The thing about being a professional auctioneer is it really is a … calling.

Bid calling in the cattle market takes natural talent, knowledge of the market, a knack for managing the crowd, having a great chant and more. And there is one other critical component: acting as an ambassador for an industry that represents thousands of producers.

Virden’s Brennin Jack, 36, is the branch manager at Heartland Livestock Services Virden, and as the Runner-Up Champion at a recent competition in North Dakota, he’s slated to compete at the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship (WLAC) this June, making it his 11th shot in a row aiming for the title of World Livestock Auctioneer Champion. The WLAC takes place in St. Onge, South Dakota, on June 17.

He was within spitting distance of the championship in 2025, when he was Reserve World Champion — the No. 2 spot in the world. Auctioneering is a challenge he enjoys.

A year-long effort to capture and rehome domestic rabbits abandoned in Selkirk has wrapped up, with dozens of animals now adopted or living in foster care and no new reports of loose rabbits in the city.

Popcorns and Binkies Rescue Haven, a Manitoba-based rabbit rescue, worked with the City of Selkirk after learning in 2024 that domesticated rabbits had been intentionally released into the community. Volunteers began trapping the animals last fall, using a city-provided facility and foster homes in Selkirk and Winnipeg to house them.

A spokesperson for the rescue said 61 rabbits were ultimately taken into care, including some born after capture. Fifteen died, mostly young animals weakened by illness and malnutrition, while 46 survived. Of those, 19 have already been adopted and the rest remain in foster care.

“All of the deaths can be traced back to the poor care and diet they had living on the streets,” the spokesperson said. “It was a difficult year emotionally for our volunteers and financially for the organization, but we’re relieved that so many were saved.”

A man takes a coffee break while enjoying the warm sunshine at the snow-covered Kristopher Campbell Memorial Skate Plaza recently. (Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun)

Canada’s men’s Olympic hockey team begins its quest for gold Feb. 12 vs. Czechia and, of course, this calls for a bold prediction: Canada will not win gold.

Now, before you go talking to government officials to get me kicked out of the country or to have my citizenship revoked, an explanation is required: In my career as a prognosticator of sporting events, my record is horrendous. I believe it’s 3-672 over the years, which means I’m wrong 99.555 per cent of the time. If I were to be so bold as to pick Canada to win, and they lost, the blame would fall squarely on my shoulders and, deep down, I want nothing more than for Canada’s best to stick it to the rest of world, especially those loud-mouth Americans who were vanquished in last winter’s 4 Nations Face Off.

If things go as Vegas oddsmakers would have you believe, it will be Canada vs. the U.S. in the gold medal game at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on Sunday, Feb. 22.

The U.S. team is favoured in many quarters primarily because its three goalies — Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman — are considered vastly superior to Canada’s troika of Jordan Binnington, Logan Thompson and Darcy Kuemper. But Binnington, whose stats this season with the woeful St. Louis Blues are enough to scare any Canadian hockey fan, pushed his ‘sensational’ button and combined it with his ‘spectacular’ switch last year and stopped the U.S. cold in the 4 Nations clinching game. Connor McDavid, the best player in the world, did the rest, potting the overtime goal on a pretty setup by Mitch Marner.

The federal government has confirmed the closure of seven Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) facilities across the country, including a satellite research farm in Portage la Prairie.

The announcement follows news that 665 AAFC jobs are being cut as the department looks to identify savings over the next three years. Alongside the Portage la Prairie site, satellite farms in Nappan, N.S., Scott, Sask., and Indian Head, Sask., will be shuttered. Major research and development centres in Guelph, Ont., Quebec City, Que., and Lacombe, Alta., are also slated for closure.

In a statement, AAFC said the wind-down of scientific operations could take up to 12 months, and it remains too early to determine final workforce impacts.

Colin Hornby, general manager of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP), said the industry is still assessing how the loss of local specialized research will affect growers. The Portage la Prairie site has historically focused on the horticulture sector, including fruits, vegetables and potatoes.

Manitoba could be heading into a warmer and more volatile growing season, with drought risk lingering in parts of the province despite healthy soil moisture in others, according to a weather outlook presented recently at Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon.

The presentation marked a significant moment for Justin Oertel and The Weather Centre of Manitoba, which delivered its first major seasonal forecast to producers at the western Manitoba farm show.

“I was shocked when I received an email from Ag Days asking me to speak,” Oertel said. “After that initial shock passed, I was extremely honoured to have a chance to speak at one of the province’s major farm shows.”

Oertel told farmers that soil moisture levels vary sharply across the province, largely depending on where heavy storms fell last summer.