Reading Time: 3 minutes Polioencephalomalacia, fog fever, blue-green algae, and vitamin A deficiency. Those are just four potential health threats to cattle when conditions are extremely dry. “The biggest problem we have on the Prairies is water that is high in sulphates,” said Dr. John Campbell, professor in the department large animal clinical sciences at the University of Saskatchewan. […] Read more
Less rain equals more danger for cattle on your ranch
Proposed EIA testing policy yields mixed views
Some fear mandatory testing for equine infectious anemia will be too costly for smaller equine events
Reading Time: 2 minutes New federal rules on horse movement and testing for equine infectious anemia could be challenging for some horse shows. “At that point, we can no longer feasibly budget a show at any kind of venue that would hold a larger group of horses,” said Cain Quam, owner and trainer at Quam Performance Horses in Kendal, Sask. […] Read more
Feds announce tax support for cattle producers
Measures will assist those hit by bovine TB outbreak and in areas affected by drought
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta and Saskatchewan cattle producers affected by bovine TB outbreak in 2016 and this year will receive additional tax relief. Farmers who received compensation under the Health of Animals Act from livestock destroyed due to the bovine tuberculosis outbreak in 2016 and 2017 in Alberta and Saskatchewan are eligible for livestock tax deferral provisions. These allow them to defer a […] Read more
Renamed Seed Hawk now flies the flag of parent company
Reading Time: < 1 minute Saskatchewan equipment maker Seed Hawk has been rechristened as Vaderstad Industries Inc. The company was started in the tiny community of Langbank by farmer Pat Beaujot, his brother, and two friends in 1986. They were frustrated by the lack of suitable seeding equipment for no till at that time and decided to build their own […] Read more
Solar watering can save stress during droughts
Long viewed as a band-aid solution for droughts, solar watering systems can help raise your grazing game
Reading Time: 4 minutes Cattle grazer Tim Hoven has a love-hate relationship with solar watering systems. “When it works great, it’s amazing. But when there’s complications, it’s extremely frustrating — just like any piece of technology,” the Eckville-area producer said in an interview last month. “Yesterday, I was literally out fighting a frozen water line that had drained the […] Read more
When the herd is a province away, you need reliable water
Beiseker rancher has solar waterer for 100 cow-calf pairs he grazes across the Saskatchewan border
Reading Time: 2 minutes The phrase ‘remote watering’ takes on a new meaning on Duane Kent’s farm. Kent lives in Beiseker (northeast of Calgary) but also has a four-quarter pasture more than 500 kilometres away in Biggar, Sask. The site has no natural surface water and it would cost $30,000 to bring in electrical power. So he relies on […] Read more
Veterinarian school funding decision creates controversy
School’s dean says it makes sense to consolidate in Calgary but association says it’s capping training in the midst of a vet shortage
Reading Time: 3 minutes The dean of the province’s vet school is defending the NDP government’s decision to consolidate veterinarian education in Alberta — but the association representing the profession says it’s short sighted. The province announced last month it will be pulling its $8 million in funding from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon to expand […] Read more
New technology brings new risks to the farm, say experts
Advances — from needleless injectors to auto steer — make farming easier, but also have safety implications
Reading Time: 3 minutes New technology brings many advantages to the farm, but can also result in unintended hazards, both for farmers and animals. This was stressed numerous times during presentations on technology at this year’s Canadian Agricultural Safety Association annual general meeting. Read more: AgSafe Alberta offering free safety programs for farmers “There’s a lot of routine work on […] Read more
All the iron is still there, but Agri-Trade has a new dimension
There’s still acres of farm equipment to be seen, but also an opportunity to upgrade your personal skill set
Reading Time: 4 minutes When you think of a farm equipment show, a motivational speaker talking about personal development might not spring to mind. But it’s exactly what women who attend Agri-Trade said they wanted to see at the popular Red Deer event. “Attendee surveys brought a strong message that there were a lot of women in agriculture who […] Read more
First-calf heifers need some extra love
Keep a close eye on the conditions of these young females, that require more energy and nutrients than mature cows
Reading Time: 4 minutes Replacement and first-calf heifers need extra management, but producers can take different paths to get to the same destination. Beef producers like Alberta’s Darren Bevans, Tyler Fulton in Manitoba, and Murray Shaw in Ontario know replacement and first-calf heifers need some extra attention heading into winter, but that doesn’t mean over-the-top management. Bevans and Fulton […] Read more
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