Livestock
Reading Time: < 1 minute Members of a new producers’ network in Quebec will get La Coop Federée’s first-ever patronage dividend to be paid directly to hog farmers. Coop Federée, the province’s largest agrifood company and the owner of meat packer Olymel, on Mar. 5 announced it would pay out special dividends directly to members of the Filiere porcine cooperative, […] Read more
Que. pork chain members get dividend
Take stock of forage quality, quantity
Reading Time: < 1 minute Knowing your forage quality and quantity, as well as animal weight and body condition, is crucial in strategically meeting animal nutritional requirements with low-cost winter-feeding programs. “Forage quality is always important for livestock producers,” says Grant Lastiwka grazing/forage/beef specialist, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Olds. “With high grain prices, the alternative of adding grain to […] Read more
Hog producers — are you paying too much for your feed?
Reading Time: 2 minutes An economic analysis by an Alberta Agriculture specialist suggests hog producers may be paying too much for feed. “Based on the energy value of Alberta barley samples at current market prices, hog producers will frequently be paying up to $17 per tonne too much for some barley loads, and $11 per tonne below energy value […] Read more
Battle of the blades (sheep-shearing variety, that is)
Reading Time: 2 minutes For lucky sheep, it’s like a trip to the hair salon. For the unlucky ones, it can resemble a wild and woolly wrestling match against an opponent armed with a sharp object. The 4,600 sheep picked for the 2012 World Sheep Shearing Competition in Masterton, New Zealand, and the national Golden Shears championships were in […] Read more
Plant-based meat equivalents soon?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Livestock agriculture is an obsolete technology, says Stanford researcher, Patrick O. Brown. “Animal farming is by far the biggest ongoing global environmental catastrophe,” says Brown. “It’s an inefficient technology that hasn’t changed for a millennia.” In a presentation to the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting here last month, the researcher and […] Read more
European lab promises world’s first test-tube hamburger
Reading Time: 3 minutes Get ready for the first taste from the “Petri dish platter.” A group of researchers in the Netherlands has announced that the first lab-grown hamburger will be on the grill in October 2012 — at a cost of roughly $300,000. That may not sound hard for beef producers to compete with, but researcher Dr. Mark […] Read more
Chicken feet with 11 different herbs and spices?
Reading Time: 2 minutes The sight of a pretty Chinese girl preparing to gobble down a cooked chicken head might be a turn-off for North American meat eaters, but it represents a sexy new market for livestock producers. Asians are willing to pay a premium for the privilege of eating animal parts the industry can’t give away in domestic […] Read more
New Zealand sheep farmers call for collaboration with Canada
Reading Time: 2 minutes Nothing bothers a Canadian lamb producer more than the sight of frozen New Zealand lamb in the local supermarket. Owen Poole says they should look at it differently. “We shouldn’t be seen as competition. The challenge that brings us together is to make sure there is lamb on everyone’s dinner table all year long,” says […] Read more
Meeting the challenge of heavier carcass weights
Reading Time: 3 minutes The demand from pork processors for heavier carcasses has created a number of challenges for hog producers which need to be addressed in order to ensure that increasing the weight at which pigs are marketed is profitable. This was the message to producers from Dr. Eduardo Beltranena, with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, at the […] Read more
Ingested wire can cause serious illness in cattle
Reading Time: 2 minutes Inverted tires can make great containers to hold cattle feed and water, but tires also can pose health risks for the animals if the tires aren’t maintained regularly. “If the tires you are using on your operation have wire in the walls, this wire can break off and subsequently be consumed by cattle,” warns North […] Read more
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