by Melanie Jacob
Journal Staff Writer
Despite the rainy weather, the Western Beef Development Centre (WBDC) had a healthy turnout of more than 150 people for their field day on June 24.
The field day is an annual event put on by the WBDC as an opportunity for various beef producers, industry specialists, and researchers to come and talk about their work. The theme for this year was partnerships.
"Every speaker was a research partner in one shape or another," said Dr. Paul Jefferson, vice president of operations for the WDBC. "They talked about various projects and highlighted that what we do here is just a part of multiple disciplines."
In other words, anyone was welcome to come and learn more about what kind of progress is being made and what direction the research is heading. There were graduate students and farmers alike in attendance, as well as various other visitors.
Throughout the day, there was one particular topic of interest that was grabbing people's attention. Individuals from the Saskatchewan Forage Council were in attendance talking about a study they did on mineral concentrations in pastures. The issue focused on whether there were sufficient nutrients to meet the need for cows to breed properly.
"Minerals are deficient on pastures and that caused reduction in cows at the end of breeding season," said Jefferson. "The key thing is to improve the number of cows bred and nutrition is a part of that. We continue to work on reproductive efficiency."
Therefore, research is focusing on the nutrient supply in order to improve the percentage of young cows and "supplementing young cows on pasture to breeding success."
According to Jefferson, the importance of this nutrient supply for breeding cows extends beyond just reproductive quantities. A lack of sufficient nutrition for cows also impacts a calf's birth weight, weaning weight, and performance in vitamin D deficiency. These figures trickle down the supply line and act as important parameter for feed lot industries.
"If you're going to use low cost systems for feeding your beef cows, we've done a lot of projects using straw, but we supplement," said Jefferson. "Supplementation of the low cost feed is very important to meet the nutrition needs of cows and developing fetuses."
Part of the WBDC field was spent showcasing projects that are now focusing on this new area of interest and provided visitors with food for thought. Beyond that, the field day also exhibited tidbits from a wide variety of sectors so that all visitors could view something of personal significance.
"There was a wide range of knowledge of people coming to the field day. There was something that appeals to everyone," said Jefferson. "Thanks to the weather, people go to get out and see a lot of research projects."
According to a WBDC news release, other areas of focus at the field day included "RFID tag retention, hay sampling for feed quality, supplementation strategies on pasture, trace mineral profiles in pastures, the impact of high rainfall on pasture quality, SafeGuard trial findings, and a demonstration of 3-D fencing designed to keep wildlife away from livestock feed sources."
Of course, none of these projects are cheap.
The Ministry of Agriculture funds more than half of the WBDC's costs. Over the past five years, that sum has totaled approximately $2 million in operating costs and $1.8 million in project research funding.
"The Ministry does this because we know the work of WBDC is important to the future success of the livestock industry," said Paul Johnson on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture in the WBDC news release. "The work done at WBDC will help Saskatchewan create viable solutions to feed a growing world, in an environmentally sustainable way that results in safe food, responsibly produced."
