Bergen

Canadian Cattlemen

Johne’s disease: Cheap to buy, costly to live with

“Biosecurity” often conjures up images of poultry or hog operations with truckers-report-at-the-gate signs, shower-in-and-out rules and workers dressed in hazmat suits. The point of biosecurity practices is obviously to reduce the risk that disease-causing microbes will enter or spread within high-health status herds or flocks. It is much harder to implement high levels of bio­security...

September 3, 2019

Manitoba Co-operator

Feds tout gun legislation as workable middle ground

There’s an old political adage that if critics on both sides of an issue don’t like a government policy then it may have struck the right balance. The government’s tightening of weapon registration and background checks included in a bill tabled in Parliament has miffed both stricter gun control supporters as well as gun-owner groups....

April 6, 2018

Canadian Cattlemen

Maintaining momentum in forages

Canada’s pasture and rangelands have drier, colder, and shorter growing seasons than many other beef-producing areas in the world. The forage varieties that perform best in Canada are generally the ones that have been bred, selected and developed to germinate, grow, survive and thrive here. Forage varieties developed in foreign countries are sometimes marketed in...

December 27, 2017

Canadian Cattlemen

Bovine respiratory disease from the farm to the feedlot

Weed seeds and invasive species may be present even in well-managed pastures and rangelands, but it is hard for them to germinate, establish and spread in healthy, competitive forage stands. Stresses like severe drought, overgrazing, heavy traffic or excavation can weaken forage stands and create opportunities for unwanted plants to take root. Researchers are now...

September 29, 2017

Canadian Cattlemen

Another look at the costs and benefits of swath grazing

Well-managed swath grazing has well-known economic benefits for producers. But research results from a study funded by the Beef Science Cluster showed that it can have environmental benefits as well. Dr. Vern Baron and coworkers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lacombe Research Station recently published Swath grazing triticale and corn compared to barley and a...

September 7, 2017

Canadian Cattlemen

Deciding what beef research and innovation to fund

This column usually features Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC) projects supported by Canada’s national checkoff, mainly through Canada’s Beef Science Cluster. The current Beef Cluster involves the BCRC, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Alberta Beef Producers, the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association, Manitoba Beef Producers, Beef Farmers of Ontario, the Quebec Beef Producers Federation, DuPont Pioneer, the...

February 24, 2017