Producers cash out before calf market nosedives

With his calculator at the ready beside him, Pipestone-area rancher Bob Forder watched as the first lot of “good solid” black calves at Heartland Livestock Services’ first fall pre-sort sale came through the ring. When the bidding stopped at $1.725 per pound for the lot averaging 533 lbs, a fellow in the row in front of him turned



Cosmetic pesticide ban coming to Manitoba

Consultations on a possible cosmetic pesticide ban have now wrapped up, but one farm group is wondering if they will have any impact. Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Gord Mackintosh suggested a ban could come into effect next year, following a press conference just prior to the October deadline for submissions held by Cosmetic Pesticide

Canada beef warning broadened to new products

Reuters / A public warning in Canada about beef possibly tainted with E. coli has been updated to include additional products. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) released a list of dozens of products Sept. 30 made from beef voluntarily recalled by XL Foods, whose plant in Brooks, Alberta, was temporarily shut by the agency


Iran quietly makes massive wheat buy

paris / hamburg / reuters Iran’s state grains agency has discreetly snapped up around one million tonnes of milling wheat, largely from Europe, in a two week span last month. The country, previously a wheat exporter, has been hampered by Western sanctions over its nuclear program. But the wheat purchase demonstrates an ability to import

Building a herd for the real world

An Peischel aimed high when she began breeding goats back in 1985. “My goals were to produce the highest-quality breeding stock that I could sell to producers and sleep at night, and also to hang the best carcass on the rail off of native vegetation,” the University of Tennessee extension agent said at the recent


No till doesn’t mean “never till,” says adviser

It may seem like heresy, but shallow plowing once every seven years 
could help rather than hurt soil quality

It’s still possible to catch a glimpse of a moldboard plow now and then on the Prairies. Usually, they can be seen rusting away peacefully in the bushes near an abandoned farm yard, or taking one last ride on the back of a scrap metal truck. That’s where the older plows belong, said Pat Lynch,

Growing projects nearing completion

The final tally isn’t in yet, but 2012 may yet prove to be a record year for revenues generated by growing projects in support of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Good prices and good crops mean higher than ever grain incomes are anticipated, said Harold Penner, CFGB Manitoba resource co-ordinator. More soybeans and corn, and for


Light up for safety

With this year’s harvest winding down, I can’t help but reflect over a season that has resulted in both one of the earliest combining seasons I have ever seen, and also one that has seemingly dragged on forever. Early seeding and hot weather in August and September has ripened off plants and allowed producers to

Higher U.S. wheat plantings likely — and needed

Production problems haven’t left markets short yet but that could change if Australian growers 
continue to suffer from a lack of rainfall, which would set the stage for a wheat rally

Reuters / Stubbornly high prices have served to keep U.S. wheat out of contention on the export market in recent months, but a broad jump in winter wheat acreage coupled with growing overseas demand could change that picture. It’s no surprise that farmers in top hard red wheat states such as Kansas are upping their