Livestock

Revised, Dec. 10 –– A fire that briefly halted production at the processing plant handling over 90 per cent of the turkeys raised in Alberta remains under investigation. Edmonton-based meat processor Lilydale said Tuesday it expects “relatively minor” damage to its facility after a fire that morning in a shed housing compressors for its refrigeration […] Read more

Chuck Maclean, a cattle feeder from Bow Island, was elected chair of Alberta Beef Producers at the ABP annual meeting in Calgary Dec. 8.,  succeeding Rick Burton of Claresholm. Maclean has been an ABP director for the past four years, spending one year as feeder council chair. He also serves as promotion director for the […] Read more

An Ottawa Citizen article outlines a heavy-handed food-safety enforcement response to what was essentially a group of friends getting together to buy beef and pork. In the case of the pork it was home-slaughtered, while the beef was professionally slaughtered and cut and wrapped at home. Mark Tjissen, a major in the Canadian Forces, and […] Read more

Outdoor pigs who root around in the mud early in life may have greater immunity to disease than their indoor counterparts, according to a study posted on the online journal BMC Biology. Researchers used pigs as a model to test the theory that early colonization of the gut in humans can reduce the incidence of […] Read more

The National Farmers Union has renewed its call for an inquiry into profits in beef marketing and processing. In an NFU release, Rimbey, Alta. rancher Iain Aitken said he recently had a cull cow custom-processed, yielding $1,233 in stewing and ground beef when valued at local retail prices. Aitken said the animal would only have […] Read more

The New Brunswick provincial government is upping the ante in an on-going clash over chicken processing with the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The province will give itself the power to pick where poultry is processed by proclaiming a law that was passed in June 2009 but never put into effect, says provincial agriculture minister […] Read more

The London 2012 Olympics Organizing Committee is pledging to serve “the best of British” food during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Included in its “Food vision” are the commitment that all dairy products, beef, lamb and poultry must be British and produced under national quality, ethical and welfare standards. In addition, bananas, tea, coffee and sugar […] Read more

The Ontario government has announced passage of animal health legislation which provides for new measures to help prevent, detect and respond to animal diseases. A government release said that then proclaimed, the Animal Health Act, 2009 will: •    enable the use of quarantine orders, surveillance zones and animal health control area orders to help control […] Read more

Now under creditor protection, Saskatchewan’s largest hog production company has filed in court for an extension to hand in its restructuring plan to its lenders. Lawyer Jeffrey Lee on Friday filed a notice of motion in Court of Queen’s Bench in Saskatoon on behalf of Big Sky Farms and its related companies, to extend its […] Read more