Mary MacArthur

JENNER, Alta. – A map of the 59,000 acre Buffalo Atlee Community Pasture is dotted with hundreds of blue circles that indicate water holes, sloughs and small lakes. But when Lorne Cole looks up from the map spread over the hood of the truck, to see where there should be a slough, there’s nothing. Except […] Read more

It may be a few years before forward contracts are a regular part of lamb sales in Western Canada. Unlike the grain and cattle markets, there are no commodity exchanges predicting sheep prices months in the future, said Tony Stolz, manager of the Alberta Sheep and Wool Commission. “We don’t have that luxury with sheep.” […] Read more

A series of summer meetings to discuss the possibility of hunt farms for elk and deer in Alberta is guaranteed to generate controversy. Already the government has had “mixed reaction” to cervid harvesting preserves, said Ellen Frombach, head of the diversified livestock branch of Alberta Agriculture. “We’ve had mixed feedback in support and non-support,” said […] Read more

FACT: There is giardia and cryptosporidium in the North Saskat-chewan River. FACT: Livestock manure, wildlife droppings and city sewage all add bacteria into a river that is the main drinking water source for a number of towns and cities. “They all do play a role in what we’re finding in the river basin,” said Sandra […] Read more

Alberta sheep producers are having an anti-beauty contest. The province’s sheep organization is looking for 500 of the worst-looking sheep in the province. By examining old cull ewes, the Alberta Sheep and Wool Commission hopes to identify what diseases the province’s sheep have or don’t have. “We’re looking for every disease under the sun,” said […] Read more

Prairie weed specialists will survey 4,000 fields over the next two years to see what kinds of weeds are in farmers’ fields. “We want to track the shifts in weed populations that occur through time,” said Gordon Thomas, a research scientist with Agriculture Canada in Saskatoon who is co-ordinating the survey. He said it will […] Read more

Paperwork that certifies meat imports from New Zealand will arrive by computer beginning in June. It’s the first step to streamlining the documentation of meat imports from other countries, said Dr. Lou Skrinar with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. “There’s big gains on the horizon,” said Skrinar. Now, the paperwork is faxed to one of […] Read more

A Lethbridge entomologist is trying to eliminate males. “Males are unnecessary,” says Kevin Floate, who is talking about small parasitic wasps used to control flies in feedlots. “Wasps don’t need males to reproduce.” Only the female wasps can lay eggs, thereby killing developing flies and reducing the number in a feedlot. Wasps lay their eggs […] Read more

New nutritional recommendations for dairy cattle will help fine tune dairy rations even further, says a Manitoba Agriculture animal nutritionist. “Overall it’s another step in the refinement process,” said Karen Dupchak of the National Research Council’s Nutrient Requirements of Dairy Cattle 7th Revised Edition. “It’s extremely detailed.” The book is the bible for dairy herd […] Read more

Analysts can’t identify a single reason for slightly lower beef consumption this year. There are several factors at work – a weakening American economy, a cool spring, and foot-and-mouth disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy outbreaks in Europe. Or it may be just a softening in reaction to record high beef prices, said Canfax analyst Anne […] Read more