Reading Time: 3 minutes Cattle producers, there seems to be some disagreement as to what a female is called after she delivers her first calf and is pregnant with her second. Is she a cow? Is she still a heifer? Is she something else? What do you call her? A Twitter poll with 144 respondents revealed that 39 per […] Read more
What’s in a name? Quite a lot for young female cows
‘Second-calf heifer’ doesn’t sit right with some, but the important thing is recognizing they’re different from mature cows
Farming is not a one-size-fits-all business
There is room for organic, conventional, and GM technology because each of them offers different benefits
Reading Time: 3 minutes I continue to witness arguments over different methods of farming. But considering the variety of farms around the world, and that most of them are very small compared to the Canadian average, combative conversation is really rather unwarranted and, in many cases, an uneducated dialogue. When one disparages farms that are organic or ones that […] Read more
Give yourself the gifts that make life so much better
These eight gifts can’t be bought, but are more precious than anything offered in any store
Reading Time: 3 minutes Encouragement is a much appreciated gift, and I have the pleasure of sharing this with young men and women around the world. From the farm in South Africa to the apple grove in Holland; from the backyard farm in the Philippines to the grain farm in Saskatchewan; and all places in between, there are passionate […] Read more
An act of kindness fills the human spirit and ripples outward
They often come out of nowhere and when they are most needed — and their power to uplift is deep and strong
Reading Time: 3 minutes It was the usual day. Get up early, study the markets, check on the cattle, fix fence, make a sandwich, and then go out and do it all again. Going to town or taking time to do things in the home were privileges, stretched out on the horizon and always seemingly days or months away. […] Read more
Food insecurity is not just a Third World problem
The situation in a country like Sudan is much more dire, but there are parallels to our own country
Reading Time: 3 minutes The United Nations has developed 17 sustainable development goals. The second one is “zero hunger.” This includes a mandate to end not only hunger but poverty everywhere and to achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. I would like to focus on food security in this column. Food security was defined at the […] Read more
Will boys always be boys? Not if we teach them proper boundaries
Around the world, boys are taught that aggression towards females is OK — it’s not, and must not be accepted
Reading Time: 3 minutes I was at the beach and there was a family on either side of me. On my left was a father and his four boys. On my right was a father and his four girls. The four girls played quietly doing make believe and building sand castles. Their father listened to music and watched for […] Read more
Temper tantrums: There’s way too much drama on some farms
A Facebook post on hand signals prompted an outpouring of comments from farm women subjected to angry tirades
Reading Time: 4 minutes This summer, a young female farmer posted the following message on Facebook: My husband is the worst ever at hand signals. Ten yrs. farming together and I still have no freaking clue what he is trying to signal to me. It would help if he actually used conventional signals and not his own secret signal […] Read more
The fall run is tough on calves but we can do better
The health problems seen in the feedlot don’t come out of the blue and careful handling should start at the home ranch
Reading Time: 3 minutes With the fall run underway, cattlemen and women are faced again with the challenge of morbidity and mortality in calves. By the time calves land in the feed yard, they have often been handled and transported several times. How they fight off disease during that extraordinarily stressful period is related to their age and weight. […] Read more
Opinion: Why the cattle checkoff should rise
Canada’s beef industry has a bright future but innovation is key and costly — and the current levy simply isn’t enough
Reading Time: 3 minutes As cattle producers, you and I have been helping to fund Canadian beef research since 2002 by paying checkoff every time we sell an animal. The work that’s been done with that money has benefited the industry as a whole and at the individual farm level because of the information and innovations that come as […] Read more
The making of a true – and enduring – love story
Out of a first tempestuous meeting and many months of shenanigans, an extraordinary relationship was born
Reading Time: 3 minutes He came into my life in his 11th year — a strong, beautifully marked buckskin gelding with a temper to match the devil himself. He had never been trailered or worked for his keep, but his eye was gentle and something inside of me whispered to give him a go. A gift from very dear […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
