Producers cash out before calf market nosedives

With his calculator at the ready beside him, Pipestone-area rancher Bob Forder watched as the first lot of “good solid” black calves at Heartland Livestock Services’ first fall pre-sort sale came through the ring. When the bidding stopped at $1.725 per pound for the lot averaging 533 lbs, a fellow in the row in front of him turned



Building a herd for the real world

An Peischel aimed high when she began breeding goats back in 1985. “My goals were to produce the highest-quality breeding stock that I could sell to producers and sleep at night, and also to hang the best carcass on the rail off of native vegetation,” the University of Tennessee extension agent said at the recent


Inhumane treatment documented again

California processor Central Valley Meat Co. is the subject of a recent Internet animal cruelty video released by anti-meat organization “Compassion over Killing.” The video captured instances of inhumane handling practices that are not condoned by the beef and cattle industry or the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) suspended

Electric fencing tips to keep your goats from roaming

Expert recommends five strands of heavy-gauge, high-tensile wire with proper 
grounding for containing a herd of climbers, leapers and stubborn old billies

Good goats love to roam and you need a fence that’s up to the job. Characteristics that make goats effective at grazing rough pastures — such as aggressive feeding habits and the ability to stand on their hind legs — also means they like to explore new areas and will jump and climb and otherwise



Minto goat dairy hit by brazen theft

Owner seeks public’s help in locating 48, all-white, weanling Saanen does stolen in July This time, nobody is pointing the finger at coyotes. Sometime between July 14 and 22, 48 white Saanen kids out of a herd of 600 owned by Oak Island Acres goat dairy in Minto went missing in what owner Diane Rourke


Herds get paid to graze

Eric Weisbeck had one big problem on the 17,000-acre community pasture he manages — brush was taking over. Brian Payne had a simple solution — 700 of his goats. “And then when he told me that I wouldn’t have to do a whole bunch of fencing, I was even more in favour of that,” said