Glacier FarmMedia – Cargill’s labour disputes have drawn to a close in Eastern and Western Canada. In the second week of July, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401, which represents workers at Cargill’s case-ready plant in Calgary, said they had come to an agreement with the company. Union members voted on a final offer July 8-9, with 74 per cent in favour of the proposed agreement. That follows similar news from Cargill’s Dunlop beef processing plant in Guelph, Ont. Workers there had been on strike for 41 days. The 960 unionized employees ratified a new collective agreement July 6. Wh ..read more

We’re still a few weeks away from Ag in Motion, but details are filtering in about events in the Livestock Central part of the show. New this year is the Livestock AgTech Happy Hour, slated daily from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Livestock Event Centre. Farmers and ranchers will be able to chat with the entrepreneurs bringing new technology to market. Each day will also feature speakers from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. Chelsey Siemens and Natasha Wilkie, livestock and feed extension specialists, will talk about advancements in water and alternative feed management technology on Tuesda ..read more

Since 2013, Canada has not required any testing or merit assessments before allowing a new forage variety to be registered. That has made it easier for breeders to get new varieties on the market but has made it harder for producers to know whether the new varieties are any better than (or as good as) the old ones. Regional variety trials helped to fill this information gap, but these trials only focused on yield and sometimes forage quality. Forage performance under grazing is rarely examined. That’s important because mechanical plot harvesters don’t selectively graze, trample plants or depos ..read more

When Red Crow College developed its livestock certificate program, the word “Niisitapii” came to them immediately. It means “First People.” The college is located on the Kainai Nation’s land. The Kainai Nation, or Blood Tribe, is part of the Blackfoot confederacy and holds the most land of any Indigenous community in Canada, spanning around 557 square miles, from west of Lethbridge and as far south as Cardston, Alta. The landscape of Kainai Nation is diverse. The northern part of the reserve has rolling hills that ease into the flat prairie covering much of the land. The sky stretches long and ..read more

Even though Courtney Gonda has been around farming her whole life, having grown up in western Saskatchewan, there is still a lot to learn about the beef industry. The social media lifestyle and motherhood influencer got an up-close and personal tour of the Pound-Maker feedlot and ethanol plant in Lanigan, Sask., as part of the Canadian Cattle Association’s (CCA) social media campaign, “From Filters to Feedlots.” The mother of two, soon to be three, purchases half a cow a year for her own family’s consumption and there was plenty for her to learn about where that beef comes from, she says. “Lea ..read more

You may have heard the oft-repeated quote, “To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” It’s a cautionary comment about having a narrow perspective to address challenges. Quite often, supplementing cattle on pasture bears negative connotations due to added labour, cost and logistical challenges with supplementation. Perhaps we could think of supplementation as a tool for producers while their cattle are grazing. In this context, supplementation would be more like a multi-tool rather than a hammer. For example, supplementation can be used to offset nutritional deficiencies that are i ..read more

Commercial cattle producers already employ many tactics and strategies when selecting replacement heifers they hope will upgrade their cow herd. These might include matching biotypes to the environment, making sensible choices for easy calving, growing heifers to 60 per cent of mature cow weights pre-breeding, assessing for confirmation and docility, feeding to optimal body condition score, plus keeping accurate records. Each of these strategies is beneficial but producers now have another option — EnVigour HX, the first made-in-Canada genomic tool for crossbred cattle.  “This tool came t ..read more

One of the consistent features of Ag in Motion has been the livestock handling demos. Each year, livestock equipment companies set up their systems. Sheep and beef producers haul their animals to the show grounds, for use in the equipment demos (10 am and 1 pm daily). “It’s beneficial here because we can actually set up and demo our equipment with live animals with our competitors. So the customer can do an accurate comparison of each line of equipment and compare it in a real-world situation,” says Garth Wright of Hi-Hog Farm and Ranch Equipment. It’s a great opportunity for producers in the ..read more

When Rimrock Feeders purchased the former Western Feedlots site outside of High River, Alta., there were decisions to be made about the site, which had been empty for about three years. The pen partitions were wooden and decaying and there were drainage issues on the site, which sits on a high point, with a view of the Rocky Mountains to the west. A fresh start at the site was made the priority, with some of the newest thinking on feedlot management put into use, including a large experiment with roller-compacted concrete, says Shylo Penrod, who manages the site for Rimrock. Over several years ..read more

Glacier FarmMedia – When Neil Block won the Saskatchewan environmental stewardship award on June 10 at the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association convention in Swift Current, he talked about his love for his work. Block Ranch is near Abbey, Sask., and consists of approximately 60,000 acres. The family runs cow-calf pairs and yearlings and grazes year-round. Ranching in the sand hills of Saskatchewan can feature dryness and shifting soil, but Block says with a little care, it is a great location. [AUDIO] Neil Block talks about the Block Ranch. “It’s really very resilient if you respect it, so ..read more