Livestock

“Several nonsubstantial changes” in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s BSE regulations will slightly loosen a few remaining export restrictions on Canadian cattle and related products. USDA on Friday announced amendments to its regulations on imports of animals and animal products from regions of “minimal risk” for BSE, or mad cow disease. USDA’s minimal-risk designation currently […] Read more

Quebec’s $17.5 million aid package for hog farmers with herds hit by post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) will include both direct aid, due next month, and interest-free loans, the province announced Tuesday. The aid package, announced in general terms before Christmas, will be in two parts. The first will be direct aid for PMWS-affected hog […] Read more

Quebec meat packer Olymel and the workers at one of its hog slaughter plants have put in extra hours to process surplus hogs for the hungry, the company announced Friday. Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (TUAC) local 1991-P working for Olymel at St-Esprit, about 60 km north of Montreal, pledged to extend […] Read more

Natural Organic Food Group (NOFG) has handed over the keys to its Charlottetown hog plant after the province called in a $1.5 million loan, CBC reported Friday. The company, which recently announced plans to go into receivership, told a news conference Friday that the P.E.I. government had given the company 10 days to repay the […] Read more

Beef Improvement Ontario (BIO) has hired a former executive director of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association to manage the restructured organization. Mike McMorris, who most recently was a senior director for Agricorp, was previously the OCA’s executive director and before that worked for the provincial ag ministry. He takes the general manager’s job at BIO starting […] Read more

Ontario’s cattle producers and beef slaughter plants will share $14 million in provincial funding to help pay for deadstock disposal and costs incurred under the pumped-up federal feed ban, respectively. The province’s agriculture ministry on Thursday announced $5 million in interim funding for the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association, to support “affordable deadstock collection and disposal” […] Read more

Federal and provincial ag officials discussing new approaches for support of Prince Edward Island’s ag industry are “actively” considering a provincewide expansion of the ALUS program. Now operating in pilot projects in two P.E.I. watersheds, and in other pilots in Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta, ALUS (Alternative Land Use Services) provides financial incentives for farmers […] Read more

Grain handling equipment maker Ag Growth of Winnipeg has bought a U.S. manufacturer of livestock gates, panels, stock tanks and feeders on its latest cross-border shopping trip. Ag Growth Income Fund announced Tuesday that it’s bought Applegate Steel of Saratoga, Ind., for US$3 million. Applegate has posted annual revenues of between US$9 million and $12 […] Read more

A recently-approved vaccine to control post-weaning diarrhea in swine will be the first of its kind in a decade to be developed and produced in Canada, its makers report. Coliprotec, developed by Prevtec Microbia of Ste-Hyacinthe, Que., was brought through pre-licensing serial testing at the Saskatchewan Research Council’s biosafety level 2 fermentation pilot plant, on […] Read more

Pfizer Animal Health has licensed a Halifax firm’s vaccine-boosting platform to develop new livestock treatments. Terms of Pfizer’s deal with ImmunoVaccine Technologies, announced Monday, weren’t disclosed, but the Halifax company will get signing fees and milestone and royalty payments as Pfizer begins to commercialize its VacciMax platform. The licensing deal allows Pfizer to use the […] Read more