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Tag Archives alfalfa

Pegged to the ground with bent rebar, the exclusion cages are strong enough to shield the grass inside, even while cattle scratch themselves on the cage.
Beef Cattle, Forages

Putting science into grass management

The Grazing Response Index scores foliage removal, grazing period and recovery time

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When it came out of Colorado in the 1990s, the Grazing Response Index (GRI) was strictly at home on the range. Now Ducks Unlimited Canada’s Jodie Horvath says that, with a few tweaks, the grass management tool can help graziers on Western Canada’s tame pastures, too. “When you’re a farmer, a lot of things feel […] 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.
Crops, Forages

Don’t call it ‘cover,’ call it ‘feed’

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

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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
Pasture blends
Forages, Research

Pasture blends

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

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Most forage seed companies offer a pasture blend. Some customize their blend to the customer’s situation, but others use a least-cost formulation to produce a more attractively priced blend. Ideally, the blend should contain grasses and legumes that grow well together, are well adapted to the environment and soil type they will be seeded in, […] Read more
Research shows if cattle are given a preference, they want between 60 to 80 per cent of legumes in their pasture.
Crops, Forages

Legumes are best, but…

Nova Scotia researchers are looking at ways to maintain their percentage in forage mixtures under grazing

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Not only are legumes a superfood for humans, but they are a superfood for cattle too. In fact, regardless of what type of livestock producers raise, the animals perform better on a diet of grass mixed with legumes than if just on a diet of straight grass, resulting in better weight gain and increased milk […] Read more
One of two new cold-tolerant clovers, FIXatioN Balansa will come into Canada as a cover first, then as a forage.
Crops, Forages

New cold-tolerant clovers

The first arrivals are cover crops, but forages are on their way

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When it comes to trying something new, it’s common for growers who rely on their forages to stick with what works. That’s understandable, given the demands for consistency, especially by dairy producers. Yet standing still is rarely a path to success on the farm. Now, in spite of growing concerns surrounding climate change, one seed […] Read more
cattle eating hay in the winter
Livestock, News, News Roundup

Stretching your hay supply with straw

Feed: News Roundup from the October 23, 2017 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

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Travis Peardon, the regional livestock specialist in Outlook, Sask., says few producers were reporting an abundance of hay this year, so he presumes many will be stretching what they do have with straw to get their cows through the winter. That being the case, Peardon recently prepared a short primer on straw-bolstered rations for producers […] Read more
(Photo courtesy ARS/USDA)
Crops, Forages, Weather

Manitoba forages fight past winterkill, pest issues

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CNS Canada — The first hay cut is well underway in several parts of Manitoba as favourable weather conditions set the stage for what could be a decent forage season. “Generally speaking they’re (forages) all doing well,” said Pamela Iwanchysko, farm production extension specialist with the provincial government in Dauphin. “The rains were timely.” What […] Read more
The Berseem variety Frosty is not inhibited by alfalfa making it a good choice to boost patchy stands.
Features, Forages, Pasture

Annual clovers to the rescue

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Annual clover may be just the remedy if your pastures and hayland are looking a little under the weather this spring. Performance Seed, a newly established forage seed company at Lethbridge, Alta., is introducing two new low no-bloat annual clover varieties that show good potential as stand-alone crops or in blends for grazing, hay, silage […] Read more
Farmers assessed a few of the 13 sainfoin/alfalfa/grass plots last summer.
Crops, Features, Forages

Sainfoin, alfalfa and grass mixtures being tested

High legume pasture project in process

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A sprinkling of a new sainfoin was enough to ignite renewed interest in high legume pastures across Alberta and British Columbia last year. The case for high legume pastures was made long ago, both in research trials and in the field by experienced producers with the skill and nerve to turn up the alfalfa content […] Read more
Shane and Arron Nerbas bale graze their herd through five-acre pods in winter to renovate lower-quality soils and reduce winter feed costs.
Crops, Features, Forages

Forages for all seasons

Nerbas family’s grazing program focuses on quality

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The Nerbas family’s grazing program wouldn’t be the success it is without cattle that thrive in a forage-only system and the breeding program wouldn’t be the success it is without quality forage to optimize the cattle’s genetic potential. Figuring out how to mesh everything together to support three families has been a work in progress […] Read more

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