Saskatoon, Sask. – The federal government and the province of Saskatchewan announced $6.3 million in funding for 24 livestock and forage-related research projects.

In a statement, Agriculture and Agri-Food and the province of Saskatchewan say the funding is through Saskatchewan’s Agriculture Development Fund (ADF).

The governments also say they “are committing $2 million over two years through ADF to the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence at the University of Saskatchewan.”

The funding aims to help increase productivity and “address issues relevant to Saskatchewan agriculture,” says the statement. Farmers and ranchers will also benefit from research in areas such as new forage varieties, improved livestock feeding systems and management of animal diseases.

The projects, as listed in the statement, include:

• Researching new vaccine strategies to help prevent pink eye, which will help mitigate significant economic costs to Saskatchewan cattle producers as well as reduce the risk of antibiotic resistance;
• New knowledge on integration of DNA paternity and genomic program information that will enable beef producers to make better breeding decisions; and
• A study into the physiology behind forage-efficient beef cows and the development of better selection tools for the cow/calf industry.

The statement says other groups provided funding for the projects, including the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission, SaskMilk and the Saskatchewan Forage Development Commission.