In the winter there were 10 Grazing Clubs hosted including four in Consort and Pollockville, one in Oyen, and in Spondin. Overall there were 176 producers who attended to learn more about everything grazingincluding technology & infrastructure, livestock health, pasture management, and business management. The Grazing Clubs hosted local producers who shared their successes and lessons learned when implementing new strategies, grazing experts like Jim Gerrish via Zoom, grazing researchers from
post-secondaries in Canada and the USA, nutritionists, industry representatives, and farm business consultants. The meetings are held with the intention of bringing like-minded ranchers together for a social and educational evening to increase the awareness and adoption of beneficial grazing management practices to increase ranching resiliency in the Special Areas.

Environmental Farm Plan Workshops (February 21, Youngstown, March 20, Pollockville)

Seven producers in Youngstown and eighteen in Pollockville came with the intention of beginning, learning more about the EFP, or finishing their farms EFP with assistance from local EFP Technicians. Many completed their EFPs during the workshop or shortly after. Having an EFP is beneficial for succession planning, a direct marketing tool, applying for grants that make it a requirement, for training new farm employees, increasing environmental stewardship and planning, and select producer groups must complete EFPs for certification.

2024 Soil Health Mini-Conference: “Change to Help Our Soils” (March 15, Oyen)

32 producers from across Alberta came for the annual CARASHL Soil Health Mini-Conference to learn from applied researchers like Lana Shaw (South East Research Farm) and Dr. Jeff Battigelli (NAIT) as well as other producers, Shorty Fensky from C. Fensky Farms and Rick Bieber of Bieber Farm, on topics like soil mesfauna communities, managing cover crops and intercrops, using plant biodiversity to improve soil health, integrating livestock and cover crops on conventional farmland, embracing change and taking on new farming challenges, and Dr. Zavala spoke about the MASH initiative being developed in and out of the CARASHL. MASH (Management Alternatives for Soil Health) would help put monitoring tools and techniques in the hands of producers who could take their own in-field measurements to help their improve monitoring and management.

AgriWebinar Recordings!

Did you know that you can watch past webinars hosted by CARA that have recorded and uploaded under the “AgriWebinar” tab?

Special Areas – Growing & Grazing Newsletter

Stay up to date with Special Areas Agricultural Services by visiting their website and reviewing the quarterly newsletter!

Special Areas Growing & Grazing Winter 2024 is out!

Contents Include:

Why is My Cow Walking in Circles? What to watch for in cattle behaviour and nutrition after combined years of drought
The Perfect Tumbleweed Storm
The Secrets Buried in the Soil
Badgers: What Are They Good For?

2022 Western Canada Conference on Soil Health & Grazing RECORDINGS

Soil & Grazing: Biology not Geology

The combined Conference was held on December 13, 14 & 15 of 2022 at the DoubleTree by Hilton (West Edmonton) Edmonton, AB, with the theme “Soil & Grazing: Biology not Geology”.

There are a total of SEVENTEEN recordings all available online to watch. To find the recording please CLICK HERE.

The next WCCSHG will be December 10-12, 2024. Subscribe for updates including when registration opens on the AB Soil & Grazing Website!

Cookin’ For Cow Folk

A Compilation of Branding Recipes from the 2015 Ladies Calving Clinic

Thank you to all the ladies who contributed recipes and branding photos. We hope you enjoy the book as much as we did creating it!

Extension

CURRENT EXTENSION REPORTS

ARCHIVED EXTENSION REPORTS

MORE INFORMATION

What’s New?

Grazing Club Meetings (December – March 2024)