Provincial Award goes to High River farmer

A High River hog producer wins a provincial environmental honor.

Dennis Mckerracher picked up an Emerald Award for research and innovation in Edmonton Wednesday night.

Mckerracher says he was surprised to get the award which was for a hog watering study.

"It doesn't have to cost you a million or a million and a half dollars to make a difference and to make a difference to the environment or your bottom line in retrofitting a hog barn", he says, "what we did is very simply just change from a standard bite nipple to a ball bite nipple".

Mckerracher says the ball bite drinkers save as much as one third of an operation's annual water expenses by limiting the amount the pigs spill.