Purebred cattle operations rely largely on DNA for parentage verification and identifying potential genetic defects, but where is the rest of the industry at with genomics? Is there a role for genome mapping in commercial herds? How will it help the industry as a whole? "There's genomic tools for every sector of the value chain... Read More
Category: Cattle
There is many a cowboy who likely wouldn't dream of kicking the cows off his land and running sheep or goats. We get that. But if you haven't thought about the benefits of using sheep and goats on pasture, you may be missing out on a very efficient means of getting more out your existing... Read More
A few weeks ago, I visited Mike Dugan, meat lipid scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, to ask about feeding flax seed to pigs to increase omega-3s in pork, and thus diversify the consumer base. But, one may ask, where's the beef? Well, a current study at the Lacombe Research Centre in Alberta is looking... Read More
So you're a little sheepish about multi-species grazing. It's understandable. Changing fencing strategies and planning handling, sorting, lambing and all the rest of it is a daunting task. Once you add predators to the mix, it can all seem a little overwhelming. Or, at least it did until I attended the Multi-Species Grazing Conference hosted... Read More
At the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association AGM this week in Moose Jaw, Ryder Lee provided an update from the Canadian Cattleman's Association. In this media scrum Ryder discusses the meetings happening this week Brussels regarding access to the EU market and how Canada will retaliate against the US regarding COOL. If you cannot see the... Read More
Shaun Haney, founder of RealAgriculture.com, spoke with Willie Van Solkema, president of JBS Canada, at the Saskatchewan Stock Growers' 100th AGM this week to get an update on JBS's move into Canada. Up for discussion: JBS Canada's foray into existing markets for the former-XL Foods products, which markets are still closed to the company and... Read More
Feedyards have moved from having to wait for cattle to be lifted for weeks on end to a situation where the market is very current. This has put a little needed marketing power in the hands of feedyards instead of the packer. The strong basis has beena n excellent incentive to sell cattle on schedule... Read More
The XL Foods beef recall over E. coli contamination and its detection was one of the top ag news stories of 2012. It's unfortunate that bad news is big news, and even worse that once the dust settles we discover that what happened was preventable even within the existing rules and regulations. An independent panel's... Read More
There are two things you're always going to have with livestock — deadstock and manure. Both byproducts, if you will, present their own type of challenges. And then there are rules and regulations to contend with. Unlike some other byproducts of beef production, however, manure is a truly valuable resource if handled, stored and used... Read More
What's your risk management plan for your cattle business? If you don't have one or would like to step up your understanding of price risk, managing returns and use of contracts, this free workshop may be for you. Beginning next week, Linus7, Agriculture Financial Services Corporation’s Cattle Price Insurance Program (CPIP) and RealAgriculture.com's cattle market... Read More