Moving livestock safely, even short distances, requires the right type of trailer, skilled handlers and an informed plan for transport length and conditions. In order to ensure Canadian cattle are being handled with positive outcomes in mind, we need scientifically-informed guidelines for what appropriate travel durations and conditions are. Dr. Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein, an Agriculture and… Read More
Category: Cattle
Most of the pomp and circumstance at cattle shows swirls around the big purebred championships. It’s not different at Canadian Western Agribition, where show-stopping bulls sell for more money than most people’s cars cost. There’s a lot more that goes on at Agribition, though, that doesn’t always get as much attention, but it’s important nonetheless…. Read More
The threat of bovine tuberculosis from wild populations of animals in Manitoba’s Riding Mountain National Park area has weighed heavily on cattle producers in the region for some time. The region has seen a steady decline in cattle and ranchers in part due to this threat. As a plan of attack, Manitoba recently announced the… Read More
Last week, a great contributor to the Canadian cattle industry was taken from us much too soon. I was very saddened when I heard that last week of the passing of Neil Jannke. I had a beer with Neil and his son Shane at the Saskatchewan StockGrowers AGM last spring. Always when with the Jahnke’s there was some great… Read More
The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) hosted its annual roundtable meeting between Canadian and US beef industry leaders during Canadian Western Agribition in Regina. Now in its seventh year, the roundtable brought cattle producers from North Dakota, Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin to meet with their Canadian counterparts at Agribition. The event gathered six American representatives… Read More
Last week’s U.S. beef market opened with the same strong numbers leading up to American Thanksgiving. By the end of the week, numbers had, as expected, weakened somewhat, as supplies increase in the U.S. In Canada, the reverse is true for supplies — as the fall run ends, the basis is tightening. Canadian cattle producers… Read More
Planting grazing corn is a great way to extend the Western Canadian grazing season well into the winter or start it earlier in the spring. The crop works well as a forage, even when seeded a bit later than ideal, as you’ll see in this interview. In this interview, Kevin Elmy, of Friendly Acres Seed… Read More
The cattle business is also a people business. Sharing a coffee, shaking hands and commiserating in the leaky barns at Agribition is an import part of building your cattle business, whether as a purebred breeder or a commercial stock grower. RealAgriculture.com sat down to speak with Sheldon Kyle, with Kenray Ranch, about why national cattle… Read More
Food safety in the beef industry was a topic that was front and centre at this years Canfax Cattle Market Forum. Producers and industry members were left questioning just how far the impact of the recall would reach and how long the hangover would last. As we found out when we sat down with Brian… Read More
Soil is a magnificent thing. It’s the medium that makes crop production possible. It’s also rather mysterious. Even now, scientists are just beginning to scratch the surface of naming all the microbes that live in soil and understanding their functions and interactions. There’s also much we do know and understand about soil and its ability… Read More
Todd Hirsch, ATB financial senior economist, spoke at the Canfax Cattle Market Forum. The outlook he provided was one of cautious optimism mixed with a little bit of wait and see. The cautious optimism stems from the overall stability of the Canadian economy and the growth in provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan. The wait… Read More
The Canadian cattle industry has made continual gains in beef quality and safety and production efficiency, year over year, even in the face of significant challenges in the past decade. That’s due in no small part to the tenacious nature of Canada’s beef producers, but it’s also a result of significant gains made through extensive… Read More
After a year-over-year doubling of traffic to the site, RealAgriculture.com hired its first full-time editor this spring. Now, the site continues to expand in the form of a new school. Joining the line up RealAgriculture’s production-focused Schools is the new Beef Research School — a series of 30 videos produced in partnership with the Beef… Read More
The world is a much smaller place than it ever was. When it comes to areas like feed grains, what was once a very localized trade is now increasingly international. That requires a new level of international awareness for producers, especially in times marked by historic highs and increasingly tight supplies. So what should we… Read More
The optimism cattle producers started off 2012 with has become a little less broad and a little more cautious as 2012 starts to wind down. High commodity prices, a brutal US drought and high replacement costs among other factors have really dampened the high enthusiasm seen at the beginning of the year. It was February… Read More