Reading Time: 3 minutes The grazing muzzle is a simple, effective, and sensible tool caretakers can use to manage the grass intake of their horses. The grazing muzzle is a basket-like contraption — a piece of headgear a horse wears with the intention of slowing down and reducing grass intake on pasture. The horse wearing the muzzle can breathe […] Read more
Management strategies for using grazing muzzles
Horse Health: Grass consumption can be reduced by 30 to 80 per cent depending on the horse or pony wearing one
Capturing value from riparian areas
The first step is to have a plan before you start fencing, says riparian management expert
Reading Time: 5 minutes Ask just about any Alberta farmer about the worst drought in recent memory and there’s a good chance they will say 2002 — a year that saw water supplies devastated throughout the province. For Sean McGrath, some foresight around land management that year prevented what could have been a disaster. Fencing off a dugout and […] Read more
It’s never too late to feed test
There’s ‘no substitute’ for knowing the precise energy, protein, and nutrient content of your feed, says a provincial specialist
Reading Time: 2 minutes If cattle feed supplies are starting to get low and pastures need more time before turning cattle out, a provincial beef extension specialist recommends doing feed tests on remaining feed. “The more you know about what you are working with for feed values, the more accurate you will be targeting the animals’ nutrition and ensuring […] Read more
Keep score when it comes to your soil health
The Visual Soil Assessment scorecard can help producers identify whether their soils are degrading
Reading Time: 2 minutes An upcoming Foothills Forage and Grazing workshop on June 24 will feature a soil health expert from Down Under talking about what’s going on down underground. “The workshop is an introduction to the role of soil health and microbiology in building forage quality and pasture quality,” said Nicole Masters, director of Integrity Soils in New Zealand. […] Read more
Your neighbour’s unused grass could be a lifesaver
Reducing the fuel load on ungrazed areas could be a win-win for everyone
Reading Time: 1 minute If you’re facing a feed shortage this spring, perhaps a neighbour could help. “Not every square foot of land in Alberta is farmed,” said provincial beef extension specialist Andrea Hanson. “Perhaps there’s a neighbour whose land borders yours and he or she doesn’t have cattle to use the grass or getting their cattle to the […] Read more
Draft a plan before rejuvenating tired forage stand
Forage ecologist Mike Schellenberg offers his insights on how to reinvigorate pastures and boost productivity
Reading Time: 4 minutes “Five years to forever.” That’s a long time for a forage stand to be highly productive — and yet that’s the answer producers often give when asked how long they expect the benefits of rejuvenating pastures to last, said Mike Schellenberg, a range and plant forage ecologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at Swift Current, Sask. […] Read more
‘Baby’ those pastures in a drought year
Reading Time: 3 minutes Grazers hit hard by last year’s drought could be in for another difficult year. “Hopefully this is not setting up to be a 2002 year, but it certainly looks and feels like that,” said Ed Bork, a rangeland ecology and management researcher at the University of Alberta. “That can change in the matter of a […] Read more
Grasshoppers want you to overgraze your pastures
The voracious pests gather on bare patches in the morning to warm up – and that allows them to start their day earlier
Reading Time: < 1 minute A dry fall and spring up the potential for grasshopper problems this year — and putting cattle on pasture too early greatly improves their habitat and increases their resulting damage. “From work by Llewellyn Manske from North Dakota, grazing before plants are ready sets back plant growth, and creates an open plant canopy with areas […] Read more
There can be a steep price for early grazing
The choices aren’t great, but a forage expert warns that early grazing can cost you dearly down the line
Reading Time: 2 minutes With the early spring, some farmers, ranchers, and acreage owners are turning out livestock four to six weeks earlier than usual. “Some of the turnouts are due to a lack of feed, and for others it is necessary to get the cows out of the corrals,” said provincial beef and forage specialist Barry Yaremcio. Under […] Read more
New cattle herd for Lakeland College
Reading Time: < 1 minute Lakeland College has developed a new livestock research team, which will manage Lakeland’s livestock research projects, as well as a new herd of 50 cattle for research projects and demonstrations. “Since we already demonstrate a purebred beef herd and an intensively managed beef herd, we thought it was a good opportunity to run a group […] Read more
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