Mountain View County's agricultural service board (ASB) has been given an update on some of the recent events in agriculture in the district and province.
Grant Lastiwka, with Alberta Agriculture in Olds, gave his monthly report to the board during its recent regularly scheduled meeting in council chambers.
He talked about a recent animal welfare workshop held in Olds.
"The workshop that went on looked at the future and looked at the cow herd because there has been a change in the cow herd and where it is in this province," he said.
"A lot of it has left the Highway 2 corridor. They are more into southern Alberta and areas around some of the good moisture that they'd had has brought those herds together."
There is a cow-calfenomics information session coming up in Olds at the Pomeroy Inn and Suites on Nov. 16.
On the Alberta Agriculture website, Rick Dehod, farm financial specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, said, "The series focuses on increasing participant's farm business management knowledge to enhance their decision-making skills. This year's session's theme is Enhancing Farm Business Decisions in Alberta's cow calf sector."
Topics at the session will include the use of risk management tools in the beef industry, business structures for new entrants, production enterprise analysis, a farmer's guide to agricultural credit, and the value of having a mentor, he said.
Lastiwka said the conference may include an appearance by Alberta's agriculture minister.
"That conference should be sold out," he said. "We hope the environment minister may come too."
Lastiwka also talked about the recent harvest in the province.
"What we saw are some amazing yields out there considering the dry conditions in many spots," he said. "It's hats off to a lot of people and it's hats off to the genetics that are in the system.
"We still have a bit of crop that is still out in that north horseshoe around Edmonton because so much was seeded so late."
Clubroot remains a concern in the province, he said.
"I know as an ag service board, I know you'll have discussion on that on the province side and how to deal with those issues going forward because in the end that is a challenge to deal with," he said.
Social media is an increasingly popular way for farmers and ranchers to keep in touch with developments in the agriculture community, he said.
"It's right in front of people and there's no doubt about the benefits of that," he said.
"What we saw are some amazing yields out there considering the dry conditions in many spots."Grant LastiwkaAlberta Agriculture in Olds
