As you travel through the countryside, look around. Most of what you’ll see is cultivated grasslands, seeded by the county’s farmers, producing food that goes to many parts of the world. In fact, throughout the world, the productive continental grassland zone provides more food for mankind than any other zone!

Your Mission: Crop Identification
Make it your next mission to identify the crops you see. NOTE: Wheat, barley, oats and rye all resemble grass until their heads begin to form.

Wheat:

• - grows 60-152 cm in height.

• - most common crop in Vulcan County.

• - most wheat grown in the county (Red Spring) does not have beards.

• - Durum wheat, soft white wheat and winter wheat have beards.
  

• - 65% total seeded acres to wheat production in Vulcan County
  

Barley:

• - looks like wheat except it has beards growing out of the seeds.

• - 16% total seeded acres
  

Canola:

• - oil seed aka “rape seed”

• - looks like a radish plant in early spring

• - flowers are bright yellow in June/July, turning to golden pods filled with tiny round

• (radish-like) seeds.

• - 6% of total seeded acres
  

Rye:

• - planted in August/September

• - is green in fall and early winter

• - dormant in late inter

• - first to green up in spring

• - first crop to ripen in July/August.

• - 5% of total seeded acres.
  

Oats:

• - seeds grow on graceful branches (spikelets) at the head of the stock.

• - 2% of total seeded acres.
  

Flax:

• - has blue flowers in July

• - small golden balls on find branches at harvest (fall)

• - 1% of total seeded acres
  

Sunflowers, Corn, Alfalfa and other crops:

• - make up about 5% of total seeded acres in Vulcan County.
  

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99 Cases of Beer in the Field….

• -the average barley yield is 56 bu/acre; 21.77 kg of barley = 1 bu. It takes 2.25 kg of barley to make 1 dozen bottles of beer. One acre of malt barley will make about 540

• cases of beer.

• - The average wheat yield in Vulcan County is 30 bushels/acre. One bushel can make 58 loaves of bread. One acre of wheat can make about 1,740 loaves of bread.

• - There are 1.3 million acres of land in Vulcan County – 958,219 of these are cultivated.

• - Grain elevators in Vulcan County can hold up to 4,557,030 bushels of grain! If all this grain were being transported by rail, the train would be almost 25 kilometres long!
  

Tender Crust: Handle with care
Rich, dark brown, clay soils – these form the tender crust of Vulcan County. They have an amazing ability to retain water and are the reason that the County of Vulcan is considered one of the best wheat-growing areas in the world. Clay soils can store twice as much moisture as sandy soils! This ability to retain moisture is essential. It takes 1,800 kg of water to produce 1kg of that golden wheat!

Fallow – me!
Every year in Vulcan County, approximately 1/3 of cultivated acres are left fallow (without a crop growing). Farmers do this to control weeds, and to conserve the moisture and nutrients for use in the following crop year. Fields in summer fallow must be handled with care to prevent wind and water erosion.

Erosion: When soil loses its character
How can soil lose its character? This happened through soil erosion, which occurs when wind or water moves soil particles. The character, or organic matter and fine soil particles, is the first to go because it is lighter. Where do they go? They can be carried hundreds of kilometers by winds and/or water, running off into ponds, streams and low land spots.

The most common practice to control erosion used in Vulcan County is trash-cover farming. This
means leaving residue (straw or stubble) on the surface of a fallow field after harvest. Farming land in narrow strips at right angles to the slope, or the prevailing south-westerly wind is also a good management technique. In the last decade, farmers have begun using chemical herbicides to control growth on fallow fields, keeping tillage to a minimum.

A Noble idea:
One of the greatest conservation devices – the Noble Blade, was invented by an Albertan, Dr. C.S. Noble, in 1935. The blade kills weeds by cutting roots beneath the surface, leaving the top stubble undisturbed, reducing both wind and soil erosion. Look for other conservation practices as you explore Vulcan County. How about shelter belts, crop rotation and snow traps?

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Animal production: a moo-ving story
Feed grown on Vulcan County soil supports livestock that supply meat and by-products that are used in a variety of ways, including applications in industry, technology and medicine. The list goes on and on. Hog producers boast that they use everything but the squeal. Many hog by-products are similar to cattle. Can you think of 3 products, other than food, that come from hogs?

Some popular hog products:
-Pigskin (leather) – gloves, purse, shoes
-Brushes – nail, hair, shaving
-Heart Valves for human transplants are made from hogs.

You are what you eat!
Many of the crops and animals you see are part of you! The next time you go to the grocery store, look at the food product labels and notice how many will match up with the crops and animals you identified as you explored Vulcan County’s countryside.

Oh how times have changed!
Eighty years ago, a farmer’s work was shared by his horse as it pulled a small, heavy plough through the field from morning to night. But the invention of the gas engine, and the application of pulleys, levers, hydraulics and electronics have relieved the horse of his duties. Work became easier and much more productive for the farmer. Eighty years ago, the average farm size in Vulcan County was 160-320 acres; today the average non-irrigated grain farm is about 2,000 acres, or 3 sections (1 section – 1 sq mile – 640 acres)

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Star Trek Fact: Planet Vulcan vs. Vulcan County, Alberta
Culture and Language
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How to get here by Land, Air ... and space??
Vulcan County's Wildlife: Flora & Fauna
Local Weather & Climate
Water & Irrigation in Vulcan County

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