EP57 Riparian Accounts Part Two

Riparian areas can be a value-added project of the wetlands on your land if you choose to leave your wetlands intact. The wetland itself is great for maintaining the water table and can become an important source of water for your cattle. 

In this episode, you’ll be hearing from Art Goerzen of Adullam Ranch to get an additional perspective on why riparian areas can be handy in times of drought.

EP56 Feed Additives

You could argue that compared to other livestock, cattle are pretty simple to feed – get them grazing during the growing season and feed them bales in the winter. However, this relatively simple feeding system begins to fall apart when you get hit by a drought; forage isn’t growing in your pasture and the price of hay goes through the roof. During a dry year, you might want to look into alternatives to hay that can help your cattle get the baseline nutrition they need and get you and your ranch through the year.

In this episode, we are joined by Barry Yaremcio of Yaremcio Ag Consulting Ltd to learn more about feed alternatives.

EP55 Riparian Accounts

If you manage them properly, riparian areas can be a savings account that you can tap into during a dry year. There are plenty of good reasons for fencing off and protecting bodies of water on your land, like giving biodiversity a boost or keeping water clean for livestock. Not to mention how handy that strip of greenery adjacent to a wetland can be when your pasture isn’t growing or recovering the way you need it to. In this episode, we’re joined by Duane Movald of Movald Ranches, to learn more about managing and stewarding riparian areas.

EP54 Biochar

When it comes to soil amendments, charcoal is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. But if you really think about it, charcoal is carbon that’s been locked up, in the same way that coal is carbon, perfectly sequestered. There’s a catch – you can’t burn it. But if we can’t burn it, how do we activate the carbon in biochar?

In this episode, Rob Lavoie of AirTerra helps us understand how to unlock that carbon and feed those hungry little soil microbes that feed us.

EP53 Dugouts

If you live in Alberta and raise cattle, odds are you’re going to try every possible way to keep that spring melt, or heavy rain, on your land. A tried and true method of ensuring that water doesn’t go wandering off is the dugout.

In this episode, Norine Ambrose, Executive Director of Cows and Fish, helps us understand the importance of protecting riparian areas (including dugouts) and how it can help with drought management.

Polycultures December 7th, 2022

Join Young Agrarians, Rural Routes to Climate Solutions, and Dr. Jillian Bainard of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to learn everything you need to know right now about polycultures.

EP51 Cover Crops

With fertilizer prices hitting $1,000 a ton, it’s no surprise that cover crops are a hot topic. It makes sense that non-synthetic inputs like cover crops are becoming more and more appealing to producers. There’s many benefits to cover crops – including feeding livestock and pollinators, improving water filtration, suppressing weeds, building soil carbon and improving soil biology. In this episode, we’re joined by Kevin Elmy, of Cover Crops Canada, to discuss the ins and outs of cover crops.

Planting the ‘Prairie Berry’ — Solstice Berry Farm, Crossfield, Alberta

The Gelowitz’s kept a garden on their farm where they grew several saskatoon bushes. Rick, who grew up in Calgary, but spent quite a few summer vacations on his uncle’s farms in Saskatchewan, has had a lifelong love for the native prairie berry. “It was my wife’s suggestion that we try to grow Saskatoon berries,” he recalls. “And that’s how it started.”