After 65 years in the industry, Terry Lerat is right at home working with and talking about cattle.

Reconnecting a First Nations community to agriculture

Terry Lerat, ranch manager for Cowessess First Nation, is using his decades of experience in the cattle industry to encourage young people in his community to get involved in agriculture

Snow swirls outside the doors at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, Sask., as winter falls on the city in November of 2022. However, the fluffy flakes that fill the streets don’t deter the crowds. All around are cowboy hats and worn-out baseball caps, a sign of defiance against the bitter cold and snow-heavy clouds. Terry […] Read more

The Snobelens’ calving barn is a 50-foot by 180-foot pole structure, with turkey curtains on the west to allow for ventilation, and tarps on the east that can be rolled up or down.

Shelter, feed keys to successful winter calving

A Charolais producer and a beef specialist share tips for calving in the bitter cold of winter

Wanda Snobolen’s passion for her Charolais purebreds shines through when she talks about the care she takes when they’re calving. “When you’re calving and it’s -20 degrees out there, you have to get them dry — that is key,” she says. Depending on how cold it is, she brings the calves into a heated workshop […] Read more


Stress matters as it depresses a calf’s immune system and increases the risks of disease.

Keeping calves healthy

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

Cow-calf margins get tighter each time you feed a pregnant cow through the winter, only to have her calf die before weaning. Three leading causes of pre-weaning death loss are diarrhea, navel ill and bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Not all calf illness and death can be prevented, especially when the weather gets bad, but remembering […] Read more

Roxanne and Kevin Ziola, along with daughters Josi and Cami, ranch near Red Deer, Alta.

Alberta ranching family teaches cattle to forage through snow

Roxanne and Kevin Ziola transitioned their operation from a mixed farm to a grass-fed ranch, where winter grazing is a key part of their production

A panel of three producers sits at the front of a room filled to bursting with farmers and professionals in the industry. It’s a chilly day in December in Edmonton, Alta., at the Western Canada Soil Health and Grazing Conference, but these producers don’t mind the cold — in fact, they often use it to […] Read more


File photo of a cow grazing near Leader, Sask., about 85 km south of Kindersley. (James_Gabbert/iStock/Getty Images)

Saskatchewan holds Crown grazing rents at last year’s levels

Also, leaseholders on drought-downgraded land eligible for rate cut

Cattle producers leasing Crown land for grazing in Saskatchewan won’t see a rate hike this year and may be eligible for a significant rate cut. The provincial government announced Wednesday it has frozen the rates charged to producers who lease Crown grazing land in 2023 at their 2022 level. The freeze will apply to all […] Read more



Jim had prepared a calving pasture with access to sheltered corrals with plenty of bedding.

Cold stress in newborn calves

Veterinary Case Study: Although Jim had prepared a warm calving shelter, he hadn’t counted on a cold snap that threatened his newborn calves

Jim came to the office to talk about the 20 Angus-cross heifers he bought last month, bred to calve in February, a month before his cows. The heifers were in great condition and Jim had a clean, warm, well-bedded shed to protect heifers ready to calve. He could watch new mothers for a few days […] Read more

Grant Lastiwka’s bale grazing setup.

Evaluating options for feeding bales

The hay is baled and stacked in the yard. Now’s the time to decide how to feed it. If the current method wastes a significant amount of feed, it might be time to re-evaluate your feeding system. Bale grazing has become more popular in recent years. Before an entire feeding system is switched over to […] Read more


A soil infiltration ring, shown here on a producer’s field in the Peace region, is used to measure how quickly rain water infiltrates on a field.

Peace Region Living Lab includes learning cluster

The Living Lab, which spans the Alberta and B.C. border, has the potential to create a community of producers interested in trying new things

[Updated Jan. 3, 2023] When most people think of British Columbia, they think of white-capped waves on the Pacific Ocean off the Sunshine Coast, the sweeping, snowy Coast Mountains of Whistler, or trees hung heavy with fruit in the Okanagan.  Most people wouldn’t think of a landscape very similar to Alberta, with gently rolling hills […] Read more

The SWOT spacecraft is moved into a transport container inside the Astrotech facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base on Nov. 18, 2022. (Photo: USSF 30th Space Wing/Chris Okula)

NASA to conduct first global water survey from space

Data would bolster weather and climate forecasts

Los Angeles | Reuters — A NASA-led international satellite mission was set for blastoff from southern California early on Thursday on a major Earth science project to conduct a comprehensive survey of the world’s oceans, lakes and rivers for the first time. Dubbed SWOT, short for Surface Water and Ocean Topography, the advanced radar satellite […] Read more