Some rule changes announced Monday will allow farmers and hunters to gun down more ravens and wolves.

Saskatchewan's Wildlife Regulations have been altered, partially because of increasing raven numbers. The population has apparently flourished in recent years and it's taking a toll on farms. Producers say the birds have been killing or hurting newborn livestock and tearing holes in grain bags.

The Office of the Fire Commissioner can’t pinpoint the cause of a barn fire that claimed the lives of 3,500 pigs on Monday.

Following its investigation which wrapped up today, the fire commissioner said they couldn’t determine a cause because of the amount of damage from the blaze.

Saskatchewan's Agriculture Minister wants to see more grain moving and higher fines against rail companies if it doesn't.

On Friday Lyle Stewart made a submission to a federal government committee that is looking at how to improve Bill C-30, the proposed legislation meant to address the massive grain shipping backlog. Stewart doesn't feel the federal bill goes quite far enough to address the supply chain issues that are costing farmers millions of dollars.

Monday's pig nursery fire is a hit to OlySky but has little effect on the hog industry, according to the Saskatchewan Pork Council.

“It’s very unfortunate for the individuals involved-- the company, the people that work there and the critters themselves—but 3,500 is relatively insignificant compared to the number of hogs we produce in the province. We would produce about two million,” Neil Ketilson, general manager with the Sask Pork Council said.

Thousands of pigs are dead after a fire at Big Sky Farms northwest of Lanigan.

Humboldt RCMP and the fire department got the call about the fire near Burr around 6 p.m. Monday.

Photo courtesy RCMP.

Smoke was coming out of the eves of the building when they got to the scene but the fire became fully involved very quickly.

Canada's biggest railway is deflecting blame for the on-going grain transportation crisis to a new target : grain companies and elevators and the federal government's ending of the Wheat Board's marketing monopoly.

In a statement issued Monday, CN Rail argues that the entire supply chain is responsible for the massive backlog of grain. He said railroads are being unfairly targeted.

"There has to be greater supply chain collaboration, not finger pointing," insisted Mark Hallman, CN Rail's director of communications.

Just a day after the federal government tabled legislation to change the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act, truckers hauling crops to a terminal near Balgonie said they still aren’t seeing enough train cars opened up to get grain moving.

The Saskatchewan Government says Ottawa isn't going far enough to get the grain moving on the rails. Rail companies argue the new legislation forcing them to meeting standards or face fines is "heavy-handed". But caught in the middle are the prairie grain farmers, many of whom say they still aren’t seeing results fast enough.

Some Saskatchewan agriculture producers have given the thumbs up to the federal government’s action on the grain backlog.

Producers met with federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz and his provincial counterpart Lyle Stewart in Saskatoon on Thursday to discuss the government’s Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act, which was tabled in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

“We’re very interested in the legislation that is proposed and the improvements that we hope it will mean in grain transportation,” Lee Moats, vice chair of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, said.

It is a sigh of a relief for at least some Saskatchewan grain farmers who are finally able to deliver their grain to the terminal.

Bill Aulie farms at Rouleau, southeast of Regina. This week he hauled 17,000 bushels of durum wheat to the Richardson Grain terminal at Corinne, 26 kilometers away.

"They got their first durum train on Sunday/Monday, then they refilled Wednesday/Thursday. Now I think they are getting another train this week and another one next week," he said.

It's coming in the nick of time.

Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart expressed disappointment with federal legislation aimed at resolving a shipping crisis paralyzing deliveries of Western Canadian grain.

While he called legislation tabled in Ottawa Wednesday "a step in the right direction," he said it didn't include several items that he was looking for.

The province submitted a list of requests to the Harper government as the bill was being drafted.

Those included raising the number of grain cars that the railways would be required to ship to 13,000 a week.