Michael Raine

REGINA – After three years in business, the Larocque and Commodore families of Sifton, Man., have won a stack of ribbons for their purebred dairy goats and hope to turn their first profit next month. “Farms don’t make much profit so waiting three years seems about right …. We tend to win when we compete. […] Read more

Ken Will won’t be counting on any money for road repairs from his neighbouring rural municipality any time soon, even though traffic to his neighbour’s grain terminals is damaging his roads. Will is a councillor for the RM of Bjorkdale that brought a resolution to the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention held in Saskatoon […] Read more

The National Farmers Union has increased in size for the first time in 20 years. Stewart Wells, NFU president and a farmer from southwestern Saskatchewan, said several factors played a role. “Pressure to leave the farm in the face of globalization. Lack of representation by governments. Unfair competition by large corporate farms. Other farm organizations […] Read more

Chuck Jacques thrust his finger twice at the podium 15 metres away. “Farmers aren’t opposed to paying property taxes for education. Right now, Mr. Minister, farmers in my (rural municipality) are paying more than $20,000 per student per year for each child in our school and your department plans to close us. Then we’d pay […] Read more

A vaccine as an option to common animal castration methods has been kept on the laboratory shelf by expense and regulatory hurdles. More than 10 years ago, the Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization in Saskatoon began working on a way to replace traditional castration with a process that made animals allergic to their own fertility. “Reduced […] Read more

Trevor Yurchak has some suggestions about what to do with crops that are still in the field this fall. “They all involve feeding it,” the Alberta Agriculture livestock agrologist said. It’s estimated that 25 percent of the crop in Alberta, 30 percent in Saskatchewan and some in Manitoba is still unharvested. Yurchak said producers without […] Read more

Winter windbreaks for cattle used to consist of clumps of trees, a farm site and permanent slab fences. But livestock management and farmland ownership are changing, and so are windbreaks. Wayne Winchell, a livestock handling systems engineer with Alberta Agriculture, says cattle “are moving out of the traditional pasture, but their shelter needs remain.” He […] Read more

Correction: In a story on page 70 of the Oct. 31 issue, the Lacombe County reeve was incorrectly identified as Rod McDermand. McDermand is a county councillor. Ray Prins is the reeve. Intensive livestock operations are becoming more common in Western Canada. Greater competition in the livestock industry, both domestically and globally, has spurred the […] Read more

Taiwan Sugar, the multinational company that wants to build an intensive livestock facility in Alberta, says it is still considering building in Canada despite court delays and confusion over municipal approvals. The company is awaiting an Alberta appeal court ruling on whether it can begin construction on the province’s largest hog development to be located […] Read more

CYMRIC, Sask. – Cymric, population two, is located a few kilometres east of Last Mountain Lake, between Regina and Saskatoon. At the lake’s north end sits North America’s oldest bird sanctuary and game preserve founded in 1888. The region boasts a dynamic agricultural history. The first grain elevator of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, Canada’s largest co-operative, […] Read more