(Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Avian flu risk higher with fall migrations

Poultry farmers in Ontario are being warned to keep biosecurity top of mind as wild birds get ready to fly south this fall. “With the fall weather quickly approaching, resulting in colder temperatures and wild bird migrations, the threat of re-emergence of (highly pathogenic avian influenza) is real,” the Feather Board Command Centre, the emergency

(Photo courtesy Architect of the Capitol, VisitTheCapitol.gov)

U.S. said considering TPP trade deal without Canada

Washington | Reuters — The United States, frustrated over the lack of progress with Canada over new rules for agriculture trade, is weighing “contingencies” that could include completing a Pacific Rim trade pact that excludes Canada, according to two sources familiar with the issue. One official familiar with the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiation said


man and young girl in turkey barn

Talking turkey comes easy for the manager at Fairholme Colony

Over 40 years the time to raise a turkey has dropped from 23 weeks to 14 weeks

April 15 marked Jerry Maendel’s 40th anniversary as Andiker Mensch, turkey manager at Fairholme Colony. Jerry — my dad — says he remembers the day, April 15, 1975, when farm manager Ernie Maendel informed him that he would no longer be travelling to Fairholme’s farm near Pilot Mound, to help with the building, but would

(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Saudi Arabia bans Ont. poultry, egg products

Reuters — Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-largest importer of chicken broiler meat, has banned imports of poultry meat and egg products from Ontario due to the presence of avian flu on three Ontario farms. The market was worth about $825,000 in 2014, representing 0.4 per cent of Ontario’s poultry exports, said Patrick Girard, spokesman for



vintage newspaper advertisement

Roto-Egg washer

Our History: February 1958

You could clean and sanitize up to 10 dozen eggs every three to five minutes with this Roto-Egg egg washer advertised in our Feb. 6, 1958 issue. Other ads in that issue remind of how many farmers raised poultry at that time. Swifts advertised chicks for New Sky-Hi 314A breed, averaging 289 white eggs per



sliced turkey

Recipe Swap: Smaller meat cuts for smaller families

A stuffed turkey breast is a way to enjoy a Christmas food tradition if a whole bird is too much for your smaller brood

If you have a big extended family squeezed around the dining table next week, you’re blessed. The large, blood-relative family event seems to be going the way of the grandfather clock. Many extended families don’t gather as they once did at Christmas. Part of the reason is family members live farther apart nowadays. They can


sliced turkey

Recipe Swap: Smaller meat cuts for smaller families

A stuffed turkey breast is a way to enjoy a Christmas food 
tradition if a whole bird is too much for your smaller brood


If you have a big extended family squeezed around the dining table next week, you’re blessed. The large, blood-relative family event seems to be going the way of the grandfather clock. Many extended families don’t gather as they once did at Christmas. Part of the reason is family members live farther apart nowadays. They can

(click for full view)

Double-Duty Eggshell-maker

Our History: December 1962

This ad for Double-Duty Eggshell-maker appeared in our December issues in 1962. Readers of a certain age may recall the product also being advertised on radio, with a jingle that went “Cluck, cluck, save a buck… for better eggshells, why trust to luck?” A Dec. 6 story reported that Interlake cattlemen were going to Alberta