Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD), led by the country’s economy minister Sigmar Gabriel, shown here in March, have voted at their congress to approve a Canada-E.U. trade pact. (Susanne Eriksson photo, BMWI.de)

Germany’s Gabriel gets green light to support CETA

Wolfsburg, Germany | Reuters — Germany appeared set on Monday to back an ambitious trade accord between the European Union and Canada after the leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), junior partner in the ruling coalition, overcame left-wing resistance to the deal within his party. The SPD decision paves the way for EU member states […] Read more


A view from a promotional video for Z Tags’ Z2 product line. Sources tell Reuters that Z Tags’ Swiss parent, Datamars, is being prepared for sale. (ZTags.com)

Z Tags owner Datamars reportedly up for sale

Frankfurt | Reuters — Buyout group Columna Capital is preparing its Swiss animal tagging group Datamars for a sale in a potential deal that could be worth as much as over 300 million Swiss francs (C$404 million), two people close to the deal said. The private equity investor has asked investment advisory boutique Evercore to […] Read more

(Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

PED reappears in southeastern Manitoba

Manitoba has logged its first on-farm case of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) in over three months, in a sow barn in the province’s livestock-intensive southeast. Southeastern Manitoba has been home to all of the province’s nine on-farm outbreaks of PED since the virus first appeared there in February 2014. In the latest case, the provincial […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

U.S. livestock: Strong cash prices push CME live cattle higher

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts ended higher for a third day in a row on Friday, led by short-covering in response to better-than-expected prices for slaughter-ready, or cash, cattle, said traders. They said fund buying contributed to CME live cattle gains after some contracts broke through technical resistance levels. October […] Read more

Dr. Edouard Timsit, University of Calgary faculty of veterinary medicine.

Pneumonia: the disease that won’t go away

The three categories of pneumonia and how to tell them apart

Environment, germs and immunity are top of mind when thinking of all the risk factors that could set the stage for pneumonia in cattle. The forgotten factor is one beyond producers’ control and the reason why pneumonia will always be a problem — anatomy. Bovine lungs are very small relative to the animal’s oxygen requirements, […] Read more





A preserved portion of the Berlin Wall in Berlin, Germany. (CIA.gov)

German minister expects to win vote on CETA

Montreal | Reuters –– Germany’s economy minister said Thursday he expected the country’s Social Democrats, a junior partner in the ruling coalition, to vote in favour of a free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union at a party meeting on Sept. 19. “We will get a majority vote,” German Vice-Chancellor and Economic Affairs Minister […] Read more

Deadly cattle condition called fog fever returns to the Prairies

Deadly cattle condition called fog fever returns to the Prairies

Cases of fog fever, a type of pneumonia that causes severe cattle mortality, 
have been recently diagnosed in Alberta

Fog fever — a condition that causes cattle to suddenly drop dead — has returned to Alberta and Saskatchewan. “Fog fever isn’t extremely common” said Nathan Erickson, a veterinarian and assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan. “Some of these old diseases, we start forgetting about them because we’ve managed our way out of them. […] Read more