The biggest driver affecting profitability last year was feed costs.

Dairy sector could see ‘return to normal’ in 2024

Stresses from borrowing and feed costs should ease: FCC

Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – A recent outlook released by Farm Credit Canada says there’s room for optimism in the dairy sector. “It has been a volatile few years for dairy producers, but 2024 is shaping up to be calmer — a return to a more normal environment, if you will,” FCC senior economist Graeme Crosbie said […] Read more


Analyzing milk to prevent ruminal acidosis

Analyzing milk to prevent ruminal acidosis

Research shows disease can be detected by testing milk

Reading Time: 2 minutes Tasnime Touil, a doctoral student at Laval University in Quebec, is developing an artificial intelligence tool using infrared spectroscopy to predict ruminal pH and subclinical acidosis in dairy cows. “Ruminal pH can be an indicator of the cow’s rumen health and performance,” she said. “When it drops below 5.8 for 300 minutes or more, it […] Read more

On dairy farms, methane from cattle is a big part of their carbon footprint, but researchers say diet can control emissions at least somewhat.

Dairy’s gap in the map toward net zero

Canadian dairy has a carbon emissions goal but is still hammering out the way to get there

Reading Time: 4 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – The Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) has a goal to reach net zero on carbon emissions but admits the plan to get there doesn’t exist. Not yet, at least. “It kind of reminds me of JFK saying, ‘By 1969, we’ll have a man on the moon’ and they hadn’t invented rockets yet,” […] Read more


(MaryMarin/iStock/Getty Images)

Dairy farmers press feds on compensation promises, again

Canada’s dairy farmers are again calling on the federal government to make good on its promise to compensate producers, after giving up market share of the supply-managed industry to more foreign competitors through trade pacts. The Liberal government, most recently in its Sept. 23 speech from the throne, has told Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) […] Read more

According to a study by Alberta Agriculture, the cost of producing milk in Alberta decreased by five per cent in 2017.

The cost of feed was a plus for dairy producers one year ago

Reading Time: < 1 minute Dairy farmers not only saw more demand for their production in 2017 but enjoyed lower feed costs, says the latest provincial report on the economics of milk production. The cost of producing milk in Alberta decreased by five per cent in 2017 compared to 2016, said research analyst Pauline Van Biert. “The total cost for […] Read more


(Thinkstock photo)

Eastern dairy farmers get big quota increase

The eastern Canadian provinces have approved a five per cent dairy quota increase — their largest one-time quota increase since the daily quota system was implemented in 1998. It will also be implemented quickly, on July 1. The five provinces — Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario — create quota policy […] Read more



Conference board’s supply management reform ill conceived

Scrapping the current system would require government to subsidize both 
domestic production and exports

Reading Time: 2 minutes The Conference Board of Canada embraces the mantra that “all growth is good.” Its plan to change supply management for growth is a prescription for weakening, if not eliminating, the three pillars of supply management for dairy production in Canada — production controls, import tariffs and farmers’ cost-of-production pricing — in order to produce more […] Read more

herd of holstein cattle in a field

Dairy production dips as cull cow prices soar

Dairy production in Alberta has dropped to its lowest level in a year — and the high price of cull cows is to blame

Reading Time: 2 minutes The price of replacement dairy heifers in Eastern Canada is keeping cull cows on the farm longer, reducing milk production by almost three per cent in Ontario from the same time last year. But in Alberta, it’s the strong price of cull cows that’s keeping milk production down. “Cull prices are really, really high,” said […] Read more