West Nile a bigger threat | Ontario recently reported a case of eastern equine encephalitis, which can be deadly
Saskatchewan’s provincial veterinarian says horse owners should be more concerned about vaccinating for West Nile virus than western equine encephalitis. Betty Althouse said no cases of WEE have been confirmed in the province since the early to mid-1980s and, although she doesn’t know exactly why, it is likely due to good vaccine protocol. Last week, […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
Farmers made fewer claims for unseeded fields in 2013
1.5 million acres | Sask. crown corp. has received 6,000 claims this year
Saskatchewan farmers planted more acres in 2013, following several wet years that caused record unseeded acreage claims to the provincial insurer. Shawn Jaques, president of Sask-atchewan Crop Insurance Corp., said as of Aug. 27 the corporation had paid about $67 million on 6,000 claims representing 1.5 million acres that couldn’t be seeded due to excess […] Read moreRegina to be Canadian distribution hub in CLAAS expansion
CLAAS of America intends to double its Canadian sales over the next five years, using Regina as its base. Jan-Hendrik Mohr, executive vice-president of sales and service based in Harsewinkel, Germany, said the family-owned company has had strong success since introducing its Lexion combines to Canada about 10 years ago. About 2,000 units have been […] Read more
Sask. crops look large; harvest progress behind average
Harvest has begun across Saskatchewan. The last few weeks of hot, dry weather has been good news for crop development and alleviated frost concerns. All areas are reporting that harvest is underway. As of Aug. 26, five percent of the crop had been combined and 14 percent had been swathed or was ready to straight […] Read more
Eastern equine encephalitis found in Ontario horse
A horse in Ontario’s Simcoe County is recovering after being diagnosed with eastern equine encephalitis. The Ontario agriculture ministry said today that the 11-year-old gelding suffered acute onset of depression and fever, as well as neurological signs. The horse had an incomplete vaccination history and had not travelled outside Canada. Horses on the same property […] Read more
Natural gas bill to go up in Sask.
Natural gas bills in Saskatchewan will rise this fall after the government approved SaskEnergy’s application for a two-year delivery service rate increase. This is the fee the corporation charges to deliver gas rather than the commodity rate for the gas itself. The commodity rate will stay at $3.82 per gigajoule, the lowest since 2000. The […] Read more
Tests underway on Yara’s sulfur, nitrogen laden fertilizer
INDIAN HEAD, Sask. — A new fertilizer product from Yara is being tested at three Saskatchewan re-search sites this year. Amidas is a 40-0-0-5.5 granular product with nitrogen and sulfate in every granule. The company said it is the only commercially available granular fertilizer in Western Canada that offers this unique analysis. The nitrogen-sulfur ratio […] Read more
Single year rotation allows diseases to take root: experts
INDIAN HEAD, Sask. — A single year between cereal rotations is not enough to combat disease, says plant pathologist Kelly Turkington. Farmers are losing that first line of defence as rotations become tighter, the Agriculture Canada scientist told a recent field day at the Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation. “In the last five to 10 […] Read more
Elite mustard needs marketing to entice buyers
Few brassica carinata users | The crop can be straight combined and production costs are less than canola
INDIAN HEAD, Sask. — Brassica carinata is proving itself in trials and commercial fields, but there still aren’t many buyers of the industrial oilseed. “There’s lots of interest, but not users,” said Ken Mudry of Paterson Grain, which markets the crop for Agrisoma, the company that commercially introduced the Ethiopian mustard a couple of years […] Read more
Small but sturdy wins day
MELVILLE, Sask. — King and Queen might bear royal names, but they don’t get to rest on their laurels. The pair of red roan Brabant draft horses work regularly on Wayne and Lorna Nagy’s Diamond Horseshoe Ranch north of Melville, as do the other heavy horses in the stable. However, this pair holds a special […] Read more
