The federal government has announced another $4.47 million in funding for the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence being built near Saskatoon. David Lametti, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, announced the funding on Friday at the University of Saskatchewan. Originally announced in 2015, the centre will have its physical… Read more »
Category: Forage
Wheat Pete’s Word, May 10: Quality forage timing, cold temp fallout, and two-pass fungicide strategy
This week’s (almost!) cross-Canada Wheat Pete’s Word is packed full of great questions, worries about cold temperatures, solid timely answers on field management, and at least one alert, alert, alert! Your host Peter Johnson tackles questions on harvesting cereal rye (soon! this week!) while keeping compaction in mind, if corn seed is going to be… Read more »
The Cost of Mycotoxin in Feed, Plus Feeding Strategies to Ease Heat Stress
Summer may feel a long way off, but being prepared to manage heat stress in dairy cattle goes a long way in warding off the production losses that go along with it. We’re also well into the 2016 feed crop, and there are reports of several farmers struggling to keep mycotoxin (specifically DON/vomitoxin) levels low enough… Read more »
OSCIA Revives Forage Masters Competition
The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) recently announced a return of the Forage Masters Competition. New and improved, revamping of the competition was lead by Don Oliver, OSCIA director for the east central region. A team effort involving input from not just OSCIA directors, members, staff, but also from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and… Read more »
How Many Tonnes of Protein Can You Raise Per Acre?
If you’ve got cows, you likely do something like this: number of cows x days on feed = tonnes of hay/forage needed. But what if you’ve got land, but no livestock, and want to include perennial forage in rotation? Have you ever sat down and done this: number of acres x tonnes of feed produced… Read more »
Wheat Pete’s Word, Dec 28: Starter Fert on Corn, the N/Protein Dance, & All About Clover
On the eve of 2017, we wrap up the calendar year with one last instalment of Wheat Pete’s Word. From a recent land price record, to so many questions on fertilizer timing, placement, and products, and finally on to a great deep dive into single and double cut clover, Johnson tackles alfalfa discussions, the true… Read more »
Watch Closely for Funding Application Announcements: OSCIA
There’s funding out there, Ontairo farmers — but you’ve got to pay attention in order to get in, says Margaret May, regional program lead with the Ontario Soil & Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA). I caught up with May at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show (as is our tradition, it seems) to quickly recap four funding programs… Read more »
‘Intelligent’ Baler Delivers Uniformity and Reduces Operator Fatigue
New Holland’s new IntelliBale system is designed to increase productivity by automating round baling functions to reduce operator fatigue and produce more uniform bales. New Holland unveiled the technology at the recent Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa. In this video, hay and forage marketing manager Seth Doman explains that New Holland’s IntelliBale uses ISOBUS 3 technology… Read more »
Extending the Grazing Season — Options for Adding Days on Grass
Having enough forage on hand for the fall grazing or winter feeding season is sort of like the best time to plant a tree — it should have been planned for a long time ago. But even the best of intentions got waylaid this year throughout much of Ontario because it Just. Didn’t. Rain. Many… Read more »
Beef School: Ep.1 — Supercharge Forage With Silage Inoculants
Do you inoculate your silage? If not, you could be losing out on added digestibility or leaving the bunk or silo open to added spoilage. In this very first episode of the Beef School, we meet with Dr. Tim McAllister, principal research scientist, ruminant nutrition & microbiology, with Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, to learn more… Read more »
Streeee-tch Those Hay Supplies
Do you know which crop’s straw is the most palatable? If you don’t have a TMR, how do you get livestock to eat more straw to stretch those hay supplies? Did you know straw quality can change significantly from year to year? What are the more creative options for feeding livestock? 2016 has not been… Read more »
New Holland Goes Big on Bale Density
The latest generation of New Holland’s flagship BigBaler promises to raise the bar for big square density and uniformity. New Holland unveiled the BigBaler 340 Plus last month at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa. In this video, New Holland hay and forage marketing manager Seth Doman explains that the key feature making this… Read more »
Wheat Pete’s Word, Sept 7: Hot & Humid Weather, Sprouting Corn, & Wheat Planting No-Gos
Harvest is rolling along in many areas of the province, including the first reported grain corn coming off earlier this week. This week, RealAgriculture’s Peter Johnson tackles your toughest questions on troubled corn, late hay, and wheat variety selection in this September 7th edition of Wheat Pete’s Word. (Highlights below). Listen or download below! And of… Read more »
New Centre of Excellence to Bring Livestock Chain Research Together
One of the pillars of Canada’s National Beef Strategy — a strategic plan released in early January, 2015 — is connectivity. Saskatchewan’s Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence fits nicely with this goal, by “bringing together every link of the livestock production chain.” Plans for the Centre were announced in July of 2015, when it received $10… Read more »
Clayton Robins Recounts His Nuffield Experience and the Potential for Energy-Dense Forages
Being selected as a 2013 Nuffield Scholar led Clayton Robins, a rancher from Rivers, Manitoba, around the world. It was a journey that began by shining a light on grasses with high concentrations of water soluble carbohydrates, and eventually, meant turning up the house lights… “It branched into everything from looking at rumen physiology, ruminant nutrition all the way through to… Read more »