More than 550 exhibitors are booked for the 2026 event, taking place Jan. 20–22 at Brandon’s Keystone Centre.

“The best thing about Ag Days is that you know you’re walking into Canada’s largest indoor farm show, which means that you get 550 plus exhibitors and two speaking theatres for three full days of speaking sessions,” said Teresa Hildebrand, Ag Days’ media co-ordinator.

WHY IT MATTERS: Manitoba Ag Days 2026 will again offer Prairie farmers three days of new equipment, technology, expert speakers, and local innovation.

Alongside the trade show floor, a full slate of free educational sessions will again run in two theatres throughout the week, covering markets, agronomy, livestock, emerging technology and more.

“We have had strong interest in sessions about markets and disease in canola, and producers will be happy to see both of those things addressed in our speaking theatres in January,” Hildebrand said.

New and returning

The Produced on the Prairies theme, which debuted last year, will return in 2026 with expanded offerings. The Ag Days board wants to keep highlighting local innovation, said board co-chair Dustin Williams.

“We really want to continue to shine a light on the great things happening right here.”

Along with new exhibitors and Innovation Showcase entries, the Produced on the Prairies market has 10 new exhibitors each day, Hildebrand added.

A major new feature will see Ag In The Classroom-Manitoba take over the Dome building for educational programming.

“They will be conducting educational programming in the morning and, new in the afternoon, they will be highlighting careers in agriculture,” Hildebrand said.

The show will also welcome 36 new exhibitors this year.

“Check out the Innovation Showcase and Produced on the Prairies Market in the FCC Pavilion to see the newest products and services in agriculture,” Hildebrand said.

Innovation Showcase

Farmers attending this year’s event will once again find the Innovation Showcase on the trade show floor, with 27 new-to-market products and services selected to help producers stay adaptable in a fast-moving industry. The showcase is designed to give farmers the chance to ask questions directly and assess product quality up close.

“As usual, we have a very strong ag equipment category. In addition, we are welcoming new technologies to manage farm tasks and keep farmers safe. Since there are seven categories of innovations there is something for every type of operation,” Hildebrand said.

Rather than following a single theme, the showcase reflects the breadth of agricultural needs, including innovations for crops and livestock, office tasks, labour tasks and more.

“The strength of the showcase is that rather than bringing out themes, it highlights the diversity of the agricultural industry and addresses that range of operations and operators,” Hildebrand said.

Equipment innovations are expected to draw particularly strong interest.

“There is something about physical machinery that is really symbolic for the industry. Visitors won’t want to miss this year’s equipment innovations. This is the largest category this year with nine innovations,” Hildebrand said.

Strong speaker lineup

The speaking program will once again be a major draw, with Ag Days general manager Kristen Phillips and the committee recognizing how broad today’s management demands are.

“Farming is a complex business and we know how important it is to keep up with all aspects of a farming operation,” Phillips said. “You will continue to see a strong focus on agronomy as well as sessions focused on emerging technology, livestock and marketing.”

This year’s topics are new and current based on farmer requests, Hildebrand said, including Sylvain Charlebois on Tuesday afternoon, geopolitical analyst Jacob Shapiro on Wednesday, Machinery Pete on Wednesday afternoon, and Dragons’ Den investor Arlene Dickinson on Thursday.

Community investment

Community support remains another cornerstone of the event. Through its Manitoba Ag Days Gives Back program, the board offered $2,000 grants and scholarships, plus an AED cost-share program. Applications closed Nov. 1, and winners will be announced during the show.

Ag Days’ is also continuing with the Manitoba Young Speakers for Agriculture (MYSA) competition. Youth aged 11–24 will compete in junior and senior categories, presenting speeches on topics ranging from AI and technology to global markets and the future of agriculture. Finalists selected from virtual preliminaries will speak live on Jan. 20, with category winners earning $1,000 plus a $1,500 bursary toward competing at Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in November 2026.

Planning your visit

With so much to take in across three days, organizers recommend using the show’s planning tools.

“There is so much to see and do at Ag Days that the biggest take away is to use the interactive map to help plan your visit,” Hildebrand said.

Attendees can find the map at the Ag Days website. It allows them to sort by exhibitor type, name or location. For all the latest news, videos and more, check out the Manitoba Co-operator’s Manitoba Ag Days landing page, available on the publication’s website.

The post The sneak peek of Manitoba Ag Days 2026 appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Since launching in 2013, the program has committed $536,377.50 toward strengthening agricultural communities.

The community investment grants are intended to support rural communities and their citizens, who in turn support the show.

WHY IT MATTERS: Local investment from Ag Days Gives Back delivers essential funding for projects, equipment and scholarships that strengthen rural communities.

Applications for community grants, the AED cost-share program and post-secondary scholarships closed Nov. 1, and the program continues to grow as a significant source of grassroots support across Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

At the 2025 show alone, Ag Days Gives Back awarded $55,000 in funding, including 16 community grants, three post-secondary scholarships and support for Agriculture in the Classroom Manitoba.

Past recipients have used funds for projects ranging from thermal imaging drones and grain safe training to communications devices and rescue basket stretchers. Some projects have addressed fundamental community needs, such as funding a well and pump system for a fire department in one rural community and to support a local food non-profit.

“A fire department needs water in order to operate, and these funds made that possible,” said Teresa Hildebrand, Ag Days media co-ordinator.

Fire response

This year’s applications were focused on community fire departments for the $2,000 community grants, which can be used for infrastructure, supplies, equipment, volunteer support or training, as long as the total project cost does not exceed $50,000.

“We had a great mix of requests for support with both equipment and training,” Hildebrand said.

Eligibility has varied over the program’s history, according to Hannah Minshull, an Ag Days board member.

“We have been specific in some years, depending on what our theme was and where we would like to dial in our support,” Minshull said during an interview in January 2025.

To encourage broad participation, priority goes to communities or projects that have not received funding in the past three years.

“We are looking to impact as many communities as possible across Manitoba and southeast Saskatchewan,” Hildebrand said.

Community health and education

This year’s program AED cost-share opportunity has 10 community groups set to receive two-thirds funding toward the purchase of an automated external defibrillator (AED).

“We know that AEDs are found in more and more places and we want to continue to expand the access,” Hildebrand said. “Perhaps a community has a large gathering place that has one AED but might benefit from having two at different ends of the facility. We want to encourage a degree of saturation so that AEDs are not only available but readily accessible.”

The first AEDs from the program will be distributed at the 2026 show.

Post-secondary scholarships of $2,000 are also available to students completing high school or already enrolled in agricultural programs, with all ag-related degree, diploma, certificate and trades programs eligible. In recent years, the program has expanded eligibility to reflect changing career pathways in agriculture.

“Not only are we seeing applicants seeking a degree, but also those pursuing diplomas and hands-on training courses,” Hildebrand said.

Powered by the 50/50

The program is entirely funded by Manitoba Ag Days’ annual 50/50 draw, which continues to grow in popularity among show visitors.

The 50/50 also allows Ag Days to pool its resources to make a bigger impact across the province and through ag education.

“There really is a ripple effect through this program,” said Sharon Finlay, chair of the Ag Days Gives Back committee.

The post Ag Days Gives Back 2026 focuses on fire response appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Now, local artists devoted to the medium are getting their moment in the spotlight in the rural community of MacGregor.

The North Norfolk-MacGregor Library is currently home to the latest exhibit by the Textile and Fibre Artists of Manitoba, including a selection of art pieces called “Textural Dimension.”

A sign beside the display states that the art can be something woolly, bumpy, fluffy, fuzzy, prickly, barbed, ribbed, velvety or a combination of these textures. Some artists have used thread or wool, while others turned to string, felt or items from nature. These are glued, sewn or quilted onto fabric to create a wide variety of art. Some are full-sized quilts, while others are smaller pictures. Several are three-dimensional, such as the almost full-sized rooster sitting on one library bookshelf or a rendering of a sleeping baby squirrel. One wall picture includes tiny clam shells as part of an underwater scene.

The library is open for visitors wanting the view the exhibit from Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

TFAM sends out several travelling displays each year to various locations, including rural stops.

The MacGregor display is on until the end of November. A different display called “Dual Impressions” will be shown at the Turtle Mountain Arts Centre in Killarney in May 2026 and at the Tiger Hills Arts Centre in Holland in 2027.

Next year’s displays also include an exhibit called “Peace” that will show from May to July in MacGregor, September and October in Pilot Mound, and November and December in Killarney.

Members of TFAM, which includes rural and out of province members, can attend meetings in person or virtually.

The group also offers periodic workshop weekends and other educational opportunities, including some that are open to non-members. See their webpage at www.tfamartists.ca for information on the events or to inquire about membership.

The webpage also includes virtual slide shows of several of the exhibits currently on display. Check these out for a sample of TFAM’s unique artwork. For those who don’t live nearby, the website is a good way to view them, but if possible, try to visit a display in person. Many of the pieces are also offered for sale.

The post Fibre and fabric art shines in Manitoba appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The rise of rural crime has been a sticking point on farm group agendas for years, spurred by first-hand tales of property crime from members, RCMP and media reports, complaints of long police response times and a perceived lack of resources for rural police.

WHY IT MATTERS: Farmers continue to raise alarm about gaps in rural policing, while RCMP say they’re doing what they can for crime reduction with specialized teams.

Last year, a report from Statistics Canada found 34 per cent more reported criminal incidents by population rate, with the Prairie provinces having the largest gaps between demographic areas, and the trend had been building for the last decade.

That’s not all agricultural. The same report had combined statistics for both rural northern regions and the more agricultural south in their numbers (northern rural crime being three times higher than in southern regions), but farmers have still gathered plenty of stories of how criminal damage, tresspassing or theft has interrupted their business.

“I think what is hitting home today, is safety on the farm. I think, you know, living in rural Manitoba or rural Canada, there’s a certain amount of vulnerability that you have,” said Jill Verwey, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers.

KAP is among the organizations to hear repeated reports of incidents and member concerns over over action, advocacy and availability of resources for rural communities. Rural policing is an active file for the farm group’s lobby efforts.

Perceptions versus reality

Social media may be playing a role in amplifying those feeling of vulnerability. The digital spread of news creates greater awareness when something happens, such as well publicized thefts in central Manitoba in April of this year — coverage that included alarming video of armed and masked thieves — or the far-spread story of a fraudulent bison hunt near Binscarth the previous fall.

Hard numbers suggest that Saskatchewan has, in fact seen continued crime increases. Manitoba, though, has steadied, and Alberta RCMP reported significant drops. Alberta RCMP Corporal Troy Savinkoff noted that their stats show 26 per cent fewer break and enters this year than the same time last year, while vehicle theft has dropped 21 per cent.

According to Manitoba RCMP numbers, quoted in a Grainews article last year, farm-related thefts had 116 incidents in 2022 and were down to 96 in 2023, although an RCMP analyst noted the difficulty in isolating “farm” thefts, making it difficult to definitively speak on the trends.

“In Alberta, we’ve been really pushing, and every year we become much more dedicated to, what we call crime reduction,” said Savinkoff.

“And what crime reduction is, is it’s a changing philosophy in policing … It’s statistical. We always say 95 per cent of our crime is committed by 5 per cent of the population. So, what that means is, you’re focusing all your proactive policing efforts directly on that five per cent.”

Crime reduction across the Prairies

Alberta’s crime reduction focus uses analysts to comb crime trends, particularly if there’s been a string of crime in an area, and then turns to proactive and collective patrols by Crime Reduction or Community Response Teams (CRTs). The teams are meant to evaluate the situation and identify the root causes of recent crimes, which Savinkoff says is much more effective than predicting location of the next crime.

These teams are based at varying provincial detachments. Those are typically the larger detachments, but Alberta RCMP argue they’re divided so that each district in the province has a team in the region.

Teams use statistics and knowledge of previous offenders to target their efforts, and CRTs may do surveillance or a check in on the individuals if release conditions enable it. Teams have been very successful at identifying offenders, often discovering stolen vehicles and other property when investigating, enabling quicker action, the RCMP says.

Manitoba runs similar teams, called CREST (Crime Reduction Enforcement Support Teams). These, like in Alberta, are established in each of the province’s three districts.

“CREST will kind of take over if it’s like a home invasion, something violent, but it has happened in four different areas, that group will look after it,” said Sgt. Paul Manaigre with Manitoba RCMP. “It’s kind of the bigger things, while the smaller stuff we’ll leave to the detachments.”

The province will soon also have MILET (Manitoba Integrated Law Enforcement Team), similar to CREST, but with a slightly wider scope. That initiative will handle all types of larger crime, including interprovincial or provincial-wide enforcement, but excluding homicides. This team will cover the situation if the CREST team is working on another incident.

Saskatchewan, meanwhile, has the Critical Incident Response Program. This provides emergency response, canine services, along with support services like analysts and the warrant enforcement and suppression team.

“We’re able to draw on these resources right from across the province at any given time,” said Saskatchewan RCMP district superintendent Kirk Badger. “So for every police officer that you see in the streets, it’s safe to say that there’s a half a dozen support members that are working behind him or her to keep everyone safe.”

Say a high-risk offender is identified in an area and it’s determined they’re on warrant status, Badger said. The warrant enforcement and suppression team is called to that community to support the detachment in taking them into custody.

Calls for action

KAP believes there needs to be increased law enforcement numbers and availability to respond in Manitoba, but also says it must be paired with legislative reform to provide appropriate actions of discipline to perpetrators, accountability and means to reduce recidivism.

“The frustrating things that we hear from our community is — that I hear almost daily right now, particularly in the city of Portage (la Prairie) — is that it’s just a revolving door,” Verwey said. “There doesn’t seem to be any accountability for the crime. These repeat offenders, you know, they know that the punishment is not there.”

According to Statistics Canada, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have the highest break and enter rates in the country, which is often connected to theft. Badger shared that in 2024, Saskatchwan RCMP received nearly 48,000 calls for property crime offenses.

KAP has hosted information sessions and meetings where main discussion points were on rural crime. RCMP and legal representation have been brought in to answer questions regarding property owner rights, criminal activity, and loss or destruction of personal assets.

The Manitoba farm group and Saskatchewan Rural Crime Watch Association (SRCWA) both say they fear more people may take extreme steps to protect themselves.

Tim Boldt, SRWCA president, has heard many people say, “what am I supposed to do?”

“A farmer leaves his truck out the field or a piece of equipment, and all of a sudden they (offenders) get all the fuel out of it,” said Boldt. “Or they (farmers) have a pickup truck sitting there for tools or something and it’s stolen.”

There’s a lack of faith in RCMP response times and action, he noted, and cases of armed theft mixed in with the property crimes of trespassing and breaking and entering threaten to raise the ante of those situations dangerously.

It’s a dynamic that KAP is also watching warily.

“(Perpetrators), they’re being very deliberate,” Verwey said. “Like, when you hear of robberies on a farm, they’re not just coming in to steal, they’re coming armed … Why are they armed to begin with? You know, what is the draw?”

Both groups says better connection and communication is necessary between local RCMP and local producers. A better relationship is key, they noted, and rural residents must be able to trust that their calls will be taken seriously.

RCMP response times

Savinkoff says all calls are taken seriously, categorized with priority and responded to accordingly. There are four priority levels, with the first two warranting quick response. Priority 1 means an immediate response is needed due to high risk of public harm. Priority 2 means a situation is likely to quickly escalate, and an urgent response is needed.

“(In Alberta) our average response time to a Priority 1 call is 18.8 minutes, and Priority 2 is 21.8 minutes,” he said, adding that included the time needed for the call to filter down through the operational communications centre.

According to Savinkoff, approximately 95 per cent of response times are under 45 minutes.

That’s a long time in a crisis, he admitted. The geographic realities of rural areas, however, make that transit time a hard challenge to overcome, particularly in very remote areas.

A lot of things go into response times, Savinkoff said, such as effective use of resources based on call volume and caseload per officer. It’s not necessarily about population, he noted. Some largely populated areas could have very low call rates.

“So, we start talking some pretty large numbers, and a lot of communities just don’t have the call volume or … the population to pay for those kinds of resources,” Savinkoff said. “So, you end up pumping some of those resources closer to major centers. And unfortunately, there are some far, far reaches.”

Manitoba RCMP does not share call response time statistics, due to the largely rural policing in the province. Response times are tracked and filed, but Manaigre says the statistics don’t tell the whole picture.

It depends on officer availability, patrol location and the time of the call. In terms of detachment distance, it takes approximately half an hour to get from a detachment to one of the communities patrolled by it.

“I hate to kind of look at it like a number, because at the same time, we have computers in our cars,” he said. “A lot of times, you work from your car on a shift, it could be your is detachment in ‘this’ town, but you’re never there because you’re always on the highway, or you’re in areas where you think might be a bigger concern.”

Saskatchewan RCMP also doesn’t share response times, as accuracy and estimated time is difficult to evaluate due to variables like geography, weather, road conditions and call priority. But no matter how trivial a citizen may view their call, Badger urges them to make the report, as it can help in identifying trends and areas of concern.

The emergency response teams and programs are meant to address these gaps and the far reaches, the RCMP says.

The post Farmers left waiting on rural crime appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

According to a police media release Nov. 12, Treherne RCMP were called to a rural residence on Road 53 North in the RM of Victoria around 10:45 a.m. after getting a report of a man suffering a gunshot wound.

He was taken to hospital in stable condition and released the same day.

Police were told that the man had been outside his residence, when he was hit in the arm. The round was shot by three nearby teenage hunters, according to RCMP.

The teens — one 14-year-old female and two males, aged 16 and 17, respectively —were in a field when police arrived. RCMP approached and arrested all three. The teenagers were later charged with careless use of a firearm, discharge of a firearm while being reckless and assault with a weapon. The 16-year-old male also faces a charge of unauthorized possession of a firearm.

The post Man shot in hunting incident appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Growing up on a farm near Miami in south-central Manitoba, there were a lot of Co-operator readers around. One of its fixture reporters, Allan Dawson, was also a local. Then, as a young adult working in the office of a local agribusiness, the Co-operator hit the break room table every week like clockwork.

I would later occasionally run into Co-operator staff while a community journalist for the Morden and Winkler Times. I still had my farm background and covered the odd farm story, but the hamster wheel of jack-of-all-trades reporting meant I wasn’t totally up on developing ag issues at the time.

The difference when lining up for joint interviews with those Co-operator staff was apparent. There were questions that they knew to ask that more general media would never have thought to. The depth of context from which they asked those questions gave their interviews a keen edge of critical thinking on complex or technical topics.

They were subject matter experts, writing for subject matter experts, and it was obvious.

A few years later, after joining the Co-operator myself, I took it as a professional milestone when, following a scrum with then-agriculture minister Ralph Eichler, a reporter from CBC took me aside to ask what I was talking about when I had levelled a question about Crown lands.

Having dedicated agricultural reporters — not industry communications staff, but journalists with a responsibility towards independent reporting — is a benefit to farmers. Having local farm reporters means more capacity to cover issues geared towards Manitoba specifically — our cow-calf centric beef sector; robust beekeeping, potato and pork industries; Western-grown soybeans, etc.

As readers may already know from our Oct. 28 Seeding the future special edition or the new logo gracing our cover, the Manitoba Co-operator marks 100 years in 2025.

It’s an honour to be part of a publication with such a long and storied track record of serving farmers. It’s a legacy we try to live up to with every edition.

I am repeatedly reminded, through the act of digging up past story links for the online versions of our articles, just how much good work our reporters do on a daily basis. Have you read Geralyn Wichers’s now nationally recognized piece on rural depopulation and the shadow of the 1980’s farm crisis? How about our ongoing stories about gene editing, or digital and precision farming, or wild pigs, or the slog towards modernized seed regulations?

Those are just a few recent examples. If I started listing all of them, I’d need a book.

The historical photo essay that ran in “Seeding the future” was very much like looking not just at the history of the paper, but the history of Manitoba farming.

In recognition of that, we want to hear from you. Do you have a story that you still remember years later? Do you remember where you were or what you felt the first time you read about the BSE crisis? Did you follow the death of the wheat board through our pages? Maybe one of our stories outlined a then-novel production practice, or philosophy like regenerative ag or 4R nutrient stewardship, that you now use on your farm.

Whatever your story with us, we’d like to hear it and highlight it in a future edition of the Manitoba Co-operator. You can send those stories to news@fbcpublishing.com, or to my email below. I very much look forward to reading them.

The post Calling all Co-operator readers appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

For myself, I treasure hunts in the late season. Almost everyone has already packed up their gear, and the birds taken are in peak body condition.

Bagging ducks and geese

Not all waterfowl have migrated yet, providing they have access to open water and high-energy food supplies. For geese and mallards, that usually means farm fields where waste grain can be accessed. For diving ducks like “bluebills” (scaup and ringneck ducks), redhead, goldeneye and bufflehead, ice-free lakes and larger marshes laden with submerged plants and invertebrates may keep them around.

Our variable weather is especially mercurial in late fall. An early, hard freeze will send birds south en masse. But if we get a late October that’s cool enough to freeze smaller wetlands, but not bigger water bodies, that can create conditions for magical hunts. Late season diehards may head to traditional staging areas like Delta Marsh, Whitewater Lake, Oak/Plum Lakes, Netley-Libau marsh and the Erickson lakes area, and start scouting. There can also be pockets of birds on Prairie rivers, other lakes and larger wetlands, but you have to go looking for them.

For goose and mallard hunters, it’s easiest to default to looking for field hunts. I have had a few and they are exciting, but I’m kind of a marsh rat. I focus on finding the last few water bodies holding birds. A hunting pal likes to say that late-season hunts over water require a good dose of “stupid” in one’s nature, because you’re probably breaking ice and standing in ice-cold water.

That’s a fair point, but with the right precautions, the risks can be managed.

Diving duck delights

A small subset of duck hunters lives for late-season diving ducks. Stable, flat-bottomed boats are pretty much mandatory in the larger, deep marshes or shallow lakes that are hunted. Some of my best late season diver hunts occurred on such lakes south of Riding Mountain National Park. The ideal time was when only a few of the larger water bodies with a history of diving duck use were left open. The aforementioned staging areas can also deliver late-season diving duck opportunities.

Divers seem to be constantly on the move, and they take traditional flight paths that may include narrowly defined “passes” within and between water bodies. Some diving duck passes have been magnets for generations of duck hunters who welcome the challenge of fast-flying birds.

My brother found a lightly hunted but challenging pass decades ago, and he hosted quite a few hunters there over the years. One guest was an excellent skeet shooter but, at this spot, where high-flying birds lost altitude overhead, his tally was modest at best. He declared himself “humbled” and the name “Humble Pass” was born among our little group.

Another effective approach for divers is to hunt points where birds tend to fly close by and may be enticed into gun range with large spreads of decoys. If there’s a dry land point handy, that can make for a comfortable hunt by late fall standards. I was envious when a hunter described a favourite spot on a bluebill staging lake in the Whiteshell region. The point they hunted was a flat granite outcrop and a campfire could be kept in a spruce thicket nearby. Here, frozen hands were thawed and a few birds were roasted up.

Going for grouse

Keen grouse hunters are blessed with seasons that run until Jan. 1 and, since grouse hunting usually involves long walks through frosty landscapes, it’s not the “shiver-fest” that defines late-season waterfowl hunting.

My hunting life began at age six, when my brother and I started joining Dad on his quests for ruffed grouse. When I got old enough to carry a gun, I learned that the late season was as good or better than before the Thanksgiving weekend.

Ruffed grouse tactics don’t change much from early to late season. Birds orient to openings and forest edges close to dawn and dusk. At this time, walking trails as well as field and clear cut edges can be productive. As the day progresses, birds tend to move into heavier cover. I don’t often find them in open forests, so I usually work the fringes of thickets of willows, alders and even evergreens.

This is where an experienced hunting dog can do the heaving lifting. Once a dog figures out that most birds are in thicker areas, your task is to find a good spot on the edge and wait for a bird flush.

Later in the fall, the birds may forage more frequently in trees, picking for buds, catkins and the odd dried berry. It pays to look up now and then, especially at dawn and dusk.

Hunting with some snow on the ground has the added benefit that grouse will leave tracks. Fresh tracks are sharply-defined, while the edges of older ones are eroded a bit. Before I had a dog, I would often follow a fresh track and, on occasion, was rewarded by a grouse flush at the end of it.

The only change I have noticed with ruffed grouse behaviour late in the season is that they tend to go into heavier cover than might otherwise occur earlier in the fall. That might mean working closer to heavier thickets of willows or spruce.

The challenge of hunting sharp-tails

By late October, sharp-tailed grouse are a special prize in my books. In addition to being plump and fully feathered, they are harder to hunt.

Earlier in the season, sharp-tails orient to open areas at sunrise and sunset, but move into heavier cover — willow thickets, shelterbelts and forest edges — from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. The highest percentage of hunting success occurs when they move into cover and, when flushed, are usually well within gun range.

By late fall, however, they’ll spend more time in flocks and in the open. Ironically, the poorer the weather, the more they hang out in the open. Getting within gun range then may be possible in mid-September, but expect them to flush 200 to 300 meters out later on.

One blustery December day, my brother and I were out looking for sharp-tails. We saw lots of birds flocked up in open country but, if we flushed them, they just flew off and landed in the open again. Finally, we spotted a flock close to the road and I thought a sneak was possible. I slipped into a ditch a few hundred yards away and crept my way to shotgun range. I hadn’t figured on an access road, but the culvert was big enough for me to shimmy through. I ended up flushing them in range, and was rewarded with one prize bird, the only one we took that day.

If you get sunny, warm late fall weather, the birds can move or be chased into cover to be hunted. Even still, be prepared for flushes further out than early season birds. I hunt with premium, one and a quarter ounce lead loads and at least No. 6 shot. I know folks who bias to one and three-eighths ounce, No. 4 lead loads at this time.

Partridges, no pear trees

The sharp-tail’s foreign cousin, Hungarian partridge or “huns,” are a lovely study in contrast. Like sharp-tails, they are open-country birds and hang out in flocks, but they usually flush in range when you first approach. They’ll flush in unison, giving you the merest of chances of to recover before they’re out of range, but if you can keep an eye on where they drop down, they may be split into smaller groups who won’t wander far. This will be when your chances improve.

In Manitoba, good hun hunting can be hard to find. The most consistent area is the province’s southwest corner.

My only late-season hunt for huns occurred at the end of October in southern Saskatchewan, where they are more abundant. There, it was fabulous. Abandoned farmsteads in grain farming country provided the best action. We also found a few close-flushing sharp-tails in shelterbelts around mid-day.

Extend the 2025 hunting season

If you love bird hunting, think hard about extending the season well into November and, for upland birds, all through December. Be prepared for the weather and conditions, and don’t be surprised if you discover a little bird hunting magic.

The post Mastering Manitoba’s late-season bird hunt appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The RCMP officially opened their promised Niverville detachment on Monday, Nov. 3. The new building was opened to the public to mark the occasion.

The 3,000-square-foot facility began construction in early 2023 and will be staffed by four officers and one civilian employee, according to the RCMP.

WHY IT MATTERS: The RCMP detachment opens as rural Manitoba grapples with ongoing property crime concerns affecting farm operations.

“We are extremely proud to officially open this new detachment to better serve the ever growing and vibrant community of Niverville,” said assistant commissioner Scott McMurchy, commanding officer of the Manitoba RCMP, in a Nov. 3 release. “Many of our officers live in the community with their families and I know they are looking forward to providing the very best in policing services to a community they call home.”

The office will operate Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Services will include general inquiries and special occasion licences. Criminal record check services will be on offer Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Officers from the St-Pierre-Jolys detachment will continue to assist Niverville as needed, the RCMP added.

Local need for police

The new detachment provides peace of mind as the town expands, said Niverville Mayor Myron Dyck.

“As the Town of Niverville continues to grow, we are thankful for the RCMP presence in our community,” Dyck said. “The opening of this new detachment is an exciting continuation of that presence and will provide peace of mind to residents that a detachment is now so close to home.”

Keystone Agricultural Producers and Manitoba farmers have raised concerns about rising rural crime rates for years, as have farmers and farm groups in other parts of the Prairies. Incidents getting increased attention include thefts of fuel, equipment and livestock.

Farm groups have argued for several action items in regards to rural policing, including response times. Last year, KAP’s fall district meeting included a special presentation from a legal expert on landowners’ rights when it comes to self-protection from crime.

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On Oct. 31, the RCMP announced that officers from their Treherne detachment had attended the scene of the rollover the previous day. Treherne RCMP had received reports of the single-vehicle incident on a rural road in the RM of Victoria shortly after 4 p.m.

“The investigation determined the victim was travelling on Road 40 North towards Road 71 West when his grain truck began to drift into the ditch on the right-hand side of the road. The driver over corrected when trying to keep the vehicle on the road causing it to flip over,” RCMP said in their Oct. 31 release.

RCMP noted that the grain truck was not equipped with seat belts.

Emergency services performed CPR on the driver, but he was declared dead at the scene.

The RCMP says investigation into the incident is ongoing.

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Glenice Deterville, a researcher with Brandon University’s Rural Development Institute, worked with a team of researchers led by the institute’s director, Wayne Kelly. In a study of 84 municipalities, they found only 13 per cent had climate action plans — even though the province has faced severe flooding, disruptive wildfires and droughts over the past decade.

“Many municipalities have just a handful of staff, often with no specialized climate expertise,” Deterville said. “In the smaller communities, one person might handle everything from economic development to the emergency management, leaving little bandwidth for just the climate planning.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Small and rural Manitoba municipalities lack the staff, money and expertise to develop climate action plans for dealing with floods, droughts and wildfires, with only 13 per cent having formal climate strategies, according to new research.

The gap between urban and rural is stark. Larger centres have staff and budgets to develop formal plans, while smaller municipalities operate with part-time workers and tight budgets, Deterville said at the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation Conference on Sept. 25 in Brandon.

Most rural municipalities are tucking climate issues into emergency plans or development documents instead of creating dedicated strategies. Only 13 per cent had community energy plans, and 15 per cent had climate vulnerability plans.

“I was very surprised at the results that we got, especially when we got the spreadsheet with all the data about all the different climate plans,” Deterville said.

Regional approaches vary

The researchers found regional differences. Northern municipalities focused on emergency planning, central Manitoba on flood preparedness and eastern regions on development plans.

Several barriers prevent better planning, Deterville said. First, many municipalities can’t afford the data and technical analysis needed. Provincial and federal funding exists but is often short-term and project-based, making long-term planning difficult.

Politics also plays a role. Municipal leaders often prioritize economic development because it shows results quickly. Climate planning takes years and sometimes looks like duplication of existing emergency plans.

“Municipalities, they are too small to solve climate change alone, but too large to address it solely through hyper local adaptation,” Deterville added.

Collaboration offers hope

The study found one bright spot: some municipalities are pooling resources. Francophone and eastern municipalities have partnered on climate action, showing collective approaches can work — though collaboration remains limited.

The researchers recommend provincial and federal governments fund training and technical staff for municipalities. They also call for stable, long-term funding instead of short-term project money.

“To move forward, we must shift from reactive integration to proactive climate governance,” Deterville said. “That means creating climate specific plans, building local capacity, embedding sustainable development goals in measurable ways, and fostering collaboration across municipalities and with higher levels of government.”

The Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) plans to do a review of recent climate events soon, said the organization’s executive director Denys Volkov.

“Municipalities, in collaboration with their emergency co-ordinators and the Province of Manitoba, will conduct a comprehensive review of the recent wildfire events in Manitoba, consistent with our approach following flood emergencies, to identify lessons learned and enhance our collective capacity for coordinated emergency response moving forward,” Volkov said in a statement to the Co-operator.

The Co-operator contacted multiple Manitoba municipalities for comment but did not receive responses by press time.

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