Livestock
Quebec Premier Jean Charest has gone to the province’s western Abitibi region for his new minister of agriculture, food and fisheries. Pierre Corbeil, a Val d’Or dentist, the MNA for Abitibi-East since 2003, and the province’s aboriginal affairs minister since late 2008, was named Thursday as Charest’s new ag minister, replacing Laurent Lessard. Lessard, currently […] Read more
Quebec names new ag minister in shuffle
Maple Leaf to shut West Coast deli meat plant
A prepared meats plant at Surrey, B.C. is scheduled as the next casualty in Maple Leaf Foods’ consolidation plans. The Toronto agrifood firm on Tuesday said it will start winding down operations at the Vancouver-area plant in May and close the facility on Sept. 30, affecting about 165 employees. Production will then be consolidated at […] Read more
Korea’s foot-and-mouth recovery could take year or two
South Korea’s swine industry could take one or two years to recover from a foot-and-mouth epidemic that has boosted meat purchases by one of the world’s top pork importers. A long-term boost to the country’s pork imports, mainly from the United States, could support U.S. hog futures already at record highs partly on the back […] Read more
SW Ont. turkey processor backed for renos, expansion
A southwestern Ontario turkey producer and processor has picked up public funding to boost its production capacity and expand its retail and product development space. Hayter’s Turkey Products, based at Dashwood, about 60 km northwest of London, will get about $350,000 for its projects from the province’s Rural Economic Development Program. The company plans to […] Read more
Klassen: USDA report strikes bearish tone
Feeder cattle prices in Western Canada were expected to start last week on a softer tone, due to the bearish U.S. Department of Agriculture cattle on feed report. However, replacement cattle traded $2 to $4 higher on average, with solid demand for all weight categories. Steer calves weighing just over 600 pounds brought back $148 […] Read more
Pork producer Hytek gets a Life in rebranding
Canada’s largest hog production company will officially rebrand Tuesday under a new moniker, HyLife, which it says will “more accurately reflect” its position in global food markets. Subsidiaries of the company now formerly known as Hytek Ltd. will follow suit and adopt the new name at a later date, the company said in a release. […] Read more
Man. poultry processor buys into further-processing
A Winnipeg further processor making turkey goods for the foodservice, health care and institutional markets is on its way to Granny’s. Granny’s Poultry Co-operative, also of Winnipeg, announced Monday it would buy Prairie Produce Inc. for an undisclosed sum. “This acquisition shows our continued commitment to our producers, the poultry industry, and is a logical […] Read more
Feds pledge more funds for sheep, goat tracking
Nearly half a million dollars in federal funding has been budgeted to help finalize a national ID and traceability plan for Canada’s sheep and goat sectors. The government on Monday announced over $487,000 for the Canadian Sheep Federation (CSF) and the Canadian National Goat Federation (CNGF) to set up “various communications products” and educate the […] Read more
Eliminating The Weaning-To-Mating Interval
Reading Time: 3 minutes A recent roadshow in Western Australia, organized by the Pork Co-operative Research Centre (CRC), based at the University of Adelaide, featured a presentation by Dr. Jeff Downing on the possibility of eliminating the weaning-to-mating interval by inducing estrus during the suckling period and breeding sows prior to weaning. While the concept is not new, the […] Read more
GM Chickens Don’t Spread H5N1
Reading Time: < 1 minute British scientists have developed genetically modified (GM) chickens that cannot transmit bird flu infections – a step that in future could reduce the risk of avian flu spreading and causing deadly epidemics in humans. Scientists from Cambridge and Edinburgh universities said that while the transgenic chickens still got sick and died when they were exposed […] Read more
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