silage in terms of trying to extract as much starch as possible. Hutlet says this is always key to try and produce more milk. He notes Mahanna's discussion concerning the types of silage hybrids that are sometimes promoted within the industry as being more digestible, seemed to get everybody's attention.

"He sort of shot a few holes through that theory," says Hutlet. "The environment is the single biggest contributing factor in terms of what digestibility can be on hybrids."

Van de Kerckhove touched on new foliar products that can be applied on alfalfa and corn in order to enhance yield. And, Messer spoke about the timely rate of nitrogen helping produce a larger corn crop, which results in more silage.

Hutlet says the number of dairy producers within their trading area has sliced in half over the last thirty-five years. He notes when they first started their business, there were about 180, today only 90. Hutlet says it is important these larger producers get the information necessary to extract as much production as possible from every acre."