Reading Time: 3 minutes There’s an elephant in your pasture. “The elephant is disappointment,” said Grant Lastiwka, forage specialist with Union Forage. “When you start to look at the average, Alberta hay yields are around 1.3 tonnes per acre across the province. That’s a low number. “When we look at pasture, all we’re getting in grazing days across many […] Read more
Pick the right forage for productivity and profitability
Productivity in many Alberta pastures is so low it ‘doesn’t pay a lot of bills,’ says forage specialist
Selecting the right forage mix has never been easier
New forage selection tool builds on extensive research and puts it all in an easy-to-use package
Reading Time: 3 minutes Trying to decide what forage to seed in a newly broken field? The Forage U Pick selector takes the guesswork out of it. Forage U Pick is not a new tool. Twelve years ago, the Saskatchewan Forage Council developed a Dryland Forage Selection Tool. It was well used by producers in that province, provincial ministries, […] Read more
Annual forages offer benefits, says forage specialist
Annual pastures allow you to properly rest their perennial cousins and can be used for silage or greenfeed
Reading Time: 2 minutes Annual forages offer a couple of advantages for producers, says a provincial forage and beef specialist. “By seeding annual pastures, producers can give stressed perennial pastures a rest,” said Karin Lindquist. “If those pastures are rested early in the spring and following rain, they can produce good amounts of growth later in the summer. However, […] Read more
Many pastures took a beating this winter, so scout early
Conduct plant counts as soon as pastures and hayfields start to green up, say forage experts
Reading Time: 4 minutes Cold, wet conditions through the fall and winter were the right recipe for winterkill in alfalfa pastures across the Prairies. “With climate change, the risk of forage stands being injured or killed by environmental stresses is predicted to increase,” said Bill Thomas, owner of BT Agronomy in Truro, Nova Scotia. “Just in the last month, […] Read more
New feed and forage barley lines bring high yields, strong standability
‘Fast breeding’ means producers can expect to see varieties hit the marketplace in almost half the time
Reading Time: 3 minutes New feed and forage genetics are coming down the pipe for cattle feeders. At the end of February, the Prairie Grain Development Committee approved three new feed and forage barley varieties from the Field Crop Development Centre, as well as two triticale varieties that would be suitable for feed and forage. “Over the past couple […] Read more
Crop variety reports now available
Reading Time: < 1 minute This year’s crop varietal reports are now available. The reports are designed to help producers make sound decisions when considering which silage, cereal and oilseed varieties to grow. “Varieties of cereal and oilseed crops for Alberta provide information on cereal and oilseed variety performance within Alberta and northeastern British Columbia,” said crop research technologist Alex […] Read more
Don’t be fooled by moisture content when buying feed
Moisture content is all over the map this year, which makes price comparisons more difficult
Reading Time: 2 minutes Knowing the moisture content of feeds is key when comparing prices. “The summer of 2019 was extremely challenging for anyone trying to put up dry forage,” said farm business management specialist Ted Nibourg. “More often than not, hay and greenfeed were baled at moisture contents greater than normal. In an attempt to salvage forage production this […] Read more
Producers can reduce carbon hoofprint while boosting profitability
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you want to raise more environmentally friendly cows, there are several things you can do, say experts. And make money from doing them. Over the last 30 years, the beef sector has improved efficiency by 15 per cent, but it can still do more to reduce methane emissions, said John Basarab, senior research scientist […] Read more
Don’t let those drought-stressed forages go to seed
You won’t get a lot of hay from that first cut but it gives you a chance of getting a second one
Reading Time: 2 minutes Determining the right time to cut a hay stand could mean the difference between harvesting a second cut or the stand becoming dormant, says a provincial forage and beef specialist. “A lack of sufficient moisture stresses plants, and that is certainly apparent this spring,” said Karin Lindquist. “Plants that do not get enough moisture are […] Read more
Beef web resource being preserved
Reading Time: < 1 minute Information that had been available on foragebeef.ca is gradually being added to beefresearch.ca. The Beef Cattle Research Council has been reviewing “hundreds of pages” of information that have been available on foragebeef.ca, an Alberta Agriculture website that the ministry is no longer able to maintain. The council is updating information before moving it over to […] Read more
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