Creating a better process for assessing pasture

Following in the footsteps of our Prairie neighbours, Manitoba is working towards developing a customized rangeland and pasture health assessment. “The project is born out of similar initiatives that started in the United States, Alberta and then Saskatchewan. They have developed these tools for assessing rangeland health, looking at various indicators like bare soil, litter[...]



Creating a natural rhythm

The lighting in your barn may be having more of an effect than you realize. “The livestock’s biological clock is regulated by light striking the pituitary gland in the middle of the brain. A lack of light depresses metabolism and causes increased melatonin output. We see this effect in the shorter days of winter,” said[...]

Canadian forage research on the rise

The forage industry has begun to see a promised increase in research funding from the beef industry. According to Reynold Bergen, science director with the Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC), more of Canadian cattle producers’ checkoff dollars are being put towards research and the piece of the pie that had been allocated towards forages has[...]


Cover cropping improves land and bank balance

Despite not having cattle on his operation, Blake Vince says he is still a livestock farmer. “Where my livestock are is below my feet and sadly we forget that. The soil is alive, it is a collection of living organisms,” Vince, a Canadian Nuffield Scholar and fifth-generation Ontario farmer, said during a presentation at the[...]

What does your underwear say about your soils?

A lot, providing you bury it in a field, according to Ontario farmer Blake Vince, a cover crop and soil health advocate and Nuffield Scholar. Doing so will help you understand what’s happening beneath your feet, he says. “We understand things we can see,” Vince said at the recent Canadian Forage and Grasslands conference in[...]


Young cattle producers wanted

Manitoba Beef Producers is hoping to see a few more young faces at its upcoming annual general meeting. That meeting is slated for Feb. 2 and 3 in Brandon at the Victoria Inn, and will see the organization discussing a host of issues that affect the industry’s bottom line and setting policy that will chart the[...]

Managing the risks of mouldy feed

After a wet summer Manitoba cattle producers are faced with the reality of keeping animals healthy on less-than-ideal feed sources. It’s possible, but Juanita Kopp, a provincial livestock specialist, says producers do need to be aware of the risks and take steps to manage them. “This is one of the topics I get a lot[...]


Increase to national beef checkoff to come in 2017

Canadian beef producers should expect to see an increase to the Canadian Beef Cattle Check-Off sometime in 2017, but the exact date is yet to be determined. “I suspect producers will see this take effect in 2017. But, it is hard for me to nail down an exact time that producers will start to see[...]

Study shows grassland environmental contributions

Grasslands punch above their weight when it comes to carbon sequestration. That’s the conclusion of a researcher who started his career on an Alberta-wide study of how land use affects that province’s carbon pool. Daniel Hewins, now an assistant professor at Rhode Island College in Providence, R.I., says grasslands can and do store an enormous[...]