Today marks International Women’s Day, and McDonald’s Canada is marking the occasion with a new commercial celebrating the farm women who play a role in bringing home the beef in Canadian agriculture. In the commercial, you’ll likely recognize Alberta’s Jill Harvie (@BrightPasture) from a previous McDonald’s commercial, and also featured for this Old MacDonald-themed sing-a-long is… Read More

The Canadian Sheep Federation (CanSheep) has announced the launch of the Canadian Verified Sheep Program (CVSP). A rebranding of the Food Safe Farm Practices program, this new program adds two additional modules on animal care and biosecurity. Sheep farmers who have already completed the Food Safe Farm Practices program will only need to complete these… Read More

Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Maxime Bernier performed very well in the leadership debate held at the Manning Conference over the weekend according to many delegates, but Canadian dairy farmers were left rather concerned. Not surprisingly, Bernier maintained his stance of being against supply management for dairy, egg and poultry sectors. On Friday afternoon Bernier… Read More

Sometimes when you respond to someone attacking you verbally you need to communicate in a way that will resonate with the people you are trying to influence.  Due to the creation of the term “fake news” by Donald Trump, this term has become mainstream but it resonates with people.  Trump followers have rallied around it…. Read More

Ontario Pork announced February 23, 2017, that it had confirmed the 100th Ontario case of PED (porcine epidemic diarrhea) virus. It is the first confirmed case this year. The virus was confirmed Wednesday, February 22, 2017, in a finisher barn in Haldimand-Norfolk county. No other details have been released at this time. Read more: Managing… Read More

If you’ve got cows, you likely do something like this: number of cows x days on feed = tonnes of hay/forage needed. But what if you’ve got land, but no livestock, and want to include perennial forage in rotation? Have you ever sat down and done this: number of acres x tonnes of feed produced… Read More

Recognizing irradiation as a safe and effective treatment to reduce bacteria in ground beef, Health Canada has published new regulations allowing the sale of irradiated fresh and frozen raw ground beef. The final regulations were published in Canada Gazette, Part II on February 22, and take effect immediately. Irradiation involves exposing food to low levels… Read More

In the feedlot business, as elsewhere, necessity is the mother of innovation. So when Stronks Feedlot at Picture Butte, Alta., couldn’t find software to fit its operation, they invented it. On this season of the TechTour, together with Dow AgroSciences, we’re shining the spotlight on on-farm innovations and inventions that improve efficiency and productivity. Hampered by the… Read More

Recent positive rabies cases on a few farms in Ontario’s Perth County are a stark reminder of this ever-present, reportable disease in livestock. While livestock cases of rabies are rare, it’s safe to assume the virus circulates in wildlife nearly constantly, albeit at a low level. Exposed livestock, likely from a bite, tend to exhibit… Read More