(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Drop in fed cattle prices weighs on feeder complex

Alberta fed cattle prices dropped sharply last week, with dressed sales falling $10 to $20 from seven days earlier. Despite the weakening Canadian dollar, wholesale beef prices also fell US$10/cwt which offset any currency benefit. Feedlot operators froze with disbelief as the market suffered one of the sharpest week-over-week declines in recent memory. The hot […] Read more





Earls president Mo Jessa took to YouTube on Wednesday to announce the company will work with Alberta ranchers to source beef meeting its criteria. (Earls.ca)

Earls retreats from U.S. beef sourcing

Canadian upscale-casual dining chain Earls Restaurants has pulled back from its recent public commitment to the “Certified Humane Beef” brand. Mo Jessa, president of Vancouver-based Earls, said Wednesday the company will instead begin to “work with local ranchers to build our supply of Alberta beef that meets our criteria” for animal care and treatment. The […] Read more




URGENT: More temporary foreign workers needed

URGENT: More temporary foreign workers needed

Beef producers and packers may not always see eye to eye, but on two things they definitely agree — there’s a critical and chronic labour shortage at farms, ranches, feedlots and packing plants across the country and this issue needs a quick fix. Not a Band-Aid-style quick fix, but a well-thought-out strategy put into action […] Read more


U.S. animal handling expert Dr. Temple Grandin speaks with Earls meat buyer Dave Bursey at the company’s Vancouver Test Kitchen. (Earls.ca)

Earls ups ante on beef sourcing

Vancouver-based Earls Restaurants, owner of the upscale-casual dining chain Earls Kitchen + Bar, has gone all in on Certified Humane Beef — but has also gone outside Canada to get it. The company, which operates 59 Earls restaurants in Canada and seven in the U.S., on Tuesday billed itself as the first North American chain […] Read more