Michael Raine

When the lights go out, where will you be? If you’re operating an intensive livestock operation, the answer should be “out in the barn.” Saskatchewan farmers have experienced a rash of power failures in the past few weeks due to unseasonably warm and moist weather. Fog and hoarfrost build up on power lines and on […] Read more

Long distances and long distance telephone bills are nothing new to prairie residents. But a rollback in long distance phone rates is something they don’t see nearly as often. Saskatchewan’s crown-owned tele-phone utility is moving to do just that as it eliminates 52 rural telephone exchanges. That will create larger local calling areas for many […] Read more

Pulse crop development has moved at breakneck pace compared to many other field crops. New pulse varieties are released each year and prairie farmers have been quick to put them into crop rotations. New for 1998 is an Eston type of lentil from the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre. CDC Milestone, an ascochyta resistant […] Read more

Crop breeders across the Prairies will present an impressive list of improved varieties for registration next month. Close to 20 new varieties of cereals will be adjudicated by a committee of experts who will decide if they should be registered for production. University of Saskatchewan Crop Development Centre breeder Brian Rossnagel and Agriculture Canada breeder […] Read more

Gordon Brietzke decided the hitches around his farm were unsafe and not always easy to use. As well, some hitches encouraged dangerous use because farmers could save time by circumventing the built-in safety features. So he took one of the most basic designs used in farm work back to the drawing board. “The first one […] Read more

Ag Growth Industries Inc., a junior capital pool traded on the Alberta Stock Exchange, announced last week that it intends to buy Wheatheart Hydrostatic and Machine of Saskatoon for $5.7 million, plus the costs of its inventory. Wheatheart designs and builds bin sweeps, auger transports, post pounders and post hole augers. Last December, Ag Growth […] Read more

Canada is a world leader in pulse production and export, for now. But pulse crop markets worldwide are growing and changing and Canada’s major competitors have their eyes on the prize. “Canada is falling seriously behind our competitors in terms of commitment of resources to research … . On the marketing side we are a […] Read more

The decaying wings of game birds smell far higher than the flights they once took. But odor or not, 30 wildlife workers from across Canada flocked together in a nine-by-nine metre room last week to analyze the piles of decaying flesh and feathers. Wings of Black ducks from the East, Mallards from the West, Teals, […] Read more

Climbing the barn roof, shovels and bars in hand, the risk of roof collapse became a reality for the Thurler family. “It went down in one big wave. Just collapsed right there, trapping 20 heifers inside,” said Oliver Thurler, from his family’s dairy farm near South Mountain, Ont. None of the family members were hurt. […] Read more

Frozen in its tracks, human activity in Eastern Canada, from Ottawa to St. John, has nearly stopped after six days of freezing rain last week. Fifteen people are reported to have died because of the storm and Canada’s insurance industry estimates as much as $1 billion in damages. More than 4,000 electrical workers and a […] Read more