Livestock
Nova Scotia’s environment minister has been sworn in as its agriculture minister in Premier Rodney MacDonald’s cabinet shuffle announced Wednesday. Mark Parent, the MLA for Kings North, takes over the agriculture portfolio from Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley MLA Brooke Taylor. Taylor, who owned and operated his own trucking business before becoming a Tory MLA in 1993, will […] Read more
N.S. names new ag minister in shuffle
Newfoundland to document endangered pony
The now-endangered Newfoundland Pony will be the subject of a new photo archive to preserve the memory of its role in rural development of the province. The Newfoundland and Labrador government announced Wednesday it will work with the Newfoundland Pony Society and Memorial University’s history department to compile a “photographic history” of the pony. The […] Read more
Mexico blocks meat imports
Reading Time: < 1 minute Mexico last week suspended purchases from 30 U. S. meat plants, some of which are the largest in the country, due to sanitary issues, but U. S. analysts argue Mexico is retaliating for a U. S. meat labelling law. Mexico denied the retaliation charge and said purchases from the affected plants could resume as early […] Read more
Cows and sheep a good match
Reading Time: 4 minutes “It’s the easiest way in the world to make more profit, as far as I’m concerned.” Mother Nature doesn’t stick to one species on the landscape, and Len Larsen thinks she has the right idea. Larsen and his family run 900 ewes and 100 cattle near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. “It’s so much more profitable to […] Read more
Tax deferral in three Alta. counties
Reading Time: < 1 minute The federal government has posted its initial list of communities in which livestock producers will be eligible to defer 2008 income tax owing on sales of breeding stock due to drought. The government has so far designated 23 rural municipalities (RMs) in southern Saskatchewan, three northern Alberta counties and the Peace River Regional District in […] Read more
Work continues on Man. barn fire code
Manitoba’s fire commissioner is continuing work toward an updated fire code that will encompass hog barns, after a near-record year for hogs lost to fires. Provincial fire commissioner Doug Popowich told the Manitoba Co-operator in July that his office would recommend the government issue a consultation paper on building and fire safety codes for farm […] Read more
Alta. Ag hangs onto extra livestock ID staff
Extra provincial field staff who were hired to help Alberta cattle producers age-verify their 2008 calf crop will continue on the job until the end of March. Alberta’s agriculture department said in a bulletin Friday that over 30 additional department staff, as well as 30 part-time staff from the industry-owned inspection agency Livestock Identification Services […] Read more
Horse venereal disease imported here: CFIA
Canada’s horse industry has been asked to halt imports of U.S. breeding stock, embryos or semen while inspectors check farms that may have used semen infected with a contagious reproductive disease. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Wednesday confirmed that farms in Ontario and Alberta received semen this spring taken from one of three […] Read more
WTO case over hormones in beef drags on
Observers of the years-long trade dispute between Canada, the U.S. and the European Union, over the EU’s block on the two other countries’ beef, now wonder if the World Trade Organization can ever make it all stop. The EU on Monday announced yet another request for “consultations” at the WTO with Canada and the U.S., […] Read more
Alta. caps fees on farm assessment complaints
Alberta farmers looking to file complaints on the municipal assessments of their farmland properties will be charged filing fees no higher than $50, starting in 2009. Effective Jan. 1, the province will impose an upper limit on the complaint filing fees that municipal governments can charge. “Ensuring a fair fee is being charged to access […] Read more
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