Livestock
Quebec’s general farm organization is calling for a freeze on any rezoning of agricultural land in the greater Montreal and Quebec City areas until they draft new metropolitan development plans. Speaking last Thursday to the province’s land planning commission, Christian Lacasse, president of the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), said it was out of the […] Read more
UPA urges freeze on Montreal, Quebec City sprawl
Ont. to appeal court ruling on raw dairy
The Ontario government has filed to appeal last month’s court ruling that allows a “cow-share” program to distribute unpasteurized raw milk to willing consumers. Lawyers for the province last week filed a notice of appeal with the Ontario Court of Justice at Newmarket, the same community where Justice of the Peace Paul Kowarsky on Jan. […] Read more
Cattle, hog inventories hit fresh lows: StatsCan
Farm inventories of cattle as of Jan. 1, 2010 reached their lowest level in 15 years, while inventories of hogs were at a 12-year low, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday. Canadian cattle producers reported 13 million head at Jan. 1, 2010, down 1.3 per cent from January 2009, the federal statistics agency reported. Hog producers had […] Read more
Klassen: U.S. weather strengthens feeder market
Feb. 15 — The 2008 Canadian calf crop was 5.288 million head. The January-through-June 2009 calf crop was 4.402 million. My projections have the July-through-December 2009 calf crop at 700,000 head. (Official data will be available later this month.) If we account for dairy retention, Canadian beef calves born from June through December 2009 are […] Read more
Pigeon King to get ’60 Minutes’ treatment
The tale of Ontario’s Pigeon King International plays to a worldwide audience Sunday (Feb. 14) by way of a feature on Ponzi schemes and human gullibility on the U.S. TV newsmagazine 60 Minutes. “It’s been just over a year since Bernard Madoff’s multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme fell apart,” New York-based TV network CBS said in […] Read more
Canadian herd cutbacks eat into feed firm’s Q2
Feed maker Ridley Inc. reports a higher profit in the last three months of 2009, even as its feed sales drop due to cutbacks in Canada’s livestock herds. The company, headquartered both in Winnipeg and at Mankato, Minn., on Tuesday reported net earnings of $5 million on gross revenue of $150 million for its second […] Read more
Quebec sets up grants for future livestock vets
Quebec’s agriculture ministry plans to encourage veterinary students to consider livestock medicine by granting new bursaries to those who do. The ag, food and fisheries ministry (MAPAQ) said Thursday it plans to provide bursaries of $5,000 and $10,000 for veterinary students, in their fourth and fifth years of study, who plan to work with livestock […] Read more
Big Sky creditors vote to take proposed deal
Farmers and others owed money by Saskatchewan’s largest hog production company have voted not quite unanimously to take a deal in which unsecured creditors, on average, can expect less than 15 cents on the dollar. Out of 774 voting creditors of Big Sky Farms and its affiliated companies meeting Monday in Saskatoon, 762 voted in […] Read more
Agropur’s purchases lead to record sales
A year of acquisitions in the U.S. market has helped lead Quebec dairy foods co-operative Agropur to record sales and net earnings. The co-operative on Wednesday reported sales of $3.1 billion in its fiscal year ending Oct. 31, 2009, producing earnings of $138 million before patronage dividends. That’s up from earnings of $121.3 million on […] Read more
DDGS use leaves barley bids deteriorating
(Resource News International) — The convenience for end-users importing dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) into Western Canada continues to cause cash bids for barley to deteriorate. The loss in barley`s cash value was seen continuing, given that DDGS have now become part of a scheduled program by the feedlot industry. “The need to cover […] Read more
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