Olymel LP’s purchase of Big Sky Farms should be complete next week, according to the receiver looking after the sale process. A second bid for the hog company had emerged in December to challenge Olymel’s $65.25 million offer, but Kevin Brennan, senior vice-president at Ernst and Young in Vancouver, said an auction tentatively scheduled for […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
Input on animal welfare code sought
The comment period for the updated beef cattle code of practice is open after two years of work to revise the 20-year-old animal welfare document. Saskatchewan committee member Kim Hextall urged producers to read the draft code, which is available online, and offer their comments before the March 8 deadline. She said the code addresses […] Read more
Feed cost main factor in cattle profit
A study of 30 Saskatchewan cattle operations in 2011 found a break-even price of $1.31 per pound of calf weaned. That compares to the $1.25 per lb. average in several previous years of the annual study. Western Beef Development Centre economist Kathy Larson, who does the study, told producers in December that the $1.25 break-even […] Read more
News briefs
Ag minister remembered John Wise’s tenure as federal agriculture minister ended a generation ago, but his accomplishments during his two terms as minister remain. The fifth-generation dairy farmer who served in municipal politics, numerous farm organizations and then as MP for Elgin died Jan. 9 in St. Thomas, Ont. at age 77. “John was a […] Read more
Give hay breathing room: specialist
Preventing mould, rot | Moisture accumulates in stacked bales and wind cannot dry them out
SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. — Neat triangle-shaped stacks might be producers’ favourite way to store bales, but that method causes the most damage to the hay, said Barry Yaremcio, Alberta’s beef and forage specialist. He told the Foraging into the Future conference last month that producers who are short on feed and looking at old hay […] Read moreFormer federal agriculture minister dies
Former federal agriculture minister John Wise has died at age 77. Wise represented the Ontario riding of Elgin as a Progressive Conservative member from 1972 until his retirement in 1988. He was agriculture minister in the Joe Clark cabinet from 1979 to 1980 and again in the Brian Mulroney government from 1984 to 1988. The […] Read more
Agribition founder dies
Canadian Western Agribition founder and well-known Regina area cattle producer Barry Andrew died Dec. 27. He was 84. Andrew, who farmed in Saskatchewan’s Craven-Foxleigh district, was Agribition’s fifth president and served on numerous cattle organizations including the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association, national and provincial Shorthorn associations, the Saskatchewan Livestock Association and […] Read more
Farm groups miffed by lack of consultation on policy changes
Farm organizations feel they were largely left out of the discussion about Growing Forward 2, and Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett said that must change. He told the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan annual meeting in December that consultation with farm groups took place 18 months before the principles of the agreement were […] Read more
Viterra workers expected to approve new contract
Viterra country and head office employees are expected to vote later in January on tentative collective agreements reached with the grain company in mid-December. The Grain and General Services Union Local 1 and 2 committees and Viterra management agreed to settlements just days before Glencore’s takeover of Viterra was completed Dec. 17. Ratification meetings are […] Read more
Farmers may get irrigation control
Nine Saskatchewan districts Ag minister says the districts could operate the projects more efficiently
Nine Saskatchewan irrigation districts might inherit provincial irrigation works. Agriculture minister Lyle Stewart sent a letter to each district Nov. 20 suggesting they begin talking about what to do with pumping stations, canals, pipelines and other equipment. “We don’t necessarily want cash money for them, but we would like to get out of operating them […] Read more
