Going Non-GMO
It is fair to say that most North Americans have been unwittingly eating GMO foods since the mid-1990s. According to National Geographic, around 65% of all processed foods on U.S. supermarket shelves—from pizza, chips and cookies to ice cream, salad dressing and corn syrup—contain ingredients from GMO soybeans, corn or canola. Despite long-term public consumption of GMO foods and increased awareness and understanding of GMO technology in North America, the proportion of consumers actively avoiding GMOs has almost tripled since…
Bovine Bloat
Bloat is over-distension of the rumen caused by the accumulation of fermentation gases in the rumen. Primary bloat or frothy bloat usually occurs as an outbreak in several animals on pasture containing high levels of leguminous plants, in particular clover. Secondary or gaseous bloat is rare and usually the result of a physical obstruction of oesophagus in individual animals. In primary bloat, froth forms in the rumen and natural eructation (belching) is prevented. Without intervention, gas rapidly builds in the…
Removing Livestock
Sometimes it is necessary to remove your animals from pasture for welfare reasons. AGW’s farm standards account for this reality (see section 7.5). There are two types of exclusion: Emergency and Planned. For an operation to maintain compliance, however, you must be able to justify removal based on one or the other. Let’s define the two types of removal. Emergency removal Emergency removal is defined as something that is far outside of the norm; something that happens less than one…
Eat Play Shove
The very traits that help our birds thrive on pasture can trigger calamity during the winter months. Understanding what is behind these behaviors can help you adapt for winter wellness and bolster health and well-being during the milder months. Eat It is said that top predators live by the principle “eat or be eaten.” For poultry, “eat and don’t get eaten” is probably more accurate. Most poultry are omnivores, persistently combing the range for insects, worms, small rodents and other…
Getting A Handle On The Herd
Depending on the circumstance and the animals, getting cattle to do what you want can be very easy, very difficult or nearly impossible. I grew up working cattle on my family’s ranch, TK Ranch in Alberta, using horses and dogs to help get the job done—a practice we continue to this day. When I was a kid in the 1960s, however, horses were broke, cattle were chased, and dogs and kids tried to help (but mostly just learned to stay…
