Features

Cicer milkvetch is a legume that hasn’t been used to its full potential in the past but the performance of improved varieties, such as Oxley II and Windsor, is leading beef producers to take a second look at this bloat-safe forage. Neil McLeod, a cow-calf producer and Northstar Seeds sales manager for central Saskatchewan at […] Read more

Being positive about their life in ranching is one of five underlying management principles that Rhonda and Alan Vergouwen have used to establish their ranch near Toutes Aides, Man. Trying new ideas — even if they don’t always work out — is another. It’s definitely part of what keeps their operation interesting and moving forward. […] Read more

Last month I told you about my favourite gravity-fed watering system. It is the most dependable and least-cost system that I have used. Today I will go into a couple of other systems that I use at Greener Pastures. A few years ago mobility became an important feature of a watering system for me. I […] Read more

For beef-cattle producers with perennial forage stands, sod seeding is proving to be a successful option. The decision to plant field pea instead of oats or another cereal in the first year reduces fertilizer requirements and input costs and provides a good economic return. Proper termination of the sod the fall prior and proper seed […] Read more

Soil salinity is the ugly duckling of agriculture that doesn’t attract much research funding, yet 5.5 million acres of land in Western Canada are classified as being severely affected, says Ken Miller, a grain and forage seed producer at Milk River, Alta. Miller has been fighting soil salinity for the entire 40 years he’s been […] Read more

A recent study comparing spring-seeded winter annuals for grazing at three sites in Saskatchewan shows Westerwolds and Italian ryegrass to be excellent choices for forage in moist grey and black soil zones. This reinforces 1990 work at Ag Canada’s Melfort station where Aubade (Westerwolds) and Maris Ledger (Italian) rygrasses were cut in July, and the […] Read more

John and Kelsey Beasley have spent the past seven years in Manitoba’s Parkland converting a grain farm to a cow-calf operation near Boggy Creek. Now, they’re starting over in Alberta, this time assuming ownership of an established ranch in the eastern grassland range near Youngstown. The regions are about as different as different can be. […] Read more

This year, as many cattlemen struggle to find feed at a reasonable cost, smaller cows with smaller appetites look pretty good. Peter Lawrence and his wife Shelley, figured smaller cows fit better with their management plan when he took over the farm from his father. “I really liked the big buckskin and red baldy cows,” […] Read more

Donna McMorris says her husband, Dennis, is an evidence-based kind of guy. Naturally, he was intrigued with the new science of DNA profiling when he heard Igenity’s Saskatchewan representative, Lee Sinclair, explain the program. An Igenity gift certificate won at the 2004 Regina Bull Sale was just the nudge they needed to set them on […] Read more