Livestock
Reading Time: 2 minutes af staff |vermilion Canadian sheep producers will be required to install radio frequency identification (RFID) ear tags to their animals as of January 2012. To facilitate this, several groups have been working together to research and develop a practical process by means of the Alberta Lamb Traceability Pilot Project, said Susan Hosford, a business development […] Read more
Knowing Where To Find Them — And Where They Came From – for Aug. 16, 2010
CCIA Mobile Reps – for Aug. 16, 2010
Reading Time: < 1 minute South: Lethbridge/Stavely/ Fort MacLeod, Amberley Sparry: 403-990-1371 High River, Ryley Loeppky: 403-988-1474 Brooks/Medicine Hat/Strathmore, Sue Giles: 403-988-7303 Central: Ponoka/Stettler/Veteran, Nanita Bloomquist: 403-988-3625 Stettler, Sarah Tingley: 403-742-7959 Innisfail/Olds/Red Deer Shayna Dodds: 403-988-1719 Drayton Valley/Rimbey/Tofield, Shannon Cowles: 403-977-3572 Viking/Killiam, Ashley Eckel: 403-801-7217 Northeast: Bonneville/Lloydminster/ Vermilion/Provost, Jenni Etherington: 403-988-8946 Northwest: Clyde/Westlock, Bernice Rennie: 403-988-3473 Peace: Beaverlodge/Dawson Creek/ Grande […] Read more
Funding Extended For Alberta Cattle ID Reps – for Aug. 16, 2010
Reading Time: < 1 minute age verification} Feds and provinces fund CCIA field representatives for another two years staff Mobile field representatives in Alberta with the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency will stay in the field and mobile for another two years. The federal and Alberta governments on Aug. 5 pledged $2.34 million in total to CCIA to maintain its network […] Read more
RFID Tags: Benefits Beyond Traceability – for Aug. 16, 2010
Reading Time: 2 minutes alberta farmer |vermilion Harder to get started. Easier once you do. That sums up Ronald den Broeder’s views on radio frequency identification (RFID) for sheep. He’s been part of a lamb traceability pilot project, and demonstrated the RFID tag scanning and his electronic sorting system to producers at a traceability information session at Lakeland College. […] Read more
British Pork Producers Take The Lead On Welfare Assessment – for Aug. 16, 2010
Reading Time: 3 minutes British pig producers have long extolled their high animal welfare standards compared to European competitors and welfare has been an important component of quality assurance schemes since their inception in the early ’90s. However, measurement of welfare has always been a challenge because it has been done by assessing various aspects of the pigs’ environment […] Read more
News – for Aug. 16, 2010
Reading Time: 2 minutes Soaring grain prices squeeze elevator cash Surging futures prices have U. S. farmers smiling but have left many grain elevators facing a cash crunch. As futures prices soar to levels not seen in over a year, farmers have been selling their newly harvested winter wheat bushels at a faster pace than usual, leaving elevator operators […] Read more
XL to permanently shut Moose Jaw beef plant
XL Foods has announced plans to permanently close Saskatchewan’s only federally inspected beef packing plant within the next three months, media in that province reported Friday. The XL Beef plant at Moose Jaw hasn’t been fully staffed since April last year, when the company laid off its staff for the summer, then locked them out […] Read more
Deadline extended for abattoirs’ SRM support program
Slaughterhouses handling cattle over 30 months of age (OTMs) have been granted about two extra weeks to apply for a federal support program. The application deadline for the initial phase of the federal government’s one-year, $25 million abattoir competitiveness program has been extended to Aug. 27 from Aug. 16 (Monday) “to allow eligible recipients more […] Read more
Toronto packer scores federal loan for upgrades
Toronto beef, veal and lamb processor Ryding-Regency Meat Packers has picked up a federal loan worth over $2 million for upgrades to its production lines and computer tracking system. The facility, which the government described in a release Friday as Ontario’s second-largest federally inspected abattoir, ships meats to the grocery and foodservice sectors in Ontario, […] Read more
Ontario softens planned rate cut for solar farms
Ontario farmers planning to get in on that province’s microFIT program for ground-mounted solar power installations can expect a lower rate than their early-bird neighbours, but not as low as first proposed. And commercial aggregator companies that had been leasing farmers’ land or rooftops for solar panels or other renewable energy projects will no longer […] Read more
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