Glenda Lee Vossler

Thanksgiving weekend is always a busy time with family and friends. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two biggest seasons for turkey consumption.

Stats for 2022, show that Canadians consumed 127.9 million kilograms of turkey,  with 2.1 million whole turkeys purchased at Thanksgiving.

Darren Ference, Chair of the Turkey Farmers of Canada says Thanksgiving and Christmas are one of the major parts to the full bird market.

A major donation last week will see the development of a mobile unit for rural health and wellness. 

The Canadian Centre for Rural and Agricultural Health located at the University of Saskatchewan has received an anonymous donation of $1.5 million.

Director Shelley Kirychuk says the gift is an incredible boost for the centre.

Many producers have wrapped up harvest with 91 per cent of the provincial crop in the bin, ahead of the five and 10-year averages of 73 per cent. Producers around the province are eagerly waiting for rain. 

The southwest and west-central regions completed harvest this week, with 98 and 97 per cent of crops off, respectively. The northwest is 90 per cent complete, followed by the southeast at 89 per cent and northeast at 88 per cent. The east-central region has made significant progress this past week, with 82 per cent of crops off. 

For many generations, the Almanac has been found in many homes as a general guide to what we can expect to see with its long-term forecast.

The Old Farmer's Almanac with its yellow cover has been published continuously every September since 1792.

Taking a look at the Canadian edition it is predicting some moisture for what has been some of the drier areas in the Prairies this fall.

Managing Editor Jack Burnett says they're predicting average temperatures for September with temperatures a little bit (about four degrees) warmer in October.

Airdrie Rural RCMP has received numerous complaints of large-scale fraud operations from victims right across Canada.

So far, the investigation has revealed that the victims are purchasing farm equipment online for low prices, however, once funds are transferred, the buyer can no longer contact the original seller or the freight team hired for the shipping of the farming equipment.

The 4-H Steer sale wrapped up the livestock events Saturday night at Frontier Days.

This year's sale saw 102 steers sold for an average price of $3.85 a pound.

The Grand Champion and high-selling steer in the sale was owned by Cooper Smyth from the Nomads 4-H Club it sold for $7.00 a pound to Plewis Auto for a grand total of $8960.

Hillary Sauder from the Ernfold 4-H Club had the Reserve Grand Champion Steer which sold for $4.50 a pound to Albert Hapke

Drew Lerner with World Weather Inc says we can expect to finish off the Month of March in the prairies with a cool bias.

The  Pembina Valley Watershed District and Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association have joined forces on a key project.

The groups receiving funding of up to $152,250 from AAFC's AgriRisk Initiatives Research and Development Stream 

They are teaming up with Aquanty, an Ontario software firm, to develop a water forecasting platform.

PVWD Manager Ryan Sheffield says the Pembina Valley watershed is a vitally important region for Manitoba covering 5000 sq. km.

Work continues to turn the old XL beef plant at Moose Jaw (Saskatchewan) into a new pork processing facility.

The new owners Donald's Fine Foods bought the beef plant in May of 2020, and have been working on retrofitting the facility for its new role as a sow slaughter plant.

Donald's already owns and operates the Thunder Creek pork facility in Moose Jaw.

Neil Ketilson, the industrial relations manager for Donald's Fine Foods, says work is progressing at the site.