Same grass, different boss

Lower overhead costs under not-for-profit co-op and municipal management structures translate into cheaper pasture fees for ranchers at two non-AESB pastures

Two community pasture operations in Manitoba offer a glimpse of what the future may hold after the federal government phases out its involvement over the next six years. In the rural municipality of Wallace, near Kirkella, a block containing 25 quarters of marginal, rugged land is grazed from around June 1 to Oct. 15. It’s


Wet on top, dry down below

Notoriously wet country looks to better grazing management to solve chronic water infiltration problems

Saskatchewan grazier Neil Dennis figures five centuries of continuous grazing has more to do with the drought affecting the British Isles than a lack of rainfall. “When you get 70 inches of rain, and the water table is dropping, there’s sure something wrong,” said Dennis, who just returned from a U.K. tour where he had



Family key to ranching success

Cattle prices are up, but for ranching families, the cost of not getting along with each other has stayed the same. Of the three fundamental principles of holistic management, “caring for your people” comes first, followed by “improving the land” and “making a profit,” says Don Campbell, a Saskatchewan rancher who teaches holistic management, which

Project aims to make the case for more shelterbelts

Everywhere you look around the Manitoba countryside, shelterbelts and bush can be seen lying in big, ugly bulldozed piles. Farmers just can’t seem to get rid of it fast enough, it seems. A two-part, four-year project sponsored by the Upper Assiniboine Conservation District (UACD), Brandon University’s Rural Development Institute (RDI), and a handful of other


Dry winter a worry for cattle, winter wheat

Canada’s western farm belt is the driest it has been in five years, raising concerns for cattle and winter cereals. Large pockets of the Prairie provinces have received less than 40 per cent of normal precipitation during the past three months, according to federal Agriculture Department maps. “We have a lot of winter ahead of

Dry winter a worry for cattle, winter wheat

Canada’s western farm belt is the driest it has been in five years, raising concerns for cattle and winter cereals. Large pockets of the Prairie provinces have received less than 40 per cent of normal precipitation during the past three months, according to federal Agriculture Department maps. “We have a lot of winter ahead of