Extending fall and winter grazing

Extending fall and winter grazing

Crop residues are probably the most under­utilized source of winter grazing, says extension specialist

Extending the grazing season for cattle can help reduce production costs and there are various ways to increase forage production/utilization to ensure adequate fall grazing that can often be extended into winter. Lorne Klein, range management extension specialist, Ministry of Agriculture in Weyburn, Sask., says there are four sources of forage. “These are native prairie, […] Read more



Rye production could fall 25 per cent, analyst says

CNS Canada — This year’s Canadian rye harvest appears positioned to carry on the crop’s recent trend with another production decline. Dry conditions in many regions of the Prairies and ergot in Manitoba are expected to drive down yields. Jonathan Hull of The Scoular Co. said he has been hearing from farmers that yields could […] Read more

As part of his plan to provide alternative feed options for his cattle, one Ontario beef producer arranged with a neighbour to graze his cows on 100 acres of corn stalks.

The benefits of alternative feed options

Continuous improvement leads to big cost savings

Mike Buis says that his approach to his vertically integrated beef business is to make “one new mistake every year” — the keys being “one” and “new.” “If we’re not making at least one mistake a year, we’re not trying hard enough to do different things,” he said. Buis has a fourth-generation farm with 300 […] Read more


In his long career Shabtai Bittman has studied forage production right across Canada.

An ecological approach to forage research

Top AAFC research scientist shares his thoughts on growing forages

Dr. Shabtai Bittman, one of Canada’s top sustainable cropping systems research scientists at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Centre in Agassiz, B.C., says growing forages for hay and pasture is very different than growing grain crops. “With forages, we are dealing with perennial crops that are subject to encroachment from other grasses and from weeds, […] Read more

Tom Kilcer recommends triticale as a cover crop with high feed value, and says to manage it as a feed crop, not just a cover, using seed treatment and good seed.

Don’t call it ‘cover,’ call it ‘feed’

How sacrificing some silage yield can gain another six to 10 tons of forage per acre

Tom Kilcer says farmers are missing an opportunity to create greater value from cover crops by using them in a carefully planned winter forage system. He’s promoting a system that gives up some yield in corn silage planted after the winter forage in order to gain overall total yield over a whole growing season.  Kilcer, […] Read more


Sustained intake of ergot contaminated feed will shut down blood supply to an animal's extremities, and over time, worsen its condition.

Ergot poisoning: An ancient scourge remains a problem in modern rations

Vet Advice with Dr. Ron Clarke

The negative impacts of ergot contamination in food were recognized as early as the fifth century AD. Ergot, a plant parasite, commonly affects rye grass, but wheat, rye, barley, oats, brome, fescue, blue, timothy, western and intermediate wheatgrass and other grasses can also be infected. Environmental conditions associated with a cool wet spring followed by […] Read more

Photo: File

Cash ticket deferral option to remain unchanged

The federal government is leaving its deferred cash purchase ticket policy unchanged. When listed grains (wheat, oats, barley, rye, flax, canola, rapeseed) are delivered for payment at a licensed elevator, an elevator operator can issue either a cash purchase ticket or a deferred cash purchase ticket, payable in the year following the year in which […] Read more


(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Major retailers say federal bread pricing probe underway

Major Canadian grocery retailers Metro and Loblaw say a federal investigation is underway concerning the pricing of certain commercial bread products. Toronto-based Loblaw and its parent firm, George Weston Ltd., announced Tuesday they’re aware of an “industry-wide investigation” by the federal Competition Bureau concerning a “price-fixing scheme involving certain packaged bread products.” The two companies […] Read more

(Photo courtesy General Mills via Flickr)

Cheerios to remove ‘gluten-free’ claim

The maker of Cheerios cereal is pulling a controversial “gluten-free” claim from the product’s Canadian packaging starting in 2018, over what it says is a lack of a “consistent” testing protocol for oat products. General Mills announced last week it will remove the “gluten-free” claim from Cheerios sold in Canada starting in January, though it […] Read more