Choosing an appropriate mineral can help ensure the health and productivity of cattle on pasture.

Getting the most out of your grass cattle

Nutrition with John McKinnon

As this issue comes to print, we are likely 40 to 60 days away from turning yearlings out to grass. The vast majority of these animals are last year’s calves weaned in the fall or early winter. If we examine how these animals are overwintered, two different management approaches are evident. The first is to […] Read more

A wider vision for grassland conservation

A wider vision for grassland conservation

A new collaborative effort across North America is focusing efforts to protect the fast-disappearing Prairie ecosystem

For many who call the Canadian Prairies home, it would be impossible to imagine springtime without the cheerful song of the western meadowlark. That distinct, flute-like call, along with the other songs of grassland birds returning north, is a defining part of this landscape. But as grasslands across North America continue to disappear, the meadowlark’s […] Read more


Ryan Boyd and his daughter Piper during a farm media tour in the fall of 2018.

Nuffield Canada scholarship expands horizons for Manitoba producer

Ryan Boyd shares how he’s applying the insights from his international travel on his family’s cow-calf operation

A mindset of continual improvement led Ryan Boyd on an international adventure with benefits for his family’s farm upon returning home. Boyd runs South Glanton Farms at Forrest, Man., with his wife, Sarah, and his parents, Jim and Joanne. He is passionate about implementing the principles of regenerative agriculture and the soil health movement, including […] Read more

Jointed goat grass can hybridize with wheat.

Healthy range key to preventing new invasive plants

Range agrologists urge producers to watch for changes on the landscape and be mindful of how invasive species spread

If your grasslands are in good health, you’re already on your way to preventing an infestation of an invasive grass species. Without proper range management, grasslands in poor condition will be less resistant to an unwanted species establishing, says Sheryl Wurtz, invasive plant specialist with the B.C. Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources. In […] Read more


Percentage of average precipitation in Western Canada for the 90 days ending April 5, 2021. (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada map)

Manitoba forage, grassland growers burned by drought

MarketsFarm — An ongoing lack of precipitation, which is showing no signs of letting up in the coming months according to weather forecasts, is already causing problems for Manitoba’s forage and grasslands. Growers in the province have had to deal with three straight years with lower-than-normal precipitation. In 2019, multiple rural municipalities in Manitoba’s Parkland […] Read more

A coal mine in a mountain area of Alberta.

Selenium from open-pit coal mining may pose downstream risk to ag

Potential of selenium pollution in Alberta’s major watersheds a threat to agriculture and others downstream, say livestock nutritionist and conservationist

The effects of selenium pollution in rivers near open-pit coal mines can be felt hundreds of kilometres downstream, says a conservation organization.  In studying the impacts of open-pit coal mining in B.C.’s Elk Valley, Lars Sander-Green has seen how selenium leaching from four metallurgical coal mines contaminated the local drinking water supply and devastated fish […] Read more


A mayfly on water. (SBTheGreenMan/iStock/Getty Images)

Health Canada steps back from bans on two neonics

New limits, some cancellations to be put in place

A federal proposal to protect aquatic insect habitat by cancelling all registered outdoor uses for two popular ag insecticides has been walked back in a major way. Health Canada on Wednesday announced its special review decisions on the risks to aquatic bug life from the use of clothianidin and thiamethoxam, both pesticides and seed treatments […] Read more

When you have a lot of standing water on land you can bet you’ll have a lot of mosquitoes, and it’s hard to find a better control for these blood-sucking pests than the dragonfly.

Building biodiversity on agricultural lands

From the Ground Up with Steve Kenyon

Nature works in whole systems. There are millions of symbiotic relationships that coexist in a single ecosystem. Yet every ecosystem also interacts and relies on the other ecosystems around it. The aquatic ecosystem has a dynamic interaction with the riparian area ecosystem which interacts with the uplands ecosystem which relates to the woodland ecosystem. We […] Read more


CCA welcomes continued Environment and Climate Change Canada funding for species at risk

CCA welcomes continued Environment and Climate Change Canada funding for species at risk

Previous project covered over 189,000 acres in Alberta

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) is pleased to announce the contribution of $1.27 million from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) in additional funding to continue species at risk stewardship activities through the Species At Risk Partnership on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) initiative. The contribution allows the CCA to carry on conservation activities with beef producers […] Read more

Greater sage grouse.

Sask Stock Growers Association secures more funding for habitat protection

The funding will support ongoing efforts to protect greater sage grouse habitat in Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) is excited to announce it has secured $840,000 in additional funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to continue working with landowners to protect greater sage grouse critical habitat in Saskatchewan. ECCC’s Species at Risk Partnership on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) fund supports projects that are committed to engaging the […] Read more