Early-spring seeding of winter wheat may create more grazing days and reduce production costs.

Early-spring-seeded winter cereals can bring more, better forage

The practice does have some risks — but maybe not the ones you think

Glacier FarmMedia — Seeding winter cereals “ultra-early” in the spring can hedge against drought by offering an alternative feed source, according to Alberta research results. The project’s origins can be traced to the extremely dry year of 2021, which left many producers in the province’s eastern Lakeland region in need of feed and water resources. […] Read more


Gregory and his mare, Reba, go around the cows as we round them up to sort their calves off to take to market or take home for weaning.

Good weather holds through harvest

Eppich News: Wandering cows and calves made rounding them up a challengee

On Sept. 30, Gregory drove John and Barb to Saskatoon because Barb was experiencing severe pain in her side. She’s had trouble with her gall bladder for quite a while, but this time it was too much. She was supposed to have emergency surgery that day but ended up being pushed off until the next […] Read more



When stock water levels drop, a solar water system can help extend the quantity and preserve quality in the remaining water.

Prepare your ranch and business plan for bouts with drought

A Little Bit Western: There are ways to extend feed and water — but do so with caution and monitoring

In late summer I was invited to the Canadian Beef Industry Conference in Saskatoon to share my perspective on navigating drought. I would prefer covering a more cheerful topic, but as a fourth-generation Palliser Triangle dweller who resides on a ranch abandoned not once but twice by its former occupants, I’ll admit I’ve got experience […] Read more

Don Guilford with a group of first-calf heifers

Redefining a ranch

Holistic management has made the Guilford ranch more efficient — and it carries more cattle

Don and Diane Guilford have been practicing holistic management on their 1,200-acre ranch near Clearwater, Man. since the early 1980s. Don is the third generation of his family in that region and says holistic management has made a big difference in his success as a farmer. He took his first course with Allan Savory at […] Read more


One plant can have many aliases. Scarlet mallow, a native prairie wildflower, is also referred to as salmon pinks or “cowboys’ delight.” Biologists generally use Latin plant names to avoid common name confusion.

Plants and their identity crises

A Little Bit Western: One person’s weed is another person’s useful and cherished plant

Like many farmers and ranchers, I’ve always been curious about plants. After all, we are surrounded by plants, and humans depend on them for everything from food and forage to fibre and fun. Throughout the growing season, as interesting plants pop up in ditches, fields and pastures, I get texts, tweets and messages with photos […] Read more

Shared pastures can be a biosecurity hazard as the mixed herds can bring disease back to their home herds.

For your cattle, the best biosecurity offence is defence

15 plays to keep your beef herd safe

The recent passing of highly pathogenic avian influenza A into bovines in the United States has people talking about the value of biosecurity in beef cattle herds. As humankind evolved from a nomadic hunter-gatherer society into agricultural-based settlement populations, there is a reason domesticated bovine played a major role as a farmed species. Cattle are […] Read more


Treating and not treating alternating strips of pasture with insecticides has been found to keep grasshoppers in check — while helping to maintain populations of the pest’s natural predators.

Reduced-area pest spraying can still hit moving targets

The RAAT method can cut insecticide use in half and still kill most grasshoppers on pasture

Glacier FarmMedia — Grasshoppers, as their name suggests, hop from place to place in grassy fields. Taking advantage of that natural behaviour, University of Wyoming scientists have devised a way to control grasshoppers on pastures with smaller volumes of pesticides. The method is called Reduced Agent and Area Treatments (RAAT), in which farmers apply an […] Read more

photo of a gopher on a mound of earth

The ground squirrel survey says…

Saskatchewan has surveyed farmers to get a new read on Richardson’s ground squirrel populations and on-farm damage

Richardson’s ground squirrel damage has frustrated Saskatchewan farmers for years. Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Agriculture recently conducted a survey of farmers to better understand where Richardson’s ground squirrels are present, the methods producers use to deal with them, and which approaches are most effective. The online survey was conducted this past December and January. A total […] Read more