WESTLOCK, Alta. – Alberta Beef Producers members are worried the province’s agriculture minister will order their organization to give up its mandatory checkoff and divide it among other beef cattle groups. Harvey Hagman, an ABP director, said other smaller cattle groups such as the Western Stock Growers Association and the Beef Initiative Group have lobbied […] Read more
Stories by Mary MacArthur
Family’s Simmentals sweep show
EDMONTON – A pair of black Simmentals owned by Rancier Farms of Killam, Alta., made Farmfair history by winning supreme champion bull and female. It’s the first time since the Supreme Show of Champions began in 2002 that a Simmental has won both top bull and female at the event. It is also the first […] Read more
Quebec breeder brings winner to Farmfair
EDMONTON – A Quebec cattle breeder’s love affair with Farmfair has paid off. Tammi McGee came west with a bull calf last year and won reserve champion. This year, the same bull won grand champion at the breed’s national show and was high seller at the Salers’ Cream of the Crop show. “I came last […] Read more
Feed suspected in horse deaths
EDMONTON – Toxic feed is suspected after two horses in the draft horse pull competition fell sick during Farmfair International. The first horse became sick on the evening of Nov. 1 during the first day of competition and the second horse became ill on the morning of Nov. 2. The owner, from Saskatchewan, took the […] Read more
Left out of the fast lane – Special Report (main story)
VEREGIN, Sask. – A new line is being drawn across the rural Prairies. It divides the haves from the have-nots and could spell the difference between prosperity and poverty. On one side are rural communities and farms that have access to high-speed internet, just like their city cousins. Those that don’t have it run the […] Read more
Service is slow – Special Report (story 2)
MADGE LAKE, Sask. – Every once in a while, Doug Bear is reminded how bad his internet service is. Last winter, while visiting his daughter in Hawaii, he sat down by the pool with her lap top computer, found a wireless internet connection and priced canola. It was the fastest and easiest grain pricing he […] Read more
Getting there faster – Special Report (story 3)
Quinton Eon is amazed by what some people will do to get high speed internet. He’s seen receivers hung from trees, grain elevator legs, old television antennas and giant masts mounted on houses. He’s even seen a frustrated rural resident get out the chain saw and start cutting. “We had a guy who cut down […] Read more
Coyotes keep farmers jumping
The Warner Bros. cartoon that featured the hardworking sheep dog, Sam, and the coyote, Ralph, is surprisingly realistic, says a northern Alberta shepherd. Coyotes seem to know when farmers go to bed or drive to town for parts, said Laurence Read, who lost more than 100 sheep to coyotes last year on his farm near […] Read more
Coyotes watch, learn and take charge
STETTLER, Alta. – Livestock producers with problems of coyotes killing their animals need to adopt several approaches to bring the wildlife problem under control. A combination of guard dogs, grazing techniques, poison, good fences and a gun will help control predator losses, said Doug Brennan, a predator control officer with Alberta Agriculture. “A little bit […] Read more
Rural internet hit and miss – Special Report (story 1)
Doug Horte is only a 45 minute drive from Edmonton, but he might as well live in the middle of the bush. The internet access would be the same. If Horte wants to check grain prices or transfer money on-line, he uses dial up internet service on his telephone and all the patience he can […] Read more
