Farmers’ Feed

Courtney Orsen already knows she is heading to rural Saskatchewan when she is done veterinary college this spring, thanks at least in part to a program designed to recruit more rural veterinarians. The student from the Hanley, Sask., area participated last summer in a preceptorship offered by the Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association, Saskatchewan Veterinary Medical Association and the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. The SCA commits $18,000 of check-off money each year to help subsidize summer job wages for up to six third-year WCVM students at rural practices. That is about 30 percent of the wage subsidy. The practice that hires the students pays Read More

Many seemingly unlikely ideas have been hatched over a beer or two and an Alberta farming couple says their new business was partly inspired by the example of small breweries that make such beer. “Everybody's already aware of the concept behind craft beer, right?” says Trish Tetz, pointing to the way independent breweries make their own varieties of beverage. She and her husband, Greg, believe if it works for beer, why not meat? Hence the name of their business, Craft Beef Co., which promotes the individuality of meat raised by different producers in Alberta. Tetz, who lives on a farm near Three Hills, Read More

Twins in cattle can create challenges. One of them is the arrival of a freemartin, an infertile female that can result when one twin is male and the other female. Dr. Colin Palmer, associate director of the University of Saskatchewan Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence, says 85 to 90 percent of female calves born as co-twins to bull calves are freemartins. It can also happen in triplets. Freemartins are most common in cattle, says Palmer, but “this also occurs in sheep and goats, but only about six percent of co-twins in sheep and goats are freemartins.” The freemartin heifer is a result Read More

Getting nutrition right during a dairy cow's dry period makes a huge difference to her health, the health of her calf, and the milk yield after calving. Now, new research from the University of Illinois has shown that diets that promote consistent energy levels and contain the rumen-boosting supplement monensin are the ideal approach during the dry period. Monensin is widely used in the beef and dairy industries. It is an ionophore (a chemical that transports an ion across a cell membrane) that selects against certain bacteria in the rumen to increase production of propionic acid (an organic acid), which is Read More

The man tasked with opening the world's largest pea protein facility says Manitoba “can be the Silicon Valley of plant-based proteins,” but regulatory changes are needed. Dominic Baumann, chief executive officer of Roquette Canada, made the declaration during a virtual event put on by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute focusing on investment and sustainability in the agri-food system. In 2017, France-based Roquette announced plans to build the world's largest pea protein plant in Portage la Prairie, Man. Baumann said the plant is still in start-up mode, but the company has invested $600 million into the project, hired about 125 employees and has plans Read More

In a story that only seems to get more contentious and downright odd the longer it goes on, Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) is now asking dairy farmers to consider eliminating the use of palm oil by-product supplements in dairy rations, until new research is completed. Earlier this month, RealAgriculture explored reports by some Canadians... Read More Read More