Category: Forage

What's tall and showy and a new silage option for Alberta ranchers? Sorghum Sudan grass! The crop is a warm season, fast growing, high nitrogen user that, as silage, is capturing the attention of silage users in Alberta, now that varieties are coming along to better fit the growing area. As Vern Turchyn, of Viterra,... Read More

If your grain-farming neighbour is wincing at crop prices and that makes you smile, you might be a cattle producer. And so begins a series of events and conditions converging to support solid cattle prices for the near term. As you'll hear in this interview with Anne Wasko, of Gateway Livestock, cattlement are enjoying strong... Read More

In the last Beef Research School episode, we took a virtual walk through a riparian area to assess its health. Healthy riparian areas, that transitional zone from pasture to waterway, are critical to decreasing riverbank erosion and nutrient migration to waterways. Once you've determined the general health of your riparian areas, it's time to put... Read More

Well-managed pastures can produce good yields for years, but will produce best if fertility of those pastures is planned for the long-term. Big producing pastures require big fertility numbers, though grazing helps to cycle these nutrients back to the soil. Over-grazing, too low or high stocking densities and time all can begin to mine pasture... Read More

Canada's Farm Progress Show is a great event to take in if you're looking for neat new pieces of equipment to make life on the farm easier and more productive. The show even hands out awards to those inventions that offer a new way to tackle an old job. Haukaas Manufacturing, based at Mortlach, Sask.,... Read More

Maximizing forage acre production may be an easy concept to work on in the office, but making decisions in the field isn't always that straightforward. How do you know whether or not a pasture needs some rejuvenation versus renovation? What factors play a role in getting the most out of existing acres, and what are... Read More

There are times when high quality high just isn't in the cards. In fact, sometimes the weather makes even attaining low quality hay nearly impossible. It's times like these that some farmers choose to turn too-wet hay into silage or haylage. The downside there, however, is that quality has already been lost — had you... Read More

Across parts of the Canada and the U.S., summer is making its presence felt. Intense heat has enveloped and put in danger areas of the U.S. while this week in Western Canada, some much needed heat is starting to dry out flood ravaged areas and give crops the boost they've been waiting for. Things can... Read More

This spring I listened in on the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture’s Alfalfa Weevil Webinar. I assume I’m not the only farmer out there who had little knowledge of the alfalfa weevil before the webinar, let alone any idea of how much of a problem it is becoming. Let’s just say that if you have yet... Read More

Perhaps I should preface this list with a caveat — the best way to make perfect hay is to ensure it doesn't get rained on. And now that we've all stopped belly-laughing we can get down to the business of making hay in a more realistic setting. I've listened to Dr. Dan Undersander, from the... Read More