Michael Raine

ROSEMARY, Alta. – Even creative solutions to farm debt difficulties can have problems. Linda Henderson’s ranch essay contest failed to generate enough entries to reach the needed goal, leaving the family to pursue more traditional ways to settle their debt. Henderson and her family attempted giving away 640 acres of land in a contest. They […] Read more

REGINA – The domestic cattle industry might be in a trough, but not all bovine breeders and semen suppliers are suffering. Those involved in international sales of genetic products say the business remains strong and demand has increased in recent months. Former Soviet bloc countries, Argentina and Mexico are all pursuing improved herds, say global […] Read more

Kleven MacDougal was pushing snow in his yard when he heard gunshots. He investigated and found two of Brimac Farms’ domestic elk. Dead. The pregnant three-year-old cows had been on the farm only two days. Hunters apparently shot the elk by mistake, saying they thought the animals were white-tailed deer does. The elk were killed […] Read more

REGINA – Claude Wasden is as proud as a new father surveying his Red Coat Classic winning Hereford at Agribition. “I knew he was a winner from the moment he was born. He had a top on him a mile wide,” said the Spiritwood, Sask. farmer. “I raised him from day one. It is a […] Read more

REGINA – It may be a smaller world with growth of the internet and fewer international trade restrictions, but it is a vast expanse for anyone who has surfed the world wide web looking for agricultural information. “Finding just what you are looking for when you are looking for it can be one of the […] Read more

SASKATOON – Powdered and pressed, curled and combed. A little color here, a lot of hair spray there. Some glue, a clip and blow, and down the ramp they go. The pressure backstage is enormous. Lined up and restless after hours of fitting, the fall collection is about to go before judges and the public. […] Read more

NAICAM, Sask. – Local co-ops are as common to small prairie towns as grain elevators. Yet today, the small, independent stores that make up the co-op system are feeling the pressures of declining markets and rural consolidation, just as many smaller country elevators were closed as grain handling consolidated business into larger concrete facilities. For […] Read more

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask., – The federal government wants rural people’s suggestions on rural development issues, but many want to know the government’s opinion of rural. The House of Commons standing committee on natural resources and rural development made a stop in Prince Albert at the end of October to hear from rural development officers, farm, […] Read more

YORKTON, Sask. – Oats have quietly and steadily grown into big business for a small milling company in Saskatchewan. “People here in Yorkton often don’t even know who we are. They don’t see our name on the products they buy. But our products end up in their kitchens all the same,” said Debbie Sapara of […] Read more

A year that began wet for many has ended even soggier and has raised grain moisture levels. Heating and deterioration of damp grain in storage is causing producers to resurrect grain dryers that haven’t turned a bushel in years. Saskatchewan government agrologists recommend farmers check the accuracy of their dryer’s air temperature gauges. Damaged or […] Read more