Beef and Forage Roundup

Dr. Tom Smith currently serves as the Director of Technical Services for FERA Diagnostics and Biologicals. Dr. Tom has been involved in the cattle industry his whole life, growing up on his family’s seedstock operation. He studied dairy science at Cornell University before staying 4 more years to attend veterinary school, where shortly before graduating, he co-founded FERA Diagnostics and Biologic...

Shannon Carvey, the Executive Director at Manitoba 4-H Council Inc. is a generational 4-Her. She has been with 4-H since August 2016 in the role as Club Support Coordinator and recently transitioned into the Executive Director role in December of 2021. Shannon says that 4-H is the best youth development organization in the world. They are proud to offer over 90 projects that cover topics of intere...

Jarret Nelson grew up on a cow-calf operation in the Special Areas of Alberta. He completed schooling with a diploma in Agribusiness and was in the first graduating class of the AgTechnology Bachelors Degree at Lakeland College. While in school he worked with the Applied Research group to learn more about the technology that was being introduced to cattle producers. After graduating he worked in i...

Braden and Misty reside on their family grain farm near Oakburn, MB with their children Adilynn and Clayton, operating a multi-generational grain & oilseed farm. Farming has been a central part of both their lives, each growing up on family farms in nearby communities they learned the value of hard work, resilience, and dedication. Misty pursued her career as an X-ray/Lab technologist while Br...

A recipient of many national and international business and marketing awards, Kim McConnell has a long, influential track record of advancing the agricultural industry, rural Canada, and emerging leaders. In 2012 he was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame and at the time became the youngest recipient to be receive this prestigious award. In 2017 he was named a Member of the Order...

Raf Otfinowski is an Associate Professor, in the Department of Biology, at the University of Winnipeg. Originally from Edmonton, Raf has a degree in Environmental Science from U of Alberta and a M.Sc. in biology from the Western University in Ontario. He first came to Manitoba in 2002 for his PhD at the U of Manitoba. Since then, he has been working in grasslands and prairies in Manitoba, focusing...

Join us as we introduce MBFI’s 2026 summer students! Meredith Evren grew up North of Minnedosa on a small grain and beef cattle farm with her parents and one younger sister. She was a member of the Minnedosa and Erickson 4-H clubs throughout her childhood where she learned how to show cattle and first got excited about working with livestock. Right after high school Meredith went to Vancouver and...

Devon Baete has a diploma in Natural Resources Management and 20 years field experience working one on one with landowners on agricultural issues. Devon got involved with wild pigs back in 2018 volunteering to apply for grants and distribute traps to local landowners affected in the Cypress River area. The Manitoba Pork Council was concerned about wild pigs posing a disease risk to operations even...

As the Grassland Conservation Manager for Birds Canada, Ian’s work largely focuses on finding solutions for conserving birds that rely on the Canadian Prairies. Along with his colleagues at Birds Canada, he works on finding systemic solutions to conserve birds, while sustaining the livelihoods of the people on the land. He received his BSc in Agriculture from the University of Manitoba in 2013, an...

Adrienne Hanson is the National Grazing Coordinator with the Canadian Forage & Grassland Association, where she works directly with producers, provincial partners, and national collaborators to advance practical, profitable grazing management across Canada. Her work focuses on producer-led learning, mentorship, and building strong networks that support resilient forage systems and prairie cons...

During his career in ag, Reynold Bergen has held roles within technology transfer, extension and research management with both government and private industry. He is now the Science Director for the Beef Cattle Research Council, a role he has held since 2010. In this position, Reynold is involved in identifying industry research priorities, coordinating research funding among industry and governme...

Sean Thompson is the Research Chair of the Olds College Centre for Innovation. In his current role, Sean oversees applied research activities at Olds College, focused on livestock production, smart ag technology, environmental stewardship and crop production. Sean has a personal and professional background in beef cattle management, nutrition, and genetics. Further, he has extensive experience man...

Dr. Mika Asai-Coakwell is an assistant professor in bovine genetics at the University of Saskatchewan. Raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, she completed her BSc and MSc at the University of Saskatchewan and earned her doctoral degree at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). Following her postdoctoral research in ocular genetics at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, she retur...

Mary-Jane leads a dedicated team at MBFI to advance Manitoba’s beef & forage industry through engaging stakeholders, evaluating on-farm innovation, and extension for sustainability of farmers, the public, and the environment. She deeply values the opportunity to collaborate with producers, researchers, education providers, extension specialists, conservation groups, and all stakeholders in fie...

Tracy Young is a seasoned mental health clinician and dedicated advocate for rural mental health. She is a Counsellor for the MB Farmer Wellness Program and co-leads the Centre for Critical Studies of Rural Mental Health, Brandon University, where her current research focus is agricultural resilience and wellbeing. Tracy tells us about her work with the Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program, a free ser...

Kristen brings a lifelong passion for agriculture to her role as Manitoba Agriculture’s Livestock and Forage Extension Specialist in Beausejour. Before stepping into extension work, she supported producers as a Livestock Nutritionist and as an Environmental Farm Plan Program Officer. She holds both an Animal Science degree and a Master of Agriculture from the University of Manitoba. Growing up on...

Neal Wagar is the National Sales Manager for EcoTea. He joined the agriculture industry just over 5 years ago with EcoTea. Neal was previously a golf course superintendent and has a degree in turf grass science. Once in the agriculture industry he went back to school to get his Ag Diploma from Olds College. Neal has worked in all facets of the company from production and delivery of product to sal...

Callum Morrison is a Crop Production Specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, serving the Central Region. Originally from Scotland, Callum moved to Canada in 2017 and brings an international perspective to prairie crop production. He works closely with producers on agronomy, crop management, and applied research to support profitable and sustainable farming systems. In 2020, Callum conducted the Prai...

In today’s episode, we chat with Mary-Jane about upcoming events and projects that are coming to MBFI in 2026 and then we move into a discussion about the different annual forage production approaches used in the 2025 growing season. Our discussion also touched on the multiyear MBFI Cropping Project that is looking at using annual forage intercrops to build soil health. This project was discussed...

Angela Pearen is the Coordinator of Ag Extension at Assiniboine College, where she supports industry-driven education and knowledge transfer across the agriculture sector. She brings experience in program development, stakeholder engagement, organizational development and event coordination with a focus on connecting producers, students, and industry to practical, applied learning opportunities. A...

Dr. John Church is an Associate Professor in Natural Resource Science at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia as well as Research Chair in Cattle Industry Sustainability. John initially started Canadian Rocky Mountain Ranch in 1997, a large bison and elk operation east of the Rockies just southwest of Calgary, Alberta. In addition to practical and direct bison industry experien...

Charlotte Crawley was raised on a mixed farming operation in Clanwilliam, MB. She received her Bachelor of Science in Animal Systems from the University of Manitoba in 2003 and headed to Alberta where she worked as a meat inspector at the Cargill plant in High River, followed by a two year position at Ballo Feeders feedlot. Charlotte returned to the family farm in 2005 where she farmed full time f...

Suzanne Ference is the fourth generation on Rutledge Ranching Monitor. The ranch has operated in the same location for the past 113 years. Located in Special Areas 4 in Alberta, Canada, she and her husband Justin, along with their 5 children, aged 6-22, operate a cow-calf and grain operation. Presently, they run about 1000 cows. They raise their own replacement heifers and have started selling som...

Brett & Chantel McRae own and operate McRae Land & Livestock, located 15 minutes southwest of Brandon MB. They raise commercial cattle and a diverse rotation of grain crops including spring and winter cereals, canola, pulse crops and corn. They also provide custom seeding and bull clipping services and manufacture cattle scratchers on farm. They currently operate on 2800 acres, 2640 of whi...

Dr. Kathy Larson is an Extension Economist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Saskatchewan. Her position is one of the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture’s Strategic Research Program Chairs. Prior to joining the University in 2018, Kathy worked as a Research Economist at the Western Beef Development Centre for 8 years. She researches the practices and p...