Ruminating with RealAg – RealAgriculture

A cow coming home thin doesn’t necessarily mean she belongs on the cull list. Sometimes, she may have done exactly what was asked of her. As cows come home from summer pasture and winter feeding costs move to the forefront, producers have to decide which animals have earned another winter’s worth of feed — and... Read More

More protein might sound like cheap insurance heading into winter, but there comes a point when that extra scoop is doing more for the feed bill than the cow. On this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, host Amber Bell is joined by Eric Bailey, state beef extension specialist and associate professor of animal science with... Read More

Host Amber Bell chews on the latest in beef production as she sits down with Sean McGrath of Round Rock Ranching to discuss designing, building, and adapting reliable watering setups for grazing cattle. In this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, McGrath breaks down how to manage cattle water requirements and work with effective rainfall dynamics... Read More

While information about grazing management is readily available online, producers still benefit from getting together to learn from neighbours facing the same conditions and challenges. On this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, host Amber Bell is joined by Tatyana Pavlovets, executive director of the Central Alberta Forage and Livestock Association (CAFLA), and rancher Jim Bauer,... Read More

The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence; this old adage seems to be more true in the spring than at any other time of the year. Just because it's green, though, doesn't necessarily mean that it's ready for cows. So what do we do when feed supplies are getting tight,... Read More

Time is a constant pressure point on cow-calf operations, but where it actually goes — and how well it’s understood — is often less clear. In this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, Brenda Schoepp, mentor and industry veteran, and Kathy Larson, agricultural economist with the University of Saskatchewan join host Amber Bell, to unpack how... Read More

Profitability in the cattle business often hinges on understanding the real cost of production, something that can be difficult to pin down when labour, land, and opportunity costs aren’t always clearly accounted for. For many producers, taking a closer look at the numbers behind everyday decisions can reveal insights that influence everything from heifer retention... Read More

In the demanding world of beef production, success during the calving season is often determined by management decisions made long before the first calf hits the ground. Dr. Lacey Fowler, a beef technical services veterinarian with Elanco Animal Health, understands this timeline well. Drawing on her years in mixed animal practice and her work with... Read More

Regenerative agriculture is one of those terms that can spark a debate faster than a coffee-row chat about tillage, but on this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, host Amber Bell sits down with Joel Williams of Integrated Soils to keep things grounded. Williams, an independent plant and soil health educator who works with farmers around... Read More

Winter feeding is one of the largest and most complex management decisions cow-calf producers face each year, touching everything from cost of production to cattle performance and land stewardship. On this episode of Ruminating With RealAg, host Amber Bell is joined by University of Saskatchewan researchers Kathy Larson and Dr. Bart Lardner to dig into... Read More

For cow-calf producers, keeping herds efficient and profitable often comes down to adopting practical management practices that make sense on the ground. Whether it’s testing feed, improving records, or using pain control at branding, small changes can have a big impact. To better understand how these practices are being used, the Beef Cattle Research Council... Read More

Clear, calm communication can make all the difference on a ranch, something Etienne Poulin has learned first-hand from working as a ranch hand across Australia and Canada. In this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, host Amber Bell sits down with Poulin to talk about what communication looks like from the employee’s side, and how it... Read More

Riparian areas, those green, ribbon-like zones along streams and rivers, are some of the most productive and ecologically important parts of the landscape. But when it comes to grazing livestock, they’re also among the most fragile. How do producers balance water, forage, and habitat without sacrificing one for the other? This episode of Ruminating with... Read More

Winter feeding options can be complex, there are many layers that go into decisions on feed source, supplements, fencing, watering and so much more. Now to throw another layer into the mix, what about custom feeding? While custom feeding cattle at a feedlot might seem like a fairly straight-forward process, there are a lot of... Read More

When the nights turn crisp and the drill is parked, is it still worth chasing green? This Ruminating with RealAg episode tackles the late-fall question: what to do when it feels “too late” to seed cover crops, and whether a few leaves before snowfall can still pay back in soil health or livestock feed. Host... Read More

Most farmers and ranchers enjoy walking through an ag trade show. Whether it’s checking out heifers, catching up with a neighbour in the beer gardens, or exploring booths filled with the latest gadgets, there’s usually something new to take home — sometimes a tool, sometimes an idea. In this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, Sean... Read More

"You're growing soil, that's your crop, and your plants and animals are tools to do that." In this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, Dr. Kris Nichols, founder and principal scientist of KRIS Systems, joins host Amber Bell to discuss the world beneath our boots. While the two discuss a lot of the finer details of... Read More

In this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, host Amber Bell sits down with Jaime (Jim) Elizondo of Real Wealth Ranching to unpack the principles of “total grazing.” With decades of experience in dairy nutrition, agronomy, and accounting, Elizondo shares his global perspective on livestock productivity, soil regeneration, and adapting grazing systems to work with—not against—...

It's pretty safe to say that the evolution of electric fencing has been a game changer when it comes to giving farmers and ranchers cost-effective, flexible solutions for rotational grazing, riparian protection, and keeping wildlife out of bale yards. While putting up an electric fence sounds like a straightforward process, there are a lot of... Read More

Anyone who’s worked with livestock knows just how many threats exist—diseases, toxic plants, and parasites can all put animal health at risk. It’s up to ranchers and feedlot operators to do everything they can to protect the animals in their care. One threat that had been nearly forgotten, until recently, is the New World Screwworm,... Read More

Legumes are often a welcome addition to pastures. They fix nitrogen, improve forage quality with higher protein and digestibility, and can extend the grazing season. Deep-rooted species such as alfalfa also help maintain productivity during dry spells. The balance, of course, is the risk and fear of bloat. In this episode of Ruminating with RealAg,... Read More

Producers are usually looking for an economical way to put weight on their animals, usually in the source of high protein supplements. To this end, distillers' grains (DDGs) seem to be an ideal fit. This byproduct of grain based ethanol production is high in crude protein, a moderate source of both fiber and oil, and... Read More

In the next decade, thousands of farms and farm businesses will transition in ownership from one generation to the next. How that hand-off happens is far from simple. Farm transitions involve not just assets and operations, but also families, livelihoods, and legacies. In this episode of Ruminating with RealAg, Annessa Good-Hassard of Peak Heritage Consulting... Read More

Spring is an exciting — and busy — time of year. For some ranchers calving is just coming to a close; for others it may be just starting. There are fences to fix, water systems to install and repair, grazing plans to finalize and cattle to run through the squeeze. Often in the hectic pace... Read More

There is nothing quite like having the exact right tool at the exact right time to get a job done. Many ranchers out on pasture have experienced the importance of that moment when they are looking for their favourite hammer or nut driver, only to realize that it's missing from the toolbox, lost to the... Read More