Donna Rehirchuk

Rocky Morrill says switching to group housing improved worker morale at his hog operation in Dawson Creek, B.C. Before making the change, Peace Pork Inc.’s two feeder barns each housed 8,000 pigs in 20-25 animal pens. A single crew of four constantly weighed and shipped 16, 000 pigs. The last stragglers were leaving one barn […] Read more

Olds College has helped on a greenhouse project in Kazakhstan in which it hired a graduate student to train local citizens to grow vegetables in soiless media. Project manager Donna Gole said the college hired a graduate student trained in vegetable production as part of a Canadian International Development Agency program to help design and […] Read more

A Saskatchewan company has developed a solar powered grain dryer that puts the power of the sun to work on the farm. The Solar Assist Dryer from Peacock Industries looks like an air mattress that can be pegged to the ground or mounted to the side of a grain bin. It is made of two […] Read more

ASQUITH, Sask. – Asquith Farm and Ranch is something of a rancher’s paradise. It is a one-stop shop for livestock and pet feed, medicine, identification tags, saddlery, hardware, fencing and, if you’ve forgotten an anniversary, a gift for the missus. “We’ve been called the rancher’s saviour,” said owner Lorraine Gilchrist. “Husbands have come in here […] Read more

To stall or not to stall? That is the question. Canada and the United States continue to use gestational stall housing in new or renovated hog production facilities. “As an industry it is important to consider the system you are using as a primary means of gestation and see what are the criticisms that system […] Read more

OUTLOOK, Sask. – Saskatchewan producers grow approximately 7,000 acres of timothy, but Korvin Olfert says there’s easily room for that acreage to double. “We’ve sort of been stuck at that 7,000 acres for a little while,” said Olfert, an agrologist with the Irrigation Crop Diversification Corp. in Swift Current, Sask. “I don’t think we’re going […] Read more

Brands will soon be a right of entry into markets in the pork processing world, says a meat industry consultant. “If you don’t have a brand, you’re just a commodity,” said Bruce Cowper of the Mallot Creek Group, an Ontario-based food industry consulting and engineering firm. “There isn’t a lot of money in this industry […] Read more

Equipped with a flashlight, shovel, broom and a two way radio, Michelle Williams stepped into a flat-bottomed bin at the livestock feed facility where she worked in January 2003. Before she began sweeping grain, she radioed her supervisor and received confirmation that two side gates over the auger were closed. She then took two steps […] Read more

TISDALE, Sask. – The Saskatchewan government supports a grassroots initiative to build a producer-owned beef slaughter and packing facility in the province, says provincial agriculture minister Mark Wartman. Speaking at a Beef Initiative Group meeting in Tisdale on Oct. 28, Wartman told producers the initiative was on his agenda for a Nov. 3 meeting in […] Read more