Beekeepers Facing Extra Feed Costs

Sep 08, 2021

The drought this year had an impact on many Manitoba beekeepers.

Mark Friesen is a beekeeper in the Morden area.

"We are definitely in a situation where this time of year, when there isn't any flowers blooming, that really limits the bees' ability to collect pollen and they need to build up there stores for the winter," he said. "In certain areas, and I'm not saying that's all areas around Morden, we've had quite a bit of a dry stretch, we're going around trying to make sure that they have some supplements to hold on for the winter."

Last week, Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler said that the government is aware of the situation and is reviewing options for support.

"If they do come up with something, that it would be something to supplement our extra feed costs, when we have to go around and feed extra supplement because the bees can't access those flowers that they might have been able to access other years."

Click here to see more...

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.