Mike Schellenberg and Alan Iwaasa are evaluating the impact of polycrop mixtures on grazing capacity and soil health in the semi-arid prairie.

Seeking plants with polyculture potential

Choose your species wisely to avoid unintended results

When producers discuss the benefits of growing annual polycultures, also known as multi-species mixes or crop cocktails, the talk often revolves around soil-health and environmental improvements, often­­­times taking forage production for granted. Of course, production does occur, but yield and feed quality may be disappointing if the species chosen target soil problems rather than forage […] Read more

Greg Penner of the University of Saskatchewan, congratulates Dr. David Christensen (right) on winning the 2017 SFC Forage Industry Innovation Award.

Forages were the foundation for researcher’s celebrated career

In a career that already spans more than five decades, Dr. David Christensen, of the University of Saskatchewan, has been a major contributor to the research in support of Canadian forage crops. His substantial contributions on a regional, national and international level were recently recognized by the Saskatchewan Forage Council (SFC) when he was presented […] Read more


Mixed outlook for feed grains

Mixed outlook for feed grains

Market Talk with Jerry Klassen

I’ve received many inquiries into the outlook for corn and barley prices over the winter period. Feeder cattle prices have strengthened so that it’s difficult to pencil a profit and feedlot operators are wondering how the cost per pound gain will vary for the next round of feeding. At the time of writing this article, […] Read more

Unlike the table-flat Red River Valley to the east, western Manitoba has a range of elevations such as these along the Birdtail River.

Fighting floods and drought — with grass

Manitoba’s forage group is leading a project which will allow more control of water on the landscape

Floods one year, drought the next. As we’ve seen this year, it’s a fact of life for residents of southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but a project led by the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA) may help reduce the extremes. It’s being conducted by Aquanty, a Waterloo, Ont. company that has developed a HydroGeoSphere (HGS) […] Read more


Forage quality from the perspective of 1-billion bacterial cells

Forage quality from the perspective of 1-billion bacterial cells

Nutrition with John McKinnon

It is a time of year when feedlot operators and cow-calf producers are implementing their winter feeding programs. Forage, whether it is fed as hay, stockpiled forage (i.e. barley swaths or standing corn) or silage will play a big role in the vast majority of these operations. For feedlot operations, good-quality hay is often used […] Read more

The Canadian milkvetch nursery as seen during a tour of the Swift Current forage trials this summer.

Giving birth to new native grasses

Forages: News Roundup from the November 2017 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

Native forage breeders at Swift Current Research and Development Centre spend their careers attempting to capture and transfer the diversity of native forages into new composite varieties that offer better health and productivity than the originals. “It takes multiple years to identify what we want and then make sure that a characteristic we are highlighting […] Read more


cattle eating hay in the winter

Stretching your hay supply with straw

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

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

Winter grazing options

Winter grazing options

Grazing with Steve Kenyon

As I write this, our summer is winding down and the evenings are starting to cool off. It won’t be long now until our killing frost hits us. This happens usually sometime in mid-September for us here in Busby, Alberta. We have had a good summer this year with plenty of moisture and we left extra residue all […] Read more


Native species are the Steady Eddies of forages — resilient and consistently able to contribute to performance even during 
extreme-weather years.

Native forages offer resilience against Mother Nature

Long-lived native forages complement tame forages nicely — but they have their own merits that make them more competitive than their tame counterparts

Native forages are making a comeback with cattle feeders who are looking for a way to work with — not against — Mother Nature. “Native species complement tame forages,” said federal research scientist Alan Iwaasa. “When used with tame species, native species have merit and can be used quite effectively if you have the land […] Read more

Silage cut too dry can cause overheating resulting in brown or burnt-looking patches.

The silage pit has no secrets

Nutrition with John McKinnon

Last month I wrote about the importance of variety when it comes to seeding barley for silage. When writing that article, I got thinking about the principles of making good-quality silage, particularly in relation to feed quality. What really brought this connection home to me however, was my experiences this past winter where I had […] Read more