Barn fires hit Saskatchewan and Ontario over the weekend

Jun 20, 2016

Saskatchewan blaze results in loss of 5,000 pigs

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Two barn fires occurred over the weekend with one taking place in Ontario, and the other in Saskatchewan.

About 40 firefighters from West Lincoln, Pelham and Haldimand County helped Wainfleet, Ontario firemen respond to a barn fire around noon on June 18.

A horse barn and tractor were destroyed in the blaze, but none of the show Clydesdale were injured.

Until heavy machinery arrives to dig through debris, the cause of the fire won’t be determined.

The property’s owner, Dave Mann, declined to comment, according to the Welland Tribune.

The second weekend barn fire occurred on a farm in Leroy, Saskatchewan on June 18 and resulted in the loss of about 5,000 pigs.

According to the Regina Leader-Post, the blaze started around 4pm Saturday at Sinnet Pork Farm Ltd. It took about 30 firefighters nearly three and a half hours to put it out.

Video from Discover Humboldt

A press release from Humboldt RCMP said the fire resulted in a total loss and wasn’t considered to be suspicious.

Nobody was injured in the fire and a cause hasn’t yet been determined.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.