Producers set the research agenda and features the BCRC's science director, Dr. Reynold Bergen.

Hi there, I'm Reynold.

This Research on the Record article originally appeared in the August 2026 issue of Canadian Cattlemen magazine, and it's been reposted on the beefresearch.ca site with the publisher's permission.

Now you pay the Canadian Beef Cattle Checkoff whenever you sell cattle, and that is what pays for the research and communication work that we do at the Beef Cattle Research Council, or the BCRC.

It's really important that we understand what specific challenges you face as a producer so that we invest in the right solutions.

Last summer, we encouraged producers to participate in an online beef research survey that we conducted to help us develop a clear set of priorities to guide research funding decisions over the next five years.

thanks for responding and and for helping us with that and here are some of the highlights of what you told us what we did was we had the survey open from june through august of last last summer and fall we asked you to rate a number of different research priorities as extremely important very important, moderately important, slightly important or not important in the areas of nutrition and production efficiency, forage and grassland productivity, environmental sustainability, animal health and welfare, beef quality and food safety.

we took

Now

beef is an excellent nutrient source for people, we all know that, but it's also an excellent nutrient source for microbes.

So if microbes get themselves established on conveyor belts or other equipment at a processing plant, they've got a ready food source that'll help support their growth.

So as a result of this, Canadian packing plants work very, very hard to keep their facilities clean and their beef products safe.

So these facilities are cleaned after each shift and here's how they do it.

First thing is they scrape away all the visible meat and fat scraps and then they pressure wash the conveyor belts and the equipment and the floors and that's step one.

In step two, they apply a detergent to help break down the fat residues and then they rinse that off.

congregate

This episode is titled It's Looking Like a Long Cold Winter and features the BCRC's science director, Dr. Reynolds Bergen.

Hi there, I'm Reynold.

This Research on the Record article originally appeared in the June 2026 issue of Canadian Cattlemen magazine and it's been reposted on the beefresearch.ca site with the publisher's permission.

Today we're talking about how it's looking like a long cold winter.

Back in August 22 there was a research column about breeding alfalfa for Canada's climate and this is an update on that project.

Now,

legumes

are the most economical way that grazers can increase pasture and cattle productivity.