There may be light at the end of the tunnel, but not every western Canadian pig producer is going to reach the other end. Dickson Gould expects there will be fewer producers in the Canadian hog business by spring when he hopes prices will turn around. “I see smaller growers and grain producers with hog […] Read more
Stories by Michael Raine
Pulse growers get new weed control options
Prairie pulse growers are finding weed relief in a unlikely corner of the herbicide universe -Group 14. Until recently, producers had few options when trying to control broadleaf weeds. However, a carfentrazone-ethyl and glyphosate tank mixture known as Clean Start became available last spring to control volunteer Roundup Ready canola chickpeas. Carfentrazone is a Group […] Read more
Feed quality varies with wheat DDG
Paul Kononoff of the University of Nebraska asked the Western Nutrition Conference in Saskatoon last month to define a wheat-based dried distillers grain. DDG based on corn is relatively consistent in protein and mineral content compared to wheat DDG. Kononoff said the increased production of DDG from grain other than corn is resulting in feeds […] Read more
Swine centre head quits
John Patience will not renew his contract in the spring of 2008. After 20 years at the helm of the Saskatoon-based Prairie Swine Centre, Patience said it is time he was replaced. Patience is chief executive officer and president of the centre, a non-profit research and technology development corporation that focuses on hog behaviour, nutrition […] Read more
Calf nose clip eases weaning
Weaning without the bawling of calves and cows might not sound natural, but an old strategy appears to be working again. Joe Stookey at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon has been researching nose clips that interfere with calves’ abilities to nurse. Four years after the start of the research, Stookey said the […] Read more
Food confusion vexes industry
Probiotics, prebiotics, omega 3, omega 6 – the terms are common in food advertisements and labels. But nutritionist Rosie Schwartz says consumers often don’t know what they mean and sometimes the terms are meaningless. However, she added, that doesn’t mean they aren’t influencing buying decisions and agricultural markets. Schwartz told the recent Western Nutrition Conference […] Read more
Livestock research fails to deliver
Research hasn’t delivered dividends to livestock producers the way it has in the grain industry, but an Australian researcher says all that “can, should and will change.” John Black told the Western Nutrition Conference in Saskatoon that livestock research has created the potential to improve production but has failed to deliver it to the farm. […] Read more
Retiring researcher saw sweeping changes
After 40 years of agricultural and biotechnology research, Ashley O’Sullivan is stepping back. The scientist and administrator’s career spanned the development of canola, the adoption of reduced tillage and herbicide resistant crops, and the creation of a centre of excellence in agriculture and biological research in Saskatoon. O’Sullivan, who will retire as president of Ag-West […] Read more
Early weaning helps weather drought
Weaning early is a powerful drought weathering strategy. Major droughts occurred 29 times on the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies between 1700 and 2000. “They lasted a total of 99 years,” K.C. Olson of Kansas State University said recently during the Western Nutrition Conference in Saskatoon. “One third of the time we are in a […] Read more
Sask. plant receives first ethanol loan
Government funding for ethanol development arrived in Unity, Sask., last week. Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz scheduled a stop at North West Bio Energy Ltd., which is under construction to provide $5 million in loans toward the $38 million ethanol plant. The plant is an outgrowth of the farmer-owned Northwest Terminal Ltd. grain terminal. The […] Read more
