By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator

I remember the days of howling kids in the doctor’s office when mine and other little ones had to face their annual vaccinations. Although the needle jab was really no big deal, little kids never seem to see it that way. Well, they would be envious of pigs and chickens. That’s because livestock and poultry can now get some of their vaccinations needle-free.

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Posted by FFC on March 28th, 2011 :: Filed under Animal care,Animal health,Innovation and technology
Tags :: animal care, farm, pigs, Poultry

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by Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong dairy farmer and agricultural advocate

I always found, growing up, one of the hardest questions to answer was “what’s your favourite season?”  I loved them all!  As each change in the seasons came, I would look forward to the change with anticipation. 

Spring, to me, meant a time for new life.  Not only in the barn, either.  Dairy cows have calves year round, which is why we have a steady supply of milk in the grocery stores.  Other animals, like beef cows, sheep and meat goats, have most of their young during the late winter and spring months.  I have always loved driving down the road in the spring, and seeing the young animals out on pasture.  It is a sight that will make me smile every time, no matter how often I see it.

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Posted by FFC on March 25th, 2011 :: Filed under Crops,Dairy cattle,Farm life,Other livestock,spring,Weather
Tags :: dairy cattle, farm, Farmers

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By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator

The over-used term “factory farm” never seems to be defined. Many farmers and others who work in the agriculture business consider it an insulting term, much like a racial slur that shouldn’t be tolerated.  Here is what one farmer thinks.

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Posted by FFC on March 23rd, 2011 :: Filed under Animal care,Education and public awareness,Family vs factory farming,Letters to the Editor,Sustainability of the family farm
Tags :: agriculture, animals, farm, Farmers, Housing, Ontario

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by Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate

Being on a farm is a great experience and has many benefits.  Anyone living on, working on, or visiting a farm though should remember the dangers that can exist.

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Posted by FFC on March 21st, 2011 :: Filed under Farm life,Farm Safety
Tags :: animal care, animals, Canada, Farm Safety, Farmers

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By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator

In recent years, the term ‘factory farm’ has been used with growing frequency in both conventional and online/social media to signify anything and everything that is seen as bad in livestock and poultry production. The term is almost exclusively used to criticize animal farming. You rarely hear it used to describe greenhouse tomatoes for example.

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Posted by FFC on March 17th, 2011 :: Filed under Canada,Consumers,Education and public awareness,Family vs factory farming
Tags :: agriculture, Consumers, Farmers, Media

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 by Patricia Grotenhuis, lifelong farmer and agricultural advocate

Although it seems there is not much to do in the winter on a farm, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work which people don’t think about.  Many people realize the animals still need to be cared for…that is a given.  But, as winter draws to a close, it is the start of calving season for many beef farmers, kidding season for goat farmers, and lambing season for sheep farmers.  Winter days in the barn can bring some extra jobs, as well.  Water bowls can freeze, straw can become wet even faster than normal because of the snow and animals that graze at other times during the year need supplemental feed.

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Posted by FFC on March 15th, 2011 :: Filed under Family vs factory farming,Farm life,Weather,winter
Tags :: animal care, animals, Canada, Farmers

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By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator

My teenager spends countless hours on Facebook and YouTube. Apparently she isn’t alone. YouTube has announced that its users have uploaded more than 13 million hours of video content to its servers in the last 12 months, resulting in more than 700 billion YouTube video views. I am sure my daughter has been a big contributor to those stats. But apparently so have farmers and ranchers. 

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Posted by FFC on March 10th, 2011 :: Filed under Consumers,Education and public awareness,Farm life,Innovation and technology
Tags :: Consumers, education, farm tours

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Vet tech turned pig farmer in the 2011 Faces of Farming calendar

By Patricia Grotenhuis

Pigs have captured the interest of Katherine Zurczak, a registered Veterinary Technician and city girl turned farmer.

Zurczak had her first encounter with pigs while studying to be a veterinary technician at Ridgetown College.  She was quickly fascinated by her work with the animals, and after graduating in June of 2009, began working at Hog-Wild Farms Ltd. in Ontario.

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Posted by FFC on March 8th, 2011 :: Filed under Animal care,animal handling,Education and public awareness,Faces of Farming,Family vs factory farming,Farm life,Misconceptions,Pigs,Pork
Tags :: agriculture, animal care, Farmers, pigs, Pork

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For more than a decade now, there’s been a movement across Canada with a goal of empowering farmers to take a chance, Speak Up, and share their passion for farming with the public – most of whom have no direct connection with food or farming. And we’re happy to report that movement appears to be growing. We’re seeing farmers start blogs, tweet from their tractors, write letters to the editor on topics of importance to them and take a chance on doing more media interviews when we know that they’d much rather be working in their barns or in their fields. Michele Payn-Knoper of Indiana is a farmer and an agricultural advocate who works tireless to champion the farmers’ cause. We especially like this blog post, posted at www.causematters.com earlier this year and reprinted here with permission from her. Michele’s cited a number of the “excuses” she’s heard for farners not speaking up about agriculture – if you have any more, feel free to comment on the blog post below! –  OFAC

 The new year typically starts with motivational tips, hype about resolutions and pressure to make promises of how we’re going to do things differently. Not me. I’m bringing an entirely different perspective on advocacy – a highly sarcastic view on why we SHOULD NOT tell agriculture’s story. Several ag folks from across the U.S. and Canada added to the list on Twitter and Facebook – you’re welcome to post your own comment in the spirit of some fun.
Shhh, there’s no need to tell your story!

15.  Agriculture has little economic contribution – and the American economy is thriving.  After all, 80%+ of the economy isn’t reliant on the agrifood system – and surely your community doesn’t benefit from property taxes and jobs paid by farms.

14. “It’s embarrassing to have people thank you for producing their food. I don’t want people to think I am a corporate shill (every farmer who speaks out is one, right?) says sheep and daughter raiser Venessa in her own Spartan sarcasm.

13. “Who needs consumers anyway? I can still farm without people to buy my grain and animals that eat my grain. I like grain storage.  Those big shiny bins are SO pretty and cheap…” was a heavily sarcastic comment from Sarah Bedgar Wilson, a young farmer in North Dakota (the cold made her do it, I’m sure).

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Posted by FFC on March 4th, 2011 :: Filed under Consumers,Education and public awareness,Farm life,HSUS,Misconceptions,Speaking out,Uncategorized,Urban Myths
Tags :: activists, Farmers, HSUS, Media, misconceptions, sustainability

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By Leslie Ballentine, Farming and food commentator

Just as livestock munching predators, such as coyotes and bears, pose a serious threat to livestock, farmers are under attack by much smaller animals too:  Rats and mice. I recently read a report by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs which estimates that a colony of 100 rats will eat more than a tonne of feed in a year. That much feed costs farmers about $285, or enough to feed four pigs to market weight.  And the Ministry factsheet says one pair of rats and their offspring can produce 20 million (yes million) young in three years, mice reproduce even faster. 

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Posted by FFC on March 2nd, 2011 :: Filed under Animal health,Education and public awareness,Farm life,Food safety
Tags :: agriculture, animals, education, Farmers, food safety

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