Livestock Management
Canada’s largest malting company has been caught up in a major restructuring of the world’s malting industry. However, industry observers say they expect the changeover will have little impact on Canada’s malting sector or malting barley growers. “I suspect it will be business as usual,” said Phil de Kemp, president of the Malting Industry Association […] Read more
Livestock Management
Australia buys Canada Malting Ltd.
Use all the tools to rid us of COOL – WP editorial
CANADA IS using one of few tools at its disposal by requesting a dispute settlement panel through the World Trade Organization over the United States’ damaging country-of-origin labelling regulations. Now that two rounds of WTO consultations have brought no result, Canada is within its rights and true to its responsibilities in taking the dispute to […] Read more
Opinions on the optics of opting out of trade deal – Opinion
IT IS INCONCEIVABLE, at the end of these negotiations, that if there was a successful World Trade Organization deal, Canada would opt out. Those aren’t my words. They were uttered a mere two and a half years ago by straight-talking Conservative trade minister David Emerson. Later, then-agriculture minister and equally straight-talking Chuck Strahl repeated the […] Read more
Alpaca fibre sales down
The recession has been tough on the alpaca business. Rita Friesen, who raises alpacas near Saskatoon with her husband, Cam, on their CaRia Royalty Ranch, said profits are down from previous years because fewer people are buying their breeding stock and fibre products. Producer Deryl Ring of Ring Ranch Alpacas near Saskatoon agreed, but thinks […] Read more
Timely cow culling eases winter feeding costs
Removing mature cows from the herd sooner could earn producers extra cash. Alberta Agriculture research shows managing cows over winter accounts for about 65 percent of the production costs so downsizing the herd can reduce expenses. “There could be people either trying to decide what to do with their cows this fall or trying to […] Read more
Sask. cattle election begins
Voting begins Oct. 20 for directors of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association. The elections mark a shift for the province’s beef industry as it moves toward a producer-administered checkoff, similar to other commodities. Membership in the SCA is automatic, as long as a producer has paid the beef checkoff and not received a refund in the […] Read more
Sheep tails begone
Tails and testicles. They’re two parts of the sheep Miles Buswell doesn’t want to see in the auction ring. Even though buyers pay less for sheep with tails and testicles intact, some producers still don’t take them off. Buswell, manager of sheep and goat sales at Beaver Hill Auction in Tofield, Alta., doesn’t know if […] Read more
Pregnancy checks can avoid unnecessary feed costs – Animal Health
Drought in my part of Alberta has resulted in pasture and winter feed shortages. Cattle producers can help preserve their feed by pregnancy checking the herd to eliminate open cows. Depending on your feed source, the cost to over-winter that open cow will be $400 or more. Cow prices now tend to fluctuate weekly rather […] Read more
Electronic tags mandatory soon
All Canadian cattle leaving the farm will require electronic identification tags after Jan. 1, 2010, a requirement designed to help move the beef industry toward full traceability. Plastic dangle tags with a barcode and unique number have not been for sale for several years, said Canadian Cattle Identification Agency chair Steve Primrose. They were replaced […] Read more
U of A gateway to vet college
Students looking for a way to enroll in veterinary school may only have to look as far as the University of Alberta. Fourteen of the 20 first year spaces reserved for Alberta residents at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon are filled with students from the U of A’s Faculty of Agriculture, Life […] Read more
