Reading Time: 2 minutes Anew $9.5-million dairy facility at Lakeland College will offer students cutting-edge learning opportunities in areas such as calf management, feed and nutrition, cow comfort, dairy-specific software, and manure management. About 500 people turned out for the recent official opening of the 46,600-square-foot facility at the college’s Vermilion campus. “The Dairy Learning Centre replaces Lakeland’s previous […] Read more
College opens state-of-the-art dairy centre
The $9.5-million facility will be used by hundreds of students annually and also offer short continuing education courses
Alberta dairy producers concerned but calm over threats, says farm leader
Alberta Milk takes attacks from U.S. president seriously but its members aren’t panicking, says group’s chair
Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta dairy producers take President Donald Trump’s threats against Canadian dairy seriously, but they aren’t in a panic, says the chair of Alberta Milk. “I think we need to take this threat seriously because what we’re seeing from the U.S. administration is an administration that is unpredictable,” said Tom Kootstra, who farms near Ponoka. The […] Read more
Want to be a dairy farmer?
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Milk is accepting applications to its New Entrant Assistance Program until March 31. The program matches the quota purchased by the new entrant with a loan of quota from Alberta Milk up to 25 kilograms per day (about 20 to 25 cows) at no cost. New entrants can expand up to 70 kg/day of […] Read more
Make sure calves get the colostrum they need
University of Calgary animal health professor offers her tips on how to assess a situation and when to intervene
Reading Time: 2 minutes Many beef calves are not getting enough colostrum at birth, and the fallout can be drastic and last a lifetime. That’s why it’s important that calves consume some colostrum within the first four hours of life, said Claire Windeyer, assistant professor of production animal health at the University of Calgary. The probability that a calf […] Read more
Have a game plan before calving season gets underway
The risk factors that can sicken young calves are numerous but some can be mitigated, says veterinarian
Reading Time: 2 minutes The upcoming calving season will be a time of risk for disease on cow-calf operations. Pathogens that cause disease in young calves are present in all herds, so careful management is necessary to prevent them from getting sick. “Cow-calf producers most often deal with scours, septicemia, respiratory disease, and joint or navel ill,” said Dr. […] Read more
Got milk? Not so much these days
Sales of chocolate milk, yogurt, and cream up, but milk consumption way down
Reading Time: 2 minutes While fluid milk sales are decreasing in Canada, consumption of cream, flavoured milk, cheese and yogurt is on the rise. “According to Statistics Canada, per capita consumption of fluid milk decreased 21.5 per cent from 1996 to 2015,” said provincial consumer market analyst Jeewani Fernando. “However, flavoured milk and cream consumption has increased significantly during […] Read more
Milk costs and revenues up
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta Agriculture and Forestry has released The Economics of Milk Production 2015, which details the cost of producing a hectolitre of milk in Alberta last year. Higher feed prices pushed up production costs last year, but were partially offset by lower costs for fuel, utilities and labour (on an hours-per-cow basis). Overall costs were up […] Read more
Restaurants call foul as dairy farmers get a second pay hike this year
World dairy prices are crashing but Alberta Milk chair says the latest increase is modest and won’t hurt restaurant chains
Reading Time: 3 minutes Even though world dairy prices are at historic lows, Canadian dairy farmers will be getting a boost of 2.76 per cent for industrial milk — used to make butter, ice cream, yogurt, and cheese — starting Sept. 1. It comes on the heels of a 2.2 per cent price hike in February. “The industrial price […] Read more
Cool-temperature process extends milk shelf life
Rapid heating and cooling by 10 C
Purdue University researchers say they have developed a milk preservation system using a lower temperature than pasteurization, but providing a longer shelf life. The researchers found that increasing the temperature of milk by 10 C for less than a second and then cooling it rapidly eliminates more than 99 per cent of the bacteria left […] Read more
EU livestock farmers get compensation
Dairy farmers receive funds to offset price slump after scrapping of quotas
Brussels/Paris – Reuters — The European Union will grant an additional 500 million euros (C$721 million) to EU farmers struggling with a long-running crisis linked to low prices, notably in the dairy sector where it aims to reverse a boom in milk output after the scrapping of production quotas. European milk farmers have been struggling with […] Read more
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