Beef and Forage Roundup

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...

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...

Since the year 2000 Carl Dahlen has been intimately involved in research efforts with a focus on reproduction, nutrition, and management of cattle.  The emphasis of his current research program is to improve fertility in livestock species and to evaluate implications of nutrition and management strategies on reproductive and offspring outcomes.   Dahlen joined the North Dakota State...

Dr. Jason Gibbs studies the diversity and taxonomy of wild bees. He completed his PhD at York University. He was a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University and a research associate at Michigan State University before joining Canada’s only Department of Entomology at the University of Manitoba in 2016. He is curator of one of the largest insect collections in western Canada. He has published 1...

Dr. Bill Biligetu is an Associate Professor, at the Crop Development Center of the University of Saskatchewan. Growing up on the Mongolian Plateau, Dr. Bill Biligetu (PhD) has seen first-hand the effect climate change can have on grasslands. As the Ministry of Agriculture Strategic Research Program (SRP) Chair in Forage Crop Breeding, his program has focused on developing new varieties of perennia...

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...

Andrea White is the Director of Marketing and Stakeholder Relations with the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB).  She leads the marketing and communications strategies for the CRSB and its CRSB Certified program. She is a key liaison with the CRSB’s multi-stakeholder membership and supports marketing initiatives of those using the CRSB Certified program. Andrea Chairs the Communi...

Donna married her high school sweetheart Les directly out of school and has been married to him for 39 years this July. She was raised in Virden and moved to the farm when they married. For 5 years they lived in a trailer and had one daughter there. They started into cattle with 6 mixed breed cows in 1989. In 1991 they moved to the home farm where the Odell's began in 1892. They are the 4th genera...

Gerry Friesen, AKA the Recovering Farmer, is a co-founder of the Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program. He comes from a diverse background of experience, learning and discovery through farming and as a stress and conflict management specialist. Gerry’s passion is in helping others find solutions for the various issues that life throws at us. A combination of his own journey with anxiety and depression,...

Dr. Briana Hagen is a leading voice in Canadian agricultural mental health. As CEO and Lead Scientist of the Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing, she combines academic research with real-world solutions, co-creating programs alongside farmers to build resilience and break down barriers to mental health support. Dr. Hagen’s work spans policy advocacy, educational programming, and crisis supp...

Lesley Kelly is a farmer, entrepreneur, and mental health advocate who farms with her family in Watrous, Saskatchewan. As the voice behind High Heels & Canola Fields , she bridges the gap between farmers and consumers by dispelling agricultural myths and fostering meaningful conversations about food and farming. Her passion for advocacy began while building a snack food company using her famil...

Josh Dillabough is a dedicated natural area manager for the Nature Conservancy of Canada, he’s been with the organization since 2010. When not pursuing efforts to protect critical natural habitat or being coerced into media interviews or podcasts, he endeavours to be a loving husband and dad. Josh is an outdoor enthusiast that enjoys hunting, fishing, paddling and thick rib-eyes hot off the grill....

Tyler Fulton and his wife, Dorelle, along with their kids Evan and Mae own and operate Tyton Farm Ltd, a 600 head cow/calf/backgrounding operation south of Birtle, MB.  The farm operates about 6000 acres in prairie pothole country, which consists of mostly tame pasture, hay, and some annual crops. Tyler has spent most of his off-farm career in the field of livestock price risk management afte...

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...

Dr. Christy Morrissey is a Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research focuses on issues related to agricultural pesticides and other chemicals and the use of birds and insects as indicators of ecosystem health.  Dr. Morrissey has published over 95 highly cited journal articles and book chapters and in 2020 was named to the Royal Society College of N...

Joey Pankiw grew up on a family farm in the Red River Valley. Joey is a graduate from the University of Winnipeg with a B.A. in Geography, and obtained a MSc. in Geography from the University of Regina. He started working with the Seine Rat Roseau Watershed District in 2019 as a Watershed Assistant and also held the ALUS/Grow Coordinator position before becoming District Manager in 2022. In today’...

Justin Girard is the Manitoba Program Manager for Young Agrarians, a peer to peer educational resource network for new, young and aspiring farmers. He is also the team lead for the Young Agrarians Apprenticeship Program, a program that sets up aspiring farmers with their first farm job and provides support to both the apprentices and the seasoned farmer mentors. Justin grew up on a farm, worked on...