(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Chicken, dairy farmers rip TPP concessions

Updated, Jan. 25, 2018 — Canada’s supply-managed producer groups warn that the new Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade deal stands to chip away unnecessarily at their markets. Chicken Farmers of Canada on Wednesday said the CPTPP deal, on which Canada pledged Tuesday it will sign in March, still includes concessions on market access […] Read more

Proper rations can help prevent (and correct) deficiencies which can lead to milk fever.

Key tips to reduce milk fever cases

Incidence of the calcium deficiency can be sporadic, but hurt when they hit


Clinical milk fever is a particular insidious metabolic disease in freshened dairy cows. I have witnessed on some dairies, it’s not a significant problem, while next-door neighbours are plagued with downer cows one calving after another. In other dairies, milk fever doesn’t show up for months and then it shows up with a vengeance. From […] Read more


Dairy Farmers of Ontario CEO Graham Lloyd says dairy marketing activities need to show that they can build the market for milk. (John Greig photo)

Ontario’s dairy farmers ramp up own marketing

Dairy Farmers of Ontario is starting to build its own consumer marketing department, now that it’s retaining marketing funds collected from farmers and no longer sending tens of millions of dollars to Dairy Farmers of Canada. What does it mean? Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s withdrawal from national marketing of milk has meant upheaval at Dairy […] Read more

Pierre Lampron, president of Valacta and Dairy Farmers of Canada. (John Greig photo)

Dairy organizations partner to manage risk

A partnership among Canadian dairy service provider organizations should help position Canadian producers to take advantage of rapidly changing technology and make the sector more efficient, the groups say. Why does it matter? The number of Canadian dairy farmers continues to drop and the need for more efficient services is growing as the price of […] Read more





Lee Hart’s brother Mark, in front of the original Hart family dairy farm.

They sure don’t milk cows like they used to

Hart Attacks: The original Hart dairy farm was nothing like the high-tech operations running today

I know I am the crop and livestock expert for Grainews (NOT) — fact is I’m just old, and no expert on anything — but every time I write a story about a dairy farming operation today, I can’t help but recall some childhood memories, growing up on an Eastern Ontario dairy farm. This past […] Read more



Brent and Kirsty Oswald, along with their children Taylor, 9, and Brenden, 6, run a mixed dairy and grain farm near Steinbeck, Man.

Canada’s OYF: Nominees from Manitoba

Brent and Kirsty Oswald are always looking for dairy efficiencies

Dairy farmers, Brent and Kirsty Oswald have been chosen as Manitoba’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2017. Brent, 35 and Kirsty, 31 operate Cottonwood Holsteins Ltd., a third-generation mixed grain and dairy farm near Steinbach. The Oswalds milk 140 cows and seed just under 2,500 acres of grain land. Their focus has always been on getting better […] Read more

Lauchie and Jolene MacEachern and their three children, Ewan, 10, Allister, eight, and Adriana, five, at their dairy farm at Debert, N.S.

Canada’s OYF: Nominees from Atlantic Canada

For Lauchie and Jolene MacEachern, fine-tuning management improves production

For the MacEachern family keeping their dairy cows, of course well fed, but also equally important — comfortable — is helping improve the efficiency and productivity of their central Nova Scotia dairy farm. Since they’ve have been owners of the Folly River Farm near Debert, N.S. for the past five years, Lauchie and Jolene MacEachern […] Read more