Guiding cattle to safety during a wildfire near Spences Bridge, B.C.

Range Rider program helps B.C. ranchers threatened by wildfires

As more wildfires flare up in B.C., ranchers are forced to evacuate their cattle, and help their neighbours do the same

When the Shetland Creek wildfire started in the summer of 2024, T.J. Walkem waited and watched smoke smudge the sky. Dry, hot and windy conditions fed the fire, and overnight, it doubled in size. Walkem and his father rushed to evacuate their cattle, surrounded by walls of flames. “We’ve had a few (wildfires) the last […] Read more

Hurricane Fiona’s winds of over 100 km an hour knocked over Dwain MacAulay’s cattle barn on Prince Edward Island.

East Coast beef farmers deal with lingering effects of Hurricane Fiona

Years after Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Maritimes, farmers are dealing with the aftermath — or mourning what it took from them

In September 2022, Canadians who live in the Maritimes watched with apprehension as Hurricane Fiona moved from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico toward Canada’s East Coast. By the time the storm reached Atlantic Canada, it had been downgraded to a tropical storm, but that didn’t lessen the damage it caused as it swept across […] Read more


cattle in a dry pasture in Alberta under a blue sky

Drought may be new normal for beef producers

Producers talk shop on how they’ve been getting through years of drought

The 2020s did come in with a roar, but not the kind people hoped for, as drought has plagued much of Western Canada since 2021. The pastures were dry across the Prairies, the grass brittle, more brown than green. Dugouts ran dry and in some areas, hay production was about a quarter of normal. Water […] Read more

A cow leads her calf to higher ground, near Vogar, Man. in 2011. Lake Manitoba had overflowed, flooding nearby ranches.

After the flood: Manitoba cattle ranchers still recovering 14 years later

Producers around Lake Manitoba continue to deal with the effects of a 2011 flood

When Arvid Nottveit thinks about Manitoba’s infamous 2011 flood, he says he still feels all the emotions that came with it. “We all like to be all stoic and everything, be the captain on the ship facing the storm head-on, but I’m the guy that will say, ‘Okay, this is pretty bad. I need some […] Read more