Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and International Trade Minister Ed Fast announced this week that the Government of Canada has opened the Ukrainian market for beef from cattle under 30 months (UTM) and ready-to-eat meat. This new market access marks follows the lifting of Ukraine’s ban on Canadian beef products in 2014. Canadian beef and ready-to-eat… Read More
Category: Cattle
There’s potential for much more composting in North American farming, say researchers at the University of Manitoba. “Turning waste into gold” was the theme for the annual field day at the U of M’s Glenlea Research Farm last week. Mario Tenuta, soil ecologist at the University of Manitoba, describes the value of farm-scale composting of manure,… Read More
There’s no doubt that having a vaccination protocol on hand could save booster misses, bring all farm employees to the same page and improve overall confidence in our herd health programs. But, developing that protocol can be more than a little overwhelming. At the 2015 UCVM Beef Cattle Conference, I (finally!) tracked down Cody Creelman, veterinarian… Read More
Anyone with an eye on mainstream media or the meat shelves in the grocery store won’t be surprised to hear that the average beef retail price has hit another record high, weighing in at $19.69/kg. “That’s up 3% from last month, but more importantly i think — this is what people are going to hone into… Read More
Saskatchewan farmers have an extra 15 days to plant greenfeed crops and still receive crop insurance coverage. The federal and provincial agriculture ministers announced the deadline has been pushed back from June 30th to July 15th in hopes it will help mitigate a potential feed shortage. “The lack of moisture through the spring and so far this growing season has… Read More
Last month, TMX Group announced the launch of a new, web-based subsidiary to connect U.S. and Canadian cattle producers in an online marketplace, called AgriClear. “Today’s launch of AgriClear represents an important opportunity for TMX Group to apply the depth of expertise we have across our business lines to address client needs in a new… Read More
Note: There are a couple of rather graphic pictures in this post. Audio included at the end. Losing an animal to any sort of predation can be incredibly difficult to stomach, and a lot of times completely unexpected. The scenes we typically imagine in the wild are those of peace, where cattle low, birds sing,… Read More
There are few things on livestock operations more difficult than deciding whether or not to euthanize an animal. And according to Jan Shearer, professor at Iowa State University, we tend to let that decision go on way too long. Shearer was a speaker at this year’s UCVM Beef Cattle Conference pre-conference, where he spoke on the difficult subject…. Read More
Elizabeth Homerosky, doctor of veterinary medicine and Simpson Ranch Fellow at the University of Calgary, is looking at developing a scoring system that might enable producers to predict a calf’s ability to consume colostrum on its own, in a timely manner. So far, the data seems to point in a rather unsurprising direction: suckling reflex…. Read More
McDonald’s Corporation is offering up to $20,000 in funding for organizations and members of the Canadian beef community for projects that help prepare ranches and feedlots to successfully participate in the McDonald’s Verified Sustainable Beef Pilot Project (VSB Pilot). Qualifying applicants may be veterinarians, genetics providers, feed companies, associations and more. The funding, up to… Read More
It’s our own complacency that brought on the threat of antimicrobial resistance, says Trisha Dowling, a professor of veterinary clinical pharmacology at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. “We got complacent just pretty much thinking there was a pill for every ill. So there’s been a whole lot of use of antibiotics just in case someone or… Read More
The Canadian Cattlemen’s Foundation (CCF) officially launched this week with a golf tournament and much celebrating. RealAgriculture’s Shaun Haney spoke with CCF chair Bob Lowe from the event to highlight what the foundation is all about — building and sustaining the Canadian cattle industry by focusing on youth and leadership, environmental sustainability, and timely research…. Read More
The 5th annual UCVM Beef Cattle Conference is officially underway today, following a rather insightful day of pre-conference workshops at the University of Calgary’s Spyhill Campus. The pre-conference dealt with proper management of cattle, covering low-stress handling techniques, treatment protocols and humane euthanasia. For now, I’ll report on the middle ground, as I’ve covered cattle… Read More
Ontario Corn Fed Beef, a beef brand owned and operated by Ontario beef farmers, is expanding into international markets in Japan. Following the May 1st launch of Ontario Corn Fed Beef at 33 Kinsho Stores throughout the Osaka Japan market, a delegation of guests, including retail and distribution partners from Japan, are touring Ontario beef… Read More
Results from the first Western Canadian Cow-Calf Survey show there’s room to tighten up the breeding season on the majority of cow-calf operations from B.C. to Manitoba. The Beef Cattle Research Council and Western Beef Development Centre have published some production findings from the project (find them in a BCRC blog post here.) The questionnaire, which was… Read More