Canadian National Railway’s (CN) fourth-quarter and full-year ledgers show lower traffic, but increased revenue, from its grain and fertilizer business in 2015, en route to record full-year earnings. Montreal-based CN on Tuesday reported overall net income of $3.538 billion on $12.611 billion in total revenues for 2015, up from $3.167 billion on $12.134 billion for […] Read more

CN’s 2015 grain handle down, grain revenue up

Cattle nutrition researcher hailed with national honour
A national award has officially put the “outstanding” label on the work and career of one of Canada’s leading researchers and experts on beef cattle nutrition. Dr. John McKinnon, the Saskatchewan Beef Industry research chair at the University of Saskatchewan and a regular contributor to Canadian Cattlemen, was presented last week with the inaugural Canadian Beef […] Read more

McDonald’s Canadian Youth Beef Club video contest promotes sustainable beef
News Roundup from the January 2016 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
What started as an impromptu conversation between organizers of McDonald’s Canada’s verified sustainable beef (VSB) pilot and leaders of the Longview 4-H Beef Club in Alberta has snowballed into a Canadian youth beef club video contest. Longview club leaders, Stephen Hughes, Alex Robertson and Ryan Cartwright, whose operations have gone through the VSB verification process, […] Read more

Ontario weighs mandatory beekeeping practices in draft plan
Fresh off limiting farmers’ use of neonicotinoid seed treatments, the Ontario government now wants public comment on further moves it might make to improve the health of bees and other pollinators in the province. Among the “potential actions” up for consideration in the province’s new draft action plan are the use of public lands to expand […] Read more

Tories challenge ag minister on chief of staff
The federal Conservatives want the House of Commons’ agriculture committee to probe the hiring of a Canadian egg processing heiress as chief of staff to the ag minister. Tory ag critic Chris Warkentin on Wednesday called on both Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and his new chief of staff, Mary Jean McFall, to testify before the […] Read more

CP books more Prairie grain revenue at year-end
Higher grain revenue on Canada’s Prairies helped lead to record full-year revenues and offset a lower fourth-quarter gross for Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), as the company warned of substantial job cuts ahead. The railway on Thursday reported overall net income of $1.352 billion on record revenue of $6.712 billion for 2015, down from $1.476 billion […] Read more

History: A.H. Mayland: Oilman, cattleman, horseman
Reprinted from the March 1947 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
A.H. Mayland: Oilman, cattleman, horseman By Lorne Stout, Calgary, Alta. ‘The history of the Western Cattle Industry will never be complete without a chronicle of at least some of the tales told of the late Albert H. Mayland. Although not a pioneer rancher, for he only settled in Alberta around 1905, Mayland has left his […] Read more

New Zealand to host TPP signing Feb. 4
New Zealand plans to host the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact by its 12 member nations on Feb. 4. The country’s trade minister, Todd McClay, confirmed in a statement Thursday that New Zealand has issued invitations to TPP ministers to sign the agreement in Auckland, marking the end of negotiations. Signing the deal […] Read more

Canada blocks poultry, eggs from Indiana
Cross-border travellers coming into Canada from the U.S. are now warned against bringing in raw poultry and eggs from Indiana, the site of the country’s latest cases of avian flu. Travellers entering Canada from the U.S. may not bring in uncooked poultry products, live birds and/or eggs from Indiana, North Dakota or Missouri, the Canadian […] Read more

Supreme Court tosses CP challenge on interswitching
Canadian Pacific Railway’s (CP) bid to halt new federal rules which allow more Prairie elevators to move loaded grain cars on more than one railway has stopped at Canada’s highest court. The Supreme Court of Canada on Friday dismissed CP’s appeal of an October ruling at the Federal Court of Appeal — a ruling which […] Read more