Shelley Hoover of the University of Lethbridge receives a grant to examine ways to re-queen hives and store locally produced queens
The queen bee is crucial to honeybee hive production, health and pollination activity. A funding grant of $496,513 from Alberta’s Results Driven Agricultural Research (RDAR) will allow bee researcher Shelley Hoover to undertake a four-year project on queen bees and their colonies. Hoover is a biological sciences researcher at the University of Lethbridge. Her project […] Read more
Barb Glen
Stories by Barb Glen
Ability to make decisions rapidly called rural strength
Rural politicians point to ‘nimble’ municipalities being able to ‘pivot’ to do what is needed for survival and mitigation
Necessity is the mother of invention, and rural Canada knows about both necessity and invention, a group of rural panelists agree. It has to be agile and innovative to get things done. “Rural municipalities have this great advantage and that is that we’re nimble,” said David Mitchell, mayor of Bridgewater, N.S. “We tend to be […] Read more
Farm gets communications award
Chatsworth Farm of Vermilion, Alta., has won the communications award from the Alberta Farm Animal Care council. The award recognizes those who take an active role in communicating livestock issues and the farm animal care message in a factual and honest manner. “Chatsworth Farm has risen to the challenge of using digital media to promote […] Read more
Feedlot growth overtakes herd size
Western Canada has become a net importer of feeder cattle as domestic production falls short of what feedlots need
Feedlot capacity continues to grow in Alberta and Saskatchewan at the same time as the domestic cattle herd continues to shrink. Yet the markets have not been kind of late to feedlots. Many have been in a money-losing situation for nearly three years and suffered even further because of the pandemic, when they had to […] Read more
Flight cancellations threaten bee supplies
Eighty percent of the bees honey producers expected this year from New Zealand won’t arrive due to Air Canada changes
Changes to airline flight schedules have jeopardized Canadian honey production and pollination services. Commercial beekeepers and hobbyists have pre-ordered 50 pallets of bees from New Zealand, enough to supply about 30,000 hives, but Air Canada flight alterations and cancellations could mean only seven or eight pallets arrive in time for use this year. Instead of […] Read more
Wildfires sweep across southern Alberta
One residence was destroyed and several other homesteads affected after fires burned more than 15,000 acres of land
Things to be thankful for in southern Alberta on March 29: snow, emergency services, good neighbours, no loss of life. Those were on Josh Fankhauser’s list after grass fires burned more than 15,000 acres of land in the Claresholm, Fort Macleod, Stavely and Blood Reserve regions of the province. Whipped by winds in the 100 […] Read more
Grain rescue – photo essay
Photo essay | The fire department in Magrath, Alta., recently held a training event to teach volunteer firefighters from southern Alberta how to perform grain entrapment rescues. The March 20 session used wheat for the simulation, in part because it is not as itchy as barley. Smaller material such as canola can be even more constrictive on a person who accidentally becomes entrapped in a bin, but regardless of material, entrapment can be fatal. Among other things, firefighters learned how to handle a small auger that extracts grain from around a person trapped in a bin. They ran through the protocol before undertaking a rescue involving actual grain and extraction made possible by a mobile unit dedicated to the purpose. The training unit allows rescue personnel to learn and practice grain extraction using a realistic scenario. | Barb Glen photos
The fire department in Magrath, Alta., recently held a training event to teach volunteer firefighters from southern Alberta how to perform grain entrapment rescues. The March 20 session used wheat for the simulation, in part because it is not as itchy as barley. Smaller material such as canola can be even more constrictive on a […] Read more
Canadian cattle producers on alert as U.S. talks COOL
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association is working with allies in every cattle-producing state in the United States to prevent a new version of mandatory country-of-origin labelling from affecting trade. In a media briefing following the CCA’s annual meeting, executive vice-president Dennis Laycraft said the idea of reviving COOL has been raised by U.S. President Joe Biden’s […] Read more
Cow comfort receives priority
Meloxicam for cattle is becoming the equivalent of a certain brand of hot sauce for people, at least for some ranchers. “We put that stuff on everything,” said farmer and rancher Jill Burkhardt about the use of Metacam, the trade name for the meloxicam analgesic, when doing painful procedures on cattle. Burkhardt, who farms with […] Read more
Feedlots, consumers paid beef price
Consumers paid more for beef, processors and retailers increased their profits and feedlot owners lost millions in 2020 because of COVID-19. A paper published through the University of Calgary Simpson Centre, written by project co-ordinator Karen Spencer, indicates feedlots lost an estimated $379 million in gross revenues for 2020 compared to the previous year, reducing […] Read more
