Talk To Your Seed Supplier Early

Oct 25, 2021

Following this year's drought, there's been some questions regarding seed availability for next spring.

Jake Ayre operates Southern Seed near Minto, Manitoba.

"As seed growers, we work in a two, three, four, five-year cycle," he said. "We are multiplying high pedigreed seed every year. We're making a plan into the future. We're not based off of a one year plan. Always as seed growers we're carrying over stock, we're trying new varieties. We are trading with other growers...We always try to have adequate supplies for the year or the years to come, as you can never truly predict what the situation is. As an industry we look to the future. We can't necessarily account for drought conditions, but we always try to have a little bit extra or we look ahead so that we're not just catering to our customers for one year."

Ayre recommends that farmers talk to their seed supplier as soon as possible.

"My advice would be for growers to contact their seed grower sooner rather than later, especially this year. We work with other seed growers across the Prairies, so maybe I don't have one variety but I know a fellow down the road in Saskatchewan that happens to have some. We work together as a team to ensure the success and viability of our industry and for our growers. Please contact your growers earlier this year, as perhaps maybe they have supply or they need to bring supply in."

He adds the Seed Manitoba and Yield Manitoba guides are also great resources to help make decisions for next year.

Click here to see more...

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.