Livestock Management
Record high Easter lamb prices have given sheep farmers a much needed boost. Miles Buswell, manager of sheep and goat sales at Beaver Hill Auction in Tofield, Alta., said prices for spring lamb at the Easter sale March 22 set record highs. The highlight of the sale was 65-pound lambs fetching $219 per hundredweight. Several […] Read more
Livestock Management
Higher prices keep prairie lambs at home
Treating respiratory diseases
A report in the latest issue of Bovine Practitioner compared the efficiency of two vaccines used to fight respiratory disease in cattle. The two were Pyramid5 and Ex-press5, and there is a difference. Undifferentiated fever/bovine respiratory disease (UF/BRD), commonly known as shipping fever, is an important contributor to losses in commercial feedlots. It causes illness, […] Read more
Quarantine new horses, says expert
Saskatchewan’s chief veterinarian recommends that people quarantine new additions to a horse herd. “Diseases are spreading and re-emerging,” Dr. Greg Douglas told the recent Saskatchewan Horse Federation conference. Separating new arrivals for a period of time in which they can be monitored will help prevent infection of other horses on the farm, he said. Animals […] Read more
More milk, fewer calves?
RED DEER – Pushing dairy cows to produce more milk has been linked to fertility problems. “If performance or fertility really have gotten worse since Grandpa’s time, to what extent can we blame it on higher production,” said Stephen LeBlanc of the Ontario Veterinary College at Guelph. His large scale study of dairy statistics failed […] Read more
Rise in milking parlours linked to foot problems
RED DEER – Modern dairy cows are raised for high milk production, but the trade off appears to be foot problems. Twenty percent of the world’s dairy herds report problems with sore feet and lameness, says researcher Christer Bergsten of the Swedish Dairy Association. “Foot problems are the main background to lameness,” Bergsten told the […] Read more
Western Producer Livestock Report – for Apr. 1, 2010
Hog futures were expected to rise after the U.S. Department of Agriculture hogs and pigs report at the close of the week showed American producers had reduced herds more rapidly than forecast. The U.S. hog herd, as of March 1, was 63.988 million head, down three percent from a year earlier, and the smallest herd […] Read more
Producers’ spirits riding high with upswing in egg sales
Canada’s egg industry is riding a wave of optimism fueled by robust sales, increased medical acceptance of eggs as a healthy product and a promise of improved government policy. Egg Farmers of Canada chair Laurent Souligny told the annual meeting of the producer marketing agency in Ottawa March 24 that the federal government has signalled […] Read more
Energy project sets sail after temporary delay
A wind farm project six years in the making is going ahead in southeastern Saskatchewan. The $60 million Red Lily Wind Energy Project, a joint effort of Algonquin Power and Gaia Power, will erect 16 turbines in the Moosomin area. Two of the turbines will be located in the Rural Municipality of Moosomin and the […] Read more
More hog producers bow out
Another 93 pig producers have thrown in the towel, at least temporarily, on the Canadian pork industry. Preliminary results of the fourth and final tender in the Hog Farm Transition Program (HFTP) were released last week by the Canadian Pork Council. The results show that 93 hog producers are eligible to receive a total of […] Read more
Federal government defends meat inspection practices
The federal government continues to fend off critics’ allegations that because meat plants that process for the American market have more inspector “presence” than domestic-dedicated plants, Canadian consumers are at risk. Since last November, the United States Department of Agriculture has insisted that an inspector be on the premises for every 12-hour shift if the […] Read more
