Aaron Bujold & his girlfriend Janelle, along with Linda and Evan Debney attended the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto to receive their Ag Excellence Awards. More great news for both the Rainy River and Kenora Districts. (Though Linda was born and raised here so I still consider her from Rainy River.) I feel like we have had a lot of great news story over this past year. You can read the press release here: https://news.ontario.ca/en/backgrounder/1005265/2024-excellence-in-agriculture-award-recipients
We seen another very successful sale at the Stratton Sales Barn this weekend. We sold 1242 head for $2,753,216.27. Cattle prices stayed strong, and I would think that most producers will be happen with that. We sold 5570 head for $12,641,648.73 and that is exciting! That is $12 million dollars that was made and mostly spent right here in Rainy River District! Agriculture is often overlooked, but this is a big industry for us and important to our communities. Thank you to everyone that made it all possible for us to run these successful sales. Every producer, no matter the size of your herd or breed of cattle – we appreciate working with your cattle. It is exciting to see some new producers selling cattle for the first time and sad to see some that are selling for the last time. Working at a community barn like ours we try our best to do right for everyone and hopefully provide not only a great market opportunity but an environment that is encouraging for all. Our longtime Sales Barn Manager James Gibson has told us that he is retiring. He will be missed, and we hope that he will share his knowledge with whoever decides to step up into this role. Thank you, James, you have done a lot of good things for our barn and your good nature and enjoyment of people will certainly be missed.
I took the last of my butcher beef and lambs to the abattoir last week. So that cuts down on a few chores. I was able to vaccinate and deworm my calves on Sunday and deliver some steers to my friend that purchased them. I was planning to vaccinate and deworm my bulls, but they did not have that same plan in mind. The mud was very deep at the corral entrances, and I couldn’t get them in. I moved my rabbits and ducks inside the barn. The ducks will likely be unhappy for a bit because this means no more pool for swimming. My one female duck is giving me an egg a day and I am assuming the other will likely start soon as well. My yard is very wet, and it is not fun working in it right now. Things do not dry up nicely these days so I would much rather it freeze up before we get a bunch of the white stuff. Next on the list for this week is vaccinating and deworming our sheep, goats and alpaca before the ram goes out. The time change isn’t really user friendly for jobs before and after work.
I hope everyone had a fun Halloween. We had 15 kids and enjoyed seeing all the costumes and kids. Even though I didn’t know what most of them were dressed up as!
The Lions Club is hosting their Annual Hunters Supper this weekend in Stratton! It sounds like it is a great night so you should source a ticket right away if you want to be part of the great night!
