Forage fed beef production was one of the topics discussed this past weekend at the Direct Farm Marketing Conference in Portage la Prairie.

One of the speakers was Juanita Kopp, a beef industry development specialist working for Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development.

She says there are many benefits to forage fed beef production.

"The opportunities are definitely a niche market, providing local meat that is forage finished and also perception of the animal being on the pasture all their life or within fed forages. They're not in a conventional large feed lot...Also you have to become a more astute manager, so that your management practices will potentially improve."

Some of the challenges of raising forage fed beef includes having the proper genetics and working with a processor that understands the end product.