(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Feeder cattle market grinds lower

Western Canadian feeder cattle prices ended the year on a soft tone, trading $5-$10 below week-ago levels; fleshier unweaned calves were down $10 to $15 because adverse weather plagued much of the Prairie region. Cattle buyers were busy on the phone, but receiving no orders. Feedlots appear to be content with their current inventory levels […] Read more

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Wild bees seen dwindling in main U.S. crop regions

Washington | Reuters — Wild bees, crucial pollinators for many crops, are on the decline in some of the main agricultural regions of the U.S., according to scientists who produced the first national map of bee populations and identified numerous trouble spots. The researchers on Monday cited 139 counties as especially worrisome, with wild bee […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Saskatchewan farmland off limits for pension plans next month

Reuters/Staff — New rules for buying farmland in Saskatchewan, Canada’s biggest wheat- and canola-growing province, will take effect Jan. 4, and toughen its ban on pension plans investing, the provincial government said Monday. The changes make more explicit an existing ban on pension plans and trusts from buying land and continue to limit purchases of […] Read more

(USDA.gov via Flickr)

U.S. Nov. feedlot cattle placements slump to record low

Chicago | Reuters –– Cattle movement into U.S. feedlots in November fell 11 per cent from a year ago to their lowest level since the government began compiling the data in 1996, a U.S. Department of Agriculture report showed on Friday. Analysts attributed last month’s much smaller-than-expected placements to deteriorating margins that prompted feedyards to […] Read more


Australia’s GrainCorp, whose Calgary malt plant is shown here, is in on a new joint venture to build Prairie grain handling capacity. (CanadaMalting.com)

Japanese co-op, Canada Malting owner make Prairie grain play

A major Japanese farm co-operative and the Australian owner of Canada Malting are staking a new joint claim in Canada’s Prairie grain handling sector. Tokyo-based Zen-Noh Grain Corp. (ZGC) and Sydney-based GrainCorp on Monday announced plans to build new grain origination sites in Alberta and Saskatchewan, through a 50/50 Canadian-incorporated joint venture to be based […] Read more






Some second growth for October grazing on Kevin Stebeleski’s pasture.

Multi-species silage is like free insurance

As spring turned to summer without giving up much rain, Kevin Stebeleski really started to wonder about his decision to give multi-species silage a try for the first time. Those worries turned moot as July rains and warm weather transformed the 100-acre field into a smorgasbord of forages that landed 8.5 tons to the acre […] Read more