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Author Archives Ron Friesen

Grass is a crop too
Crops, Forages

Grass is a crop too

Just because forage is on marginal land doesn’t mean it should get marginal management, says a recent Beef Cattle Research Council study

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If grain farmers routinely fertilize their crops to get higher yields and profits, why don’t forage producers do the same to their pastures? That question is at the heart of a recent Beef Cattle Research Council study into improving forage yields in Canada. The study notes that while annual crops have seen significant yield increases […] Read more
university of Manitoba forage breeder doug Cattani says there’s not much incentive for private companies to invest in perennial crops for which they can’t sell seed every year.
Crops, Forages

Who will breed the next generation?

Forages aren’t only suffering from a shortage of research dollars, but a shortage of researchers to do the work if the money were available

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See if you can answer these two skill-testing agricultural questions. What is the largest crop in Canada? Which crop has one of the poorest records for funding research and breeding programs? If you answered “forages” to both, you’re right. You’ve also put your finger on a chronic problem in Canada’s forage industry. Statistics show the […] Read more
alfalfa seed - Glen Nicoll
Forages, Livestock

Forage breeding faces funding challenges

Government has cut back, private companies are not keen on crops that don’t need to be reseeded every year, and you can’t check off sales to farmers’ own livestock

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Forages are Canada’s biggest crop but you wouldn’t know it because of the few resources that go into breeding them. You’d think that, given its size, forage would be a giant in the world of plant breeding. Unfortunately, it’s more of a midget. Canada has only four major publicly funded programs for breeding tame forages, […] Read more
cattle in a feedlot
Beef Cattle, Livestock

Tight numbers a concern for livestock marketers

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The bloom may soon come off the rose for record-high cattle prices as economic indicators in the United States suggest a coming slowdown in consumer beef demand. That was the message from commodity market analyst Jerry Klassen to the Livestock Market Association of Canada’s annual convention in Winnipeg earlier this summer. A roaring bull market […] Read more
Features

Brown root rot lurking in alfalfa fields

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A little-known root disease hiding under the Prairie snowpack this past winter could give alfalfa growers a surprise in spring. Weather conditions were ideal for the development of brown root rot, a potentially damaging disease of forage legumes, including alfalfa. Brown root rot is a soil-borne fungal pathogen with the official name Phoma sclerotioides. It […] Read more
Livestock, Markets

Manitoba cattle price insurance in the works

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Hidden in Manitoba Finance Minister Rosann Wowchuk’s 2011-12 budget is a $200,000 allocation for cattle insurance. The Manitoba government has set aside $200,000 for a livestock insurance pilot program for the province’s cattle producers. The allocation is hidden in the 2011-12 provincial budget Wowchuk brought down April 12. The Co-operator learned about it during briefings […] Read more
Livestock

Man. hog farmers pledge sow stall phase-out

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Major and possibly expensive changes lie ahead for Manitoba’s 700 hog producers as the result of a new roadmap for the industry’s future. The Manitoba Pork Council’s plan released last week commits hog farmers to eliminate sow gestation stalls within the next 15 years. “Manitoba Pork commits to encouraging producers to phase out by 2025 […] Read more
Crops

Manitoba’s KAP president quits unexpectedly

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Manitoba’s general farm organization is looking for a new president after Ian Wishart resigned from the position. A meeting of Keystone Agricultural Producers’ (KAP) general council in Portage la Prairie sat in stunned silence Thursday as Wishart said he was stepping down, effective immediately. “With considerable regret, I offer my resignation and my apologies. I […] Read more

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