Features

Beef safety and environmental protection are important aspects of feedlot production. Reporters have blamed intensive livestock operations or “factory farms” as the primary sector responsible for contaminating food and water sources with pathogenic bacteria that make humans ill. Extremists have called for drastic regulations to curtail or ban intensive livestock production. Environmental or food safety […] Read more

A vet with a passion, and an organization wanting to improve member services, have banded together to launch an innovative new information service in the Ontario beef industry. Ontario veterinarian Mac Littlejohn and the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association (OCA) have unveiled a new “Vet on Call” service — thought to be an industry first — that […] Read more

It’s been nearly a decade since Manitoba cattle producer Ian Wishart pitched his concept for the alternate land use services (ALUS) program to the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP). Unless you’ve been involved with a pilot project, you may wonder what’s become of it all. Two major announcements in early December indicate ALUS is alive and […] Read more

RYAN SOMMERFELD The Sommerfelds run a 250-head purebred Gelbvieh and commercial herd on 3,700 acres along the fringe of the northern boreal forest near Medstead, Sask. The cows are fed shredded bales in the field during the fall, then moved in groups into a corral as calving nears in mid-January. The pairs are fed on […] Read more

A pilot project in Saskatchewan is evaluating energy use on farms in a way it’s never been looked at before. The Sun Ridge Group of Saskatoon has developed an energy evaluation program that puts actual numbers to major energy inputs related to production, including the energy to produce fertilizer, chemicals, purchased and produced feed, and […] Read more

Alberta’s Spring Creek Ranch plans to increase the size of its herd by 30 per cent by this fall, citing a significant market pull for the ranch’s branded beef product, which features cattle that have not been given hormones or antibiotics, nor been fed animal by-products throughout their lifetime. According to company co-owner, Kirstin Kotelko, […] Read more

Most of us tend to do the same things over and over and expect things to get better when it rains and prices improve. It’s like we are in a hole and we are convinced that the way out is to dig deeper faster. “Let’s get back to work,” we say. “We must not be […] Read more

I hav e done quite a bit of custom grazing at different times. As I travel and talk to people I sense that there is a lot of interest in custom grazing. People want to know is custom grazing a good idea, how much can I charge, where do I find a customer, what do […] Read more