Mary MacArthur

Compensation value for white-tailed deer being slaughtered to control chronic wasting disease is proving difficult to determine because producers no longer have access to lucrative American markets, said the executive director of the Alberta Whitetail and Mule Deer Association. “The market still exists but the access to the market is hampered right now and it […] Read more

RYLEY, Alta. – The Village of Ryley doesn’t have the NIMBY syndrome. The garbage that had people in other communities shouting “not in my back yard” has been embraced by Ryley as an economic saviour. More than 15 years ago, when other prairie communities were looking at more glamorous projects such as ethanol and strawboard […] Read more

One of Canada’s oldest flour mills is doubling its capacity to keep up with export demand for flour. Rogers Foods plans to build a new $20 million mill at Chilliwack, B.C., that will produce 250 tonnes of flour a day, slightly more than its 220 tonne per day mill in Armstrong, B.C. Lew Rossner, vice-president […] Read more

An Alberta cheese business is on hold until it meets a list of upgrades to its facilities after E. coli 0157 was found in cheese made with unpasteurized milk. Joanne Koopmans, one of the partners in Eyot Creek Farm, said the farms’ partners would meet to discuss the list of “strong suggestions” for repairs from […] Read more

Four Saskatchewan farms that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has declared highly contaminated with chronic wasting disease have been reassessed to allow producers to grow grain and hay on the land as long as it’s not fed to deer and elk. “While that land is under quarantine, we are concerned about feeding it to the […] Read more

NISKU, Alta. – Alberta Agriculture spends more than $1 million a year searching for fatal, progressive brain diseases in deer, elk, cattle and sheep, says Gerald Ollis, the province’s chief veterinarian. Ollis said searching for chronic wasting disease in farmed and wild deer and elk cost the department $786,240 last year. Add the costs of […] Read more

NISKU, Alta. – A leading expert on chronic wasting disease says it is highly unlikely cattle can get the disease from deer and elk. “It’s extremely difficult to infect cattle with CWD,” Beth Williams of the University of Wyoming told a chronic wasting disease conference. To find out which animals are susceptible to the disease, […] Read more

NISKU, Alta. – Chronic wasting disease hasn’t been found in wild deer and elk in Manitoba and Alberta but that doesn’t mean the likelihood of the disease is any less than in Saskatchewan, said a Saskatchewan veterinarian. “There is a reasonable probability CWD in Alberta and Manitoba is the same as Saskatchewan, given the sample […] Read more

NISKU, Alta. – A live animal test for chronic wasting disease in deer and elk has shown researchers that the disease can be detected in the tonsils as early as three months after infection, says the leading expert on the disease. While the tonsil biopsy is still considered to be in the research stage, Beth […] Read more

New swine chair The Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan Inc. recently named John Patience of the Prairie Swine Centre as its new chair, representing the research sector. Stuart Stone of Heartland Livestock was named vice-chair and represents auctions. Helen Van der Loop was re-installed as dairy representative. Trish Dowling of the Western College of Veterinary […] Read more