Picture Butte Feeder Co-operative has been deemed fully operational, with the ministerial order lifted for the Feeders Association Loan Guarantee program and benchmarks met in provincial audits and restructuring requirements.

Countdown begins for traceability

Cattle industry gears up for an overhaul of the system as long-awaited new regulations promise to reshape the sector

Reading Time: 5 minutes Canadian cattle producers are awaiting new federal traceability regulations following a two-year consultation process.



Livestock traceability has been implemented in various forms across livestock sectors, with various degrees of benefit and cost to producers.

Livestock sector raises issue with new traceability reporting times

CFIA update will also bring goats, farmed deer and elk under traceability

Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – An online consultation on livestock traceability came back with widespread support for the general premise — and concerns about tighter timelines for reporting and tag retention. Last year, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency unveiled proposed changes to Canada’s national livestock traceability rules, including a shorter window in which producers are to report […] Read more

Ensuring identification tags remain in the ear of cow is essential for farm-to- fork traceability.

Best practices at tagging time easiest way to not lose them

Tags that go into cattle’s ears properly are more likely to stay there and not cause problems with traceability

Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – The Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) has launched a new campaign to provide more information to farmers on how to retain tags on cattle. The challenge with cattle tagging is that at some point in their life, they can lose their iconic yellow button tags, and that’s a problem for the traceability […] Read more


(Gloria Solano-Aguilar photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

PigTrace tag prices go up Dec. 15

Program costs 'unsustainable' without price increase

One of the prices producers pay for hog traceability will be going up 10 per cent. The Manitoba Pork Council said in a notice to producers Wednesday that the Canadian Pork Council will apply a 10 per cent increase to the prices of PigTrace ear tags and accessories, effective Dec. 15. Table: PigTrace ear tag […] Read more

File photo of goats on display at the Hanover Agricultural Fair in Grunthal, Man. in August 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Fairs, exhibitions concerned over new traceability proposals

Event volunteers may lack skills needed, association says

The Canadian Association of Fairs and Exhibitions (CAFE) says proposed federal regulations regarding livestock traceability are putting animal events across the country at risk. Their concerns centre around new directives centred around moving and tagging which they say would affect Canada’s 5,000 fairs, rodeos and other events. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has proposed that […] Read more


File photo of goats on display at the Hanover Agricultural Fair in Grunthal, Man. in August 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

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

Compared to other nations, Canada has a fairly robust system when it comes to traceability, says the general manager of the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency.

It’s been 25 years of livestock traceability

On the right track: Tracking livestock is now pretty conventional, but it wasn’t always — and still isn’t in some countries

Reading Time: 3 minutes It was groundbreaking in its day, but 25 years later — and well over 100 million ear tags —it’s hard to imagine the days when there was no livestock traceability. “It’s an everyday thing now — resistance is minimal,” said Anne Brunet-Burgess, general manager of the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency. The organization held its first […] Read more


dot platform at agsmart

Pandemic speeding up adoption of technology

Online ordering and virtual contracts commonplace, traceability and autonomous machines getting new push

Reading Time: 5 minutes Like it or not, the farm of the future will run on technology — and that future has become ever closer because of COVID-19. “It’s been a pretty big disruption for a lot of businesses,” said Wes Anderson, senior fertility specialist at CropPro Consulting. “It has forced a lot of our clients to use technology […] Read more

Olds College launches fully traceable beer

Olds College launches fully traceable beer

Reading Time: < 1 minute Olds College Brewery has launched Barley Trail, a traceable beer using blockchain technology and barley grown on the college’s Smart Farm. Consumers can scan a QR code on every can to learn about the complete journey the ingredients took from field to glass. The initiative used Decisive Farming’s farm management technology (My Farm Manager and […] Read more