January - 2017

Innovation, education and regenerative agriculture

Bale Grazing Dos and Don'ts

Bale Grazing Dos and Don'ts

If you’re going to be feeding your livestock this winter, bale grazing could be right for you. It can save you time and money and even improve your pastures. Here are some tips from the Manitoba Grazing Council to help you get started and make it work for you. How Many Bales Should You Put Out? This math really isn’t any different than what you use when you’re figuring how much hay to purchase. The amount of dry matter feed needed will be 2.5 to 3% of each cow’s body weight.

Let Cattle do the Seeding

Let Cattle do the Seeding

Cattle can be managed to produce calves, beef and milk, but can they also be put to work re-seeding pastures? The palatable black seed pods of cicer milk vetch will no doubt be consumed by these yearlings on this fall-grazing pasture and distributed over other parts of this and other pastures. Most of the cicer milk vetch in this pasture was establish by cattle depositing seed through their manure. As long as you’re not in a hurry, producers who manage beef cows and yearlings

Is it Time to Start Early Evening Feeding?

Is it Time to Start Early Evening Feeding?

It is generally accepted that adequate supervision at calving has a significant impact on reducing calf mortality. Adequate supervision has been of increasing importance with the higher price of live calves at sale time. On most ranching operations, supervision of the first calf heifers will be best accomplished in daylight hours and the poorest observation takes place in the middle of the night. The easiest and most practical method of inhibiting nighttime calving at present

Reproduction & Grazing Were Designed for Each Other

Reproduction & Grazing Were Designed for Each Other

For optimum energy utilization, the cows' reproductive cycle should coincide with the grass production cycle A study from the United Kingdom shows that calving or lambing outside of the seasonal cycle of pasture production can increase costs by up to 75% over spring calving or lambing. In other words if we require our cows to calve in the winter months it is going to cost more than if the herd calves in the spring. As ranchers and farmers go we are a group of people who often

Dung Beetles Found to Reduce Survival of Livestock Parasites

Dung Beetles Found to Reduce Survival of Livestock Parasites

Scientists from the University of Bristol have found that dung beetles can help farmers by reducing the development and survival of parasites in cowpats that cause serious illness in cattle during the summer months. The study was led by Bryony Sands from the School of Biological Sciences, a NERC-funded PhD student and is published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Artificial cow pats were made using feces collected elsewhere and were manipulated by adding dung beetles and va

Grid-Tie Solar Options: What Makes it Different?

Grid-Tie Solar Options: What Makes it Different?

What is Grid-Tie Solar? It is becoming increasingly profitable for Albertans to generate their own electricity and sell it to the grid, utilizing the renewable energy sources on available right on their property. Grid-tie eliminates the large cost associated with the batteries used to store solar energy. How Grid-Tied Solar Power Works Sunlight is captured via solar cells in a solar panel/module which generates an electrical current. The electricity is then converted from DC

Canada Thistle Mining Weevils: A Hopeful Biocontrol?

Canada Thistle Mining Weevils: A Hopeful Biocontrol?

What if we could control Canada thistle without the use of herbicides that destroy our mixed legume and alfalfa stands? And more importantly, save money in the long run without the expensive costs of annual herbicide application? That is where the Canada Thistle Mining Weevil comes into play or Hadroplontus litura. This weevil was first introduced to Canada from Europe in 1965 and feeds solely on Canada Thistle and a few close relatives. It attacks the rosettes of Canada This

How to Tell Your Farm Story using Social Media

How to Tell Your Farm Story using Social Media

We Are Our Own Gatekeepers Just a decade ago, the media was dominated by a few (very loud) voices. We watched the TV news at 5 p.m. and read the newspaper over coffee. If, as a farmer or a manufacturer or an inventor, we wanted to tell our story, we wrote up a press release and faxed it out – hoping someone would bite. Or, we sank thousands into advertising. For the most part, farmers didn’t need to hire a big-city public relations firm to tell consumers that milk came from c

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