Livestock

The Alberta government plans on Monday to follow through on last October’s pledge to bring milk and liquid cream containers into a regulated deposit-refund system. Starting June 1, milk and liquid cream containers will be returnable like other beverage containers to a bottle depot for a refund, making Alberta the first jurisdiction in Canada to […] Read more

Canada and the other 18 countries in the Cairns Group of agricultural exporters warn Washington’s plans to subsidize U.S. dairy exports will undermine other dairy-producing nations’ economic recoveries. In a release Wednesday, the Cairns Group described U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s recently-announced allocations under Washington’s Dairy Export Incentive Program as a “backwards step.” “This unfortunate […] Read more

A pilot ditch mowing project by Saskatchewan’s highways department is expected to cut down on wildlife roadkill but still allow farmers to harvest ditch hay. Highways Minister Wayne Elhard said Thursday that contractors, starting June 7, will mow a four-metre-wide strip along the highway shoulder in all provincial ditches during the month of June. But […] Read more

A new University of Alberta study finds beef to be a “nutritionally significant” delivery system for a “good” form of naturally occurring trans fat. Researchers, in a release Thursday, said their work follows up on early studies of trans vaccenic acid (VA), the most prevalent natural trans fat in beef and dairy products. Those early […] Read more

A former Walmart vice-president of global procurement for food and a former CEO of Burns Food have joined Alberta’s new provincial livestock agency. Provincial Agriculture Minister George Groeneveld on Thursday announced the appointments of Wayne McKnight of Mississauga, Ont., and Ron Jackson of Calgary to the board of the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency (ALMA). […] Read more

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has granted Japan the same “controlled risk” status as Canada for BSE, according to the Reuters news agency. The move, announced Tuesday, is expected to loosen market access for Japanese beef exports, but is also expected to put pressure on Japan to open its ports to more beef […] Read more

Most Canadian cattle producers don’t see a financial upside to vaccinating their animals to reduce the E. coli bacteria in manure, so it may be up to Ottawa to make it worth their while. Bioniche Life Sciences, a Belleville, Ont. company that has developed the only registered vaccine against E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in cattle, […] Read more

Chicken and turkey meat sales values in Canada in 2008 rose 15 per cent over the previous year to $2.4 billion, according to Statistics Canada. The federal statistics agency reported Wednesday that the value of all poultry products, including eggs, was up 13.1 per cent in 2008 compared to 2007, to a total of $3.2 […] Read more

Alberta’s Olds College will add a new certificate in meat industry management to its curriculum starting next spring. “Upon commencing, it will be the only true gate-to-plate program of its kind in North America, giving graduates a comprehensive understanding of all aspects of the meat industry from slaughter right through to purchase by the consumer,” […] Read more