Open Farm Day Hits Portage

Sep 16, 2019

Farmers Across Manitoba opened up their farms to the public yesterday for the 10th annual Open Farm Day.

Four local groups opened their doors in Portage while a total of 55 other farms were available to explore across Manitoba.

Tara Lee Simpson is a co-owner of Farm away Ranch in Portage and one of the Open farms. She says Open Farm Day is important.

"There seems to be more questions about where people's food is coming from, and maybe a little bit of it is misinformation out there," says Simpson. "It's nice for people to come and see it in person, and ask questions in person."

The three other stops in Portage included Verwey farms offering tours of their dairy, grain and beef farm. Shur-Gro Farm Services offered tours of their business to educate participants about crop production. Farm Away Retreat taught participants about agricultural tourism. The Food Development Centre will be offered tours of their facilities and lab areas.

Evan Pepper was one of the many parents who brought their kids out to Open Farm Day. He explains why he brought his family.

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Video: New colours and more durability for Case IH RB6 round balers

Farmers will see a new look and more efficiency and durability from Case IH's RB6 Series variable chamber round balers for model year 2026. In this report from the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois, Case livestock product specialist Brian Williams notes that the first thing farmers will notice is a new colour scheme. "For the tailgate, the frame, and also the pickup, we've changed to our Case IH red colour. One of the really nice things about changing that colour scheme is that you're able to see that crop flowing into the baler much better from the tractor." There's also changes to the pickup with the addition of a second roller. "On the 566 model, you can get it with the double windrower roller," says Williams. "For our customers that are baling corn stalks or large windrows, it helps to push that windrow down to let that feed into the chamber, so that they're able to bale a little bit faster, because everyone's looking for better efficiency." There are also modifications to the rollers in the bale chamber — the stripper roll and the fixed roll have been combined into a one-piece roller. "There's no welds on those rollers, so the dependability is going to be far greater than our previous model," adds Williams.