Water is creeping across fields and rushing through the waterways and ditches of Western Canada. And it’s going places where farmers don’t want it. Flooding is expected to peak in northeastern Saskatchewan before May 12. Heavy rains, up to 50 millimetres, between Watrous and Regina on May 6 added to a surplus of soil moisture […] Read more
Stories by Michael Raine
Patent acquired for new drought-fighting technology
Canadian researchers have been issued an American patent on a process that allows plants to protect themselves against drought. Isolated nucleic acid encoding farnesyl transferase alpha, or FTA, is one of two signaling genes that Performance Plants has identified as playing a role in a plant’s ability to withstand drought conditions. The other gene, FTB, […] Read more
Farming chosen as second career
SEVEN PERSONS, Alta. – Laurence Nicholson wasn’t planning on becoming a full-time farmer, but after working 30 years with the Alberta Wheat Pool, he felt he knew what not to do. “The land has treated us pretty well and we’re doing our best to treat it well too,” said the producer from Seven Persons, Alta. […] Read more
Flooding costs mount in waterlogged RMs
The phone rings, the door opens and Corinne Nimegeers invariably knows the reason. “Someone calls or comes in that door every few minutes with another driveway submerged, road out, pasture lost or well flooded. And they tell us it won’t even peak until May 8,” she said. Rising water is cutting into more than the […] Read more
CCIA able to confirm vaccination for BVD
BVD is adding value to the CCIA. “We pledged we’d add value to the database and this is our first big step in that direction,” says Brett McConkey of the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency. Bovine viral diarrhea virus causes abortions, premature births and stunted calves that have underperforming immune systems. Calves can also experience up […] Read more
Open house helps sell cattle
Bryce Fisher adopted a new approach to marketing dairy cattle: an open house. Rather than auctioning the animals or selling each on its own, Fisher invited clients to tour his R and F Livestock facilities at Osler, Sask. He then invited his guests to bid. “I’ve never seen anyone market them this way, but I […] Read more
Farmers struggle to stay dry
Farmers are facing record flood levels in parts of Saskatchewan and that is likely to delay seeding. “It’s one in 25 (years) in lots of places. One in 50 in some; one in 100 in others and for the Pipestone (Creek) feeding into Nut Lake near Rose Valley, well it’s the highest flows on record,” […] Read more
Drainage not addressed until water hits farmyard
BRUNO, Sask. – Gord Bender said unauthorized farmland drainage has contributed to the first flood his central Saskatchewan farmyard has experienced in 53 years. Bender has complained to provincial water authorities and his municipality for 12 years about unauthorized local drainage, but none of the drains were reversed and this year’s one-in-50-year spring runoff has […] Read more
U.S. ethanol shifts feeding dynamics
Rick Paskal is looking around his Picture Butte, Alta., cattle feeding businesses for some advantages that will keep him and his neighbours competitive with their Midwest American counterparts. “I’m not finding that competitive edge we’ve had,” Paskal said. “I am finding government policies regarding ethanol that are interfering with the (livestock) marketplace.” Paskal, like cattle […] Read more
Weather, cattle cycle boost market
Cattle producers have enjoyed a strong market this spring thanks to tight supplies of market-ready cattle and good demand from American buyers. Rising feed prices cutting into profitability have been a concern, but the reason behind the price rise, ethanol demand, might also provide a solution: distillers grain. Beef prices in the United States last […] Read more
