Columns & Production Tips

At-home remedies for arthritis pain

Fit to Farm: It only seems weird to use heat and warmth to reduce inflammation in your joints

By Kathlyn Hossack January 17, 2025

Joint pain and pain related to arthritis are common occurrences heading into our colder months here in Canada. With extreme and frequent changes in temperature and air pressure, many of us experience increased achiness, stiffness and inflammation. Here are a few at-home ideas to try this winter to hopefully take the edge off some of […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner, Columns, Markets

Lots of unknowns keep cattle market interesting

The Markets: Several trends have a floor under the cattle feeder complex, for now

By Jerry Klassen January 16, 2025

During the last week of November, Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a live basis at $243-$244 per hundredweight, f.o.b. feedlot in southern Alberta. The fed market has been relatively flat over the past month. The Canadian slaughter has been running below year-ago levels but the year-over-year increase in fed cattle exports has kept […] Read more

There’s more labour needed to manage artificial insemination, but it can improve the rate of genetic gain.

Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner, Columns

Increasing AI use has many advantages

Animal Health: There are improved technologies for breeding and synchronization, for which AI makes more sense

By Roy Lewis January 10, 2025

Over the last decade or so, artificial insemination (AI), not to be confused with the other AI (artificial intelligence), has seen an upsurge in the commercial cattle population. This has been happening for a lot longer in the purebred cattle industry and a lot of the reasons are the same. If one is considering AI […] Read more

Gregory and his mare, Reba, go around the cows as we round them up to sort their calves off to take to market or take home for weaning.

Cattleman’s Corner, Columns

Good weather holds through harvest

Eppich News: Wandering cows and calves made rounding them up a challengee

By Heather Eppich January 8, 2025

On Sept. 30, Gregory drove John and Barb to Saskatoon because Barb was experiencing severe pain in her side. She’s had trouble with her gall bladder for quite a while, but this time it was too much. She was supposed to have emergency surgery that day but ended up being pushed off until the next […] Read more

Columns, Farm Life

Books worth cooking from, part 2: My Thali

First We Eat: How a meal can centre around a starch, rather than a protein surrounded by sides

By dee Hobsbawn-Smith January 6, 2025

You’ll recall that in my previous column, I posed the question of how many cookbooks a home cook really needs, and which new ones are worth buying or borrowing. Part of my research for this month’s column was to peruse the shortlist of nominees for the 2024 Taste Canada book awards. Several books appealed, but […] Read more

Cereals, Cereals Production Guide, Editor's column, Guides

Editor’s Rant: The price tag on progress

Points to ponder as a seed company announces a hybrid wheat breakthrough

By Dave Bedard January 4, 2025

All things considered, the announcement is more of a surprise than it should have been. Corteva Agriscience in mid-November said it’s made a “revolutionary breakthrough” with which it expects to produce hybrid hard red winter wheat for the North American market “as early as 2027” and add other hybrid wheats to the product line over […] Read more

Columns, Wheat & Chaff

Editor’s Note: Say hi to the new guy

By Dave Bedard January 3, 2025

You’ve likely seen Don Norman’s work in these pages several times in recent months and you can expect to see much more of it now, as he officially becomes an associate editor for Grainews starting with this issue. Most recently a reporter with our sister book, the Manitoba Co-operator, Don has a degree in international […] Read more

Intentionally slowing down your usual simple routine movements can help calm your nervous system and dial down a pain response.

Columns, Farm Life

Non-surgical options to manage pain

Fit to Farm: Don’t just ignore pain or the clues to its causes

By Kathlyn Hossack January 3, 2025

As an athletic therapist, I often work with individuals faced with managing painful conditions in the short and long term. Many conditions or injuries do require surgery to repair underlying issues. That said, many pain-related symptoms do not require surgical intervention to alleviate. Pain and other uncomfortable sensations occur for many reasons, often entirely unrelated […] Read more

Columns, Editor's column, Wheat & Chaff

Editor’s Rant: Cinquante!

By Dave Bedard January 2, 2025

I can’t help it. I’ve watched enough French-language beer commercials that anytime I see the number 50 out in the wild, my first thought is to exclaim “Cinquante!” in an outside voice. My second thought is to not do that, because that would just make the birthday or anniversary party weird. With that earworm now […] Read more

Beef cows need to have a good body condition score going into the winter.

Cattleman’s Corner, Columns

Early-gestating beef cows need good nutrition

Better Bunks and Pastures: Two-stage use of minerals over the fall and winter can help cows maintain body condition at a better cost

By Peter Vitti December 31, 2024

Late autumn is when many spring calves are weaned and removed from their moms. The remaining cow herd is now in its earliest weeks of gestation and requires a modest level of nutrition. It is an opportunity to feed some of the most cost-effective forage diets. But as time goes on, beef cows’ nutrient requirements […] Read more

GFM Network News

Spain probes whether swine fever outbreak was caused by lab leak

World food prices fall for third month in November, UN’s FAO says

Feed Grain Weekly: Prices levelling as demand wanes

Columns