Kim Jo Bliss - Moo's From The Herd

Last week I was lucky enough to get an up close and personal tour of New Gold.

I have to be honest with you-I had mixed feelings when I saw it all. I barely could grasp the landscape change. Places that once had friends living or cattle grazing no longer exist.

The equipment and workers were endless, which is very positive for our district. People being able to work closer to home certainly is a winning situation.

Contractors also are extremely busy, which also is all good for the economy.

The Rainy River Federation of Agriculture once again hosted a successful “Ag Day” on Saturday at the Emo Legion!

It's a tough time of the year to get everyone out, with winter hitting us quickly and many jobs still left to do. But there was a great agenda and for those who took the time to come out, I'm sure you would not have been disappointed.

Ang Halverson went away with the grand prize of a day's fly-in fishing trip or a flyover of the district! Lucky day for her.

For all of you worried about the corn here at the Emo Agricultural Research Station, there still are plans to get it harvested!

We don't have the equipment to work on the corn so we are waiting on one of our farmers to come in.

It isn't uncommon to see people combing corn sometimes all winter long, depending on the area. The challenge is there is no frost and with the snow insulating the wet fields, conditions are not the greatest.

Time sure does fly by—it's already the middle of October!

I'm certainly pleased the weather had changed and we are able to get back on the land. Everyone is in a better mood when the sun shines!

You will see all the farmers hauling manure, combining soybeans, and even baling hay (there's a lot to do before the next season sets in).

This also is the time of year we vaccinate and de-worm cattle so people will be happy if the yards dry up and you don't require hip-waders in your corral and handling facilities.

We hauled all our cows home on Saturday, and preg-checked and weighed all our calves. I knew I had two open cows but we ended up with five.

I was a bit disappointed in that but not much you can do about it, either.

The hardest part for me is letting go and selling the cows. I really like my cows and find it difficult to sell them. It would be silly to keep them, though, unless I was breeding for a different time of the year, I guess.

I have been plugging away for a while now to promote and encourage people to see the potential Rainy River District has in agriculture.

We have some really great producers here yet we often are overlooked.

I am very pleased the Canadian Cattlemen's Association is coming to visit us on Oct. 25 for a town hall meeting from 5-9 p.m., with supper included.

I have booked the Millennium Hall in Stratton so I will be looking forward to filling the hall with all our great producers of Rainy River District.

What a weekend! “Layin' Pipe in the Fight” held Saturday was incredibly successful!

Brielmann Ag, Tait Brothers Contracting, and Prinsco Canada, along with many other donations, saw $19,350 raised for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation!

The conditions were perfect for installing the special pink-coloured tile, as well as having a crowd of people gather in a field for lunch, a penny table, and just good ol' socialization.

I know I mentioned it may take me a few columns to get everyone caught up on the Emo Fair news and I guess because of the cattle sale last weekend, I may have overlooked it.

That and the fact that, of course, there are people who have some misunderstandings. In our 4-H beef heifer show there was some confusion on cattle entries.

In 4-H, cattle entries are in by June 1 so we have been aware of entries since then. There also was a new way of entering with 4-H Ontario that was going to solve all our problems (this is a sarcastic statement, as well).

I'm sure hoping that summer returns soon.

Like we always say: “Once the Emo Fair is over, fall returns!” And that certainly held true this year.

It was a chilly week and I even had to break down and wear some long pants. Fortunately, it sounds like this week will be better and I certainly hope so. We need some sunshine to get back on our combine.

We also had a breakdown that was too complicated for us to fix! We were hoping it was ready by Monday so we could tackle the oat trials.

The Monday after the Emo Fair just might be one of the craziest days of all. I hadn't decided if I was coming or going.

The worst part is we are tying up the fair but it also is the beginning of cattle sale week.

2017 should go down as a wonderful fair! We had rain mid-week, but things cleared off and we had incredible weather for the weekend. It certainly was warm but we have been warmer—and we have been colder and wetter, too!

Our cattle show was excellent. With the higher number of animals, we ended up setting up all three barns this year.