Bayer’s wheat breeding station at Pike Lake, Sask., southwest of Saskatoon. (Cropscience.bayer.com)

Canada clears Bayer’s Monsanto play, with conditions

Canada’s Competition Bureau says it’s “actively reviewing” BASF’s suitability as a buyer of the crop seed and chemical assets Bayer has to sell to get the bureau’s blessing to buy Monsanto. The Competition Bureau said Wednesday it has an agreement with Bayer to deal with “concerns that the proposed transaction would have significantly harmed competition […] Read more

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland in Washington, D.C. on May 31, 2017. (Global Affairs Canada screengrab via YouTube)

Freeland to visit Washington this week for NAFTA talks

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland will visit Washington this week in another bid to help unblock talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement, a spokesman said on Monday. Freeland will be in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday, said spokesman Adam Austen. The U.S., Mexico and Canada are struggling to […] Read more


Grazing behaviour checked by GPS and pedometers did not differ significantly for high- and low-RFI females in this trial.

Do RFI ratings predict cattle performance on pasture?

In a word, no

Producers often wonder if genetic markers for feed efficiency based on drylot tests reflect feed efficiency on pasture where terrain, water sources and plant diversity are very different from a pen setting. Genetic markers for residual feed intake (RFI) have been identified that correlate well with actual RFI determined during the standard trials in pens […] Read more










(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Feeder market faces many headwinds

Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle prices were relatively unchanged. Feedlot operators and order buyers were contending with a number of variables which resulted in a defensive tone. First, the Canadian dollar rallied late in the week, derailing any buying interest from south of the border. U.S. feeder cattle markets were also trading […] Read more