Twelve weeks after it reopened, Moose Jaw Pork Packers Ltd. has closed its doors again. The beleaguered slaughter and processing facility in Moose Jaw, Sask., suspended hog deliveries and shut down its kill floor Aug. 31 in what was described as a suspension of operations. Company officials wouldn’t talk to reporters before the Western Producer’s […] Read more
Karen Briere
Stories by Karen Briere
Ethanol plant ready to start building
Construction of a 150-million-litre ethanol plant at Belle Plaine, Sask., is slated to begin later this month. Terra Grain Fuels Inc. has done preliminary work on the site. It is near where the provincial government and the Broe Group of Companies had planned to build a facility about half that size before that deal fell […] Read more
Leon’s Manufacturing founder dies at 74
An equipment inventor who built a life designing implements for prairie farmers has died. Leon Malinowski died of heart failure at a hospital in China Aug. 23 at age 74, about six weeks after a successful lung transplant. “He got a name as being reliable and innovative,” said John Malinowski, Leon’s nephew. “His passion was […] Read more
Market weighs effect of Tyson plant closure
It’s too soon to determine the effect on cattle prices of Tyson Foods Inc.’s decision to close its Idaho beef plant and scale back operations in Washington state, says an industry analyst. Steve Kay, editor of Cattle Buyers Weekly, said prices could soften a bit but Tyson will still have to remain competitive. Producers in […] Read more
Western theme shines through in metalwork
HERBERT, Sask. – It looks like any other acreage you might find along the Trans-Canada Highway. A horse and foal graze next to the house. There’s a red barn and a shop. There isn’t a sign, no parking lot full of employee vehicles. But this is Fort Radisson Trading Post, a major manufacturer and exporter […] Read more
Sask. commits to CAIS
The Saskatchewan government has announced it will fully fund the 2006 CAIS program, several months earlier than originally planned. In the spring budget, the government said it would decide by the third quarter financial results how much it could spend on the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program other than the base $100 million it had […] Read more
Grain terminal keeps moving
MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Lavern Affleck recently packed up his business and moved it. That’s just the way it’s supposed to work. Mobil Grain’s equipment acts like a movable grain elevator. Affleck, his brother, Sheldon, son, Kent, and an employee had operated in Moose Jaw since November. But the idea is to go to farmers […] Read more
Brotherhood Inc.: Ranch thrives on family co-operation
MAPLE CREEK, Sask. – Angus and Ray McDougald seem to agree quite easily, from which way to take a visitor on a tour of their ranch, to the direction they are taking the ranch itself. Maybe that’s because of the peaceful location where they live and work, just south of Maple Creek in the Cypress […] Read more
Sask. offers cash for idle land
Sharon Stegemann doesn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but she said the $10 per unseeded acre offered to Saskatchewan farmers last week deals with only a small part of the problem. “It’s definitely going to help for the flooding this spring,” she said from her farm near Porcupine Plain. “But the […] Read more
Anthrax threat spreads on Prairies
The deadly anthrax bacterium is now the cause of about 250 animal deaths in Saskatchewan and more than 50 in Manitoba. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed July 24 that the disease has occurred far from the original outbreak in northeastern Saskatchewan after three dead cattle near Chaplin in the southwest tested positive. As well, […] Read more
