Livestock Management
Manitoba will spend $500,000 to help process 5,000 surplus sows under the federal sow cull program so the meat can be distributed to provincial food banks. The carcasses will be ground into hamburger and given away by Winnipeg Harvest, Manitoba’s largest food bank. Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk said in a news release that a […] Read more
Livestock Management
Culled sows to benefit food banks
Welfare cases soar
Over the last two years animal welfare complaints have mushroomed in Manitoba, jumping to 390 in 2007 from approximately 100 in 2005. Those numbers don’t indicate a problem with animal care in the province, but are a measure of a successful awareness campaign. The Manitoba Farm Animal Council (MFAC) has heavily promoted the Animal Care […] Read more
Bison makes inroads in meat market
The bison industry doesn’t believe its meat will ever replace beef as a red meat staple, but is convinced it can make inroads. “There are more beef slaughtered in the U.S. in a day than bison in a whole year,” Canadian Bison Association executive director Terry Kremeniuk told an industry meeting in Saskatoon April 16. […] Read more
Recognize calving problems and react
CAROLINE, Alta. – Calving is usually a trouble-free event but sometimes things go wrong with an incorrect presentation or big calf blocking its entry to the world. Being able to recognize trouble and knowing when to get help is crucial to delivering a live, healthy baby, said veterinarian Kristine McLean at the annual Cows and […] Read more
Never too young for the show ring
Four-year-old Nicholas McMorrow of Warman, Sask., has spent three-quarters of his life parading around the show ring with his dairy calves. His mother, Allison, said he started in the peewee event at 18 months. Most recently he participated in the Western Canadian Livestock Expo in Saskatoon April 16-17, where his father, Bernie, showed five dairy […] Read more
Sask. beef producers closer to united group
It hasn’t officially formed yet but the proposed Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association (SCA) has already established a website and hired a consultant. Janice Bruynooghe of Spring Creek Land & Cattle Consulting at Outlook, Sask., will look after establishing a commission under the provincial Agri-Food Act. If approved, the commission would take control of the $1 per […] Read more
Vaccinate for anthrax, urges CFIA
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is encouraging cattle producers in areas where anthrax has been a problem to vaccinate against the disease this spring before sending them to pasture. “It affords very good protection,” said CFIA veterinary program officer Dr. Lynn Bates. “On farms that have had anthrax, we recommend they vaccinate every year for […] Read more
Meat audit calls for changes
RED DEER – A lengthy audit of Alberta’s provincial meat plants shows room for improvement in animal handling and stunning. Animal handlers need more education because many come to the job with limited experience, said John Church of Alberta Agriculture regulatory services. The inspections started September 2006 with the last one completed last month. Of […] Read more
Welfare laws fail in protecting animals
RED DEER – Animal welfare laws rarely improve animal welfare, says a Manitoba agriculture official. Terry Whiting told the Alberta Farm Animal Care conference in Red Deer April 4 that American legislators tend to respond to lobbyists, which results in laws with no clear benefit. The ban on horse slaughter is a case in point, […] Read more
Animal stress, pain difficult for science to measure
RED DEER – Philosophers have long debated what it feels like to be a pig or a horse, but it is difficult for other branches of science to measure animal well-being. Under European Union law, farm animals are recognized as sentient creatures that feel pain and are aware of their surroundings. “Well-being is an aspiration […] Read more
