Livestock

Canada’s livestock producers can now apply for emergency advances through the advance payments program (APP), Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced Friday. “We are pleased agreements are now in place with 10 producer organizations to deliver emergency advances so cattle and hog farmers can get the cash flow they need,” Ritz said in a release. The […] Read more

Billed as Canada’s “most modern university veterinary hospital,” the Universite de Montreal’s University Veterinary Hospital Centre officially opened for all species Friday. The federal and Quebec governments put up over $74 million alongside the university’s own funding to double and renovate the facility. UVHC’s expanded facility, which will be open 24 hours a day, 365 […] Read more

Younger Alberta cattle at high risk for BSE will be the new focus of the federal/provincial surveillance program for the disease. Starting July 1, the Canada-Alberta BSE surveillance program, run by Alberta’s agriculture department and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, will shift its focus to testing younger cattle for which critical disease history and diagnoses […] Read more

Animal feed company Masterfeeds has signed a deal to buy the Ontario feed business of Land O’Lakes Canada and two Growmark feed mills. Masterfeeds, which is based in London, Ont. and runs 13 feed plants in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Quebec, expects to close this deal by June 2. Land O’Lakes Canada (LOLC) was formed […] Read more

An articling agrologist with a background in water stewardship is the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association’s new general manager. Chad MacPherson, the former Moose Jaw River Watershed Stewards stewardship co-ordinator, was the first source water protection plan co-ordinator in the province, the SSGA said in a release Wednesday. MacPherson replaces consultant Adele Buettner of AgriBiz Communications, […] Read more

Fred Knoedler, who as CEO of what’s now Premium Brands oversaw the company’s move out of meat packing and into specialty foods, died last week of cancer in White Rock, B.C. Knoedler, whose profile at BusinessWeek magazine’s website listed his age as 62, had worked for Vancouver-based Premium Brands Income Fund and its predecessor companies […] Read more

Beleaguered Toronto pet food maker Menu Foods is describing its first fiscal quarter as a “significant turnaround.” The income trust posted a net loss of $2.2 million on $55.6 million in sales during the quarter ending March 31, an improvement over a $17.5 million loss on $64.5 million in the year-earlier period. The company was […] Read more

The federal cull program for breeding swine is moving into a second phase to spread out remaining funds across all provinces. The Canadian Pork Council, which operates the $50 million program, said Thursday that in this second phase, funds will go only to hog farmers in provinces that haven’t yet met the target of cutting […] Read more

The New Brunswick government plans to budget an extra $1 million for “strategic investments” in its agriculture and aquaculture sectors. Agriculture Minister Ron Ouellette announced the funds Thursday as part of the ag and aquaculture department’s $37.6 million ordinary, capital and loans advances accounts budget for 2008-09. “The additional funding of $1 million will help […] Read more