Biosecurity and ‘trusted truckers’
Fewer farm bankruptcies Bigger farms fail differently » PG 21
Changes to washing rules » PG 3
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 75, No. 48 | $1.75
November 30, 2017
manitobacooperator.ca
Sheep association supports concept of ‘enhancement board’
The changing face of the farm-her Female farmers, agriculture industry workers and others gathered for Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference BY ALEXIS STOCKORD Co-operator staff
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h e Ma n i t o b a Fa r m Wo m e n’s C o n f e re n c e wants female farmers to start thinking about the next century-and-a-half. The 31st incarnation of the event landed in Brandon Nov. 19-21, taking on the theme, “Advancing Farm Women for the Next 150 years.” Conference chair Donna Lee Brown said the theme is a play on Canada 150, marking changes in agriculture and women’s role on the farm since Confederation, as well as speculating on the future. “It’s not that there’s going to be less hard work; it’s just going to be different hard work,” she said. In particular, she noted the rise of “unsung heroes” in the farming industry, those women who take multiple roles both on and off the farm in comparison to pioneer women and their focus on the home. “We have a lot of young women who are working off the farm See FARM-HER on page 7 »
New initiative to place emphasis on educating producers about market needs, says director
Manitoba sheep producers hope to make some major inroads in developing value-added for their industry with a proposed new initiative. file photo
BY LORRAINE STEVENSON Co-operator staff / Portage la Prairie
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
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he Manitoba Sheep Association (MSA) has taken its first step toward creating an initiative to add more value to Manitoba-raised lambs and help member producers do a better job selling them. Members at its annual meeting Nov. 18 widely supported a resolution calling for the establishment of what is to be called the Manitoba Sheep Enhancement Board. The concept has been under discussion among directors since last spring, said Kate Basford, the northwest director and a Winnipegosis sheep producer. The resolution voted on states that ‘the
Manitoba Sheep Association should establish a Manitoba Sheep Enhancement Board to provide producers with another voluntary marketing option and provide marketing education and tools for producers.’ They are calling this an enhancement board rather than marketing board because of the emphasis to be placed on educating producers to improve production practices to meet market needs, Basford said. “It’s another opportunity and another venue to market, but more so we’re really pushing the educational component,” she said. “There really needs to be an educational component to teach producers what a good lamb is and what a finished lamb is. This is about learning to produce better lambs and understand markets and start
thinking about how do you make more money.” Demand for lamb is strong and their sector has tremendous potential to expand, but a clear need is for better understanding of the markets that want their commodity, she said. “That’s very much a problem with Manitoba sheep producers right now,” she said. “We raise lambs... and then it’s, ‘let’s see who wants them,’ and we just sell them off. There has to be a mindset change.” Education around market needs, feeding regimes and other requirements of finished animals for specific markets could go a long ways toward increasing potential sales, she said. The Greater Toronto Market, See SHEEP on page 6 »
WARM WINTER NIGHTS: Nighttime lows are rising » PAGE 16