GFM Network News

More News →

Forages

Signage outside McCain’s Farms of The Future site at Florenceville-Bristol, about 110 km northwest of Fredericton. (Photos courtesy McCain)
Crops, Pasture, Potatoes

Learning from McCain’s regenerative farming practices

Potato processing giant aims to 'de-risk' practices for growers

By
In 2021 McCain said it was going to launch three regenerative potato farming operations by 2025 and would label them “Farms of the Future.” The first, just outside of Florenceville-Bristol, N.B., now offers data to reflect on the effectiveness of the practices at the potato farm after its first fully operational season. “If we don’t […] Read more
Close-up file photo of an alfalfa plant in a Canadian field. (Jennifer Seeman/iStock/Getty Images)
Crops, Forages, Potatoes

P.E.I. seed potato producers backed for ‘soil-building’

Province puts up $3 million for BMP program

By
In an attempt to support its potato farmers following trade suspensions with the U.S. over potato wart, the government of Prince Edward Island plans to put up $3 million in new funding for a program that will help farmers shift to “soil-building crops.” “In our meetings with industry and the P.E.I. Potato Board, the need […] Read more
How to produce quality hay horse owners want to buy
Columns, Crops, Hay

How to produce quality hay horse owners want to buy

Taking crops off your hay land is much the same as cropping it to wheat or canola

By
What is hay? Recent hamburger commercials keep referring to grass-fed beef. If you feed your cattle hay, are they still grass fed? All the year round, grass feeding occurs in very few areas of the world. In most of North America, hay is fed up to six or seven months of the year. Bison or […] Read more
Lastiwka sought out efficient cattle genetics, such as Luing-cross cows, that can make use of a variety of forages. And he says fences may not be in perfect shape, but as long as they work that's the main thing.
Cattleman’s Corner, Forages

Short and long-term thoughts on forage management

Some good lessons to be learned from more than three decades of experience of what works and doesn’t work

By
A farm without a tractor. Some of the fences could use a bit of work. The cows have been known to eat thistles. And the farmer doesn’t hesitate to say “this really didn’t work out the way I planned.” So could a person trust any advice from this operation? If it was any place other […] Read more
Down the middle of this photo is a line of cattle working on a swath on Copperfield Colony. It takes about 20 minutes to advance a hot wire to the next swath once cattle clean up a windrow. The colony is now taking off more tons of forage per acre with the cover crops and swath grazing than with three cuttings of hay.
Cattleman’s Corner, Hay, Livestock

Year-round grazing reduces winter feeding costs

Cover crops, swath grazing and double cropping are all ways to produce more forage

By
The cattle managers at the Copperfield Hutterite Colony near Vauxhall, Alta., northeast of Lethbridge, are using livestock to improve soils and pastures. Phil Hofer and the boys in charge of the cattle are using them in a year-round grazing system that includes intensive pasture rotations on swathed cover crops. “I am thankful to the management […] Read more
The nitrate level in a sample of this grass regrowth were somewhat elevated and there was always a risk there could be some “real hot spots” in other parts of the 40 acre field.
Cattleman’s Corner, Forages, Livestock

Play it safe with high nitrates

Proper management of drought-affected forages can reduce the risk to livestock

By
This year’s drought taught me many lessons about the dangers of high nitrates in beef cow forage. That is why I recommend that all cow-calf producers test all their harvested forages for nitrates, whatever field it came from. It’s going to be money well spent, whether tests are negative or positive. And if they are […] Read more
(Andreus/iStock/Getty Images)
Crops, Hay, Weather

Hay-starved Prairies fertile ground for online scammers

At least $64,000 lost in Alberta alone, RCMP says

By ,
High demand, scarce supplies and rising prices for hay and other feeds due to this summer’s drought on the Prairies have made a market for online scammers, RCMP warn. The urgency driving such transactions may cause ranchers, farmers and farm workers to make purchases “without taking time to properly verify or research production sources,” Alberta […] Read more
(GFM file photo)
Crops, Forages

CFA’s Hay West program up and running

Program website now online

By ,
A revival of the “Hay West” initiative, aimed at shipping feed from Eastern Canada to supplement drought-dented supplies in the West, has gone live. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture on Friday announced its Hay West 2021 initiative is “now operational and seeking applicants to both receive and supply hay.” Applicants interested in either supplying or […] Read more
(MDS.mennonite.net)
Crops, Hay, Weather

Ontario MDS volunteers already moving hay west

Disaster response group spearheading program separate from CFA plan

By
It’s in the spirit of co-operation in difficult times that a group of Ontario farmers have launched a hay donation program to assist their Saskatchewan counterparts. Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada, a volunteer organization that provides assistance in the aftermath of disasters in Canada and the U.S., is organizing the latest iteration of Hay West […] Read more

AgCanadaTV

AgCanadaTV: Your Agriculture News Recap for Dec.19, 2025

Sponsored By:
More Videos →

Cyber-Savvy Farmer

Glacier Farmmedia Podcast

Latest Market News

More Market News →