Topics Include:

– Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD): a biosecurity concern with major economic impacts for Canadian Agriculture.   

Presented by Karin Schmid, Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) Beef Production and Extension Lead, providing technical support in the areas of cattle health and welfare, research, and production practices. She works very closely with several industry and government organizations on issues of importance to the industry, and large part of her job is translating science to producers and explaining producer needs to researchers and other stakeholders.

– Is There an Alternative to Plastic Netwrap?

Presented by Dr. Brenda Ralston, who is a firm believer that applied research is critically needed today more than ever and that the Colleges are an excellent fit to carry this out in collaboration with Private Industry, Producer Groups, Universities, Government and most importantly the Producers themselves. Her guiding principle for applied research is ultimately if the outcome doesn’t provide a product or practice that the producer can implement in their operation to enhance their efficiency, sustainability or profitability then she is not doing the right research and not supporting the Agriculture Industry to her full potential.

– Fencing Without Borders: Our Virtual Fencing Trial

Presented by John and Deanne Chuiko who manage CJ Ranching in Northwest Saskatchewan with their children, Matt and Rylee. They manage a cow-calf and long yearling ranch adjacent to a Provincial Forest, striving to operate in harmony with natures ecosystems. They use the Holistic Management framework to make financially, environmentally, and socially sound decisions, with an emphasis on forage management and Planned Grazing. They are always open to learning and are continuously seeking new ways to improve their lives and business. CJ Ranching is running a 2-year virtual fencing trial in partnership with Vence, Saskatchewan Stock Growers, Saskatchewan Ministry of AG, and Canadian Forage and Grasslands Association (CFGA). With year one of the trial complete, find out more about their successes, challenges, and lessons learned while integrating cutting-edge technology into a real-world ranching environment on a larger scale.

– Identifying Cattle Efficiency Using Infrared and Genetic Technology.

Presented by Dr. Al Schaefer. Dr. Schaefer is a research scientist in the area of animal physiology. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta and was also a Research Scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lacombe. Feed represents one of the primary input costs for cattle producers. Animal variation in feed intake costs reflects individual differences in stress resilience and metabolic efficiency. Being able to identify and rank animals for these differences would be a very useful precision farming tool thus enabling producers to select and feed animals for greater efficiency. Infrared thermography scans measure energy loss and have been demonstrated to be a cost effective and rapid on farm method for identifying such efficient animals.

Pre-registration is required,

Tickets: free for LARA members or $20.00 for non-members

To register call (780) 826-7260 or Click Here!

Not sure if you are a member of LARA? If you live in the County of St. Paul, MD of Bonnyville or Smoky Lake County and are an agricultural producers,  you are considered a member.