Cochrane

Zone 2 pickeballers have earned berths in this summer's Alberta 55+ Games in a qualifier held recently in Cochrane.

Dawn Baker, the Area 7 representative for the Big Country Senior Sports Society (BCSSS), says 32 players took to the courts at the SLS Centre. Several others received byes into the August provincial games.

Zone 2 pickleball gold medallists were:

Level 4 winners:

Women's 65+ Doubles: Rhonda Bews & Gerri Tullikopf-McKay

Men's 65 Doubles: Steve Katulka (Bearspaw) and Gary Hawkes

For cow-calf operations, a major driver of profitability is reproductive efficiency, or the number of calves weaned per cow exposed. There are a lot of factors influencing this outcome, from breeding time through weaning. However, some considerations can be looked at well before the breeding season begins.

After calving, cows will have about 30 to 100 days to recover, resume cycling and be re-bred to calve around the same time the following year. This period through calving and early lactation is when a cow’s requirements for energy and protein are the highest.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is releasing an update with April stats on federally reportable diseases.

As of April 30th, there have been 17 cases of avian influenza, with three in British Columbia, one in Alberta, three in Saskatchewan, and two in Manitoba.

The Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, the Honourable Bernadette McIntyre, and her husband, Mr. Rich McIntyre had a private audience with King Charles today at Buckingham Palace.

Their Honours presented the King with lentil and chickpea snacks from the Three Farmers company of Saskatoon. Saskatchewan is a major producer of pulse crops.

A jar of Savoury Dill Pickle Mustard from Gravelbourg Mustard. The province is the world’s largest exporter of mustard seed.

Alberta's Agriculture Financial Services Corporation put together the first crop report of the season. 

Manglai a product coordinator with AFSC, says provincially there's now 23 per cent of the 2025 crop is now in the ground, thawhich t's well ahead of the 5-year average of 12 per cent, and the 10-year average of 14 per cent.

"Regionally - the South leads with 50 per cent of all crops seeded, followed by the Central Region at 22 per cent, the Peace Region at 10 per cent, the North West at 8 per cent, and the North East at 6 per cent."

Production is expected to recover by 70 million tonnes due to favourable conditions, while demand will rise by 45 million tonnes

SASKATOON — The global grain outlook for 2025-26 is incredibly balanced, says an analyst.

The International Grains Council (IGC) is forecasting 2.373 billion tonnes of production and an identical 2.373 billion tonnes of demand.

“We’re looking at quite a finely balanced fundamental picture for grains,” Helen Plant, senior analyst for the United Kingdom’s Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, said in a recent webinar.

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) will be moving a large number of military vehicles from Edmonton to Calgary starting tomorrow (May 15) and continuing until May 30 in preparation for the 2025 G7 Leaders’ Summit.

The vehicles will be travelling west on Highway 216 (Anthony Henday), south to Hwy. 2 (Queen Elizabeth II), west on Highway 201, west on Hwy. 1 and south on Hwy. 40.

The Alberta-shot Die, My Love is among the films being presented at the Cannes Film Festival, which got underway yesterday in the south of France.

The dark comedy thriller pairs Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson in a tale about a mother in a remote rural area struggling to maintain her sanity as she battles psychosis.

The ensemble cast also includes Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek and LaKeith Stanfield.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture President Keith Currie says Canadian agriculture is at a critical juncture, with the recent dramatic rise of trade uncertainty, high costs, and more frequent extreme weather events.

He notes during the recent election, the CFA made the priorities of Canadian farmers very clear: farmers need to see a focus on competitiveness, resiliency, and maintaining rule-based trade.

Hundreds of Cochranites entered for a chance to win the ultimate Canadian getaway with Pick Your Province, powered by House of Cars Cochrane.

In the end, Berenice Hugo was the lucky name drawn on 91.5FM CochraneNow, winning a flight for two anywhere in the country.

“Oh my goodness, thank you so much. I am so happy,” said Hugo, moments after hearing the news.

Hugo, who has lived in Canada for eight years, said she’s barely travelled beyond B.C.

“I’ve only been to Banff and Jasper,” she said. “There’s so much more I want to see.”