Western Beef Development Centre Field Day, June 27

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

The eighth annual Western Beef Development Centre Field Day will be held on Tuesday, June 27 at the Termuende Research Farm near Lanigan, Saskatchewan.

The WBDC team has put together a compelling program for the day.

“Our main speaker for the morning is the vice-president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Mr. Brad Wildeman of Pound-maker Agventures,” says WBDC president David Gullacher. “Brad will be speaking about new market development for the Canadian beef industry. We think it is a timely topic for the beef industry, and we are limiting the agenda to one main speaker because we want to allow enough time to go into depth.”

After a lunch provided by the Termuende Trust Fund and served by the Carlton Trail 4-H Beef Club, field tours will take participants to look at ongoing studies at the Termuende Research Farm. There will be three stops on the field tour this year, explains Dr. Bart Lardner, WBDC's senior research scientist.

“The first one is a combination of electric fencing demonstrations—how producers can better use electric fences to improve pasture management and rotational grazing. There are some pitfalls to setting up electric fences, so we have Wil Rex, a fencing specialist, to address those issues. At that same stop, we will also talk about a pasture grazing study and some of the project results. We are looking at beef performance grazing four new pasture varieties seeded in the pasture rotation. Charlotte Ward, a grad student, will be discussing that topic.”

The group will then move to another stop to look at the carryover effects of nutrient management when winter-feeding beef cows.

“We are looking at field-feeding beef cows,” Lardner continues, “and the subsequent nutrients that are left behind; how they benefit that site over the following several years. So it is very visual. We have some new information three years after we have completed that project.”

The last stop will feature an ongoing water management initiative.

“We have worked with the PFRA over the years and have just entered into another study looking at sulphate reduction in livestock water,” Lardner says. “Sulphates are an issue in well water. We are working with Dr. Sue Baldwin at the University of British Columbia, and with the PFRA, to develop a model that will reduce these sulphates. I think we have struck some good stuff. We will be talking about this at an outside demonstration site that will be set up to give producers a good look.”

A bus tour will run concurrently that will give producers a look at the general operations of the research farm. Both tours will be repeated so producers can catch each one.

After this, the group will return to the main barn at the research farm for some technical presentations from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. There are three talks of 20 to 25 minutes scheduled, with a question period following.

The first presenter will be the WBDC beef economist Kathy Lang, who will talk about her cost-of-production program. She collected producer data over the past winter, and will present an overview of that information. Following her will be Bruce and Patty Chern, beef producers from the Stockholm area, who will discuss their techniques for managing their animals from time of calving, as well as low-cost winter feeding, more effective use of forages and how they market their own beef.

“We always like to have a presentation on herd health," says Lardner, “so the final presentation will be by Dr. Steve Hendrick from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, who will talk about managing Johne’s Disease in the beef industry. We think this is a key message that needs to be heard.”

The day will close with a steak barbeque.

Registration is from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. There is no charge for the day's activities. More details can be found at the WBDC website at www.wbdc.sk.ca or by telephoning 306-682-3139.

For more information, contact:

Brenda Freistadt
Secretary
Western Beef Development Centre
(306) 682-3139 Ext. 246

Dr. Bart Lardner
Senior Research Scientist
Western Beef Development Centre
(306) 682-3139 Ext. 249