A U.S. dairy sector economist is the latest observer to suggest Canada’s concessions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership may eventually lead to more imports of U.S. milk than Ottawa bargained for. Ag economist Andrew Novakovic of New York’s Cornell University said in a release that the TPP, for U.S. producers, marks a major opportunity in Canada’s […] Read more

Critics see TPP as edge of wedge for U.S. milk

Saputo buys goat cheesemaker Woolwich Dairy
Canada’s biggest cheesemaker is expanding its reach in the goat dairy market with a friendly all-cash takeover of Ontario goat cheese firm Woolwich Dairy. Montreal-based Saputo announced Monday it has paid $80 million for the family-owned cheesemaking company, including its three plants and distribution centre. Based at Orangeville, north of Guelph, Woolwich has operated since […] Read more

Market access, income supports come with Trans-Pacific pact
Canada’s federal government has pledged a suite of compensation programs for supply-managed dairy, poultry and egg sectors, against what it promises will be a mousehole in Canada’s tariff wall. Federal officials on Monday confirmed negotiations have concluded on the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership, now billed as “the largest, most ambitious free trade initiative in history.” The […] Read more

History: Hybrids
Reprinted from the November 1949 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
Hybrids By E. J. “Bud” Cotton, 2022-27th St. S.W., Calgary, Alta. ‘A hybrid is the offspring resulting from a cross between two inbred species, strains or types within a family or genera, i.e. horse and donkey, cattle or buffalo. A hybrid does not breed true. Crossing hybrids results in a wide variation of the type […] Read more

Producer groups lobby for TPP deal in Atlanta
Several Canadian grain and livestock commodity groups have representatives in Atlanta this week pressing for federal negotiators to keep Canada in play on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trade ministers from the 12 TPP countries — also including the U.S., Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam — are meeting in […] Read more

Glencore reported moving ahead on ag stake sale
Commodities firm Glencore, the owner of Prairie grain-handling heavyweight Viterra, is reported as already moving forward on plans to bring minority investors into its ag business. Glencore announced earlier this month it plans to tame the debt it’s racked up in its recent major expansions, partly through sales of assets and new shares. Those assets, […] Read more

Richardson to build in S. Alta. inputs market
Prairie grain handler Richardson International is moving to shore up its presence in southern Alberta’s crop inputs market with a new dealership. The Winnipeg company announced Wednesday it will build a new crop inputs centre at Three Hills, about 65 km east of Olds, starting this fall to open and begin operating next spring. “The […] Read more

History: Range Men and Their Outfits
Reprinted from the November 1949 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
Range Men and Their Outfits By Guy Weadick, High River, Alta. “Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam, And the deer and the antelope play. Where never is heard a discouraging word, And the sky is not cloudy all day.” ‘”Home on the Range” caries many memories to the men, women and their […] Read more

Livestock seen threatened as biting insects press north
Bluetongue’s most recent appearance in the Canadian cattle herd may be a taste of what’s to come as insect species expand northward, a new study warns. Anna Zuliani, previously a graduate student in veterinary medicine at the University of Calgary (UCVM), recently published a paper on how geographical distribution of biting midges relates to the […] Read more

Guelph animal science department rebrands
The Ontario Agricultural College’s department of animal and poultry science has hatched a new name meant to better take in the scope of its work. The new name, the Department of Animal Biosciences, “helps describe the department’s evolution from a livestock husbandry department in the 1870s to the highly dynamic and integrated department it is […] Read more