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Writing those monthly paycheques
Columns, Features

Writing those monthly paycheques

Are we farmers paying ourselves as much as we’re paying our hired help?

By
The paycheques have been signed for another month and it brings to mind the joke about the tax man and the farm owner/operator having a conversation about wages: “I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them,” demanded the agent. “Well,” replied the farmer, “there’s my farm hand. I pay him […] Read more
Alberta consultant, Merle Good, right, speaks with Nova Scotia farmers Wayne and Nicole Oulton in Edmonton about getting the most out of tax strategies and new approaches to farm business arrangements.
Columns, Features

Defining roles can save the farm

Deciding and confirming “who’s in charge here” can take frustration out of the family farm

By
Improved communications and actually defining roles and responsibilities on a family farm can not only make the day go better, but can actually save a farm business, says a long-time Alberta consultant. Confusion over who is in charge can lead to some very stressful situations, says Merle Good, a well know consulting agricultural tax specialist […] Read more
And the man even makes house calls — this is Greg Evans, chief veterinarian for the Calgary Stampede, applying his equine dental skills to one of the horses at the Calgary Stampede Ranch near Hanna, Alberta. The horses who are trained to be bucking broncs and other competitors receive excellent and regular animal health care. Evans may not make it in human dentistry field, but his patients at the ranch didn’t voice any complaints.
Cattleman’s Corner, Keepers & Culls, Livestock

The next project after COOL

The key to farm policy change is persistence

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I have to give the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) and Canada’s federal government credit for their patience and persistence. I never thought the U.S. government would ever do away with its country-of-origin labelling (COOL) law once it was enacted in 2008. And after all the trips and lobbying to the U.S. capital over the past […] Read more
Cows leaving the dairy
Cattleman’s Corner, Livestock, The Dairy Corner

Proper diet reduces risk of lame cows

A well-balanced ration and a clean barn are a great combination to keep dairy cows mobile

By
Recently, I conducted a barn walk in a 300-cow robot-milking dairy and within 10 minutes I spotted more than a half-dozen limping cows. I did not know what caused them to limp, but after I talked to the dairy manager, I discovered that lameness was a significant problem on his operation and several of these […] Read more
The feral boar issue is a tough problem for many parts of the Prairies, but it’s not unsolvable.
Columns

Only an optimist would take this on

Not everyone would have the nerve to start tackling our tough-to-solve wild boar problem

By
I aspire to be a relentless optimist. I don’t mean that in a Pollyannaish sort of way. I like energetic optimists who get stuff done, such as Teddy Roosevelt and his national parks. I admire optimists with enough grit to figure out a way to climb over or under or around big obstacles. It’s very […] Read more
The first step was to find the right raw material.
Columns

A project for a cold winter week

Need a place to store your back issues of Grainews? Try this at home before it's time for seeding

By
We had been talking about it for a long time. We would either purchase shelving for our living room or I would make something. In summer, such deliberations seem like a waste of time. There’s farming to be done. Well, it’s done. And it’s pretty nifty, I must say, a giant raw-wood bookshelf hewn from […] Read more
Columns

Market life after the USDA report

The day that USDA crop reports are released is the most important day of the year

By
January 12, 2016, was the day that the United States Department of Agriculture came out with a number of reports covering intended seeded acres for U.S. winter wheat, 2015 production reports for both domestic and world grains and quarterly stocks and ending stocks reviews for U.S. and world grains. In the world of grain marketing […] Read more
These Super Spindle trees help apple growers increase efficiency and production.
Columns, Hart Attacks

Apples have come a long way, baby

Men cannot live by canola, wheat and barley alone. Put an apple on your plate

By
If you ever wonder where apples come from forget the notion they are produced in some lazy looking orchard, with grand, sprawling shady trees that have been growing for centuries under which you can spread a blanket for a picnic lunch before picking the next basket. Get ready for the Super Spindle. That was the […] Read more
Watch those pricing signs
Columns, Crops

Watch those pricing signs

Grade and protein spreads change during the year. Take advantage of change to increase your profits

By
My last column talked about futures spreads, and how you understand what’s happening in the marketplace by watching how and why spreads change over time. Now, a look at more pricing signals: grade and protein spreads. During the era of the Canadian Wheat Board, grade and protein spreads changed very little throughout the marketing year. The CWB, […] Read more
Tile drainage in progress south of Melfort, October 2014. The water table was high and tiles were running as soon as installed. The drain outlet is Melfort Creek. This project is on the Alan Hurd farm. Mark Gordon of Agri-Trend provided the soil EC mapping of the site and Stu Brandt of NARF (Northeast Agricultural Research Foundation) installed the observation wells and is monitoring the site.
Columns, Crops

Soil salinity: causes, cures, coping

After recent wet years, we’re seeing salinity again. Learn to cure it or cope with it

By
A few years back we predicted that the super wet years would lead to a marked increase in soil salinity. It is now happening. In this piece I am not going to talk about Solonetzic soils or true Alkali (high pH , low salts) soils. I’m talking only about saline soils — soils that have […] Read more

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