Livestock
Reading Time: 3 minutes For the fashionable, there is a big difference between designer jeans and a pair of denim pants. Although the fabric, which is cotton, may be the same in both, it is the style and the status of the designer jeans that makes them more sought after. In other words, the sale is driven by the […] Read more
A Little Cachet Can Go A Long Way In Beef Sales
Livestock Industry Legend Passes Away
Reading Time: < 1 minute After a 10-year battle with cancer, famed livestock photographer Walt Browarny passed away at the age of 75 in Calgary. His career spanned more than 40 years and he photographed livestock in most of the major cattle-producing countries in the world. He was there at the beginning of the exotic cattle boom and got an […] Read more
More Verified Beef Production Participants
Reading Time: < 1 minute Canada s beef producers continue to show their commitment to on-farm food safety. Recent participation figures for Verified Beef Production (VBP), the national beef on-farm food safety program, shows an increasing percentage of the national herd participating in the program. That s an important message for Canada s domestic and export customers, says Terry Grajczyk, […] Read more
Extending The Sow’s Productive Lifetime
Reading Time: 4 minutes While many producers use pigs/ sow/year as the benchmark for success in the breeding herd, there is now much more focus on lifetime productivity, driven by concern about high culling and death rates. I have discussed in the past the situation in Denmark, where sow death loss is around 15 per cent. In the U.S., […] Read more
In Brief – for Sep. 12, 2011
Reading Time: < 1 minute Maybe the bull was named Dynamite REUTERSA spill of frozen bull semen bound for a breeder in the state of Texas triggered a scare Aug. 23 that temporarily shut down a U.S. interstate highway during the morning rush hour. The incident began when the driver of a Greyhound bus carrying the freight alerted the fire […] Read more
Good Chute Design Could Save Your Life
Reading Time: 3 minutes A good, well-run chute plays a huge part in handling animals safely, reducing their stress and, more importantly, lowering the risk of injury or death for people working around the chute. Jennifer Woods has seen the good and the bad. The worst chutes I see are home-built or pieced together from parts of others, says […] Read more
News – for Sep. 12, 2011
Reading Time: < 1 minute Major U.S. grain companies have tightened curbs on genetically modified grains not yet approved by foreign markets, with some singling out one popular corn variety made by Syngenta, fearing any trace of the biotech grain in shipments could shut off export markets. The action was taken just weeks before the U.S. corn harvest, when this […] Read more
Your Well Needs Maintenance Too
Reading Time: 2 minutes It isn t only machinery and buildings that need regular maintenance, your water supply does, too. Unfortunately, wells don t come with a manual and that s one reason why Alberta Agriculture water specialist Melissa Orr says drinking water may be the most neglected resource on the farm. Nobody worries about their water system until […] Read more
Water Treatment — There Is No Magic Bullet
Reading Time: < 1 minute Water treatment hasn t changed in 20 years, so be wary of companies selling cures for all water-quality issues, says Melissa Orr, an Alberta Agriculture water engineer. Look for a reputable company, that provides a good warranty and service, she advises. The treatments that work are chlorine, ozone and UV, disinfectants and each has its […] Read more
Feds back B.C. beef carcass tracking system
Software to help ship information about the carcass quality of British Columbia’s slaughter cattle back down the production chain will get federal funding toward its development. Vancouver South MP Wai Young last week pledged over $276,000 in Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program (CAAP) funding to help set up the B.C. Carcass Tracking and Quality Information System. […] Read more
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