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Percentage of average precipitation in Western Canada for the 90 days ending April 5, 2021. (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada map)
Crops, Forages, Weather

Manitoba forage, grassland growers burned by drought

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MarketsFarm — An ongoing lack of precipitation, which is showing no signs of letting up in the coming months according to weather forecasts, is already causing problems for Manitoba’s forage and grasslands. Growers in the province have had to deal with three straight years with lower-than-normal precipitation. In 2019, multiple rural municipalities in Manitoba’s Parkland […] Read more
Erin and Paul Kernaleguen have found that a change in forage production practices on their Saskatchewan farm has helped to reduce costs and benefit dairy production.
Cattleman’s Corner, Dairy Cattle, Forages

Dairy farmers see multiple benefits from forage blends

Input costs have been reduced and more acres returned to crop production

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Dairy farmers Paul and Erin Kernaleguen near Birch Hills, Sask. say they’re convinced about the value of regenerative farming practices in growing forage crops for their cattle. They farm with Paul’s parents, Jos and Brenda Kernaleugen. “We were a conventional operation until 2012 when we started looking at doing things differently,” Paul says. “Our average […] Read more
A mayfly on water. (SBTheGreenMan/iStock/Getty Images)
Crops

Health Canada steps back from bans on two neonics

New limits, some cancellations to be put in place

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A federal proposal to protect aquatic insect habitat by cancelling all registered outdoor uses for two popular ag insecticides has been walked back in a major way. Health Canada on Wednesday announced its special review decisions on the risks to aquatic bug life from the use of clothianidin and thiamethoxam, both pesticides and seed treatments […] Read more
This Montana beef producers aims to find a balance between heifer age and growth as they are managed toward puberty. They need size, but he doesn’t want them fat.
Cattleman’s Corner, Cow-Calf, Livestock

Tips on growing replacement heifers

Keep them growing with a good plane of nutrition, but don’t get them fat

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Developing a set of good heifers is the goal of everyone raising their own replacements. Success depends on many factors, including age at puberty, herd health, a proper vaccination program, parasite control and nutrition. Fertility and age at puberty are heritable but also influenced by nutrition. Heifers need optimal nutrition for growth and development, including […] Read more
FieldBots can be positioned where needed on a farm to provide sensor data and control a variety of different machines or systems.
Equipment, Machinery and Shop

Could FieldMicro run your farm?

Australian tech company offers whole-farm digital operating solution

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As producers come to fully recognize the opportunities offered by today’s wide-ranging offerings in digital technology for agriculture, an Australian company, FieldMicro, is adding to those possibilities. Last June, the company announced the introduction of its FieldBot remote-sensing and control devices and the SmartFarm online command-and-control, cloud-based system they pair with. Together, they offer a […] Read more
These are some of the points that BETSY measures to create an ID for each individual animal.
Columns, Hart Attacks

Facial recognition comes to your cowherd

Forget about numbers and letters, BETSY can identify the smile on any Hereford or Holstein and any breed combination in between

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The longer I am around the agriculture industry, it seems the more interested I become in seeing what happens next. In a column that appeared in early March, I talked about when I arrived on the scene of the family farm in eastern Ontario in the 1950s. It was at a time when real or […] Read more
The homestead quarter Watson and her husband care currently clearing.
Crops, Features

Farming North of 60

Meet Your Farming Neighbours: A Prairie grain farmer finds new opportunities in the Yukon

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Leona Watson’s upbringing on a large-scale Prairie grain farm didn’t prepare her for farming in a land where the permafrost shifts landscapes and the sun can shine 19 hours a day. Or did it? Six years after the born-and-bred farm girl followed her outfitter husband, Mac, as far north as farming allows, Watson sees a […] Read more
Due to the cold temperatures in February, cattle were provided with good wind breaks and plenty of dry bedding.
Cattleman’s Corner, Columns

Last of hay and flax bales hauled home

Eppich News: Hopefully, cold temperatures are gone by early March calving

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The beginning of the new year found us hauling bales. Gregory and John hauled slough bales the first week of January. Then, with the help of the blade on the tractor, they were able to plow snow and get 80 flax straw bales home on Jan. 8 and 9. On Jan. 11 Gregory drove his […] Read more
Several participants attended a field day on Walker Farms to have a look at the cocktail blend of forages. Cattle, in the background, will eventually move into this productive feed as part of a high-intensity, rotational grazing program.
Crops, Features, Livestock

Livestock can benefit crop production

Combining the two benefits both beef and crops, says a Saskatchewan producer, and let’s not forget about the soil

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Lance Walker says incorporating the livestock enterprise into more of the grain component on the family’s central Saskatchewan farm in recent years is already showing signs of increasing production, while reducing input costs. He’s excited to see where increasing the synergy between the two enterprises — that includes feeding cattle on cropland, multi-species cropping and […] Read more
As late as 1987, one big rain event did all this damage to a summerfallow field near Eastend, Sask.
Columns, Crops

Les Henry: Soil productivity, quality and health

Nature and nurture

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Soil health is a prominent topic in current scientific and farm management literature. It is good to see attention being paid to the soil resource our industry depends on. In this piece, we will try to unravel some of the principles and the practical application of those principles. From the get-go, we must realize farming […] Read more

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AGCanadaTV: In Case You Missed It – Your National Ag News Recap for the week ending April 9, 2021.

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