Veronica McGuire, executive director of the CFIA’s regulatory and trade policy program.

Mandatory premise ID on CFIA agenda

It is one of the provisions included in planned amendments and regulations

Over the next couple of years, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is moving to improve the effectiveness of Canada’s Livestock Traceability System by nailing down where all classes of livestock are produced, what type of animals they are and where they move. In regulations now being developed, both premise identification and animal movement are […] Read more



A worker at Chilliwack Cattle Sales is shown kicking a dairy cow in the head in covert video from 2014. (Mercy For Animals via Youtube)

Major dairy farm gets six-figure fines in cruelty case

British Columbia’s largest dairy farm has been slapped with a reported $300,000 in fines after entering guilty pleas to charges of animal cruelty, stemming from covert video shot in 2014. Chilliwack Cattle Sales (CCS) and co-owner Wesley Kooyman were convicted Friday in Provincial Court over violations of the province’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle score 3-1/2 month high

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures on Friday reached their highest level since late August, driven by short-covering following the morning’s strong wholesale beef prices, said traders. Buy stops and technical buying enhanced market advances, they said. December live cattle closed 1.6 cents/lb. higher to 112.325 cents, after breaking through the […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Six quarantines lifted in bovine TB probe

Six premises deemed to be “low-risk” have been released from federal quarantine as officials continue their hunt for Alberta and Saskatchewan cattle exposed to bovine tuberculosis. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Wednesday reported it had lifted movement controls on six premises where “appropriate testing” has been completed on cattle so far in the agency’s […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. livestock: Cash price caution pressures CME live cattle

Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures closed weaker on Thursday as investors wait for remaining slaughter-ready, or cash, cattle to change hands by Friday, traders said. December live cattle closed down 0.375 cent/lb. at 110.725 cents, and February was 0.425 cent lower at 113.275 cents (all figures US$). Packers may resist […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle slip on cash prices

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts finished in bearish territory on Wednesday, weakened by profit-taking and disappointing early-week cash prices, traders said. December live cattle closed down 0.025 cent/lb. to 111.1 cents, and February down 0.275 cent to 113.7 cents (all figures US$). Cattle at Wednesday morning’s Fed Cattle Exchange (FCE) […] Read more




(Lisa Guenther photo)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle climb ahead of arctic blast

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures closed higher on Monday, partly in anticipation of bone-chilling temperatures in the U.S. Plains and Midwest by week’s end, said traders. Extreme cold typically slows down weight gain in cattle, making them less available to packers. Also grocers tend to stock up on meat in […] Read more