An avian flu outbreak at a turkey farm north of Winnipeg may have made headlines last fall, but the quarantine of a Manitoba hatchery had a much larger impact on turkey farmers in Western Canada, said Bill Uruski, Manitoba Turkey Producers chair. In late November, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced that birds at a […] Read more
Robert Arnason
Stories by Robert Arnason
Study weighs benefits of early, late calving
June calving is more profitable than March calving but the cost savings and higher profits from late calving are offset by greater variability in revenues from year to year. Tanis Sirski, a masters student in agribusiness and agricultural economics at the University of Manitoba, and Agriculture Canada researchers made the finding based on data collected […] Read more
Manitoba producers urged to test hay
WINNIPEG – It’s been a challenging year for livestock producers in many parts of Manitoba, as wet conditions delayed hay cutting and degraded the quality of feed in the province. Joe Bouchard, a cattle producer in Fisher Branch, Man., didn’t cut hay until the last few days of July. “A lot of our tame hay […] Read more
CFIA to conduct avian flu surveillance
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will soon initiate a surveillance program to test for avian flu at poultry farms as a follow up to an outbreak at a turkey farm north of Winnipeg last fall. Jag Dhanda, CFIA disease control specialist in Saskatoon, said the testing, known as post-outbreak surveillance, will begin when work is […] Read more
Tories, NDP turn up heat for fall election
Manitoba’s next provincial election will be held Oct. 4, 2011, but based on ads running on television in December it would be an easy mistake to assume Manitobans are voting in February. Manitoba’s NDP party, which has been in power since 1999, fired its first salvo at Progressive Conservative leader Hugh McFayden in the late […] Read more
Sheep industry focuses on growth
There are only enough sheep in Canada to supply 47 percent of the lamb consumed in the country, so increasing the flock is the industry’s number one priority in 2011 and beyond, said Gordon Schroeder, a sheep producer near Watrous, Sask. During the 2000s, the number of sheep and lambs on Canadian farms fell nearly […] Read more
International forage sales require patience
WINNIPEG – It drives Ed Shaw crazy when a Canadian businessman arrives in Dubai expecting to sign a multimillion-dollar deal in a matter of days. The forage producer in Didsbury, Alta., has travelled regularly to the Middle East over the last 25 years and learned much about Arab culture. “If I’ve got a company across […] Read more
Women losing connections
Are people in rural areas, particularly women, connected to their local communities? And are women in the country connected to other women in nearby towns? Carolyn Pletsch, program co-ordinator of Rural Women Making Change, a research alliance based in Guelph, Ont., said the answer is no on both counts. Young, rural women likely have smaller […] Read more
Subsoiling not considered useful in most situations
David Chanasyk remembers a time when subsoiling was a hot research topic in Alberta. But these days it’s difficult to find a producer who practices deep ripping in the province, never mind obtain research dollars to study subsoiling. “There was a huge flurry of activity, both operationally and research wise, I’m guessing 20 years ago,” […] Read more
Soil beneath wetlands maintains mysteries
During the spring melt in Western Canada , there are usually one or two areas in fields that take longer to dry than the rest of the land. In years like 2010, those low-lying areas may stay wet all summer. While most farmers think of these depressions as a nuisance, Angela Bedard-Haughn, assistant professor in […] Read more
