INNISFAIL, Alta. Ñ Beef production is expected to start within weeks at a newly expanded facility owned by the Rancher’s Beef consortium. A 14,500 sq. foot expansion to Sunterra Meats in Innisfail is nearly ready to start accepting cattle older than 30 months. The plant will kill up to 300 mature animals a day and […] Read more
Barbara Duckworth
Stories by Barbara Duckworth
Alta. beef ranch joins quality program
RED DEER Ñ David and Neil Copithorne were at a food safety workshop on the day in May 2003 when they heard that BSE was closing the border to Canadian cattle. The threat of disease was a wake-up call for the owners of Designer Gene Cattle Co. near Cochrane, Alta. They decided it was time […] Read more
DNA test expands trait list
A genetic test to predict lean muscle growth in cattle has been expanded to also identify fertility and tenderness traits. Developed by Meriel in co-operation with the University of Saskatchewan, Igenity first offered a leptin test to see if the right genetic components were available for lean muscle gain across all breeds. “If a bull […] Read more
Cattle feeders want more say in their issues
RED DEER Ñ Cattle feeders across the country want a national organization to give their sector a stronger voice with government. While still at the conception stage, feeders from British Columbia to Ontario are courting. They want either a change in the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association constitution to give them fuller representation, or to start a […] Read more
Investment rules derail feedlot sale
A deal to sell an Alberta feedlot to an American investor has fallen through. Alberta’s foreign ownership law doesn’t permit foreign ownership of more than 20 acres unless an exemption has been granted by cabinet. A request for an exemption was withdrawn Jan. 21 said Ryan Cromb, spokesperson for the department of government affairs. The […] Read more
OIE sets guidelines; adjust to fit: NCBA
Guidelines from the world animal health organization help make decisions but do not govern how a country implements trade rules, says an American policy analyst. “We in the United States and Canada are the same way, we retain the sovereign right to decide who we trade with,” said Gary Webber of the National Cattlemen’s Beef […] Read more
Industry needs protection from rising loonie
RED DEER Ñ Beef and cattle exporters need a strategy to protect their profits once the U.S. border opens to Canadian cattle and in case the Canadian dollar becomes even stronger than it already is, says the vice-president of Global Foreign Exchange. “If you get a chance to do a little bit of hedging and […] Read more
EU eases IBR embryo restrictions
The European Union has agreed to accept beef embryos until the end of December 2006. With little warning last November, the EU decided to accept only embryos produced from IBR-negative bulls. Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis is a respiratory disease that causes abortions in cattle. Canadians vaccinate their cattle for this disease as a whole herd health […] Read more
Science has answers to build better barley
The care of the crop rather than the variety may have more to do with whether a barley sample is accepted as malting quality. “About 25-35 percent of the malt barley that is grown actually gets accepted by the maltsters so growers really want to do everything they possibly can to get the best yield, […] Read more
Calcium deficiency in Alberta?
When a client brought a withered canola plant to the agronomists at Agri-Trends Agrology, the calcium deficiency diagnosis was unexpected. Calcium deficiency is not generally considered a problem on the Prairies and is more often seen on weathered soil in the tropics, said Doug Penney of Agri-Trends, which worked with Alberta Agriculture to classify the […] Read more
