File photo of an Alberta wheat field. (ImagineGolf/E+/Getty Images)

Coalition seeks farmers, ranchers to join climate change forum

Farmers for Climate Solutions aims to gather diverse viewpoints

A farmer-led group is hoping to cut through the politics surrounding climate issues by bringing together a diverse group of Prairie farmers and ranchers for discussions around sustainability. “There’s a number of loud voices that tend to dominate the conversations,” says Ian McCreary, a grain and cattle farmer from Bladworth, Sask. McCreary is co-leading the […] Read more

Smoke rises from a wildfire over a hill at Kamloops, B.C. on July 1, 2021, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. (Nicole Ritter via Reuters)

B.C. presses for ranchers to register before wildfires hit

Premises ID helps protect livestock in emergencies, province says

British Columbia’s provincial ag ministry hopes to shore up ranchers’ participation in the Premises Identification program against the risk of further wildfires this year. About two-thirds, or 5,200, of B.C.’s non-supply managed livestock producers, and all the supply-managed dairy cattle and poultry premises in the province, are registered in the program, the province said Wednesday. […] Read more








James Hargrave (second from right) in September 2016 with provincial Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier, Medicine Hat MLA Bob Wanner and Environment Minister Shannon Phillips. (AlbertaGrazingLease.ca)

Communities rally around producers in wildfires’ wake

Ranchers, farmers and rural residents who suffered losses, injuries and more in recent wildfires in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan are seeing support from neighbours and beyond. Alongside a number of online campaigns launched in support of affected farmers and families, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association on Monday launched a wildfire relief fund to help […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Major Alberta cattle feeder set to shut feedlots

Reuters — One of Canada’s biggest cattle feeding operations, Western Feedlots, said Wednesday it will close feeding operations after marketing the cattle it currently owns, due to poor market conditions. Closure of Western’s feeding operations, likely early in 2017 once its current cattle are sold, will make it more difficult for ranchers to find markets […] Read more


coyote hunting on the prairie

History: Livestock predators cause heavy losses

Reprinted from the November 1949 issue of Canadian Cattlemen

On September 15 the Western Stock Growers’ Association sent a questionnaire to its 1,350 members to determine the extent of livestock and poultry losses caused by predators. As of October 18 there were 85 returns received. An analysis of the returns at hand gives alarming and important information and is as follows: These returns covered […] Read more

"We want to see a program that works for ranchers and species at risk." – Sue Michalsky, Eastend, Sask.

Fee-for-service conservation

Ranchers engineered it now they are testing it out to see how it works in the real world

It’s been 80 years since respected American professor, ecologist and author, Aldo Leopold, recognized that conservation would ultimately boil down to rewarding private landowners who preserve the public interest. The southwestern Saskatchewan ranchers who formed the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance Inc. (RSAI) in 2010 believe that day has arrived. As to how it can be done, […] Read more