Yet another (excellent) parody - I'm farming & I grow it!

Three brothers from a Kansas beef farm are "Farming and I Grow It". Footage shot by their 12 year old sister has quickly gone viral.

Crisis averted . . . Google & China to the rescue

For those of you who deal with computers every day, you know how important it is to back up your files. But what happens when the back up fails?
A 1TB external hard drive I use every day started to make a "clicking" noise and it immediately went to my computer guy to retrieve the files. Unfortunately, he had no luck getting the drive to run properly either. It looked like the only solution was to send the drive to one of those recovery places that charge a fortune ($800-$1,600) to extract the data.
However, a Google search gave the faint hope that perhaps it could be the power supply that was at fault, not the hard drive. It was easy to find a replacement power cord & converter, but not so easy to trust ordering it from China. The comparatively small $48 cost (duty included) was a powerful motivator, so I took the plunge.
Within a week, the power cord arrived by mail and I crossed my fingers and plugged everything back in. And voila, my external drive thankfully works again (I am madly copying all the files as I write this).
So the next time you have a computer failure, if your computer still can connect to the internet be sure to Google the problem. A solution may be out there just waiting to be found.
While I prefer to buy Canadian, there are just some instances where it is not possible.
(Have also ordered prescription glasses from China with excellent customer service - good quality & terrific price - who knew!)

CCA Annual Meeting Highlights

From the AGM in Lethbridge:
- New President: Gary Latimer; President Elect: Kevin Blair
- $36,600 raised from the live auction plus more from silent auction items for the "Building the Legacy" fundraiser. Thanks to Justamere Ranches for purchasing the website ad donated by EverythingAngus.com!
- Angus Ambassador: Stacey Domolewski
- First Dick Turner Scholarship Award: Chad Lorenz (congrats!)
Watch for news and photos on the CAA website.

From Sussex and I know it . . .

As reported on AgWired.com in Those Funny Canadians!: ''I'm Sexy and I Know It'' has to be one of the most parodied songs ever, but here's a new one with a dairy farm theme from a couple guys in Sussex, New Brunswick – “From Sussex and I know it.” Already almost 400,000 views since May 31! Be patient, the first 30 seconds has sound but no video.

"In My Barn" Online Game Launched

A new online game developed for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students is now available on MyAmericanFarm.org. Read about it on Agwired.com HERE.

Race a souped-up tractor with the "AgRacer" app

A new mobile gaming app by Fastline for iPhone/touch/iPad and Android devices aims to engage children of all ages to race a tractor against others around the world, collect "FastBucks" and win prizes, all while promoting agriculture. AgRacer is available at: http://www.agracer.com. Info on the application can be found on AgWired.com here.

Mosquitos driving you nuts? Try this food-based area spray.

It's a banner year for mosquitoes in Canada, forcing many people to take refuge indoors. But there is now a safe, natural and food-based area spray produced in PEI available across the country at Canadian Tire. The website Insectrol.com claims that if you spray their all-natural product Comfort Zone around the perimeter of a yard, a mosquito-free zone will be created on up to 1/3 of an acre for 5 days. Anybody out there tried it? (And have they come up with a spray to make poplar fuzz disappear yet?)

Easily calculate days & due dates for preg checking

If you are one of those breeders who likes to have all possible scenarios figured out in advance before preg checking, why not try the EA Preg Check Calculators HERE. You can easily figure out due dates as well as the number of days a cow is pregnant in advance.
Now, if we can just figure out how to make this into an iphone app, maybe we'll get rich at 99 cents a pop!

Moving websites has issues

Our apologies for a few glitches over the past couple of days with some of our websites. An ownership change for one of our hosting companies meant a new platform and a transition for many of our pages. Some dependant on data base interaction got lost for a time, but have since been found. Couple that with new software updates and something was bound to happen. All should be back to normal now (we hope!)   but if you notice anything out of whack, please do let us know.

Green Party would propose a ban live animal exports from Canada

Just wanted to point out the Green Party's answer to and animal welfare survey sent to each party by the World Society for the Protection of Animals.

What amendments to the regulations would your party propose?
Specifically, we would implement legislation that incorporates the following measures:
- Transport by road of animals destined for slaughter or further fattening to be limited to 8 hours or 500 km.
- The use of electric prods; clubs and other inappropriate weapons should be banned.
- A ban on live animal exports from Canada.

Taken from http://www.wspa.ca/voteforanimals/green.html
To date, all parties with the exception of the Conservatives have responded to the survey.