Mary MacArthur

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – Bison producers who have suffered through drought, high feed prices and now BSE are hoping better prices will soon return to their industry. “The people left are serious about the industry, but they’re also questioning how much longer they have to hang on,” said Linda Saunter, with the Alberta Bison Centre. […] Read more

The two largest Alberta packing plants are buying fat cattle from Manitoba and Ontario, which may be keeping fat cattle prices down. Len Gamble, owner of Brussels Livestock in Ontario, said he knows at least 2,000 to 3,000 head of fat cattle were sold to Alberta packers at the end of October. “They’ve moved a […] Read more

EDMONTON – The growing list of consumer complaints, lawsuits and food recalls has created turbulence in the food industry in the past 10 years, but the issue of food safety in next decade is going to be equally bumpy and unpredictable, said the former head of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Ronald Doering warned government […] Read more

EDMONTON – If Lyle Bignell had a $1 for every time he heard a story about that good old Shorthorn still in the herd left over from Dad or Grandpa, he’d be rich. Many producers taking a second look at Shorthorn cattle now realize their grandfather may have known a thing or two about cattle. […] Read more

EDMONTON, Alta. – A Scottish farmer who repopulated his Shorthorn herd with Alberta cattle after the foot-and-mouth crisis hit his country now has the foundation of a good cattle herd. “We now have an excellent herd of cattle,” said Donald Biggar, who was in Edmonton last week to judge the Shorthorn show at Farmfair International. […] Read more

EDMONTON – Having fun, meeting new people, and, oh yeah, showing cattle is what brings a group of young cattle producers back to the junior futurity classes at shows across the Prairies. “I just love showing cattle,” said Jessica Hehr of Ponoka, Alta., sitting on a tack box chatting with a group of kids beside […] Read more

Peachy Stauffer has been getting a crash course in Alberta’s latest energy development – coalbed methane. This fall a representative of EnCana Energy approached the central Alberta woman about the company’s intention to drill four coalbed methane wells on her wooded quarter section of land. Stauffer and her husband, Gary, live in the hamlet of […] Read more

The list of needs for rural women is long. Rural women need more money, more career choices, more training, better access to government programs, better health care, better access to the internet, improved child care and more support in their rural life, showed a survey of more than 500 rural women in central Alberta. Finding […] Read more

After a day-long workshop, the women at a rural women’s conference were standing on their chairs doing war whoops that wouldn’t be out of place at a hockey arena. The more than 100 women had been broken into four teams and were cheering on their teammates who were using a child’s golf club as they […] Read more

EDMONTON – Rita and Milton Hennig have been showing their Shorthorn cattle at Farmfair International for 30 years, as long as the Edmonton livestock show has been around. The Andrew, Alta., couple keeps returning because buyers see their cattle at the event. “We’ve had good results from this show,” said Rita, 68, as she sat […] Read more