Making silage cost palatable for producers

Making silage cost palatable for producers

Silage becomes more palatable for producers if you look beyond simple cost 
per acre, Manitoba Agriculture’s Ray Bittner told the Ag Days audience Jan. 17

It’s time to add a little fermentation to your feed plan. That’s the message Manitoba Agriculture’s Ray Bittner had for his Ag Days audience. The livestock specialist centred his talk around maximized silage value. Silage is old hat for producers in the Interlake, but its expense, and the fact that it often requires a custom

Horses that escaped from an enclosure onto a road near an RCMP checkpoint in an evacuated zone at Williams Lake are calmed and walked to safety on July 17. (WilliamsLake.bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca)

AgriRecovery in place for farms in B.C. wildfire zones

Farmers and ranchers whose operations were hit or evacuated during British Columbia’s particularly destructive wildfire season can expect up to $20 million in AgriRecovery funds toward repair, rebuilding and livestock feeding costs. The federal and B.C. governments on Tuesday laid out more details for the 60-40 cost-shared program, which was announced in principle in mid-August.


Aquanty tour attendees make a stop at one of several water control structures in the Assiniboine-Birdstail Watershed June 21. The watershed was the focus of some of the first scenarios run through the MFGA Aquanty hydrological model.

MFGA Aquanty project begins to bear fruit

The full Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association Aquanty project won’t be launched until next spring, 
but test scenarios are beginning to flow through the hydrological model

Data is beginning to flow from the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA) Aquanty project, although results are preliminary. The hydrological model, to be launched in March 2018, will mimic the interaction between water and land in the Assiniboine River Basin. “As we learn more about the MFGA Aquanty model, it becomes more and more

Land management specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Marla Riekman discusses the impacts forage and grazing practices have on the soil.

Applied research already well underway at MBFI

MBFI has kick-started a number of research projects, examining everything from energy-dense annual forages to riparian health

Just 18 months into its existence, the Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiative (MBFI) has hit the ground running with a number of research projects. “Transitioning from the initial concept of MBFI to successfully completing several research projects in such short order is no small feat,” said Ramona Blyth, chair of the MBFI board during the



“Research in the dairy industry shows that cows eat more forage that is higher in sugar content. Researchers are also seeing a corresponding increase in milk production, up to eight per cent,” said Bill Houston, senior range and forage biologist with AAFC.

Industry updated on research efforts in forage and grassland sector

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada presented the details of its forage research project that began last October

Awareness of the role forage plays in a healthy agricultural sector has grown over the past six years since the formation of the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association (CFGA), speakers told the group’s annual meeting here. “Just as recent as two years ago the dairy industry had no interest in investing in the research and

(MasseyFerguson.us)

Hay prices stabilize in Sask., Man.

CNS Canada –– Timely rains have drastically improved the forage crop outlooks for Saskatchewan and Manitoba, while also putting prices back into their normal ranges. “Skyrocketing hay prices have stabilized… supplies are good,” said Terry Kowalchuk, a provincial forage crop specialist in Regina. Prices are mostly back down into the $80-$100 per tonne range, he

MFGA September hay situation and price update

MFGA September hay situation and price update

From the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association's Sept. 17 eBulletin

Most areas of the province are reporting the completion of 2nd and/or 3rd cut alfalfa and some areas are taking or waiting to take the final cut till after the Critical Harvest Period (CHP). I surveyed the MAFRD forage staff and some of the forage industry personnel to get their impression of hay prices and


Tell us about your hay situation!

Tell us about your hay situation!

Please participate in a quick MFGA survey

In May and June, MFGA published our Green Gold reports to provide Manitoba forage producers with information as to how alfalfa is progressing in their area and, particularly, when to make their first cut for optimum quality. We saw Mother Nature’s influence this year as alfalfa was at the optimum stage in some areas, yet the