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
‘Baby’ those pastures in a drought year
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
Want your pastures to handle a drought year? Do things the ‘redneck’ way
A handy mnemonic for this ranching method is ‘grass’ — graze period, rest period, animal impact, and stock density
Reading Time: 3 minutes The first thing ‘redneck ranchers’ plant is a post. “That’s why we call it ‘redneck ranching’ — we definitely don’t work in the same manner as the conventional method,” said Amber Kenyon, who operates Greener Pastures Ranching with husband Steve and their four children. “You need to start putting fences in and moving the animals […] Read more
Production is ‘sexy,’ but finance should be the focus
Reading Time: 2 minutes If you want to be a successful rancher, your focus shouldn’t be on your production practices. “Out of all the things we do on the ranch, production practices are one of the most interesting, sexy things that people want to hear about — but it’s not the most important thing that we do,” said Amber […] Read more
Grazing grasslands is good for the environment, study finds
A research team conducted a study on 114 sites throughout Alberta and found that long-term grazing can have a positive impact on grasslands
Reading Time: 2 minutes Cattle are often demonized as environmental polluters, but grazing them can have a positive impact on grasslands. “Grasslands store a lot of carbon and we should be proactively thinking about the value of that carbon, not to mention all the environmental goods and services they provide,” said Edward Bork, professor of rangeland ecology at the […] Read more
Don’t graze cattle too early this spring
It’s tempting to start grazing when pastures green up, but nutrient quality is poor
Reading Time: 2 minutes Pasture recovery is an important topic on the heels of last year’s dry conditions, particularly given this year’s poor snow cover in the central and southern regions of Alberta. “If we have a dry spring, producers will need to balance potential feed shortages with the need to protect their recovering pastures,” said provincial forage and […] Read more
Good grazing management can get you through a drought
Having diverse life in and on the soil will help get your cattle through a drought year
Reading Time: 3 minutes When drought hits, you can blame Mother Nature — but management practices also come into play. “I don’t want to say that it doesn’t matter what happens with rain and that all drought is man made because of bad management,” said Vermont grazier Abe Collins. “That’s a very extreme position. Sometimes it doesn’t rain, and […] Read more
Grazing winter cereals can work
First-year results of study on grazing winter cereals found both grain and silage yields were affected
Reading Time: 2 minutes Mixed farmers looking to cut costs may be able to hit two birds with one stone — by grazing the fall growth of a winter cereal. “This is a practice that’s quite common in other parts of the world, but it’s one that we haven’t really delved into, likely because we’re a little bit light […] Read more
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