Getting your goats
Growing gardeners
Selection tips for building a herd » PaGe 35
Oak Lake youth develop a green thumb » PaGe 37
October 4, 2012
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 70, No. 40
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$1.75
manitobacooperator.ca
Producers cash out before calf market nosedives Fresh bad news late last week sent corn prices soaring and feeder cattle prices down the limit By Daniel Winters co-operator staff
W
ith his calculator at the ready beside him, Pipestone-area rancher Bob Forder watched as the first lot of “good solid” black calves at Heartland Livestock Services’ first fall pre-sort sale came through the ring. When the bidding stopped at $1.725 per pound for the lot averaging 533 lbs, a fellow in the row in front of him turned around and smiled. “How do you like that?” he said. Forder, who runs about 70 cows, quickly did the math — $919 per head. The sale, which saw roughly 200 yearlings and 700 calves sold followed by butcher cows for total of 1,226 head, was the second Forder had attended this fall. It confirmed that despite a range of negative factors, calf prices are holding up at decent levels for the second year in a row. “The market is strong right now,” said Forder. “BSE from 2003 to 2009 took the fun out of selling calves,” See CALF PRICES on page 6 »
Fall calves pass through the sales ring at Heartland Livestock Services Virden during the first fall pre-sort sale of 2012. photo: Daniel Winters
Growing projects nearing completion In 2012 over 4,800 acres were donated to Growing Projects for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank By Lorraine Stevenson co-operator staff
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
T
he final tally isn’t in yet, but 2012 may yet prove to be a record year for revenues generated by growing projects in support of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Good prices and good crops mean higher than ever grain incomes are anticipated, said Harold Penner, CFGB Manitoba resource co-ordinator.
More soybeans and corn, and for the first time, 150 acres of edible beans, a very high value crop, were also sown this year. “It’s been an excellent year, the best ever for our CFGB Manitoba farm,” he said. All totalled, over 4,800 acres were seeded, with the majority put in spring wheat (1,638), plus 1,095 acres in canola, the 150 acres in beans, 405 acres winter wheat, 348 acres of oats, 602 acres of soybeans, 70 acres
of barley, 305 acres of corn, and 45 acres of hay. There were also additional acreage donations right at harvest. It won’t be until late in the year or even January when they’ll have the full picture for 2012, but without a doubt it’s indeed been a very good year, added Jim Cornelius, executive director for the CFGB. Growing projects play a key role bringing in donations to support for CFGB, he said,
adding that probably around 60 per cent of the $11 million donations made last year were tied to growing projects. There are over 200 projects across Canada. “A lot of cash donations come in because people are aware of these projects. These projects give us the profile.” They also provide that critically important steady flow of See GROWING on page 6 »
XL ON ICE: E.COLI CLEAN UP CONTINUES » PAGE 15