Mary MacArthur

Pieter Jacobus Cruson, founder of the agricultural machinery company Dutch Industries has died. He was 96. Cruson emigrated to Regina from Holland to Regina after the Second World War looking for a better life. In 1952, he started the Dutch Blacksmith Shop in Regina, which eventually grew into Dutch Industries, now in Pilot Butte, Sask. […] Read more

ELK POINT, Alta. – Kevin Wirsta has a talent for turning cud-chewing cows into bovine beauties. So when he and his wife Janice were looking for ways to earn more income, they combined that talent with their love for animals and created a custom fitting, cattle showing business. “A lot of owners are surprised to […] Read more

Despite almost 16 months of uncertainty in the beef business, optimism is still forcing prices higher than many people believed they’d be at this time of year. “In the past two months the market has jumped significantly,” said Jason Danard, with the Calgary Stockyards. “Yearlings and calves are trading at much stronger levels than most […] Read more

Union officials hope to begin collective bargaining within the next month after workers at Lakeside Packeers, one of Canada’s largest meat packing plants, voted by a narrow margin to unionize. After 10 years of trying to unionize the Brooks, Alta., packing plant, workers decided conditions had to improve, said Doug O’Halloran, spokesperson for UFCW Local […] Read more

Prairie farmers and ranchers frustrated by ongoing U.S. border restrictions on Canadian cattle are striking back by refusing to allow American hunters on their land. Courval, Sask., rancher Gerry Duckworth said requests are growing daily for his signs that say American hunters are not allowed until the U.S. border permits live Canadian cattle imports. Already, […] Read more

Cattle producers can expect delays and truck shortages when it comes time to move their animals during the fall calf run, predict several livestock hauling companies. Mark Wendorff with Primrose Livestock in Lethbridge estimates there are about one-third fewer trucks to pull the livestock trailers than were operating before the discovery of BSE in May […] Read more

New BSE aid programs will give market security to battered cattle producers for the first time in months, say Alberta feedlot operators. In Alberta, producers will be able to set aside calves and fat cattle under a national BSE program announced Sept. 10. They will also be able to lock in a basis contract tied […] Read more

Alberta cattle producers will be paid for submitting their old cattle for BSE testing. Under the new BSE program, cattle producers will be paid $150 per head for a testable brain sample from animals considered to be high risk. Healthy animals will not be eligible for the funding. The changes, announced Sept. 10, are designed […] Read more

Almost one million acres of one of the most promising crops in years in Alberta’s Peace River area was flattened in a freak September snowstorm. It will be weeks or possibly not until spring before farmers can pick up the crops after a snowstorm blanketed most of the Peace Sept. 8. The fields were already […] Read more

Canadian beef producers have found new allies among Alaskan cattle producers and the state government in their effort to reopen the U.S. border to live Canadian cattle, says the past-president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. During a special conference in Alaska, that state’s beef producers, dairy industry and government officials requested an exemption from the […] Read more