Beef and Forage Roundup

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...

Ken Sharpe grew up in the ag industry and bought and operated a dairy farm alongside his wife, Sherri from 1987-1993.  They purchased their current farm in 1997 and now raise Purebred Friesian horses and Purebred Shorthorn cattle. Ken completed his Chartered Professional Accountant degree in 1999 from the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of Manitoba. Ken has had his own public...

Laura Plett and her husband Ryan own and operate a cow-calf operation in Stead, Manitoba, alongside her family’s fourth generation grain farm. She started this cow herd in 2014 with the purchase of 30 bred heifers while based near Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. Laura has since returned to her homeland (with the cows), gotten married, had a baby and retired from her previous career as a professional Hu...

Laura Lazo holds a Ph. D. in biology from Dalhousie University, has published in scientific journals, and has worked as a consultant. She operates her own company, Careers in Agriculture and Food, which offers recruitment services tailored for the agriculture and agri-food industry. Laura leverages her extensive experience and network across Canada to help employers find candidates for hard-to-fil...

Agriculture has been a part of Doris Doelger’s life for as long as she can remember. Doris was born on a hog farm and raised on a beef and grain operation. At a young age 4-H gave Doris her first hands-on experiences and taught her the value of hard work, leadership, and community. In 2011, Doris started raising purebred Simmentals alongside her dad’s commercial cow/calf herd, and today she stays...

Hi!  My name is Chantel McRae.  I am a mom of 2, farm wife, farmer and the voice behind The Beef and Forage Roundup.  I started my work as a podcaster and podcast producer in 2022 after taking a podcast mentorship program while on maternity leave with my oldest. Since then, 100 episodes of the Beef and Forage Roundup have come to life, reaching 80 countries and covering various topi...

On today’s episode, we are introducing the full time staff at MBFI whose dedication and hard work makes the projects, data collection and project results possible. Clayton Robins operates a mixed family farm in Rivers, Manitoba with a primary focus on beef production.  At the present time the operation includes; cow/calf, back-grounding, and custom grazing. The operation included sheep produc...

Join us as we introduce MBFI’s 2025 summer students! Kristy has lived in Brandon her whole life, but even though she lived in the city she has some aunts and uncles living on farms. One is a beef cattle farm, and the other is a beef cattle and hobby farm. Growing up, it was clear she loved animals and many other aspects of the farm. She started out volunteering for her uncle’s petting zoo, then ha...

Dr. H.A. (Bart) Lardner is a Professor and the Ministry of Agriculture Strategic Research Program Chair in Cow-Calf and Forage Systems at the University of Saskatchewan. Dr. Lardner holds a Ph. D. in Animal Science from the University of Saskatchewan, focusing on forage rejuvenation, nutrient digestibility and ruminant performance in Western Canada. Over the past 30 years his beef and forage resea...

Dan Cox is the Project Manager with Manitoba Association of Watersheds. He brings 14+ years of project management experience in the renewable energy sector to the MAW project team. Dan’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Science from the University of Winnipeg and an advanced diploma in GIS from Red River College. His role within the organization is to oversee all projects which MAW ad...