Old Man Winter to Arrive This Weekend

Old man winter is going to rear his ugly head, starting late this week and by all indications, this coming weekend is going to be pretty nasty with daytime highs in the -20 range by Saturday and Sunday and even colder overnight lows.

 

Longtime climatologist David Phillips with Environment Canada says we all knew that at some point, winter was going to arrive. But he doesn't think it'll be a repeat of the brutal conditions we had last February.

 

"It is not brutally cold. It will cool off to something that will be seasonal for Wednesday, Thursday, where highs are about -11 or -12 that would be about normal. Later on, we see the portal vortex, that dreaded cold air from Siberia and high artic is going to make its way through the Eastern Arctic and into the prairies. We don't see it being something that has the staying power as last year. I recall that last February, the polar vortex was hanging out like an unwanted house guest. There is going to be some cold moments but I don't think that it is going to be as relentless as last year."

Video: Season 6, Episode 12: Veterinarians’ Perspectives on Managing Swine Herd Health Across All Phases

Identifying challenges in swine production and turning them into solutions through research and team development is the focus of this episode. Dr. Christine Mainquist-Whigham of Pillen Family Farms and DNA Genetics shares insights on herd health, biosecurity and trial work to improve pig performance. She also discusses her team’s research philosophy, how they evaluate rate of investment and how they gather feedback from employees to address challenges and maintain herd health across all phases of production. Dr. Carlos Roudergue of Country View Family Farms discusses the growing complexity of swine production, especially as technology increases and employee interaction decreases. He also shares how their workforce is shifting toward more specialized roles to support herd health and efficiency.