OSOYOOS, B.C. – After a successful run of three years, British Columbia ranchers want a provincial predator control program extended. The control and compensation program ended March 31. The province has agreed to continue it for another year but the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association wants the program to run another three years with adequate funding and […] Read more
Barbara Duckworth
Stories by Barbara Duckworth
Pilot project keeps wildlife at bay
OSOYOOS, B.C. – Faye Street leapt out of bed one night in the early morning hours, grabbed a shotgun and still in her nightgown, jumped on her all-terrain vehicle. Her mission: chase 150 elk out of her hay fields before they chewed the crop to the ground. Her scare tactic didn’t work well because the […] Read more
Biodiesel plan uses animal fat
RED DEER – A Lethbridge scientist wants to start producing biodiesel in oil rich Alberta. Kelsey Prenevost, president of Kyoto Fuels in Lethbridge, wants to convert animal fat or canola oil into biodiesel to take advantage of the growing green fuel market in North America. “You can make biodiesel out of a variety of things,” […] Read more
B.C. ranchers resist cattle ID guidelines
OSOYOOS, B.C. – The world may be praising the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency program but British Columbia producers are less than impressed. “It’s quite obvious we really don’t believe many of the things CCIA tells us,” said Margaret Hall of Vanderhoof, B.C. Difficulty using the agency’s website to submit information, confusion over information requirements and […] Read more
Isolated B.C. region needs slaughter plant
OSOYOOS, B.C. – Over the years Steve and Faye Street built up a small business killing cattle on their ranch and selling the beef to local consumers. New meat inspection rules for British Columbia effective in 2006 will prohibit on-farm slaughter, but for people living in the Kootenays, this creates a major dilemma. There are […] Read more
Canada should benefit from new BSE categories
A shift in BSE policy at the world animal health organization is said to be positive news for Canada. A new classification of BSE risk categories and an expanded list of animal products with no risk to consumers were approved at the annual meeting of the World Organization for Animal Health, or OIE, in Paris […] Read more
Cow decides two head better than one
STRATHMORE, Alta. Ñ Randy Kralik thought he was finished calving three months ago and then he found a newborn wandering the barn yard in the first week of May. The strange thing was that the calf was following a cow that already had a three-month-old youngster born in February. He speculated the calf belonged to […] Read more
Cull strategy necessary for producers
Everyone knows they are out there, but no one is sure what to do with those aging cows and bulls that are mowing down grass in Canadian pastures. “The prevailing sentiment is that cows aren’t worth much, they aren’t going to be worth much, so get used to it and start making production decisions based […] Read more
R-CALF wants border closed permanently
An American cattle producers’ group is playing hardball by asking the court to halt all imports of Canadian cattle and beef. The Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, or R-CALF, wants the court to reinstate the United States Department of Agriculture rule from May 29, 2003, that would prohibit all imports of Canadian beef, cattle and other […] Read more
Tiny pine beetle turning B.C. forests into wasteland
RED DEER Ñ A beetle the size of a grain of rice is devastating British Columbia’s pine forests. The mountain pine beetle is found mostly in the province’s interior forests. It is expected to kill up to 80 percent of lodgepole pines by 2013, leaving acres of standing dead trees the colour of red brick. […] Read more
