OLDS, Alta. – An average price of $578 made for the strongest sale ever for the Western Suffolk Sire Reference program. Held June 28 in Olds, overall improved ram prices were a boost for a beleaguered industry still recovering from last year’s drought in Alberta and the recent loss of export markets caused by Canada’s […] Read more
Barbara Duckworth
Stories by Barbara Duckworth
Sheep industry innocent victim in BSE ban
Sheep producers say the ban on exports feels like being hit by a train, except they weren’t standing on the track. A single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in an Alberta cow triggered an international export ban on all Canadian ruminants and ruminant products. The ban included sheep and their byproducts. “There’s not much logical […] Read more
Alberta organic farmer recognized with award
LETHBRIDGE – Steven Snider, an organic grain grower from New Norway, was named Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmer at the regional finals here. In partnership with his parents, Robert and Rosemary, Snider owns Little Red Hen Mills where they grow a variety of new and heritage grains as well as specialty crops for the organic milling […] Read more
Horses used to help troubled people
HIGH RIVER, Alta. – A partnership between two southern Alberta women provides a unique form of psychotherapy using horses to help troubled children and stressed adults. The Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association was formed in the United States in 1999. The techniques have been under development for more than a decade with children in […] Read more
Cattle ID program to expand
An expanded cattle identification and animal trace-back scheme is coming for Canadian beef producers. People resisted the national cattle identification program when it was first proposed, but the detection of one cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy has changed the way ownership and movement of animals will be recorded in the future. “I haven’t found anybody […] Read more
Composting makes most out of manure
LETHBRIDGE – Larry Nolan and his family started feeding cattle in the early 1970s to use extra feed grain on their Picture Butte area farm. As their feedlot prospered and grew to a one-time capacity of 12,000 head, a growing mountain of manure also presented itself. Nolan decided the manure was not a problem but […] Read more
Food banks will take surplus beef
Food banks hope to receive surplus beef that is now waiting in cold storage. The federal and Alberta governments have set aside $50 million to buy surplus product that is clogging freezers across the country. A committee has been formed to deal with meat distribution. “The government hasn’t decided how much they will dispose of,” […] Read more
Cattle prices nosedive in wake of BSE
Prices for all classes of cattle have been sliced in half since international borders fell like a guillotine as a result of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Steers dropped $20 per hundredweight in one week to the mid $40 range by June 27, reports Canfax. Last June, finished animals sold for a little more than $90 per […] Read more
U.S. delays COOL plans
Implementation of the American country-of-origin labelling law has been delayed until Oct. 1, 2005, but Canadian beef producers are more concerned about lifting the trade ban imposed because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. “We’re definitely pleased about it but country-of-origin is secondary to opening the border,” said Neil Jahnke, president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. Canadian […] Read more
BSE fallout expected to change packer procedures
CLYDE, Alta. – Meat packers will probably change the way they handle meat byproducts because of the discovery of a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Alberta. New government policies for handling specified risk materials from older cattle are likely, said a Canadian Food Inspection Agency spokesperson. “A decision to exclude some of the specified […] Read more
