Reading Time: < 1 minute Domestic sheep and goats can pose a threat to the health of Bighorn sheep. Anne Hubbs, senior wildlife biologist with the Alberta government, says domestic sheep and goats can commonly carry a bacterium that can cause pneumonia and large-scale population die-offs of Bighorn sheep following close contact with an infected animal. “There are no vaccines […] Read more
Don’t let domestic sheep mix with Bighorns
Optimism for Alberta’s lamb market
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Alberta sheep and lamb sector is facing smaller inventories, fewer breeding and replacement stock and an anticipated lower lamb crop for 2024. However, Ann Boyda, provincial livestock market analyst with the Alberta government, says optimism exists for continued easing of production costs and stronger lamb prices. Alberta has risen to become the second largest […] Read more
Alberta Lamb Producers seeks board member
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Alberta Lamb Producers board of directors has an opening for one interim director-at- large position. This position may be filled by a producer living in any area of Alberta (i.e.no zone requirements), and will be filled through appointment by the board. The application deadline is Dec. 31. Applicants must be a sheep producer residing […] Read more
Alberta lifts feeder loan guarantee limit
Amendment boosts individual limit by 50 per cent
Alberta has boosted the limit on the size of loan available under its Feeder Associations Loan Guarantee program, aiming to help producers keep up against rising livestock prices. An order in council amending the provincial Feeder Associations Guarantee Regulation was approved Monday, raising that program’s individual and joint-membership loan limit to $3 million, from $2 […] Read more
Bighorn deaths attributed to sheep contacts
Wild Sheep Foundation calls for domestic flocks to be tested and kept separate from wild population
Reading Time: 3 minutes There are calls for more separation between domestic and wild sheep following the death of several Bighorn rams in Bluerock Wildland Provincial Park and Sheep River Provincial Park. The animals were infected with Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (Movi), a disease common in the airways of domestic sheep and goats. The disease is bacterial and there is no vaccine for […] Read more
CFIA seeks feedback on traceability, animal ID amendments
Producers have until June 16 to comment on proposals
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is now seeking comment on its proposed amendments to livestock identification and traceability regulations. The regulatory proposal would address what the agency calls “gaps” in the current system, including: adding goats and cervids as animal species that share diseases with other regulated livestock, and therefore subject to traceability requirements, shortening […] Read more
Alberta bucks trend in live lamb prices
Préval Ag plant and feedlot purchase seen as positive for the sector
Reading Time: < 1 minute Provincial live lamb prices reported by Statistics Canada show an annual decrease in 2022 compared to 2021 for all provinces except Alberta, says Ann Boyda, provincial livestock market analyst with the Alberta government. “Alberta average live weight price was reported at $242.44 per hundredweight for 2022, up 4.7 per cent from 2021. Ontario has normally […] Read more
Préval closes deal for Alberta lamb processor, feedlot
Quebec firm picks up defunct NALCO's Alberta assets
Quebec agrifood firm Préval Ag has wrapped up its deal to buy the Alberta processing and production assets of the defunct North American Lamb Co., marking Préval’s first move into the lamb sector outside its home province. As per Alberta Farmer’s report last week, Préval confirmed Monday its divisions Westfine Meats and West Excelamb are […] Read more
Alberta lamb sector gets boost as Quebec powerhouse moves in
Fast-growing Préval Ag buys troubled Innisfail processing plant and major lamb feedlot
Reading Time: 3 minutes A Quebec company that is an emerging powerhouse in the meat sector has struck a deal to purchase the Alberta lamb processing plant and large feedlot of the defunct North American Lamb Company. “They seem to run a fair-sized conglomerate of businesses related to agriculture and the livestock industry,” said Neil Narfason, an official with […] Read more
Refundable checkoff for lamb producers stays
Reading Time: < 1 minute A bid to make the checkoff for lamb producers non-refundable has been defeated in a plebiscite. “Most producers that voted were in favour of the status quo, a refundable service charge model,” Alberta Lamb Producers said on its website. Just over 15 per cent of eligible producers voted, with 147 in favour of keeping the […] Read more
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