The beef house was built with a central feed alley where silage is fed on both sides so the cattle in holding pens can reach through and eat.

New beef house for finishing cattle

In a part of the world that receives 30 to 40 inches of rain per year, it’s common practice to finish beef cattle indoors

A young farmer and agricultural contractor in Northern Ireland has built a high-tech livestock house in which to finish beef cattle, with emphasis on safety. With so many farm accidents with livestock these days, when James Kennedy, 27, needed a new beef house, he decided it must be safe to work in and last his […] Read more

A refrigerator is stuck in a tree at Dawson Springs, Kentucky, about 140 km west of Bowling Green, on Dec. 13, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Jon Cherry)

U.S. tornadoes destroy chickens, tractors, silos

Chicago | Reuters — A Deere dealership and a Pilgrim’s Pride chicken hatchery were destroyed when deadly tornadoes swept through Kentucky on Friday, while silos holding millions of bushels of corn suffered damage, the companies and the state’s agriculture commissioner said on Monday. At least 64 people, including six children, lost their lives in Kentucky […] Read more


The HRV system at the Brant Hutterite Colony replaces 
conventional ventilation.

Ventilation system takes chill off

Capturing the heat from stale air helps reduce this barn’s heating bill

Capturing at least some of the heat from stale or “old” air being exhausted from poultry and hog barns is one more step in developing intensive livestock operations with net zero energy barns. The net zero term means a barn is producing as much energy as it is using. Two poultry barns in Alberta, for […] Read more

Lee Hart’s brother Mark, in front of the original Hart family dairy farm.

They sure don’t milk cows like they used to

Hart Attacks: The original Hart dairy farm was nothing like the high-tech operations running today

I know I am the crop and livestock expert for Grainews (NOT) — fact is I’m just old, and no expert on anything — but every time I write a story about a dairy farming operation today, I can’t help but recall some childhood memories, growing up on an Eastern Ontario dairy farm. This past […] Read more


Brian Miller holds photos of what this farmhouse and yard looked like 30 years ago.

Preserving the past through photos

Retired administrator keeps memories alive

Brian Miller likes old farm sites. He’s not sure what possessed him to take hundreds of photos of abandoned and derelict farm sites over his 28-year career as a municipal administrator. What he does know for sure is that he’s thankful he has taken photos over the years because many buildings, from two-storey brick houses […] Read more

Riskan Hope Farm barn

The story of the Riskan Hope barn

If you’ve driven north on Highway 11, from Regina to Saskatoon, you’ve seen Riskan Hope Farm. The farm name is spelled out on a big red barn between Craik and Aylesbury. I see it at least twice a year, on my drives home from Canada’s Farm Progress Show and Canadian Western Agribition. It’s a milestone […] Read more