Debbie Furber

Traceability was once again the hot topic at the summer annual meeting of the Livestock Markets Association of Canada in Waterloo, Ont. The markets still have some concerns about Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) new three-year, $20-million Livestock Auction Traceability Initiative (LATI) which covers 80 per cent of the cost of installation and scanning equipment […] Read more

2EZ bale mover Vista Supply Co. of Cayley, Alta. has recently become Canada’s first dealer for hay trailers manufactured by GoBob Pipe and Steel in Oklahoma. Vista co-owners Alan Gregg and Cheryl Markle purchased two 2EZ bale movers from GoBob last summer for use in their own beef and custom haying operations. After moving 2,500 […] Read more

Livestock Identification Services (LIS), Alberta’s industry-run livestock inspection agency and brand registrar for cattle and horses, will begin testing an electronic manifest (eManifest) prototype this summer. Once fully functional, the eManifest will slowly be rolled out, likely beginning with shipments from feedlots to packers and progressing from there as producers determine its effectiveness. It’s completely […] Read more

“Leadership is about one’s ability to inspire others,” says Cattlemen’s Young Leaders (CYL) graduate, Samantha Sperber. “All young people are more interested in and excel at some things more than others in life. The CYL program helps us focus on our own areas of interest and find ways to inspire others.” Sperber is definite about […] Read more

Beef with some pork, poultry and eggs on the side complete the fare at Big Coulee Farms, owned and operated by Rusty and Agnes Bellamy. The Bellamys direct market meat from about 30 beef cattle, a dozen hogs, 200 turkeys, 1,600 broiler chickens along with eggs from as many as 200 laying hens produced each […] Read more

Gerald and Jeannie Bos combined efficient grazing and direct marketing to transform their mixed farm into a 315-cow beef operation in the past five years. The family’s story really begins back when Gerald’s parents left a dairy farm in Holland and immigrated to Canada to take up grain farming near Rapid City, Man. He was […] Read more

Mark and Tina Stewart’s first experience exporting live cattle out of Canada had a storybook ending when their shipment of 24 Texas Longhorn cattle left the Calgary airport in Cargolux containers bound for Germany on March 8. “It has been exciting for us,” says Stewart. “I’m sure there have been Longhorns shipped to Europe in […] Read more

Cody Schooten always wanted to know what makes packing plants tick. Taking part in the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders (CYL) pilot program gave him the opportunity to do just that by spending some one-on-one time with two experienced men: Scott Entz, general manager of Cargill Meat Solutions at High River, and Derek Hill, facilities manager of […] Read more

Chapman Farms of Virden, Man. was honoured to receive not one, but two prestigious awards in 2010 being recognized as the Red River Exhibition’s farm family of the year and one of Manitoba’s graziers of the year. Darren and Parry Chapman, their cousin Rob Chapman, his nephew Justin and brother-in-law Jeff Elliott represent the fourth […] Read more