Beef farming
Resources on beef production in Ontario including breeding, proper care and handling, feeding and nutrition, marketing and more.
Overview
Ontario accounts for 6% of Canada’s total beef cow population, including backgrounding and feedlot production. Currently, there are approximately 19,000 beef farmers across Ontario. The most popular breeds in Canada include:
- Angus
- Simmental
- Charolais
The Codes of Practice for the Care and Handling of Beef Cattle serve as the national understanding of care requirements and recommended practices.
Breeding and genetics
Learn about key genetic markers and best practices for breeding to gain insight and improve the performance of your herd.
Health and biosecurity
Learn about biosecurity practices to prevent diseases and how to maintain herd health in different weather conditions.
- Biosecurity for livestock
- Cold stress in cows
- Cold stress on trucked cattle
- Managing heat stress in fed cattle
Care and handling
Learn about beef cattle care, calf management and how to humanely euthanize and dispose of cattle and calves.
Herd management
Learn about the benefits of calving in different seasons and cow-calf production techniques to increase your profit.
Feeding and nutrition
Learn about beef cattle digestion, nutritional health requirements, and feeding and foraging options.
- Basic beef cattle nutrition
- Benefits and challenges of feeding a higher grain diet to beef cattle
- Fence-line and TMR feeding systems for beef cows
- Effects of mouldy feed and mycotoxins on cattle
- Efficiently feeding beef cows round bales
- Coping with hay shortages in beef cow wintering rations
- Alternative feeds for beef cattle
- Sugar beets as a feed ingredient
- Creep feeding beef calves
- Water requirements of livestock
Forage and grazing
- Alternative forages and sample wintering rations for beef cows
- Managing forage supplies for beef cattle
- Silvopasture for Ontario
- Stockpiling to lengthen the beef cow grazing season
- Stockpiling perennial forages for fall and winter beef cow grazing
- Using corn stover as low-cost pasture for beef cattle
Business and marketing
Learn how to prepare a budget, understand marketing principles and optimize herd size to maximize profit.
- Cost of production for crops and livestock
- Cull cow body and carcass composition
- Renting your land sustainably
- Beef Cattle Marketing Act
Housing and facilities
Construct and maintain comfortable barns and handling facilities to improve herd performance. Learn about proper ventilation, flooring and other housing requirements.