New life at former Rancher’s Beef

An American investor, who’s also had a 47-year career in the beef packing industry has bought the long-closed Rancher’s Beef packing plant at Balzac, just north of Calgary with every intention of making it a profitable beef processing facility. Rich Vesta of Fort Collins Colorado, who worked his way through the business from a meat […] Read more


Consider adding kale to the grazing menu

Graeme Finn says he believes kale, also known as forage rape, is a viable feed option for grazing cattle, and something he can snack on as he is walking across the pasture. Finn, who ranches in south-central Alberta just north of Calgary, seeded about seven acres of forage rape this year. It was part of […] Read more

Straw can be used in overwintering beef rations

According to StatsCan, western grain farmers and just about anyone driving across the Prairies, this year’s harvest of cereal crops was phenomenal. With millions of bushels of grain picked up by thousands of combines, tonnes of straw are being thrown out their back ends. Whether it is baled in round or big square bales, a […] Read more


Higher cattle market won’t last forever

September and October were periods of seasonal low demand. The U.S. government shutdown along with lower consumer spending resulted in softer restaurant traffic and tempered retail demand. However there are a number of factors that should continue to cause higher prices for fed and feeder cattle. The holiday season causes consumers to spend more on […] Read more

Beware of feeding caramelized hay

Dairy cattle love it, dairy nutritionists hate it and dairy producers often feed it. When hay is baled or stacked at moistures above 18 per cent, it can create a favourable environment for mould growth. As moulds thrive in moist hay, they generate a lot of heat, which under the right conditions may caramelize different […] Read more



Managing bullers in a feedyard

Fortunately, bullers are mostly a rare, sporadic occurrence in western Canadian feedlots and backgrounding operations. When dealing with these cases bear in mind the economic loss to the entire pen from frequent riding. Because the incidence is so sporadic no hard research has been done as to exact cause but several factors are suspected. Many facts have been gleaned from […] Read more


A poisonous weed that is rarely seen

With the wetter spring and summer, sightings of western water hemlock have increased. Prior to 2006 I personally had only seen one occurrence of this highly toxic plant in 25 years of practice. This year in a short time several findings with multiple plants in our practice area a great distance apart have been identified. […] Read more

Our first run-in with water hemlock

This summer during haying my son noticed a questionable weed in the field he and his father were haying. We have been reading our Edible and Medicinal Plants of Canada book a lot this summer trying to identify many wild flowers growing in our area we have never seen before. This turned out to be […] Read more