Livestock

A pro-deregulation think tank’s report on Quebec agriculture agrees with last year’s provincial commission on the sector’s future but sets blame directly on supply management and subsidies for a stagnating industry. Drawing on figures from the 2008 report by Jean Pronovost’s Commission sur l’avenir de l’agriculture et de l’agroalimentaire quebecois, Fraser Institute senior policy analyst […] Read more

Described as a “critical first step” in Alberta’s new Livestock and Meat Strategy, over 83 per cent of the province’s 2008 calf crop has been age-verified, the provincial government said Monday. Age verification is among the initiatives outlined in the ALMS strategy, which the province expects to help its livestock and meat industry become more […] Read more

A “deteriorating meat, milk, and egg production economy” weighed on second-quarter revenue for feed maker Ridley Inc. The company, which keeps headquarters in Winnipeg and in Minnesota, on Friday posted net earnings of $700,000 on revenue of $163.6 million for the quarter ending Dec. 31, up from a net loss of $2.8 million on $167 […] Read more

Preliminary results from a swine feeding trial with rations high in distillers’ dried grains with solubles (DDGS) suggest an opportunity for Canada’s pork producers to load up on cheap feed. Eduardo Beltranena, a pork research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development’s competitive livestock production wing in Edmonton, was quoted Sunday in a release from […] Read more

Legislating a new framework that regionalizes land-use planning in Alberta will be on the agenda for the provincial government heading into its spring session. The new Land Stewardship Act and plans to develop a “leading edge” system for capture and storage of atmospheric carbon are listed as the expected “highlights” for the next legislative session, […] Read more

Sales from new acquisitions boosted gross revenue for Saputo in its third fiscal quarter, but one-time costs and market conditions in some sectors bit into the Q3 profits for Canada’s largest dairy processor. Montreal-based Saputo, the world’s 15th-largest dairy processing firm, on Wednesday posted net earnings of $57.76 million on $1.52 billion in revenues for […] Read more

The Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency has tapped into the province’s livestock and meat production talent pool for advisory committees to guide the agency’s work. “When I announced the strategy and the creation of ALMA, I promised that industry would remain the driver,” provincial Agriculture Minister George Groeneveld said Wednesday in announcing the new committees. […] Read more

The Newfoundland and Labrador government will put up almost half a million dollars for new feed manufacturing capacity on a major mink ranch in the Avalon region. Viking Fur of Cavendish will get $495,000 through the province’s Agriculture and Agrifoods Development Fund (AADF) toward a $1.5 million project to increase feed kitchen and cold storage […] Read more

The avian influenza that led federal inspectors to cull, gas and compost about 60,000 birds on a Fraser Valley poultry farm in British Columbia is subtype H5N2, and likely low in pathogenicity. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported Tuesday that tests at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Diseases in Winnipeg confirm the H5 bird […] Read more

Imports of horse semen and embryos from the U.S. will now need more paperwork as Ottawa looks to keep a horse venereal disease out of Canada. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) new requirements, announced Tuesday, follow an earlier tightening of restrictions Jan. 23 on imports of live U.S. horses and related animals. CFIA found […] Read more