Mary MacArthur

EDMONTON – Alberta cattle feeders will have a larger presence in the province’s largest cattle organization. Alberta Beef Producers delegates voted to create a cattle feeder council as part of the organization to give the feedlot industry a bigger voice. In addition to delegates from each of the nine zones across the province, 13 additional […] Read more

The discovery on a northern Alberta farm of 100 dead bison and another 237 that were starving was horrific, but it showed the livestock industry’s ability to work together to save the remaining livestock, said the manager of an Alberta animal care association. “It was an extreme situation and we were able to respond as […] Read more

Canadians can better help beef producers by eating roasts and meat from front and hind sections of the animal rather than the more expensive rib eye and T-bone steaks, says the president of the Canada Beef Export Federation. That’s because Canadian packers are importing the higher-end cuts from the United States. “Work with retailers to […] Read more

Alberta government officials have shot and killed 20 elk they believe were released from a northeastern Alberta game farm into the wild because of a lack of feed and few markets. “We would guess that the person had in all likelihood run out of options,” said Doug Milligan, director of Alberta Agriculture’s livestock industry development […] Read more

EDMONTON – Consumers in countries that have had a food safety scare are more willing to pay for the ability to trace the food back to the producer, than countries that haven’t had a food scare, says an American professor. North American consumers rate animal welfare, food safety or a combination of them above the […] Read more

EDMONTON – An advertising campaign can soften the effects of lost consumer confidence from a BSE scare, says a University of Alberta student. Getu Hailu said after the announcement that there was a connection between bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Britain in1996, beef consumption dropped dramatically. Meat sales plunged 26 percent after […] Read more

EDMONTON – Alberta has signed onto the federal government’s $5.2 billion agricultural policy framework despite misgivings by producers that the new agreement won’t help them through tough times. Federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief said signing the agreement spells out clearly for producers the measures that the federal and the Alberta governments will take. “This commits […] Read more

Shock waves from the disrupted cattle market will be felt long after the American border reopens to Canadian cattle, says an Alberta Agriculture beef specialist. The disrupted markets, no markets or lower prices will force cattle producers to look beyond the traditional ways they’ve sold their cattle, said Christoph Weder. “We’ve got to get some […] Read more

If the ban on Canadian cattle exports lasts one month, it will cost an estimated $550 million. If the trade ban drags on for four months, it could cost Canada $2.5 billion, according to a report commissioned by government and industry. The cattle industry can recover from a one-month ban, but a four-month trade ban […] Read more

Andre Vogelaar has as many as 3,000 head of cattle in his feedlot that are supposed to be dead by now. By July another 2,000 head will be ready for slaughter. Each week, Vogelaar and his crew at Claresholm Beef Producers sort the fat cattle from the overly fat cattle in the 8,000 head feedlot […] Read more