This fall is proving to test the real intestinal fortitude of the cattleman in the United States and Canada. With feeding losses mounting and demand not recovering in the early winter months, the outlook looks extremely strained. Traditionally cattleman have been internal optimists but this turn of feeding has challenged all of that and more…. Read More
This is part two of my interview with the President and CEO of the Alberta Livestock Meat Agency (ALMA), Gordon Cove. In this interview I asked questions provided to me by producers. I gathered questions from Twitter and Agriville and asked them in no particular order to Mr. Cove. I would suggest that many people at the… Read More
When an industry struggles financially, it becomes necessary to re-evaluate how business is done. The beef industry has struggled since the discovery of BSE in 2003 and the pork industry has felt the financial pain from the H1N1 pandemic. One solution being circulated in the coffee shops across the country is to make either of… Read More
I was fortunate earlier this week to meet with the President & CEO of the Alberta Livestock Meat Agency, Gordon Cove. My interview is broken into two parts and I hope that you find it interesting and look upon it objectively. No matter where your meat politics reside you have to admit that the Alberta… Read More
Anne Dunford of the Gateway Livestock Exchange breaks down the recent bounce off the bottom for the cattle market and whether or not she can see this market continuing upward into December and the spring. See Past Beef Market Updates
This was originally written by Lillian Schaer on her blog “Food and Farming Canada“ This post is a continuation from yesterday€™s H1N1 topic that explored Alberta Pork€™s experiences at the centre of the H1N1 media storm earlier this year. The information is based on a presentation I attended by Lee Funke of Torque Communications at… Read More
In this installment of the beef market update, Anne Dunford of the Gateway Livestock Exchange talks about the impact of the surging Canadian dollar. Anne talks about the familiarity of this story referencing what happened in the fall of 2007 and whether it will happen again. There has been a lot of discussion about the… Read More
At the Elanco Beef Consultants Forum this month I had the chance to interview Dr. Daryl Tatum, a meat scientist from Colorado State University. We had a chance to chat about some of the issues with the gap between consumers and producers with meat quality and production. Dr.Tatum addressees the issue of the industry achieving efficiencies and… Read More
There was a time when agriculture and food were sacred topics to the public. People were either on the farm or one generation removed which instilled a connection to the source of the food that we eat. In the past five years that has definitely changed as many food activists have begun attacking the large… Read More
This month I attended the Elanco Beef Consultants forum which included invited vets and beef nutritionists from across Canada and the Northern US. After two days of interacting with this segment of the industry one thing is firmly clear to me. These people deeply care about their customers. Much of the scheduled sessions and informal… Read More
Dave Zino is the Executive Director of the NCBA Beef Culinary Center in Chicago. I had a chance to meet Dave at the Elanco Beef Consultants Forum 2009 in Banff earlier this month. Dave is a truly fascinating guy who has a real passion for how beef is cooked and trying to educate the public… Read More
The US dairy industry is really struggling to survive. Milk prices are depreciated which is causing significant financial hardship. In Canada, this seems to a bit of a foreign concept considering that Canadian dairies are supply managed. The current situation will definitely provide argument from the US to file to WTO and will entice Canadian… Read More
Anne breaks down the Alberta – saskatchewan Cattle on feed Report and how the bearish feed market may be offset by the volatile Canadian Dollar. I also ask whether or not there are cattle to be placed in feedlots at lockable profits. Anne also discusses the impact that the US dairy situation has had on… Read More
The following is the official press release from AFSC on the Cattle Price Insurance Program CPIP. This truly is a revolutionary program that will allow Albertan cattle feeders to hedge some risk. I have not fully investigated the nuts and bolts of the program but I think on the surface it is a great step… Read More
Ross McKenzie discusses if winter wheat is a good silage option. More and more farmers are curious if winter wheat will be good for silage. From a time management stand point, Ross thinks definitely.