RED DEER – Food safety is a hard concept to adopt when producers are worried about the health of their animals. “My real goal is a producer of quality meat products for consumers,” said lamb feedlot owner Floyd Williams, who explained new food safety programs coming on line for the sheep sector. That attitude must […] Read more
Barbara Duckworth
Stories by Barbara Duckworth
B.C. sheep grazing program sees snags
RED DEER – Using sheep to graze clearcut forestry blocks in British Columbia is a program with huge potential yet fraught with problems. Dennis Loxton, a contractor from Prince George, B.C., has rented Alberta sheep for nine years. When he began, he thought the British Columbia Forestry Grazing Program would grow larger every year. But […] Read more
Irrigation growth must be prudent, says official
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. – Water supplies for irrigation would be in jeopardy if southern Alberta farmers experience a repeat of the drought of 1988. That’s why debates over irrigation expansion swirl around whether there is enough water to meet everyone’s needs. Alberta Irrigation Projects Association, which represents 13 irrigation districts, has shown expansion is a possibility […] Read more
Alberta grazing lease changes nix surface rights
Regulations governing Alberta’s grazing leases are circulating in the next step toward overhauling the province’s century-old policy on crown lands. Changes to access and compensation payments for damages have changed considerably. “Status quo is not an option,” said agriculture minister Ty Lund. Bill 31, dealing with agricultural dispositions on provincially owned land, was passed last […] Read more
Canada wins case on cattle dumping
An anti-dumping duty levied against Canadian cattle exports stops at the end of this month. In a 5-1 vote, the United States International Trade Commission ruled Nov. 9 that Canadian exports do not harm the American industry. “It’s a glorious victory,” said an elated Ben Thorlakson, president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. Canadian fed cattle […] Read more
Feedlot owners welcome victory
A permanent duty on Canadian cattle would have sent shock waves through the industry for years to come. “We would have been on the hook for five years,” said Cor Van Raay, owner of one of Canada’s largest privately owned feedlots in southern Alberta. “It was scary.” He feared the industry would be upended by […] Read more
Feed supply sends down price
INNISFAIL, Alta. – A bountiful harvest of corn in the United States bears the weight of good and bad news. Record carryouts of corn, barley and wheat are shoving feed grain prices over the edge, say industry analysts. For livestock feeders, the ample grain supplies are a boon since feed is a major expense for […] Read more
Cattle import program fosters cross-border cattle shipping
GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The Restricted Feeder Cattle Import Program is one free trade deal that couldn’t come soon enough for some American cattle producers. They say if the program had been instituted sooner it might have prevented the recent anti-dumping duty charged on all live Canadian cattle exported to the United States. “If there […] Read more
Fusarium spreads across prairies to Alberta
INNISFAIL, Alta. – It is just a matter of time before bad cases of fusarium head blight show up in Alberta. Grain samples have been studied in Alberta since 1995 and every year a few more fields show symptoms of the disease, which has decimated cereal crops in Manitoba and the Dakotas. “In Alberta we […] Read more
U.S. told to play fair
GREAT FALLS, Mont. – As a major player in the world grain trade, the United States must accept it cannot force other nations to acquiesce on all trade matters. “The U.S. is not the huge bully in the world who gets everything it wants,” said the president of the Montana Grain Growers. American agriculture’s survival […] Read more
