Reading Time: 2 minutes Spring Creek Hutterite Colony has become one of the first large hog operations on the Prairies to ship RWA (Raised Without Antibiotics) pigs to market. The colony, located near Walsh, shipped 200 hogs to Britco Pork in Langley, B.C. earlier this month and sent a second load a few days later. Britco, a specialty pork-processing […] Read more
Hutterite colony blazes antibiotic-free trail
You don’t have to sacrifice productivity or compromise health standards by going antibiotic free, say swine managers at Spring Creek Hutterite Colony
Colony leading the charge in bio-based feed additives
Walsh Hutterite colony has almost eliminated antibiotics by adopting enzymes and other bio-based feed supplements
Reading Time: 4 minutes Farmers around the world are feeling the earth shift beneath their feet as a new landscape of expectations takes hold for agriculture. Sustainability issues from environmental stewardship to animal welfare are becoming critical to market acceptance and social licence. This includes use of antibiotics, as Tyson, Walmart, and a host of others implement restricted-use policies. […] Read more
The new world of ‘sustainable’ beef
Rancher Cherie Copithorne-Barnes has dealt with the movers and the shakers in the sustainable beef movement – and they're not all the same
Reading Time: 5 minutes Who’s driving this bus? Amid ‘grocery wars,’ Jamie Oliver, ‘hormone free,’ Walmart, and a storm of related debate, this is the core question many producers and others in animal agriculture have about the new swath of expectations and ‘sustainability’ programs taking hold in the industry and the marketplace. One person with a unique, up-close perspective […] Read more
Livestock sector needs the mindset to improve animal welfare
David Fraser says a ‘professional animal production’ approach to animal welfare is needed to reassure society
Reading Time: 3 minutes Much of the debate on farm animal welfare changes has centred on major infrastructure shifts such as facilities improvements and housing approaches. But the greatest challenge — and also opportunity — facing animal agriculture may lie not in the physical environment but rather in the mindset of producers, says David Fraser, a professor of applied […] Read more
Telling farming’s story — the good, the bad and the ugly
Airdrie vet Cody Creelman says being open and honest takes away power from foes of livestock production
Reading Time: 3 minutes Eight seconds is a good bull ride. And in the new age of Tweets, Vines and Snapchats, it’s also about all the time needed to create a viral video or have someone form an impression — good or bad — about animal agriculture. So how can producers benefit from social media? Airdrie vet Cody Creelman […] Read more
Ruminant Trans Fat: A Sheep In Wolf’s Clothing?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dairy and beef fats may not be the artery-clogging menace that some have claimed, says leading heart disease researcher Dr. Spencer Proctor of the University of Alberta. Proctor told the recent Canadian Farm Writers Federation conference in Edmonton that findings from his work as part of the CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) Network indicate key types […] Read more
Taking The Lead In The Connection Between Food And Health
Reading Time: 3 minutes One might ask, why Canada?” says Dr. Spencer Proctor, a leading heart disease researcher at the University of Alberta, who has established a successful, unique program closely tying agriculture and human health sectors. “When you look a the advantages and opportunities we have here, I would answer by changing that statement to why not Canada” […] Read more
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