breeding Archives | Canadian Cattlemen

A 60-day breeding season is an ideal goal to shoot for.

Keep your cattle breeding season short

Breeding: News Roundup from the June 2018 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

By John F. Grimes July 4, 2018

It is my experience that there is no single best calving season for all operations. Each is unique in terms of labour, facilities, feedstuffs, and ultimately, the selection should be determined by the likelihood of achieving the highest conception rates and calf crop percentage weaned with your available resources. Regardless of when you calve, there is […] Read more

Cows need to be on a rising plane of nutrition after calving to conceive and rebreed on time.

Cow-Calf, Features, Livestock

Post-calving nutrition determines next year’s success

Management: Your cow's nutritional regime will have a major influence on when and if it gets bred.

By Duane McCartney March 14, 2018

In some areas of Canada this has been a very difficult winter to be a cow-calf producer. With last summer’s drought and the current feed shortage in those areas, many producers are left pondering what to do. Barry Yaremcio, a nutrition specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, and Murray Feist a beef cattle nutritionist with […] Read more

Bring them home early and give them time to adjust to new surroundings before they see the cows.

Features, Livestock

Transitioning bulls from feeding to breeding

Prepare to have a good transition program after you bring a bull home

By Heather Smith Thomas March 9, 2018

The hardest time for a young bull is when he’s turned out with cows for his first breeding season, after being well fed all winter. Most bulls are raised in unnatural conditions. After weaning they are confined and often fed high-concentrate feeds, and pushed for fast growth. Many go through a bull test/feeding program to […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Features, Livestock

You judge the heifers! Part 1

Can you spot the genomics at work?

By Dr. Susan Markusa February 22, 2017

As cattlemen, we take pride in our ability to visually judge, select and breed cattle that work in our ranch environment. Often a good group of cattle is judged by its similarities and not its differences, so that’s one visual criteria for selection. With good reason, we also tend to focus on traits that are […] Read more

It's possible with DNA testing to figure out which bull sired your calves, but is it worth the hassle?

Beef Cattle, Cow-Calf, Features

Which bull sired that calf?

Parentage testing in multi-sire pastures goes under the microscope

By Debbie Furber February 6, 2017

Collecting DNA samples for parentage testing from bulls and the resulting calves from multi-sire breeding pastures is the only way to find out each bull’s value to your operation. A bull might come with a great package of traits you want to see passed to your calves, but the bull’s value is questionable if the […] Read more

Features, Livestock

Getting first-calf heifers rebred on time

By Heather Smith Thomas February 19, 2016

It can be a challenge to get first calvers rebred without losing ground. They often calve later the next year or come up open. The two-year-old is nursing a calf, still growing, and needs good nutrition and body condition to cycle on schedule after calving. Two-year-olds need more care and management than mature cows. Dr. […] Read more

Blood tests, manual palpation or ultrasound are all proven techniques to find out if she is, or she isn't.

Cow-Calf, Features

Preg testing cows is easier than it used to be

By Heather Smith Thomas September 25, 2015

Most beef producers routinely pregnancy test cows after breeding season, to determine which ones to keep and which ones to sell. It’s a major cost to feed open cows through winter. Another major reason is that finding more than a typical number of open cows can alert you to a disease problem. Trichomoniasis, vibriosis, IBR, […] Read more

Barley, Crops

Barley’s genome now two-thirds sequenced

By Canadian Cattlemen Staff August 26, 2015

A team led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside says it has reached a new milestone in its work on sequencing the barley genome. In a release Tuesday, the researchers said they have sequenced large portions of the genome that together contain nearly two-thirds of all barley genes. Because barley is a close relative […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Nutrition

Focus on your yearlings this breeding season

By John McKinnon June 16, 2015

Calving is well underway across the country and many of you are turning your thoughts to activities associated with breeding, pasture turnout and spring seeding. Before your schedule gets too hectic, it is a good time to take stock of your nutrition program particularly as it relates to the breeding herd. In past issues, I […] Read more

Beef Cattle, News Roundup

Breeders will benefit from carcass data

News Roundup: From the April 2015 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

By Canadian Cattlemen Staff May 15, 2015

The Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC) believes the Beef InfoXchange System (BIXS) will become invaluable for cattle breeders, geneticists and beef researchers if significant numbers of producers can be encouraged to make use of the national database. And they aren’t the only ones looking forward to a more productive BIXS, according to a recent blog […] Read more

Prairie cash wheat: Choppy U.S. futures lead to mixed bids

No BRM breakthrough reached at ministers’ meeting

U.S. grains: Soybeans firm as South American crops struggle

GFM Network News