Bill Strautman

SASKATOON – Bill Horan farms near Rockwell City, Iowa, but farming is only one part of his busy life. He is also a partner in Western Iowa Energy, a company that produces commercial biofuel from various farm-grown products. Speaking at Agri-Trend Agrology’s Farm Forum event held recently in Saskatoon, Horan said the first biodiesel refinery […] Read more

LAKE ALMA, Sask. – Like most farmers, Wayne Hagen has a shop in his yard for fixing and building things. Unlike many shops however, many of Hagen’s tools are homemade. Hagen runs a fabrication and manufacturing sideline on his farm and ranch near Lake Alma. The first machine he designed and built was a four […] Read more

MINTON, Sask. – Weed control with tillage can be a hit and miss proposition. When field crop acres are organic, poor weed control can spell big trouble. Ken Tatarliov started the conversion to organic on his farm near Minton in 1990 and was certified in 1994. “We had spent some time getting experience on how […] Read more

MELVILLE, Sask. – Like most farmers, Allen Schwitzer finds hooking implements to his tractor a hassle. “We were tired of getting in and out of the tractor all the time, trying to hook up and unhook. Hooking up isn’t as bad as unhooking because you can always put the pin in, but you can’t seem […] Read more

CENTRAL BUTTE, Sask. – Like most farmers, Dallas Bryan finds handling his feeder house a bit of a chore when he’s got his combine in the shop for repairs. “It’s such a hassle to take the feeder house off,” the Central Butte farmer says. “Normally we’d block it up with an oil barrel and a […] Read more

MINTON, Sask. – For Ken Tatarliov, the quest for an affordable front-end loader didn’t end at a farm auction sale with a traditional bucket or grapple. Tatarliov was looking through a newspaper and noticed a forklift mast was available. He checked it out and because forklift masts can lift a lot of weight, he thought […] Read more

BIRSAY, Sask. – When John Deere combines with conventional cylinders plug, the standard routine is to take a heavy steel bar that comes with the combine and physically turn the cylinder backward to loosen the jam. That worked fine for Harvey Lesyk until he became sick. Following surgery, Lesyk didn’t have the strength to handle […] Read more

LAKE ALMA, Sask. – A variety of water sources on his ranch in southern Saskatchewan prompted Wayne Hagen to find a unique way to build a mobile water system. The ranch’s water comes from wells, springs and dugouts, but rather than force the cows and calves to walk to those water sources, Hagen prefers to […] Read more

BROADVIEW, Sask. – When Dale Richter was planning his new shop, he wanted it to accommodate a range of needs. Equipment repair and maintenance was one priority. One of his employees is a mechanic who repairs and upgrades equipment through the winter. Richter also uses the shop to host field days and special events and […] Read more

REGINA – Bourgault Industries is displaying a prototype air drill across Western Canada is that the company’s research and development leader calls a new concept seeding tool that complements the rest of its seeding line. “It’s not yet released, but we’re showing it at farm shows this year,” said Mark Cresswell, who is also Bourgault’s […] Read more