Reading Time: 3 minutes Good King Wenceslas may have called for his servant to “bring me pine logs hither” to fend off the winter’s chill, but for common folk in the Middle Ages, the fuel of choice was more likely bundles of coppice wood. Coppicing, or the practice of cutting off trees close to the ground, then harvesting the […] Read more
Willow And Poplar Offer A Clean Energy Alternative
A Long-Term View Of Rotation
Reading Time: 2 minutes Boom-bust cycles are supposed to be a bad thing, but not for Ray Banister. After 40 years’ experience with rotational grazing on his 7,200-acre Montana ranch, he now uses intense periods of grazing followed by two growing seasons of rest. Banister calls it “boom-bust” management. This strategy forces his Hereford cattle to eat not just […] Read more
Utah Prof Urges Rethink Of Ranching Philosophy
Reading Time: 3 minutes A better understanding of grazing animal behaviour could make ranching profitable again, says Fred Provenza, a professor from Utah State University. “I’m not a person who hates fossil fuels, I like them. But we’ve used them as a crutch,” said Provenza. “It’s been great, but it’s costly to do that. So, we have to think […] Read more
New Annual Legume To Round Out The Toolbox
Reading Time: 4 minutes “It would make a very good forage crop because it has diosgenin – something no other crop has. I call it the Ben Johnson compound because it is like an anabolic steroid that makes muscle.” It’s hard to imagine a more interesting crop. Grown for at least 4,000 years in India, fenugreek is one of […] Read more
Pro Cattle “Fitter” Brings Tips To 4-H Members
Reading Time: 3 minutes Raising and preparing 4-H calves for the show ring is a rite of passage for many rural youth across North America. Much emphasis is placed on clipping, trimming and primping the animals’ coat to make it more appealing to the judges, but the real starting point begins long before the calf is loaded onto the […] Read more
Harvest Of Hay Is A Harvest Of Nutrients
Reading Time: 5 minutes “Crop nutrition is a staple, not an option. If you don’t want to fertilize the alfalfa, then you better be content with grasses and dandelions.” Of all common farming practices, harvesting hay off the same field year after year is probably the hardest on the land. The forage, be it alfalfa or grass, sucks up […] Read more
Environmental Regulations Squeeze Spanish Hog Farmers The Good Times Are Over For Spain’s Hog Industry
Reading Time: 3 minutes Large-scale hog farming worked wonders for the Catalonian economy – for a while. Economically depressed for decades by a long civil war and later the rule of fascist dictator Francisco Franco, the Spanish autonomous territory bordered by France on one side and the Mediterranean Sea on the other first jumped into hog production to boost […] Read more
When Is Summer Ever Going To Get Here?
Reading Time: 3 minutes It seems like pretty much all of the Canadian Prairies are experiencing one of the coolest springs in a while, and after some of the springs we have seen over the last 10 or so years, that’s saying a lot. From Alberta all the way to Manitoba, temperatures so far this spring have been – […] Read more
It That Canola Bad, Or Does It Just Look That Way?
Reading Time: 4 minutes “The worst thing you can do is to say, ‘Yeah, I have this thin stand. I’m not going to put any more money into it.’ That’s a real recipe for disaster.” Sometimes they die, sometimes they don’t. If half the tiny canola seeds that farmers put in the ground in spring survived, then getting a […] Read more
Slow Down To Give Canola A Head Start
Reading Time: 2 minutes When seeding canola, slow and steady wins the race. Farmers who open up the throttle wider to get more acres seeded quicker this spring should keep in mind that lower speeds pay off in more consistent seeding depth, according to Jim Bessel, a senior agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada. With a 40-foot […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
