Bill Strautman

Dandelions have been creeping up the provincial weed survey lists in the past 10 years to establish themselves as a persistent field crop weed, says a researcher who studied for her masters at the University of Manitoba on fall dandelion control. “I looked at two different timings. We did a fall herbicide application which was […] Read more

BROADVIEW, Sask. – When the Broadview Snow Busters snowmobile club won the bid to host the 2007 Saskatchewan snowmobile rally, it needed some fundraising. Dale and Tracey Richter, local farmers and members of the club, had been doing canola variety trials on their farm and had found the companies generous. Dale thought this might be […] Read more

BROADVIEW, Sask. – After using his 38-foot, 1,200-bushel grain trailer for 12 years, Dale Richter said it was starting to rust out and wasn’t roadworthy for the highway. He bought a new trailer, but hung on to the old one. After seeing some farmers pulling pup trailers behind a tractor, he started thinking. “I had […] Read more

CREMONA, Alta. – Chinook Country Farms has been raising beef near Cremona for three generations. In the early 1990s, the farm got into the export timothy production business when that industry started to take off. “We were not selling much hay before the timothy market came to be here,” says Larry Gano, who farms with […] Read more

BALZAC, Alta. – Before 2002, Allen Jones used straw swaths as part of the winter feeding program for his cows. But with extremely dry conditions that year, he was concerned how reliable this would be. “The straw was a little thinner and everyone was short of feed, so it was real expensive. I could see […] Read more

RED DEER – Alfalfa can take a lot of damage. Dan Undersander says it’s just a question of how much. Undersander, an extension and research forage agronomist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, said a plant with a heavy stem and crown can still live after being driven over by a 10 tonne tractor. […] Read more

WAWOTA, Sask. – Cattle have grazed on Sunnybrae Farm near Wawota for nearly 100 years. Recently, the grazing system on the farm has become a bit more intense. Neil and Barbara Dennis initially made a switch from conventional to rotational grazing in 1983. “I’d heard about rotation grazing. It was supposed to carry so many […] Read more

WAWOTA, Sask. – Neil Dennis splits a quarter of pasture into four long paddocks with high tensile wire, then makes temporary paddocks across them using temporary fencing. With so many wires crossing his pastures, Dennis wanted to avoid opening and closing gates. He developed a system that allows him to drive over the wires with […] Read more

FRANCIS, Sask. – Muhr Farms uses three Case IH combines to take off its crop at Francis. While the family likes the combines, dropping the concaves was always more difficult than they felt it should be. “It used to be a two man show with a crowbar – one man to lift the concaves and […] Read more

ASSINIBOIA, Sask. – A quest for a better pulse crop lifter is starting to reap rewards for Dave Dietrich. “The idea started about 1998. I had grown Milestone lentils the first year they were out. I had a really nice looking crop, close to 40 bushels per acre and I bought a new flex header […] Read more