11,500 head sacrificed so far with no source in sight. The final phase of the investigation begins this month
A year ago beef producers in parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan were thrown for a loop when an Alberta cow tested positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) at a U.S. packing plant. The ensuing disease investigation by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) quickly became the largest and most complex beef cattle investigation in its history, […] Read more
Animal Health: VCPRs will soon be needed to prescribe antibiotics
The significance of veterinary-client-patient relationships (VCPR) is being elevated to a new level as Canadian veterinarians strive to fulfill their obligations for oversight of medically important antimicrobials in the global battle to check the spread of resistant bacteria. By the end of this year, veterinarians must have records on file to validate VCPRs before prescribing […] Read more
Animal Health: Ingestion of plastics has become a common killer
Cattle, especially young ones, are curious and chew on anything within reach. They may eat baling twines, plastic bags and other debris that ends up in their pen or pasture. The strange material may taste or smell interesting, so the animals chomp it down. Sometimes they accidentally ingest foreign objects in their feed. Cattle eat […] Read more
CS Beef Packers will process 1,700 head per day
A family with lots of experience turning cows into beef has a brand new plant up and running at Kuna, Idaho, near Boise offering a new marketing option for cull cows to ranchers in the northwest U.S. and Western Canada. CS Beef Packers is a partnership between the Caviness family of Caviness Beef Packers in […] Read more
Marketing: While futures markets may fluctuate, one constant is this family-owned operation
The upcoming year will be one for the record book at Whitewood Livestock Sales as preparations get underway for the September reopening of its affiliated market at Pipestone, Man., and to welcome Canada to the 21st annual Canadian Livestock Auctioneering Championships next May 11 at Whitewood, Sask. Market owner-operators, Rhett Parks and his dad, Gene, […] Read more
Selling livestock is their business, but five decades later their success is built on a foundation of well-taught human values, a passion for the industry and respect for proper animal care
When the second generation to own and manage Perlich Bros. Auction took over the reigns of a well-established southern Alberta livestock auction service their timing couldn’t have been much worse. A few months after buying the business from their aunt in late 2002, BSE hit Alberta and the world livestock industry, recalls Maureen Perlich, who […] Read more
Marketing with Charlie Gracey
The Canadian beef cow herd reached a new record high of 4.92 million head on July 1, 2003, less than two months after the discovery of BSE in a herd in Alberta. For present purposes, I regard the 2003 number as the all-time peak even though beef cow numbers were forced upward to 5.44 million […] Read more
JGL kicked off this year’s Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association’s conference with a hospitality evening and tour of its new office building and assembly yard situated along the Trans Canada Highway, 10 kilometres west of Moose Jaw. As JGL co-founder Bill Jameson put it, the company outgrew its original place along the tracks on the city’s […] Read more
“You searched for ‘beef.’ Did you mean ‘beer?’” That was the suggestion the Costco Online website helpfully offered when we tapped in “beef” in the search bar. In total, we only hit on 11 items: six Kobe beef products, one vegan meat substitute, three dog foods, and an emergency food kit. For the Kobe beef, […] Read more
Is knowing your cattle's DNA become a "need to have" instead of a "nice to have?"
In an industry where margins can be tight it’s often hard to justify the cost for something like a DNA test that seems “nice to have.” But what would the return on investment need to be to make DNA a “need to have” item on every farm and ranch? That is a question researchers across […] Read more
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