Reading Time: 4 minutes We all know that when handling, transporting and shipping cattle, stress is increased and weight loss and carcass changes occur. A new, or should I say reintroduced product, is back on the market after having been shelved by Agriculture Canada for many years. The product is called DeStress and is currently being marketed by a […] Read more
Product for reducing shrink during transport worth considering
Beef 911: A feed supplement that counteracts dehydration offers animal welfare benefits and an economic return
Lethbridge scientist wins beef industry’s outstanding researcher award
Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein is an internationally recognized expert on cattle welfare and behaviour
Reading Time: 2 minutes Agriculture Canada researcher Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein is the winner of the 2017 Canadian Beef Industry Award for Outstanding Research and Innovation. The senior research scientist at the Lethbridge Research Centre is an internationally recognized expert on cattle welfare and behaviour. Her research also includes work on early disease detection, feeding behaviour, stress assessment, and acidosis, as […] Read more
You need to think about shrink long before the transport truck arrives
Training your cattle to stay calm and properly preparing them for the stress of transport pays big dividends
Reading Time: 4 minutes Practising low-stress handling techniques has its benefits — it may actually help reduce shrink during transportation. “It’s about how we set animals up to interact with humans — any time you interact with them you’re training them how to respond and what to expect from humans,” said Christy Goldhawk who did her doctorate work on […] Read more
The lowdown on how buyers calculate shrink
‘Pencil shrink’ is actually designed to make the system fair and no buyer wants to see excessive shrink
Reading Time: 2 minutes What is shrink? And how is it calculated? “Actual shrink can be made up of two components,” said Sheldon Wilcox, manager at Direct Livestock Marketing in Edmonton. “One is gut fill (sometimes called excretory shrink) — which is the feed and water the animal consumes. The second one is tissue shrink.” Read more: Think about […] Read more
Participants wanted for survey on culling cattle
Reading Time: < 1 minute Another team of University of Alberta researchers is conducting a survey to gather information regarding producers’ current knowledge about transporting cull cattle and what factors influence their decisions to cull cattle. The survey was developed by students in the animal health/animal science program and Alberta Farm Animal Care. The survey information will be used for […] Read more
Taking a proactive approach to cattle transportation
Understanding cattle behaviour and adjusting density according to cattle type are key to proper transportation
Reading Time: 3 minutes When cattle trucker Rick Sincennes started in the business more than 30 years ago it was a different world. Today animal welfare is a profile issue in the public eye, animal activists are putting pressure on producers and the people involved in cattle transportation have an entirely different level of responsibility for themselves and their […] Read more
Wintry blast cuts both ways in U.S. cattle country
Chicago | Reuters — A major winter storm rolling across the U.S. Plains on Monday disrupted transportation of cattle to beef packing plants in sections of the region, said experts. However, they said, the rough weather supported cattle and wholesale beef prices struggling against abundant overall meat supplies and heavyweight animals. The storm, dubbed Goliath, […] Read more
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