Michael Raine

The weather was with Gerald Girodat last year, but the pedigreed seed grower from Shaunavon, Sask., admits he was the exception and says his industry has some challenges for 2003. Girodat told his fellow members of the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association Jan. 8 that they will have to consider their industry as a whole when […] Read more

Farmers who intend to sell common seed this year are being reminded that there are specific rules they must follow. Gord Berg, an inspector with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, says tight seed supplies and some poor-quality certified seed from 2002 may force producers to plant more common or non-certified seed than in previous years. […] Read more

A line on a horse’s hoof can often be used to chart its health. Lyle Bergeleen of Spokane, Washington, who shoes horses across North America, draws that line from front to back across the hoof, where hair meets horn. He says that the straighter this line, the healthier the hoof. Bergeleen grew up on horseback […] Read more

Cattle producers in Saskatchewan’s southwest can breathe easier as the first competing claims for their crown-owned pastures have been denied. Last fall, the Saskatchewan First Nations of Poundmaker and Carry the Kettle selected 37,000 acres of crown-owned pastureland with expiring leases in southwestern Saskatchewan. Under treaty land entitlement, or TLE, the First Nations have the […] Read more

The RCMP is warning cattle producers to be alert for people trying to sell stolen veterinary drugs. Drugs with a wholesale value of $5,241 were stolen from a veterinary clinic in Langenburg, Sask., Dec. 11. Thieves stole “enough vet drugs to keep a good-sized feedlot going for all of next year,” said RCMP constable Trevor […] Read more

Food contamination testing equipment has become portable and could find a role in the farmyard of the future. Idaho Technology of Salt Lake City, Utah, has taken polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, technology from the lab to the field and has made it affordable and easy to use for government health regulators and research veterinarians. […] Read more

REGINA – Other people’s cattle are grazing Bob Ivey’s land, but he doesn’t mind, “because I’m making a 15 percent return on the deal.” The Ituna, Sask., farmer, who also operates a 2,000 head feedlot, said his farm has been able to stay in the family because they have been willing to take calculated risks. […] Read more

REGINA – The gavel at Canadian Western Agribition’s Canadian National Bison Show used to begin falling in the morning and keep hammering out sales throughout the afternoon and into early evening. Auctioneers would rotate through the chanter’s chair, their voices succumbing to a seemingly unending herd of prairie bison. But not in 2002. This year […] Read more

REGINA – Zach Johnson had a good day Nov. 25. He and 49 other 4-H participants at the International 4-H Judging Seminar left the Canadian Western Agribition barns behind and drove north of Regina to Roy Leitch’s sheep feedlot. The 19 year old from Torrington, Wyoming, admits his skills at evaluating some other livestock are […] Read more

REGINA – Grain and forage show judges at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina have awarded the Premier Exhibitor prize to the Crooymans family of Bow Island, Alta., for the fourth time. The Crooymans won the award for winning grand championship banners for a sample of AC Barrie in a Canadian Western Red Spring Wheat class […] Read more