Michael Raine

A long season of winter cattle feeding has reduced stocks of quality forage and increased the risk of nutrient deficiencies in cattle, such as winter tetany. Tennis Marx, a livestock agronomist with Alberta Agriculture, said producers should test feed and monitor their herds for signs of tetany and other feed deficiencies. “Our (provincial agriculture information […] Read more

Who profited at the expense of whom and by how much from the Canadian BSE crisis? An economist who was studying the Canadian beef industry value chain at the time of the BSE announcement says “finger pointing may be distracting producers from bigger issues in the beef business.” “The Canadian industry has some real advantages […] Read more

Comments on proposed U.S. rules that could open the border to live Canadian cattle and sheep have changed since the Americans became a BSE-have country. The March 8 set of proposed rules to open the American border say trade should not be restricted to beef from animals younger than 30 months because the U.S. system […] Read more

Spray your canola with dicamba? Not likely. But a Nebraska researcher thinks placing genes that give resistance to the herbicide dicamba in broadleaf plants may create a new option in herbicide-tolerant oilseeds. In the future it could be included in a genetic package with Roundup Ready or Liberty Link oilseed crops, said Don Weeks of […] Read more

The benefits of rotation may apply not only to herbicides and crops but also to varieties, say agronomists. “In reality, some producers, especially in southern Alberta’s feedlot regions, have few choices from their current barley-snow rotation,” said Kelly Turkington, a plant pathologist with Agriculture Canada in Lacombe, Alta. “They need feed barley or silage or […] Read more

Malting barley variety seed selection this spring year may have a lot do with malt selection next fall. Jack Foster of Prairie Malt said the old standbys are not serving producers or maltsters as well as they once did. Foster, a veteran buyer for the Biggar, Sask., maltster, said despite producers’ desires to grow Harrington […] Read more

A better way to track cattle prices might help restore faith in Canada’s beef marketing system. University of Guelph, Ont., economist Kevin Grier said some have been requesting that Agriculture Canada produce a report similar to the United States Department of Agriculture’s weekly packer price list. “We do have a legislated reporting system that requires […] Read more

Just as diseases such as avian flu and SARS have crossed species barriers, scientists at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization are trying to leap the same hurdle. VIDO, born as an animal health research centre at the University of Saskatchewan, has been using the skills it has developed to build new methods of drug […] Read more

A fungus that makes thistles and dandelions sick is making Saskatoon scientist Karen Bailey smile. She and her associates at Agriculture Canada have announced that they have turned two decades of collecting ill thistles into a bioherbicide. Phoma macrostoma is a fungus that interferes with some broadleaf weeds’ abilities to use chlorophyll. Most affected are […] Read more

LLOYDMINSTER, Sask. – Donnie Peacock’s gavel rang with optimism as it punctuated each bull’s appearance in the sales ring in Lloydminster last week. The Pride of the Prairies 85th annual Lloydminster Bull Sale filled the bleachers with buyers and sellers from across the northern grain belt and parkland regions. Peacock announced to buyers on the […] Read more