Like most rural municipalities, the RM of Craik cuts the grass and
weeds in its ditches every summer.
Unlike most RMs, however, it is now making a profit from this annual
operation.
“We were looking at a number of projects in 1999, one of which was to
build a machine that would cut the grass in road allowances and turn it
into a product ready for making silage,” said RM administrator Tim Fox.
“It made sense because we were spending money cutting the ditches
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anyway.”
With the support of the Canada-Saskatchewan Agri-Food Innovation Fund,
a swather and a forage harvester were purchased and, with suggestions
and help from RM staff, a local welder designed and built one machine
from the parts of both.
It swathed and processed the grass into a form ready for processing
into silage, all in one operation.
“In the first year – 2000 – it didn’t work, and in the second year we
didn’t have any grass,” Fox said.
“But this past summer we were able to cut half the RM’s road allowances
and sell the silage to a buyer who was very happy with the product. He
bought 330 tons at $10 a ton, and the RM did better than break even,
which was excellent because the cutting was costing us money anyway.
“Based on the interest in our machine, I think there’s a lot of
potential for other RMs to use our design to build their own,” he said.
“Certainly those who use silage are enthused. Even the ratepayers in
our RM who were originally skeptical about the idea are excited because
our trials have proven that it’s a good idea.”
