Livestock Management
Rick Swenson doesn’t turn off his irrigation pivot when the wind blows and the temperature soars. He cranks it up and keeps the water pumping. He’s irrigating his crops and acting as a disposal system for the City of Moose Jaw’s waste water treatment facilities. “There’s no drip nozzles around here,” the Saskatchewan farmer said. […] Read more
Livestock Management
Effluent water proves useful for farm irrigation
Average home uses 329 litres per day
Canadians use a lot of water. Environment Canada says the average Canadian household used 329 litres of water a day in 2004, compared to the European average of 200 litres per day and 10 to 20 litres per day in sub-Saharan Africa. It seems Canadians have something to learn about water conservation. Three families in […] Read more
Managing water that falls from the sky
Cloud seeding is a growing industry around the world, aimed at harvesting rain and snow. In Canada, however, the emphasis has been more on softening the blow inflicted by hailstorms. Cloud seeding is a way of modifying weather by attempting to draw more moisture out of rain clouds, or change the precipitation that falls. It […] Read more
Measuring tools: probes, meters and pillows
It’s easy to look out the window and conclude that four inches of snow fell overnight, but accurately measuring snow depth is challenging, says Alf Warkentin, director of flood forecasting for Manitoba Water Stewardship. “It’s never as accurate as we’d like it to be. The snow is very difficult to measure.… You can do a […] Read more
Check-off change prompts ABP to slash budget
Alberta’s richest commodity organization has slashed its budget to $5 million from $14 million. Alberta Beef Producers reported income of $14.3 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009, with almost $13.9 million of that coming from check-off funds. Total expenditures were $11 million. The organization has approved a $5 million budget for next […] Read more
Field test shows winter grazing economical
After a dozen years of experimentation, Dean Gamache may have found the most economical way to feed cattle on his farm. Gamache, who runs a cow-calf operation near Ste. Rose du Lac, Man., has learned that grazing cattle on corn in the winter costs nearly 40 percent less than feeding bales of alfalfa. “We thought […] Read more
Alberta feedlot’s ‘buy local’ motto provides grain sellers with pricing options
BANFF, Alta. – It takes 225,000 tonnes of barley per year to feed the 100,000 cattle at Western Feedlots’ three locations in southern Alberta. Even with that kind of need, the company still prefers to deal directly with local barley producers, said Jay Burrows, manager of commodity trading at Western Feedlots. “We still have a […] Read more
Proper treatment of newborn calves saves headaches later – Animal Health
Possessive mother cows can be a challenge, but newborn calves are easy to handle and they are close by at birth so it makes sense to perform health procedures when you have the chance. The most important task when dealing with newborn calves is to ensure the calf has adequate colostrum but there are other […] Read more
Firm’s foray into oat storage keeps contracts viable
People love to hate hedge funds, but oat growers are getting used to loving one hedge fund that has thrown a lifeline to their industry. At the recent Prairie Oat Growers Convention in Brandon, Riverland Agriculture president Don Grambsch took the lid off of Whitebox Commodity Holdings Corp., and explained why the company thought oat […] Read more
Hog official concerned about downhill spiral
EDMONTON – Alberta hog farmers are warning the provincial government that allowing their industry to collapse would have a catastrophic impact on the province. Alberta Pork chair Herman Simons told the organization’s annual general meeting in Edmonton that 77 of the 650 Canadian hog farms that have applied for federal funding to stop breeding hogs […] Read more
