The shortage of veterinarians often becomes most apparent during calving season. |

How to manage in a veterinarian shortage

Hauling an animal to a clinic is one solution, as are larger clinics with satellite sites

There’s huge talk about the shortage of veterinarians — especially large-animal, but also small-animal and emergency animal care. There was a recent announcement that the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) will raise the number of training seats to 100 from the current 50, when an expansion is completed next year. I would […] Read more


The U.S. calf crop for 2023 came in at 33.593 million head, down 846,500 from the 2022 calf crop of 34.44 million.

Lower U.S. calf crop supports cattle complex

Conditions are developing that should support record calf prices next fall

The Alberta fed cattle market remains under pressure due to a buildup of market-ready cattle, larger carcass weights and seasonally low demand. During the last week of January, Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a dressed basis in the range of $360-$365 per hundredweight delivered. Live bids f.o.b. feedlot in southern Alberta were quoted […] Read more




Beef cows’ TDN energy maintenance requirements generally increase about two per cent for every degree Celsius drop in temperature below freezing.

Beef cows in good condition, feed accordingly

Optimize cows' condition with target diets based on the animals' BCS

A warm start to winter has caused many beef cows after weaning to come off pasture in decent shape. Some of these cows are not truly obese, but they retained a lot of flesh. Those beef cows in optimum body condition should be put on a nutritious feeding program that maintains them until they calve […] Read more


When commercial and managed-money positions are at an extreme low or high, that represents a turning signal for the market.

Understanding the Commitments of Traders report

The U.S. report, released every Friday, is an important indicator of cattle market movement

Who is long? Who is short? How much of each? This is the most important market information when studying the futures markets. The Commitments of Traders (CoT) report is released every Friday afternoon by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows the trading positions of market participants as of Tuesday’s close. Whether you […] Read more




It makes sense to place positivity and profit above production values on ranches.

Rethinking ranch priorities

Positivity and profit can be more important priorities than production

The beginning of a New Year marks a good time to work on planning for the year ahead. I believe we should be planning for “Profitivity” on our farms and ranches. Profitivity is a combination of profitability, productivity and positivity. For an operation to thrive, these three things are important to get right. Profit and […] Read more