File photo of cattle in an Alberta feedlot. (Geralyn Wichers photo)

Alberta lifts feeder loan guarantee limit

Amendment boosts individual limit by 50 per cent

Alberta has boosted the limit on the size of loan available under its Feeder Associations Loan Guarantee program, aiming to help producers keep up against rising livestock prices. An order in council amending the provincial Feeder Associations Guarantee Regulation was approved Monday, raising that program’s individual and joint-membership loan limit to $3 million, from $2 […] Read more

File photo of goats on display at the Hanover Agricultural Fair in Grunthal, Man. in August 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

CFIA seeks feedback on traceability, animal ID amendments

Producers have until June 16 to comment on proposals

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is now seeking comment on its proposed amendments to livestock identification and traceability regulations. The regulatory proposal would address what the agency calls “gaps” in the current system, including: adding goats and cervids as animal species that share diseases with other regulated livestock, and therefore subject to traceability requirements, shortening […] Read more


(Montpak.ca)

Préval closes deal for Alberta lamb processor, feedlot

Quebec firm picks up defunct NALCO's Alberta assets

Quebec agrifood firm Préval Ag has wrapped up its deal to buy the Alberta processing and production assets of the defunct North American Lamb Co., marking Préval’s first move into the lamb sector outside its home province. As per Alberta Farmer’s report last week, Préval confirmed Monday its divisions Westfine Meats and West Excelamb are […] Read more

File photo of a flock of sheep in eastern Idaho. (Samson1976/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. sheep herders’ suit alleges cartel-like wage suppression

Reuters –– Sheep herders in the U.S. West have banded together to sue their employers, accusing them of operating an illegal cartel that artificially suppresses their wages, according to court documents filed Wednesday in Nevada. The case could have implications for how antitrust laws are applied to labour markets, according to legal experts, as the […] Read more


File photo of goats on display at the Hanover Agricultural Fair in Grunthal, Man. in August 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. to lift BSE-related rules off sheep, goat imports

New scrapie-specific rules take effect next month

U.S. restrictions that have hindered that country’s imports of live Canadian sheep and goats, going back to the start of the BSE crisis in 2003, are set to be scrapped and replaced with rules applying specifically to scrapie. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on Friday published a new […] Read more



A 3-D illustration of Bacillus anthracis bacteria. (Dr_Microbe/iStock/Getty Images)

Anthrax kills southeastern Saskatchewan sheep

Spores forced up by changes in soil moisture

Dramatic shifts in soil moisture are again bringing anthrax spores to the surface on the Prairies, this time in a southeastern Saskatchewan sheep pasture. Lab results on Wednesday confirmed anthrax as the cause of death of one animal in a flock of sheep in the R.M. of South Qu’Appelle, about 50 km east of Regina, […] Read more

Lisa Thompson. (Lisathompsonmpp.ca video screengrab via YouTube)

Ontario names new ag minister in shuffle

Lisa Thompson replaces Ernie Hardeman

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has drawn another aggie from his existing cabinet to replace Ernie Hardeman as his agriculture minister. Ford on Friday announced a major cabinet shuffle, dropping Hardeman, the long-time MPP for Oxford, from the cabinet table and naming Lisa Thompson as minister for agriculture, food and rural affairs. Thompson, who until Friday […] Read more


Uruguayan sheep shearer Federico Ventura catches a sheep to shear it in Villafale, Spain on June 17, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Juan Medina)

Uruguayan shearers flown in to relieve sweltering Spanish sheep

Expert shearers authorized to enter country amid COVID-19 pandemic

Villafale, Spain | Reuters — Brought to Spain on a special flight amid the coronavirus lockdown, some 250 Uruguayan sheep shearers race against time to shear millions of Spanish sheep as sweltering summer temperatures hit. The Uruguayan shearers come to Spain every year, where farmers value them for their skills, their speed and particular care […] Read more

Agropur’s Fromagerie Damafro had been known as the developer of Quebec’s first-ever soft washed rind cheese, sold under the Saint-Damase brand. (OurCheeses.com)

Agropur halts talks with Quebec goat dairy producers

Agropur has gone back to Plan A for the fate of a major Quebec soft cheese processing plant after halting talks with the province’s goat dairy farmer association. Canada’s biggest dairy co-operative had announced in September last year it would close the former Fromagerie Damafro plant at Saint-Damase, Que. in April this year, but delayed […] Read more