As beef producers move their herds onto pasture this summer, there are practical ways to keep calves and cows healthy. Grainews reporter Lisa Guenther caught up with Dr. Miles Johnson, a veterinarian based in Turtleford, Sask, for tips on everything from pasture pneumonia to pink eye. Johnson is an experienced vet and a sitting member […] Read more
VIDEO: Keeping cattle healthy on pasture
Grainews reporter Lisa Guenther gets a few tips from Dr. Miles Johnson
Who’s handling your farm data? Keep an eye on this U.S. model
Data is becoming an industry. Whether you like it or not, you’re part of it
We talk about environmental stewardship, land stewardship and animal stewardship in agriculture, but there’s not a lot of discussion about data stewardship. And that’s too bad because there are some good reasons to have control over who accesses our data. I’m really talking about Big Data here — the move by businesses to collect mountains of data […] Read more
Fighting herbicide resistant weeds with change
Multiple modes of action and stacked seed traits help farmers manage resistance
When it comes to herbicide resistance, chemical companies are focusing on multiple modes of action. More varieties with stacked herbicide-tolerant traits are also on the horizon. But as western Canadian farmers sail towards that new future, they should keep in mind management goes hand-in-hand with technology. Stacked herbicide-tolerant traits are a new tool, giving farmers […] Read more
Guenther (video): Northwestern Sask. fire hazard looms over farms
Judy Wilkinson was planting potatoes on Thursday when she had a bad feeling: the dry weather was just right for a fire. “It’s scary out there. The buffalo don’t want to eat hay anymore,” said Wilkinson, who with her husband Kevin raises bison on the forest’s edge near Turtle Lake, Sask. “They’re on the move, […] Read more
Guenther: Alta. cutworms sought for mapping, posterity
If you’re an Alberta farmer and your crops have got cutworms, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development wants to know. Scott Meers, an entomologist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, is asking farmers to report cutworms online. The province uses those reports to create an interactive map displaying cutworm sightings. Meers and provincial insect research technologist […] Read more
Rolling up old fence wire simplified
Made in Sask. fence-wire roller makes tidy work of a laborious chore
Fencing is probably not a favourite chore for most livestock producers, and cleaning up snarled barbed wire even less so. But one Saskatchewan entrepreneur hopes to ease ranchers’ fencing pains with an automatic wire roller. Brad Mohr, owner of BAM Enterprises, says his brother came up with the initial level-wind wire roller design and started […] Read more
Guenther: Reseeding already considered in parts of Sask.
While farmers in northwestern Saskatchewan are getting seed into the ground, warm weather tops their wish lists. Frost is “going to be our biggest enemy here, coming up this weekend, I think,” said Geoff Schick, assistant location manager for AgriTeam Services at Glaslyn, Sask., about 65 km north of North Battleford. As of Friday, weekend […] Read more
Clubroot resistance for canola in jeopardy
Alberta researchers have found a clubroot pathogen, 5x, that can infect clubroot-resistant canola varieties
Anyone in the canola industry banking on clubroot-resistant varieties alone to stop the disease is in for a shock this spring, as Alberta researchers have discovered 16 more fields where resistance has broken. In 2014 researchers identified a clubroot pathotype, christened 5x, that had worn away resistance. Not all the resistance-busting pathotypes in the 16 […] Read more
Better weather information for better spraying decisions?
New technology allows farmers to have their own on-farm weather stations
In my last column, I wrote about how new technology sometimes scares the snot out of me (specifically driverless cars). But I’m not a complete Luddite, or neo-Luddite. I do have an iPhone, apps and all. Some of the apps I use most frequently during the summer are weather-related. I like to check if a […] Read more
VIDEO: Women in Ag Conference: Pt. 2
Grainews field editor interviews venture capitalist Courtenay Wolfe
While we’ve all heard that networking is good for our careers, it can feel like an awkward chore. Venture capitalist Courtenay Wolfe shared her networking secrets at the Advancing Women West conference in Calgary. Reporter Lisa Guenther caught up with her to find out why effective networking looks more like socializing than selling, and why we shouldn’t let […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
