Livestock
Shuttered indefinitely on Monday, Eastern Canada’s largest packing plant for cull cattle has now gone into receivership. The Federation des producteurs de bovins du Quebec (FPBQ), which majority-owns the Levinoff-Colbex facility at St-Cyrille-de-Wendover, Que., said Friday that the plant’s creditors have asked for and were granted a court-appointed receiver. Specifically, lawyers for National Bank of […] Read more
Quebec’s Colbex beef plant in receivership
New dairy expo built to be national industry showcase
The stage is set and a new large-scale dairy tradeshow is scheduled for Ontario in February 2013, with an eye on attracting a national following. The inaugural Canadian Dairy XPO (CDX), scheduled to take place in Stratford Feb. 6-7, is billed as a first-time event for Canada, where the width and breadth of the dairy […] Read more
Tell your story but keep it real: Grandin
Updated, June 1, 2012 — Livestock producers should harness the power of YouTube to counter the influence of animal rights activists in the consumer market, but they’ll want to ditch the spin and keep it real. That was the advice of renowned U.S. animal welfare expert Temple Grandin, delivered to a packed house at a […] Read more
Ukraine re-opens to Canadian live hogs
Ukraine and Canada have signed off on new export certificates that will allow exports of live Canadian hogs and, for the first time, Canadian swine genetics. The new certificate for live hogs "has been negotiated by the two countries to address Ukraine’s recently revised import requirements," the Canadian government said in a release Thursday. "This […] Read more
Dairy farmers ready for tightened SCC levels
Canadian dairy farmers will have to meet new standards for somatic cell counts (SCCs) beginning this summer, but they appear to be ahead of the curve. Effective Aug. 1, regulatory limits for producers will be lowered to 399,000 per millilitre from 499,000 per millilitre. However, "the change is not going to affect most dairy producers," […] Read more
N.S. to merge three ag research, extension agencies
Three provincial-level agriculture research, development and extension agencies in Nova Scotia will join its ongoing consolidation of ag services through a merger by the end of next month. The province on Friday announced the forming of a new Crown corporation, Perennia Food and Agriculture Inc., combining the agencies now known as AgraPoint, the Atlantic BioVenture […] Read more
Ont. to add interest, set deadlines on ag program debts
Ontario’s farm program delivery agency plans to require all outstanding account balances owed by farmers to be paid back within three years — and, starting next year, paid with interest. Agricorp said Monday it will notifty all farmers with outstanding balances on the books that interest will be applied to any outstanding accounts, starting Jan. […] Read more
Quebec’s cattle producers shut Colbex cull plant
Eastern Canada’s largest packing plant for cull cattle has stopped buying animals and halted its operations indefinitely. The Federation des producteurs de bovins du Quebec (FPBQ) said Monday afternoon it has to postpone the implementation of its proposed fiscal recovery plan for the producer-owned Levinoff-Colbex beef plant at St-Cyrille-de-Wendover. The group said it expects to […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder cattle market has mixed tone
Western Canadian feeder cattle prices were steady to $2 per hundredweight higher last week. The weaker Canadian dollar, along with steady feedlot demand set a firmer tone. Favourable rains over the past couple weeks have also enhanced demand for grass cattle. Feedlots are moving a large amount of fed cattle at this time of year; […] Read more
Feds put up $12M for Ont. frozen pizza plant
The Canadian arm of German food processing firm Dr. Oetker has picked up $12 million in federal "repayable contributions" for a new frozen pizza plant to be built in southern Ontario. Dr. Oetker, whose Canadian holdings include the Shirriff mashed potato, pudding and pie filling brand and the Added Touch line of baking mixes, picked […] Read more
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