It’s somehow symbolic that the last remnants of the failed Ranchers Choice Beef Co-op would be a sprawling tangle of steel lying outside Larry Ushowski’s machine shed east of Dauphin. The galvanized and stainless steel meat-cutting equipment – 30 semi-trailer loads worth – were purchased by the Manitoba government in 2005 from a mothballed Washington
Ranchers Choice Remnants Rust In Field
Survey Finds Public Willing To Pay For EGS
“Manitobans are willing to pay $294 per household over a five-year period for wetlands, according to the survey results. If 100 per cent of wetlands are restored in the province, the public is willing to pay $358 per household over five years. This is even after those polled were told this money would come out
Bugs Free For The Picking
“If you’ve ever seen fleas on a dog, how they jump and go crazy – that’s how these things move” – Nancy Gray, Iaps Co-Ordinator For Eastern Saskatchewan The best things in life are free, they say. That includes leafy spurge beetles. A bug net, a paper bag, a cooler and some ice packs are
There’s Gold In Them Thar Heaps
What is composted manure worth? On one end of the scale, an urban gardener tossing it into the trunk of the car might pay $2.59 retail for a 20-kg bag and think nothing of it. At the other end, a beef producer or feedlot operator cleaning out pens full of the raw materials for making
Cool, Late Spring — Plus Frost — Confounds Organic Growers
“In plain language, Mother Nature is a b**ch this year.” – LORI ANN REGNIER, MARKET GARDENER If backyard gardeners are scratching their heads and wondering whether it’s safe to transplant tomatoes or plant corn yet, how are the professionals faring? Not much better, it turns out. Lori Ann Regnier, along with her husband, son, and
Ancient Grains Return
“There’s been quite a bit of interest in ancient grains recently due to allergies to wheat and celiac disease. There’s so many people who have allergies or sensitivities to gluten.” – ANNETTE ALLEN, MAFRI When old-timers talk about old wheat varieties, they might mention Red Fife or Thatcher. But wheat breeding goes way back to
You Can’t Get Hay For Nothing
“People need to recognize that if they don’t look after their forages well, then their productivity will drop off quickly. Nothing depletes the soil of nutrients quicker than forages.” – JOHN HEARD, MAFRI SOIL FERTILITY SPECIALIST Of all common farming practices, harvesting hay off the same field year after year is probably the hardest on
Cartwright-Area Farmer Direct Markets Free-Range, Grass-Fed Hogs
“We didn’t want a barn, so we thought that we’ll try to do it similar to the way we do the calves.” – WAYNE MCDONALD What if you could train beef cows to have twins every spring and eat Canada thistle? The McDonalds’ system for raising Berkshire hogs on pasture comes pretty close to that
More Cutbacks Announced For PMU Industry
“Although the rate of reduction has slowed, the size of the market is much smaller.” – WYETH STATEMENT Seven more pregnant mare urine (PMU) contracts have been cancelled, leaving the number of ranches in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota at 64, down from over 400 prior to 2003. A statement issued by Wyeth, which markets
Environmental Regulations Squeeze Spanish Hog Farmers
“It was a successful model. It seemed like everybody was winning.” – VICTORIA SOLDEVILA Large-scale hog farming worked wonders for the Catalonian economy – for a while. Economically depressed for decades by a long civil war and later the rule of fascist dictator Francisco Franco, the Spanish autonomous territory bordered by France on one side
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
