The role of genomics continues to expand in the beef industry, with the technology becoming increasingly cost effective. Besides determining parentage, genomics have the potential to assess feed efficiency, fertility and susceptibility to disease. To many producers, this may eventually mean genetic testing most animals, most years. To others, it may simply mean genome sequencing... Read More
Category: Western Canada
This year at FarmTech, one of the sessions dealt with the Harrington Seed Destructor (HSD), a machine developed in Australia to process chaff at harvest, in an attempt to destroy weed seeds. The HSD was inspired by incredible herbicide-resistance issues. This year, Canada will receive its first HSD for research purposes. Find out more from... Read More
When it comes to meat, poultry is continuing to see big demand across the country, largely because of our appetite for chicken. The Canadian Meat Council says that in 2010 the average Canadian ate almost 16 kilograms of poultry compared to 13 kg of beef and 12 kg of pork. Moving forward, poultry demand will... Read More
Could something as simple as a gate be driving down the average number of lactations per cow in your herd? Some would say, yes. Ontario field editor Bernard Tobin was on hand at this year’s Canadian Dairy Xpo at Stratford, Ont., and sat down to talk barn design, herd health and more with Joep Driessen,... Read More
In farming, we want two very opposite things from seed — we want a seed that stores well, perhaps even long term, but also a seed that, the moment conditions are right, it speedily germinates and becomes a hardy seedling. You can't always have it both ways, of course, and the inner workings of a…Read More
Its the beginning of February which means it is time for the annual National Cattleman's Beef Association (NCBA) meeting. With the cash market higher and feed prices lower than a year ago, cattle producers are seeing some strong margins and reasons for putting increased cattle on feed. Shaun Haney and Anne Wasko discuss the meeting... Read More
Without question one of the key components of a successful farm conference is the caliber of the networking opportunities available. FarmTech's great speaker lineup and face-time-heavy agenda lends itself very well to meeting new and interesting people. At this year's event, RealAgriculture's founder Shaun Haney sat down with a few attendees to discuss what brought…Read More
To many farmers, seed treatment is not an input worth questioning (check out Shane Thomas' Three Reasons You Must Treat Your Seed), and as farms grow, it's likely that the size and capacity of seed treaters will increase as well. Related: Serfas Farms Steps Up Seed Treating with the USC LP2000 In this video, Kaitlyn... Read More
Let's say the planning stages go like this: crop rotation, variety selection, seed testing, determine seeding rate and so on. If you're a farmer who doesn't typically test seed or who may be thinking of skipping this step in an effort to save on costs, this episode of the Pulse School is for you. In…Read More
Think of an event covered by 5,000 journalists from 70 countries. The Winter Olympics? Superbowl XLVIII? A Justin Bieber court appearance? Think again – it’s actually an agriculture and food event, the biggest one in Europe, called Green Week. Now in its 79th year, this edition, staged every January, drew a record 410,000 people (mostly... Read More