Refundable or non-refundable? Cattle producers are split on how to fund Alberta groups through levies
CORRECTION – November 14, 2016 1000 CST – The Ontario Corn Fed Beef Program does not receive any money from the national beef checkoff. It does receive 50 cents per head from the Beef Farmers of Ontario. Alberta’s refundable checkoff for beef cattle remains a bone of contention for producers, even though it has now […] Read moreTag Archives Cattle
TB takes terrible toll
‘I was sick for the industry:’ Alberta ranchers worry about what happens next after one cow was diagnosed with tuberculosis
BROOKS, Alta. — Sleepless nights and worry: that’s what about 50 ranchers in southeastern Alberta are experiencing as their cattle herds remain in quarantine. One cow that grazed in a community pasture near Jenner and Suffield was diagnosed with tuberculosis in mid-September after being shipped to the United States. The cow belonged to Brad Osadczuk, […] Read more
B.C. cattle producer, entrepreneur dead at 73
British Columbia cattle producer Bill Freding died at his Oliver home Oct. 18 at the age of 73. Active in the cattle business throughout his life, he earned a master’s degree in economics from the University of British Columbia. Freding started Southern Plus Feedlot in 1988, a 7,000 head yard, which was dispersed earlier this […] Read more
TB found in Alberta cow
An Alberta farm has been quarantined after a positive case of tuberculosis was detected in a cow shipped to the United States for slaughter. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is investigating and the index herd will be tested, said Rob McNabb of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. “They detected some lesions and cultured it and then […] Read more
Feeder association loan guarantee increased
The Alberta government is increasing the provincial loan guarantee for feeder associations to $100 million. The Feeder Associations of Alberta has requested an increase for several years as demand for cattle went up, said chair Eric Boot. “Cattle prices were way up and there was demand and in the meantime there just wasn’t enough money […] Read more
Canada not in expansion mode
STRATHMORE, Alta. — Canadian beef producers face a big decision: expand the herd or take the money and run. The Canadian cow herd has shrunk by 31 percent since 2005. Record prices and profits in the last 18 months should have signalled that it is time to turn things around, but not much is happening, […] Read more
What are buyers looking for in cattle?
Purebred cattle breeders supply the commercial market with bulls, but ranchers and feedlots operators say breeders should listen more to their needs. Tom Fenwick manages Tongue Creek Ranch in the Alberta foothills. The 14,000-acre spread of mostly native grass is home to 700 commercial Angus cows with plans to grow to 850 cows using purebred […] Read more
JBS prepares for herd expansion, fewer heifers
Meat processor JBS expects to scramble in the next couple years to keep its Canadian slaughter numbers stable. “We’re in an expansion phase (with the cow herd.) For my side of the business, the processing side, it’s going to mean less (slaughter) cattle,” JBS procurement chief Stirling Fox told the Livestock Markets Association of Canada […] Read more
Feeder calves fetch record prices
Producers ‘almost doing cartwheels’ | American calf crop shrinks to the smallest in 60 years
Records are being broken across the Prairies as feeder cattle sell for prices that are up 75 percent from a year earlier. A combination of the lower Canadian dollar, lower feed prices and lower overall cattle numbers has sent calf prices skyward. “It seems like everything has gone right for the cattle industry this year,” […] Read more
Canadian science adds to cattle genome database
Improving genetics | International collaborators sharing information
Canada plays a major role in the international effort to catalogue and share the DNA sequences of cattle, says a researcher. A database of 234 dairy cattle genomes was recently used to identify genetic mutations that hamper dairy production. Similar collaborations are ongoing in the beef sector. A recently published paper highlighted the effort. The […] Read more
