PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – Ray and Mae Van Steinburg of Cranbrook received this year’s British Columbia environmental stewardship award. The family has been ranching between Kimberley and Cranbrook since 1952. They raise 250 purebred Herefords on 1,800 acres of hayfield, grasslands and open forest grazing areas. Most of their business comes from the sale of […] Read more
Barbara Duckworth
Stories by Barbara Duckworth
B.C. to standardize meat inspection rules
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – British Columbia is moving toward uniform provincial meat inspection after years of living with piecemeal standards. “It is pretty hard to talk about harmonizing across the country or North America when we haven’t even harmonized across the province,” said British Columbia agriculture minister John van Dongen in an interview May 14. […] Read more
U.S. cattle still tied up
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – The contention over free movement of live cattle between Canada and the United States continues to simmer. “If this were not a BSE year, as of April 15 what was in place for the winter season would have carried on through,” said Brian Evans, chief veterinary officer for the Canadian Food […] Read more
Open border may face opposition
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C.- When the American border opens to live cattle, a court challenge to stop trade is expected to follow soon after, says the president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. The Montana-based group R-CALF is the most likely challenger when the United States Department of Agriculture lays out rules for resumption of live trade. […] Read more
Black day in May – Special BSE Report
After 2002’s cruel calving season, devastating drought and record losses in the feeding sector, farmers and ranchers dreamed 2003 would be a better year. The dream vanished when federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief announced at an Edmonton news conference on May 20 that a cow from a remote northern Alberta farm had been diagnosed with […] Read more
Cattle prices take beating – Special BSE Report
Larry Helland would prefer to wipe last Aug. 27 from his memory banks. The southern Alberta rancher and feedlot owner sold finished steers for 37 cents a pound that day. It coincided with the end of a BSE recovery plan that stipulated animals had to be killed to qualify for government help, yet there was […] Read more
Cases likely to remain low – Special BSE Report
As beef producers worry another positive case of BSE could stall their recovery process,no one knows how trading partners might react. “It’s politics and emotion that have ruled BSE from Day 1,” said Neil Jahnke, past-president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. When a single case last May halted all international trade in ruminant products, Canadian […] Read more
BSE definition slow to change – Special BSE Report
For most beef trading nations, there are only two categories for BSE: A country either has the fatal brain wasting disease or it does not. The World Organization for Animal Health, known as the OIE, provides guidelines for dealing with BSE but for many trading nations, the risk of reporting a positive case is not […] Read more
Vet wants ruminant parts banned from feed process
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – Canada should ban all ruminant meat and bone meal from animal feed, says the chief veterinarian for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. “We may have to take some short-term pain on feed restrictions and go beyond the science to make sure we can totally eliminate the infection from the population,” said […] Read more
Tech stock turned livestock
SUNDRE, Alta. – For more than 110 years, Red Deer River Ranches has remained true to its heritage of a working cowboy outfit. Established before surveyors mapped what is now west-central Alberta, it has had a number of owners and management styles over the years and today is a modern operation serving up beef and […] Read more
