The latest research into cattle transport looked at the effects of rest stop duration on calves.

The latest research on cattle transport and rest stops

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

Note: This column was written and went to print before the federal government announced that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency would allow a two-year transition period for the new livestock transportation regulations, as they apply to cattle.  The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will start phasing in its enforcement of Canada’s revised livestock transportation regulations on […] Read more

By identifying the range of production systems used across the country, Canfax aims to create better benchmarks for cow-calf producers in all provinces.

Nature vs. Nurture in animal performance

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

Nothing is ever as simple as we think it is or wish it was. We’ve known for centuries that an animal’s performance, health, behaviour and other traits depend on a combination of their genetics and their environment. The genetics are inherited from their parents. Environmental influences are not inherited. Environments might be similar across generations […] Read more


cattle swath grazing

Feed efficiency and beef quality

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

Cattle breeders are often cautioned to avoid selecting too heavily for a single trait. Avoiding extremes is the obvious reason; selecting for small frame size in the 1950s accidentally resulted in a dwarfism problem in a few breeds. Another reason is that a lot of traits are genetically correlated, meaning that selecting for one trait […] Read more

Spinning straw into gold

Spinning straw into gold

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

The rumen allows cattle to digest fibre that chickens, pigs and humans can’t, and produce high-quality beef protein from feed and land that otherwise wouldn’t produce food. Understanding the rumen better is the key to improving feed efficiency and improving cattle’s ability to convert fibre to protein. There’s as much energy in straw as grain — […] Read more


Shifting from winter to spring calving has improved health and survival.

Timing cattle breeding for improved calf survival

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

I once spent a summer working for canola breeders. Some used traditional selection, while others were experimenting with transgenics. One traditionalist was known to say “sticking a new gene into a plant and expecting it to grow better is like throwing a new gear into a watch and expecting it to keep better time. It’ll […] Read more

Canada’s beef industry has worked long and hard to help get an integrated on-farm surveillance program for antimicrobial resistance underway in the feedlot sector.

On-farm antimicrobial surveillance moves a step closer

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

As long as cattle continue to get sick, cattle producers will need anti­microb­ials to help them recover. At the same time, it’s common to hear activists, regulators, consumers and/or retailers call for livestock producers to stop using antimicrobials altogether, reduce anti­microbial use, or demonstrate that antimicrobials are being used responsibly. Solid, reliable data demonstrating our […] Read more


Intestinal lesions caused by Johne's disease.

Johne’s disease: Cheap to buy, costly to live with

“Biosecurity” often conjures up images of poultry or hog operations with truckers-report-at-the-gate signs, shower-in-and-out rules and workers dressed in hazmat suits. The point of biosecurity practices is obviously to reduce the risk that disease-causing microbes will enter or spread within high-health status herds or flocks. It is much harder to implement high levels of bio­security […] Read more

As you may have already noticed, foragebeef.ca has now become beefresearch.ca.

Bergen: ForageBeef.ca gets a facelift

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

Canada’s National Beef Strategy has four goals that our industry aims to achieve by 2020. For the past year this column has explained how research is contributing to a 15 per cent increase in carcass cut-out value (the beef demand pillar), a 15 per cent improvement in production efficiency (productivity), and a seven per cent […] Read more


Upcoming sainfoin varieties have improved persistence and yield when grown and grazed in mixed stands with alfalfa.

Persistence pays when it comes to forage breeding

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

Forage legumes provide high yields, protein and good animal performance while improving soil fertility by fixing nitrogen from the air. Alfalfa is the highest yielding and most widely used legume but can cause bloat. Legumes like cicer milkvetch, sainfoin and birdsfoot trefoil do not cause bloat. As little as 25 per cent sainfoin in a […] Read more

The Canadian Beef Advisors is asking producers and other beef industry stakeholders for input on regenerative beef production

Exceptional forages for marginal lands

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

Tame forages often outperform native species in head-to-head comparisons under optimal growing conditions. This may not be the case on marginal land, with its tougher environments, poorer soil, rougher topography, harsher climates and precipitation extremes. Beef production is expected to rely more and more on marginal land, at least while returns from cash crops exceed […] Read more