(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Hay shortage could make for difficult winter

CNS Canada — Many cattle producers looking for local feed this winter might have a difficult time, according to a Saskatchewan provincial forage specialist. However, producers further north in the grey and black soil zones, and those in Alberta producing high-quality feed for export, saw near-record hay production. Terry Kowalchuk of Saskatchewan Agriculture in Regina

man holding processed manure bedding for cows

Holy crap! New bedding made from manure

Producers can save time and money by not having to bale or buy, then transport straw

Henry Holtmann reaches into a large pile of what looks like a cross between wood shavings and down feathers, then lets the soft fibres slip through his hands. “When you grab it in your hand, it’s like a brown fluff, that’s the best way to describe it; it’s not like sand and it’s not like


Leanne MacKay standing beside potatoes she has growing in straw bales. photos: Joan Airey

Garden flourishes in recycled square bales

You’ve heard of bale grazing. How about bale gardening?

Leanne and Ed MacKay have found a new use for old square bales. They’ve turned them into a garden. The couple lives and gardens near Lake Wahtopanah at Rivers, which first of all meant enclosing their garden area within a 12-foot-high fence to keep the deer from feasting on their produce. “When touring Winnipeg Conservatory

Spinning straw into… mould? Sweet

Spinning straw into… mould? Sweet

Ordinary straw can be converted into the sweetener erythritol using a genetically modified mould fungi

Straw is often considered to be worthless and is therefore burned. But researchers have found a way to make it into erythritol, a sweetener that is 70 to 80 per cent as sweet as sugar. Erythritol does not make you fat, does not cause tooth decay, has no effect on the blood sugar and, unlike

Round hay bales covered in snow.

Buying last year’s hay — is it a good deal?

Sitting in the yard or field for an extra year has 
likely changed the feed value

Each year, as spring approaches and hay stocks begin to dwindle, hay prices increase and some year-old stored hay comes on the market. Producers should test before buying, says Barry Yaremcio, beef and forage specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. “While the feed may have initially been put up very well, sitting in the


Cattle producer Jim Lintott has been feeding straw since February.

Hay short after long winter, dry summer

Demand for Canadian hay south of the border has Manitoba farmers 
searching farther afield in order to feed their cattle this spring

A late spring and growing demand for cattle feed has depleted hay stocks across the province, leaving many beef producers paying more and travelling farther to find what they need. “We normally buy our hay locally, just 10 or 15 miles from home. But this year we’ve had to bring it in 250 miles from


Feds boost development of plant-based plastic and straw paper

Manitoba’s Composites Innovation Centre is one step closer to putting plant-based plastic alternatives into daily life, after receiving a federal grant of $860,000. The centre will use the funding to further research and develop plant-fibre mats — like those used in the automotive industry — and develop a system of classifying fibre quality and availability.


BioBaler makes its western Canadian debut

Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. That really is a round baler being pulled behind a tractor through a juvenile hardwood stand and creating round bales. Canadian Wood Fibre Centre (CWFC) researchers recently demonstrated the “BioBaler,” a patented juvenile-hardwood baling system developed originally by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in collaboration with the CWFC and

Egypt Searching For Alternatives To The “Black Cloud”

Each autumn, Egyptians take a deep breath and brace for the black cloud, a thick layer of smog from burning rice straw that spreads across Cairo and the Nile valley for several weeks. Burning agricultural waste, mostly rice straw, turns the capital s already noxious air into an even more toxic mix. Farmers produce about