Mary MacArthur

SASKATOON, Sask. – A disease which gives calves a Jay Leno smile and leaves them so crippled they can only sit like dogs has been linked to mouldy straw, said a University of Saskatchewan veterinarian. It took “cowboy logic” and years of head scratching to finally link congenital spinal stenosis with mouldy straw, said Eugene […] Read more

SASKATOON, Sask. – When Linda Braun walks into the exhibit hall at the world’s largest agriculture and food trade fair she wants Saskatchewan pulse crops to be noticed. The task won’t be easy. There are more than 7,500 exhibitors, 215,000 visitors and 3,400 reporters crammed into the 14 exhibit halls at ANUGA ’95 in Cologne, […] Read more

SASKATOON – On Monday morning, Guy Chartier had 11,000 Crow pay-out forms dumped on his desk. Even though the Agriculture Canada office in Regina is getting enough forms to give mail carriers a backache, the minister of agriculture has decided to extend the deadline. “We would need 130,000 before Friday,” if they were to meet […] Read more

SASKATOON, Sask. – It takes Bob Notenbomer four weeks to turn smelly hog manure into odorless potting soil. When the southern Alberta hog farmer converted his chicken barn into a hog barn he didn’t want to deal with the smelly byproduct on his 20-acre farm. “We went away from it because of the strong smell,” […] Read more

BROOKS, Alta. – The combine lurches to a halt amid the usual cloud of dust and chaff. But after climbing the stairs to the cab, the first object in view is a laptop computer. University of Calgary researcher Jamie Henriksen is hovering over it. Beside him, at the combine’s helm, is Gerard Oosterhuis, one of […] Read more

SASKATOON, Sask. – About 150 school children jostled for a spot against the yellow police tape. In a few minutes a 50-tonne locomotive came pounding down the track and smashed into a car parked on the railway tracks. It was a train wreck staged for demonstration, but students, reporters and officials held their collective breath […] Read more

PINCHER CREEK, Alta. – Bob and Karen Lyons have the world’s best honey and the prizes to prove it. This year they won grand champion at the world honey competition, an event they also won in 1990. They’ve also won first place five years in a row in the run-up classes. They have been consistent […] Read more

SASKATOON, Sask. – Vancouver and Prince Rupert ports have laid off 181 grain workers because of low shipments of prairie grain. “The country elevators are empty,” said Lorraine Dodick, co-ordinator of grain allocation for the Grain Transportation Agency, which co-ordinates grain movement. Last year at this time 4,500 to 5,000 grain cars a week were […] Read more

SASKATOON, Sask. – 4-H members and livestock exhibitors may get a lecture on drugs in livestock along with their welcome-back speech this fall, says the executive director of the Regina-based Canadian Western Agribition. “The executive met and confirmed if other shows send us names of exhibitors that have been banned, we will not accept entry […] Read more

BROOKS, Alta. – One of southern Alberta’s most promising new crops has an old problem – weeds. Farmers growing Kentucky bluegrass are trying to find a control for wild millet, commonly known as green foxtail. Rudy Esau, a weeds specialist at Alberta Agriculture’s crop diversification centre in Brooks, thought it would be simple to find […] Read more