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Calling all cow-calf producers: find out how you stack up in the industry

Calling all cow-calf producers: find out how you stack up in the industry

The Western Canadian Cow-Calf Survey deadline is soon approaching

By Kate Ayers
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Producers can participate in the second edition of the Western Canadian Cow-Calf Survey until Feb. 28.

All cow-calf producers in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are encouraged to complete the survey. The results will become available this summer.

The survey will help the Canadian beef industry gain a better understanding of what producers are doing on their operations, determine ways to improve production efficiency, and help guide research and extension, according to a Beef Cattle Research Council article yesterday.

In return, participants will receive a complimentary report that benchmarks their operations with others in the region, allowing cattle producers to see where their operations excel and where they have room for improvement.

Producers will also be eligible to receive up to $50 in gift cards for taking the survey.  

The survey takes about 45 to 60 minutes to complete. The survey questions focus on the 2016 breeding season through the 2017 calf weaning, and management practices, according to the article.

The questions are check-box style and respondents can leave sections blank. All the collected information remains confidential, as the results will be combined into averages and benchmarks.

The Beef Cattle Research, the Western Beef Development Centre, Canfax, the BC Cattlemen’s Association, Alberta Beef Producers, Saskatchewan’s Cattlemen’s Association, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association, Manitoba Beef Producers, and the provincial ministries of agriculture in B.C. and Manitoba are collaborating on the study.

The online survey can be found here or a hard copy can be accessed here and mailed in.  


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Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Video: Cleaning Sheep Barns & Setting Up Chutes

Indoor sheep farming in winter at pre-lambing time requires that, at Ewetopia Farms, we need to clean out the barns and manure in order to keep the sheep pens clean, dry and fresh for the pregnant ewes to stay healthy while indoors in confinement. In today’s vlog, we put fresh bedding into all of the barns and we remove manure from the first groups of ewes due to lamb so that they are all ready for lambs being born in the next few days. Also, in preparation for lambing, we moved one of the sorting chutes to the Coveralls with the replacement ewe lambs. This allows us to do sorting and vaccines more easily with them while the barnyard is snow covered and hard to move sheep safely around in. Additionally, it frees up space for the second groups of pregnant ewes where the chute was initially.