Reading Time: 2 minutes Spring brings sunny days and barbecues, but also nasty creepy crawlies, including ticks. Provincial officials are running a tick surveillance program, and urging anyone who finds a tick to contact their local veterinarian or public health office so it can be tested. “Ticks can do a number of things — the biggest concern we have […] Read more
Find a tick? Submit it to your veterinarian or public health office
Ticks can transmit Lyme disease to humans and dogs, but also anaplasmosis to cattle
Ranchers have no beef with new antibiotic restrictions
Health Canada pushing to end of routine use of antibiotics important in human medicine because of resistance threat
Reading Time: 4 minutes Health Canada’s move to end the use of “medically important” antibiotics as growth promotants won’t hurt livestock production, say an Alberta producer and industry experts. “There won’t be as much restriction as we first thought,” said Camrose rancher and Canadian Cattle Association president Dave Solverson. “(But) there will be a little more consultation with veterinarians […] Read more
Grass-fed farms get stamp of approval
Animal Welfare Approved label a boost for sales
Reading Time: < 1 minute Two grass-fed Alberta livestock operations have recently been given a stamp of approval by an influential U.S. organization called Animal Welfare Approved. Don and Marie Ruzicka raise Angus, Galloway and Red Poll cattle on 600 acres of pasture at Ruzicka Sunrise Farm near Killam, while John and Kelsey Beasley raise North Country Cheviot sheep at […] Read more
Don’t get mad, give your critics something to think about
It’s easy to be offended by critics of modern farming, but there are ways to challenge their thinking and provide new perspectives
Reading Time: 3 minutes “Watch what you eat. Wherever possible, avoid food grown with pesticides, in feedlots, or by agribusiness. It’s an easy way to use your dollars to vote against the spread of toxins in our bodies, soil and water.” This is the fourth principle in the consumption manifesto issued by the World Watch Institute, an environmental research […] Read more
Many factors to consider with cattle price insurance coverage
There’s a learning curve for the Cattle Price Insurance Program
Reading Time: 3 minutes You’re finally making money. Do you part with some of it to insure the bottom line? The Cattle Price Insurance Program (CPIP) was launched by Agriculture Financial Services Corporation four years ago. The program offers prices insurance on finished cattle in the feedlot or feeder cattle, as well as for calves sold in the fall. […] Read more
Tight supplies and rising prices give cattle producers a reason to smile
Low herd numbers are expected to buoy cattle prices for three to four years, but COOL is taking a bite from the bottom line
Reading Time: 2 minutes Cattle prices are the best they’ve been on a per-head basis in the last 10 years — although how good depends on how you look at it. “The market right now is fantastic,” said Herb Lock of Farm$ense Marketing. “Cow-calf producers right now are in their second world, floating around in the sky compared to […] Read more
Iowa company develops vaccine for PEDv
Harrisvaccines working with USDA to obtain a conditional licence
Reading Time: 2 minutes An Iowa animal pharmaceutical company has shipped about 770,000 doses of a new vaccine that treats a deadly swine virus first detected in U.S. herds this year and has spread to 20 states, a company official said in an interview. Harrisvaccines, based in Ames, Iowa, developed the vaccine called “iPED” in August to fight porcine […] Read more
Dead cattle found near Killam, SPCA investigation underway
Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals reminds cattle owners to provide supplemental feed and water
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dave Prichard says its the worst thing he’s seen in a lifetime of farming — 17 dead cattle on his summer pasture. “It was not a very nice scene,” said Prichard, who has his own polled Herefords and registered red Angus on his ranch near Killam, about 70 kilometres southeast of Camrose. The cattle belonged […] Read more
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