The Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference opened in Saskatoon this morning with a funding announcement for livestock and forage research.

The federal/provincial Agriculture Development Fund will provide $6.9 million for 30 projects this year. Producer organizations are contributing $216,000 for ten of those projects. That money comes from the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, the Saskatchewan Forage Seed Development Commission, SaskPork and the various dairy producer organizations in Western Canada, including SaskMilk.

Provincial Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison explains how the research projects were selected.

Vanessa Cowan is with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. She is looking into the effects of ergot alkaloid mycotoxins on blood flow in cattle, as well as investigating if a feed-based strategy could mitigate any adverse effect of ergot alkaloids in cattle.

Of the research projects receiving ADF Funding;  7 are beef, 2 beef and dairy, 2 dairy, 6 forages, 6 swine, 2 poultry and 3 for multiples species. Just over two-thirds of the projects have connections to the University of Saskatchewan or the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence south of Clavet.

(Above photo: Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison and one of the research scientists receiving ADF funding)