A new report has put a dollar value on the stewardship provided by Alberta's leaseholders.

Polycultures: A cocktail forage mix for semiarid prairies

Producers rely on grazing native, tame perennial pastures or stockpiled forages to typically feed their cattle. Annual diverse forage mixtures give producers an opportunity to provide high quality feed while also gaining additional benefits for the soil and ecosystem. Polycultures could even be integrated into a crop rotation or used as green manure (working it […] Read more


Cattle from Living Sky Beef graze a cover crop on Axten Farms near Minton, Sask.

Sharing cattle and cropland

A way to capture nutrients and opportunities


A few decades ago, the practice of growing both crops and cattle on the same farm was far more common than it is now. Today’s no-till, organic, and conventional crop producers, however, are paying close attention to soil health and crop inputs. The potential benefits of incorporating cattle back onto their farms are leading to […] Read more

Tom Kilcer recommends triticale as a cover crop with high feed value, and says to manage it as a feed crop, not just a cover, using seed treatment and good seed.

Don’t call it ‘cover,’ call it ‘feed’

How sacrificing some silage yield can gain another six to 10 tons of forage per acre

Tom Kilcer says farmers are missing an opportunity to create greater value from cover crops by using them in a carefully planned winter forage system. He’s promoting a system that gives up some yield in corn silage planted after the winter forage in order to gain overall total yield over a whole growing season.  Kilcer, […] Read more


My cover crop

My cover crop

Grazing with Steve Kenyon

There has been lots of excitement during the last few years over cover crops. The soil conferences and seminars have been full of cover crop talks and trade shows are full of salesmen. It is the latest craze in agriculture and I agree that there are a lot of situations where the cover crop is […] Read more

The same principles that apply to corn and soybeans must also apply to forages, including even emergence and good early-season weed management.

The challenges of growing quality forages

There are many reasons why production and quality may be less than ideal

Perception that forages are too weather-dependent or that producers plant one year and leave them alone for three must be challenged. The name varies from farm to farm and from one region of the country to another. Some refer to it under the blanket term “forage” while others attempt to be more specific — hay, […] Read more


Points to remember when seeding forages

Points to remember when seeding forages

There are a few common mistakes made that limit the success of new forage establishments” says Joel Bagg, a former forage specialist with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and now with Quality Seeds. “One of the biggest problems is not seeding new forage stands often enough. Many alfalfa-based stands are simply too […] Read more

In praise of water, and beavers

In praise of water, and beavers

It frustrates me as I travel around the country witnessing how human nature can be so misguided. Sometimes we can be short sighted and forget that we need to look at the big picture.  Even though we mean no harm, some of our agricultural practices can cause more damage than we think. Today, I would […] Read more