Livestock

A dispute over who will slaughter and process New Brunswick poultry has so far spilled over into a temporary blockade against two of the sector’s major players. New Brunswick poultry production company Groupe Westco and Quebec meat packer Olymel, who plan a new joint-venture poultry plant in the region, say a rival firm’s unwillingness to […] Read more

The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association plans to rebrand and expand distribution of its member publication. The SSGA’s book will be renamed, effective with this month’s issue, from The Stockgrower to Saskatchewan Beef Business. “This past June the SSGA recognized that there were some very compelling arguments in favour of taking the lead in providing a […] Read more

A government fund to upgrade federal lab facilities across Canada will kick in almost $7 million for renovation work at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s Ottawa-area facilities. The lab at Fallowfield, just southwest of Ottawa, is a reference centre for the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) for rabies and brucellosis, and a World Health […] Read more

A proposal to license individual auctioneers in Alberta is up for discussion as part of a review of the province’s public auctions regulations. The first part of Service Alberta’s review, announced Tuesday, includes an online discussion paper for the public to provide input before the department’s deadline of Oct. 8. Other proposals in the discussion […] Read more

The federal government has expanded its list of drought-affected areas where producers of breeding livestock can defer some of their sale income for the 2009 income tax year. Added Tuesday to the list of designated areas were 47 census subdivisions in B.C., 28 communities in Alberta and eight rural municipalities in Saskatchewan. “These additional tax […] Read more

The sale of the Prairie Swine Centre’s research farm to a British swine genetics firm is expected to benefit Saskatchewan’s pork and grain sectors beyond the immediate financial upside. The hog research agency, affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan, recently announced it would sell the farm at Elstow, about 45 km east of Saskatoon, to […] Read more

About 350 unionized workers from Canada Safeway’s grocery distribution centre and Lucerne ice cream plant in Edmonton are on the picket line for what their union’s president warns may be the long haul. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401 said it served Safeway with strike notice Friday, to which Safeway responded by […] Read more

The southwestern Ontario hog farmer whose appeal has helped stall the deregulation of Ontario Pork’s single marketing desk for hogs now wants to know whether Ontario Pork feels the same way. Rein Minnema, who’s represented at the province’s Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal hearings by local-farming advocate Elbert van Donkersgoed, now wants to […] Read more

Expecting “continued difficulty” in Canadian beef and pork production, livestock feed manufacturer Ridley Inc. has closed its books on fiscal 2009 with a US$1.3 million loss. The company, which operates out of Winnipeg and Mankato, Minn., reported Thursday that its loss for the year ending June 30 comes on $603.4 million in revenues, down from […] Read more

The Canadian government’s loan guarantees and exit funding for beleaguered hog farmers don’t seem nearly as onerous to the main U.S. hog farmers’ group as it had previously feared. Nick Giordano, counsel on international trade policy for the National Pork Producers Council, told the Canadian program Farmscape Thursday that Ottawa’s plans are “a more modest […] Read more