Reading Time: 2 minutes The more I learn about plant breeding, the more I feel I missed my true calling in life. And a recent attempt at crossing two barley plants at the Lacombe Field Day only fuelled my secret ambition. I worked with Laura Hoge, a germplasm technician at Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, in a machine shed […] Read more
A lesson in (barley) emasculation
Reporter's notebook: Pollination and plant breeding at Lacombe Field Day
Swath grazing cereals saves half of overwintering costs in beef cattle
With new higher-yielding, higher-quality forage cereals in the works, there has never been a better time for beef cattle producers to try swath grazing cereals
Reading Time: 2 minutes Swath grazing cereals could save producers almost half the cost of overwintering cattle, says a federal forage researcher. “Extended grazing practices like swath grazing, bale grazing, and grazing second-cut grasses in the fall are one of the most effective ways to reduce your overwintering costs of beef cows,” Vern Baron said at the Lacombe Field […] Read more
A better way to beat your bug troubles
Integrated pest management allows beneficial bugs to prosper
Reading Time: 2 minutes Prevention — not eradication — is the trick to managing pest outbreaks in crops, says a B.C. government entomologist. “In integrated pest management, pest suppression is truly the goal,” Tracey Hueppelsheuser said at a workshop in late July. “The end goal is to limit pest outbreaks and impacts — not completely remove them, but limit […] Read more
Study shows no downside to pre-harvest glyphosate on malt barley
Pre-harvest glyphosate applied at the right time and the right rate has no negative impact on malt barley germination — a key concern for maltsters
Reading Time: 2 minutes Malt barley producers battling secondary growth in the fall may soon be able to add glyphosate to their arsenal, thanks to a federal research study underway across the Prairies. These preliminary findings are part of a larger study looking at agronomic practices to improve malt barley quality and yield, said federal research scientist John O’Donovan. […] Read more
Pricey tile worth the money, producers say
Costs of up to $1.20 a foot means tiling makes the most sense in areas with ‘substantial rainfall’
Reading Time: 5 minutes Hidden in the hills west of Bentley, an eight-mile system of black plastic tubing snakes its way underground through the low areas, silently sucking excess moisture out of the saturated valleys that have made working the land a struggle for area farmers like Jason Lenz. But since installing his tile drainage system nearly 30 years […] Read more
A picture is worth 1,000 words — if it’s done right
Your best bet is an ‘idiot-proof camera,’ not a smartphone, when it comes to digital diagnosis
Reading Time: 3 minutes Most people use their smartphone cameras to share pictures of their kids, pets, or lunch. But those aren’t what is filling up Kelly Turkington’s inbox. “People are going out into the field with a smartphone, taking a picture, and emailing to ask for a diagnosis,” the federal research scientist said at a recent workshop in […] Read more
Bloat no problem with the right genetics
Managing bloat comes down to the right genetics, right feed, and right mineral products
Reading Time: 3 minutes The fear of bloat costs the livestock industry more than the condition ever does, says a well-known grazing consultant and researcher from Idaho. “I’ve seen the figures from the States, and something like two one-hundredths of one per cent of the total cattle herd dies each year from bloat,” Jim Gerrish told attendees at a […] Read more
Is your pasture ready to graze? Start counting leaves
Grazing a pasture for six weeks costs about half of the annual production potential for your forages
Reading Time: 3 minutes Deciding when to graze a pasture has nothing to do with plant height, says an Idaho-based grazing expert. “Height doesn’t tell us very much,” Jim Gerrish said recently at a Foothills Forage and Grazing tour near Acme. “What we really want to know is, physiologically, is a plant ready to be grazed?” And leaf stage […] Read more
Aussie weed ‘seed destroyer’ ready to roll in Alberta trials
The Australian-made Harrington seed destructor shows promise for cleaver control in Alberta, but likely won’t work on wild oats
Reading Time: 2 minutes A novel way of controlling herbicide-resistant weeds has emerged from Down Under, but whether it will take off in Canada is still up in the air. “We know that herbicide resistance is a problem here, but it’s also a really big problem in Australia,” said Breanne Tidemann, a graduate student at the University of Alberta. […] Read more
Winter cereals match herbicides in controlling wild oats
Producers might be ‘fairly shocked,’ but study finds winter cereals are as effective as herbicides in wild oats control
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winter cereals control wild oats just as well as herbicides do, suggests a study underway in Lacombe. “When we had two years of winter cereals — either running or with an early-cut silage in between — we had as good of wild oat control as when we went three years of alfalfa or canola-wheat-canola-wheat with […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
