Mary MacArthur

Alberta farmers who got hay last year from Eastern Canada now are donating feed to help British Columbia ranchers doubly hurt by drought and fire, said a man organizing the donations. “We were on the receiving end last year. Kamloops has not only had drought but fires,” said Ben Penner, who hopes to ship 1,000 […] Read more

A new Alberta government BSE assistance program will cover another 200,000 cattle that were in Alberta feedlots as of May 20. “We’re hearing from smaller producers that they didn’t have an opportunity to participate in previous programs. It appears there are still some fed cattle out there that we need to cover. We made a […] Read more

KILLAM, Alta. – The gravel in front of the cattle shed has been levelled, dried plants have been stuck in old cream cans as decoration, and the cattle have been washed, clipped and primped. The only thing the Prichard family of Killam needs to do is wait for cattle buyers. The family made the decision […] Read more

The cow at the centre of Canada’s bovine spongiform encephalopathy investigation has been positively identified as one born in March 1997 on a Saskatchewan farm, six months before Canada implemented its ruminant-to-ruminant feeding ban. Through DNA analysis and cattle records, Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials confirmed the Black Angus cow was born on Mel and […] Read more

EDMONTON – Canadian beef producers must wait a few more months before the American border reopens to cattle younger than 30 months, says an official with the United States Department of Agriculture. “I will tell you we are looking at months, not years, for animals below 30 months,” Bill Hawks, undersecretary for USDA’s marketing and […] Read more

EDMONTON – The switch from imported beef to Canadian beef to use up product from cull cows may be good in theory, but it hasn’t been without hassles, say processors who are used to imported beef. “We’ve gone mostly all Canadian now and it’s been quite difficult actually,” said Steve Holland, production co-ordinator with J.D. […] Read more

EDMONTON – Beef producers may still be frustrated that their largest trading partner hasn’t fully opened its doors to Canadian product, but they can take comfort that other countries are reopening their borders, says the head of Canada’s beef export organization. The number of countries that still have banned Canadian beef and cattle because of […] Read more

Alberta crop insurance payments for the 2002-2003 crop year were the largest in the province’s history, says the Agriculture Financial Services Corp. annual report. Crop, forage and straight hail insurance payments totalled $796 million with an additional $111.6 million of Farm Income Disaster Program payments. The $796 million in crop, forage and straight hail claims […] Read more

A $2 million aid announcement by Alberta for non-beef ruminants is nice, but it’s going to do little to help people in the bison, sheep, elk, deer and veal industries cope with the border closing, say industry spokespeople. “It’s important that the Alberta government is recognizing that other ruminants have been affected by the closure […] Read more

It will be at least a week before one of Canada’s largest livestock companies learns if it is the owner of a mothballed hog plant. On Sept. 16, an Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench judge approved the sale for $3.3 million of JTB Canadian Pork of Barrhead, Alta., to XL Foods, owned by Edmonton-based Nilsson […] Read more