A pre-emptive retirement

Farm Financial Planner: Preparing for life in town, a Manitoba farm couple prepares 
to pull an income out of their farm corporation assets

Central Manitoba grain farmers we’ll call Mel and Judy, 56 and 53, are in the process of selling their farm and migrating to town. They are making what you could call a pre-emptive move, for they have two children with off-farm jobs. Neither of the children has an interest in keeping the farm going. Mel […] Read more

Estimating costs of production

If you haven't calculated your costs of production on the farm, government numbers can help get you started

Market analysts don’t always agree on price forecasts, but at every farm marketing presentation at least one analyst gives out the same piece of advice: know your cost of production. Calculating production costs is time consuming and frustrating. As soon as you’re done, the prices change. Here are four reasons to do it anyway: If […] Read more


Man sitting beside red tractor and combine.

The beauty of the harvest

Finally, “next year” came for Prairie farmers in the form of a fantastic harvest

The 2013 crop was “next year” for the majority of Canadian Prairie farmers. Almost all farmers reported pleasant surprises when the combines started to roll. Saskatchewan alone produced 38.8 million tonnes of products that go through a grain auger — exceeding the government target for 2020 of 36.6 million tonnes. Bureaucrats like to pretend they […] Read more

Checking-in on the farm

The best way to know for sure your farm family and employees are safe is to make sure you check on them regularly

Communications are critical for safe farm operations. One often overlooked aspect of farm communications is check-in strategies. Farms are getting bigger, they are getting more equipment and doing more value added operations to increase profitability. Even smaller farms are doing their best to stay competitive and that can mean working alone or working in situations […] Read more


Life’s secrets, according to you…

Start saving from the moment you get your first paycheque, no matter how little it is

Best financial advice? Never confuse your net worth with the numbers in your bank account — you’re not taking any of it with you. You’re worth as much as any millionaire out there. And if one day, you happen to become one of those people who make millions a year, remember this — you’re no […] Read more

Writing a farm safety program

There are lots of economic, practical and common sense reasons to write a safety plan for your farm

You’ve seen the farm safety folks at the farm trade shows and farm events. They’re the loneliest booths there. And they’re a resource that is very under utilized by farmers. In a perfect world, safety would be first. But too often it is “safety third” on our farms. While, like emergency planning, safety planning is […] Read more


What we do with whey

Make your own yogurt, mayonnaise and more!

Our family likes to research new uses for what we produce on our farm. Over the years we have become very proficient at utilizing all the milk from our cows/goats (depending on the time of year) and we love experimenting with recipes. The one drawback to all this is that we can produce an incredible […] Read more

Four men standing together in front of a hopper of grain.

What’s the secret?

What makes three farms operating as one such a success?

What’s the secret?’ is a question the Weichel family is often asked. With three generations and multiple families working together as a unit, everyone wants to know what the secret is to keeping three farms operating like one. For 85-year-old Mike Weichel and his wife Babe, 80, the secret lies in the history of the […] Read more


Pride and joy of the dairy farm

Ancestry of Holsteins dates back seven generations


The Flamans talk about their cows as if they’re family. There’s Erin, Lila, Prestige, Mazing and Mary. And then there are the Donnas. The Donnas are the pride and joy of this dairy farm. With ancestors dating back seven generations, the “D-line” of purebred Holsteins includes great milk producers like Dolly, Daffodil and Desire. The […] Read more

More information on dill

Plus, where to buy cuke seeds and Ted shares some of your emails


So what’s on this agenda? An old catch-no-cold remedy — lots on dill — where to buy pickling cucumber seeds — emails and who knows what else? I’m not at the end ’til I get there. Every gardener worth their dill pickle juice … has grown dill and made dills at one time or another. […] Read more