Insights and Stories on Livestock

Sep. 8, 2023 at 2:04 pm CDT

It’s 2003, and a crisis is descending on the Canadian cattle herd. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) has just been found in a black Angus cow in Alberta. Chaos follows: borders slam shut and the government pledges millions in aid. The border to the United States will remain shuttered until 2005, […]

By Melissa Jeffers-Bezan

Aug. 3, 2023 at 3:00 pm CDT

Julie Mortenson grew up in the heart of cattle country. Today, she’s found a way to share some of that experience with students who don’t have the chance to spend time on farms and ranches. Originally from north of Grand Prairie, Alta., Mortenson spent her childhood on the land as […]

By Melissa Jeffers-Bezan

Jul. 24, 2023 at 2:18 pm CDT

In many cattle ranchers’ minds, there’s no such thing as a good gopher. However, custom grazier Steven Kenyon, who practises regenerative agriculture on his Alberta operation, sees them as neither friend nor foe. “They’re part of the system,” he said in an interview during a pasture tour organized by the […]

Jul. 14, 2023 at 10:07 am CDT

A hard-working rancher in central Alberta seeks a sturdy native grass ideally suited for mob grazing and a long-lasting stand. That might seem like something from an online dating profile but it’s more likely to be a query for a newly expanded matchmaking site that aims to connect beef producers with the […]

By Jeff Melchior

Jun. 29, 2023 at 4:33 pm CDT

Greg Judy’s farm in Rucker, Missouri, sounds picturesque — mild winters, flat land broken by rolling hills, dotted by livestock. “It’s not row cropland,” Judy says, speaking at the Western Canadian Conference on Soil Health and Grazing last winter. “It’s just basically rolling hills, very thin topsoil. And so what […]

By Melissa Jeffers-Bezan