Forages Archives - Page 163 of 175

TBARS director Dr. Tarlok Singh Sahota shows off a test plot of black barley in this 2014 file photo.

Thunder Bay ag research station gets stay

By Grainews Staff, GFM Network News January 4, 2016

More time has been bought for a northern Ontario agricultural research station on the brink of closing to come up with a new operating plan. The Ontario government on Monday announced $350,000 in bridge funding for the not-for-profit Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Association, operator of the Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station (TBARS), to “develop a […] Read more

Riparian habitat at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. (FWS.gov/refuge/Malheur)

Livestock, Reuters

Protesters occupy Oregon wildlife refuge as rangeland dispute flares

Array

By GFM Network News January 4, 2016

Princeton, Ore. | Reuters — A group of self-styled militiamen occupied the headquarters of a U.S. wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon to protest the imminent jailing of two ranchers, officials said Sunday, in the latest skirmish over federal land management in the U.S. West. The occupation, which began on Saturday, followed a march in Burns, […] Read more

California’s Department of Water Resources gauges the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains through manual surveys, such as this one in late December 2004. (Paul Hames photo, copyright California Department of Water Resources)

Crops, Reuters, Weather

Deep snow in California mountains offers hope in drought

By GFM Network News December 31, 2015

Reuters — A cold, wet start to California’s winter has dumped nearly five feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains, state water experts said Wednesday, fuelling hope that 2016 will bring enough precipitation to help offset four years of drought. Snow surveyors headed to the mountains in Phillips near Lake Tahoe on Wednesday for […] Read more

Crops, Features

Licensed to turn waste into fertilizer

Lystek International received authorization for another wastewater conversion facility

By Julienne Isaacs December 30, 2015

Lystek International has received another federal registration for its award-winning biosolids and organics processing technology. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has certified the company’s St. Mary’s, Ontario, facility for the production of LysteGro, a biofertilizer that can increase organic matter in the soil. LysteGro is made by treating sludge from municipal wastewater at approved facilities. “The Lystek […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Livestock, Markets

Klassen: Feeder cattle market grinds lower

By Jerry Klassen, GFM Network News December 22, 2015

Western Canadian feeder cattle prices ended the year on a soft tone, trading $5-$10 below week-ago levels; fleshier unweaned calves were down $10 to $15 because adverse weather plagued much of the Prairie region. Cattle buyers were busy on the phone, but receiving no orders. Feedlots appear to be content with their current inventory levels […] Read more

An irrigation canal meanders through Lakes of Muirfield. The Western Irrigation District has been managing competing water uses and growing urbanization within its borders.

Crops, Features

Prairie land use and water rights

Alberta’s Western Irrigation District finds its way while it straddles the urban-rural divide

By Lisa Guenther December 21, 2015

Straddling the urban-rural divide is an uncomfortable balancing act. Alberta’s Western Irrigation District, headquartered in Strathmore, has kept its balance by co-operating where it can, and getting tough when needed. For years, the irrigation district had a rocky relationship with the city of Calgary. Stormwater from the city would wash contaminants such as salt, phosphorus, […] Read more

Livestock, Reuters, Weather

Wild bees seen dwindling in main U.S. crop regions

By Will Dunham, GFM Network News December 21, 2015

Washington | Reuters — Wild bees, crucial pollinators for many crops, are on the decline in some of the main agricultural regions of the U.S., according to scientists who produced the first national map of bee populations and identified numerous trouble spots. The researchers on Monday cited 139 counties as especially worrisome, with wild bee […] Read more

Crops, Markets

Saskatchewan farmland off limits for pension plans next month

By Reuters, GFM Network News December 21, 2015

Reuters/Staff — New rules for buying farmland in Saskatchewan, Canada’s biggest wheat- and canola-growing province, will take effect Jan. 4, and toughen its ban on pension plans investing, the provincial government said Monday. The changes make more explicit an existing ban on pension plans and trusts from buying land and continue to limit purchases of […] Read more

Finishers, Livestock, Markets, Reuters

U.S. Nov. feedlot cattle placements slump to record low

By GFM Network News December 18, 2015

Chicago | Reuters –– Cattle movement into U.S. feedlots in November fell 11 per cent from a year ago to their lowest level since the government began compiling the data in 1996, a U.S. Department of Agriculture report showed on Friday. Analysts attributed last month’s much smaller-than-expected placements to deteriorating margins that prompted feedyards to […] Read more

These yearlings, working on their third pass this grazing season through this paddock of brassica, legume and grass forage blend appeared to find all the forage types very palatable.

Cattleman’s Corner

Forage blend really produced the feed

A pasture seed mix with 10 to 12 different forages shone in a somewhat mediocre growing season

By Lee Hart December 18, 2015

For the beef handlers at Walter Farms in central Alberta it was actually a good sign — a neighbour called one day to alert them to the fact the cows were in a field of canola or corn or some type of good-looking cash crop. While the neighbour’s concern was appreciated, the cowmen weren’t worried. […] Read more

GFM Network News

U.S. livestock: Cattle rebound on technical buying

U.S. grains: Soybeans fall as rapid harvest overshadows China trade hopes

Good weather pushes Alberta harvest along

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