Michael Raine

Heartland Feeds, a division of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, has been sold. Masterfeeds of London, Ont., bought four of six Heartland facilities – one in Regina, two Alberta locations in Taber and Picture Butte, and one at Dauphin, Man. Masterfeeds is owned by farmer co-op and grain processing giant AGP Inc., of Omaha, Nebraska. Sask Pool […] Read more

WYNYARD, Sask. – Bernie Niedzwiedz doesn’t plan on using his 30 metre sprayer much in the next couple of years. Five years from now he doesn’t plan on using it at all. Niedzwiedz has penciled it out and feels that shifting the 1,600 acres he farms into organic production makes the most sense economically. And […] Read more

Hog producers may soon be able to boost production efficiency with a simple injection and bring pigs to market five days faster for less than 15 cents per animal. Recent research shows that pigs get to market weight faster if within the first hours of life they receive a boost of a naturally occurring hormone […] Read more

Wheat streak mosaic virus is good for something after all. The yield-robbing viral infection, carried by wheat curl mites and transferred when leaves brush against one another in the wind, has limited the growth of winter wheat acres in Western Canada. But the virus’s ability to infect so efficiently gave scientists in Nebraska some ideas […] Read more

Some day livestock producers won’t have to hear the bawling of newly weaned calves, says Joe Stookey, a researcher in Saskatoon. Stookey, in collaboration with other livestock behaviour and nutrition scientists from across Canada and the west-central United States, has been searching for ways to reduce calf stress at weaning time. The associate professor in […] Read more

A Saskatchewan company is helping bring live auctions to the world. Live Global Bid of Moose Jaw, Sask., recently sold its computer software package to Edmonton-based Nilsson Bros. Inc., allowing the livestock company to broadcast its auction sales live on the internet. Nilsson Bros. will use Live Global Bid’s software to wire 10 of its […] Read more

The Saskatchewan chamber of commerce votes have been tallied and the biggest winner is small town grain trailer manufacturer Doepker Industries Ltd., of Annaheim, Sask. The 2001 Achieving Business Excellence awards celebrated business in Saskatchewan for the past year. Doepker caught the attention of the judges for the top honour of business of the year, […] Read more

Growth is happening in more than the petri dishes at the Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization in Saskatoon. It is occurring in the walls. It’s not a virus that has escaped into the ventilation system. VIDO is expanding. Lorne Babiuk, VIDO’s director, announced last week a $14.2 million expansion of the research facility. More laboratories, offices […] Read more

Farmers could benefit from new research into an atmospheric phenomenon that could help predict the weather months in advance. Mark Baldwin of Northwest Research Associates in Bellevue, Washington, has discovered a previously overlooked relationship between two levels of atmosphere and their effect on weather. “It’s another tool that might help industries … such as agriculture,” […] Read more

SCOTT, Sask. – Owen Olfert pushes into the ground a stake capped with what appears to be a small, bright green plastic birdhouse. But it’s really a trap for the orange wheat blossom midge, and the researcher at Agriculture Canada’s research centre in Saskatoon hopes it will replace the sweep net. Olfert said he has […] Read more