With wet growing conditions in many areas and high prices driving tight pulse crop rotations, the table was set for root rot to feast on pea stands in Western Canada this year. While one of the main culprits — aphanomyces — was first confirmed in Saskatchewan in 2012 and in Alberta in 2013, testing on…Read More
Category: Western Canada
According to the Western Canadian Cow Calf Survey completed in 2015, 72 percent of calves in Western Canada are sold at weaning, with 80 percent being sold via an auction market. The combination of stressors calves face in that short time from weaning to auction to entering a feedlot has major health and economic implications,... Read More
Farmers got a glimpse of the future on Day 1 of the Farm Progress Show. Case IH rolled out an autonomous concept tractor and John Deere talked about plans for a carbon fibre farming revolution that could see sprayer booms and more made of the material in the near future. Real Agriculture’s Kelvin Heppner and... Read More
Although he sees minor improvement in the cattle industry’s work towards mitigating the risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), Cody Creelman, managing partner and DVM, Veterinary Agri-Health Services, says there’s much more work to be done to understand the extent of AMR. “There needs to be more dedicated research,” Creelman told RealAgriculture, in an interview filmed... Read More
We've all heard that phrase, often used to console in the gruff way most ranchers know best. "When you have livestock, you have deadstock." But that phrase places too much emphasis on the notion that the death is out of our hands. It's not. While we must not beat ourselves up for lost animals, there's... Read More
Do you know a farm groupie? For many, a big part of being a groupie is rubbing shoulders with a celebrity. Most farmers don’t consider themselves rock stars, but some attract a hoard of loyal, dedicated peeps – even if it’s the last thing they want. Before the digital age and the ubiquitous cell phone,... Read More
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be raising the subject of Canadian canola imports during his trip to China this week, according to the federal agriculture minister. Exports to Canada's largest canola seed customer are facing an uncertain future, as China plans to implement tighter import restrictions on September 1st. The 1 percent dockage standard would... Read More
Family farms involve a complex interaction between two worlds — the family and the business, and both these worlds are impacted when a new person arrives. This person can be the glue that keeps things together, or the dynamite that blows things apart. We're talking about what happens when a son or daughter-in-law marries into…Read More
For 32 years, Rob Hall worked in agricultural banking in Ontario – sometimes at the very top of the food chain, and always on the management side of the desk. Now, he’s switched sides. He’s on the farmer’s side. And he’s eager to talk in plain language. In February, Hall launched BankSpeak, a business finance... Read More
Draft horse competitors from all over Alberta were in Picture Butte last weekend for the Coyote Flats Harvest Days, competing in the horse log skid and horse pull. Our own Shaun Haney was at the pioneer celebration, hoping to get footage of some old tractors and the threshing show. But what he found to be... Read More