News Roundup

POLITICS MANITOBA BEEF PRODUCERS SET AGENDA Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) delegates debated some 30 resolutions at their annual meeting in November, held in conjunction with the Manitoba Beef Expo at Brandon. Many of the resolutions revolved around what newly elected president Ray Armbruster refers to as the competitiveness of the province s beef industry. I […] Read more

HEALTH SASKATCHEWAN BVD PROJECT UNDERWAY The Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA), in response to direction from members at its 2011 AGM, has launched an initiative to demonstrate the advantage of implementing bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) control measures in cow-calf operations. The two-year project began in October with funding from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture s […] Read more

DISEASE NEW VACCINE CENTRE WELCOMED The Canadian Cattlemen s Association (CCA) welcomed the opening last month of the International Vaccine Centre (InterVac) at the University of Saskatchewan, a state-of-the-art facility that will help build Canada s critical research capacity in the prevention and control of infectious diseases that bridge animal and human health. InterVac will […] Read more

RESEARCH FINDING OTHER USES FOR SRM Research at the University of Alberta has led to the discovery of a process to convert specified risk material (SRM) into heavy-duty plastics for industrial uses. In August, David Bressler, an associate professor of bioengineering and fermentation with the department of agricultural, food and nutritional sciences, and Philip Choi, […] Read more

IDENTITY TRACEABILITY GETS A PASSING GRADE IN ALBERTA TRIAL The final report on Alberta’s traceability trial at six auction markets basically shows the electronic identification (EID) tag readers installed by Integrated Traceability Solutions (ITS), can read functioning tags at “the speed of commerce.” The real challenge is making sure animals arrive at the markets with […] Read more

GRAZING MANAGEMENT, NOT THE GRAZING SYSTEM, MAKES THE DIFFERENCE ON RANGE An extensive review of the research on grazing systems on native prairie rangeland over the past six decades has created some angst between research scientists and land managers. The science is decisive, says study co-author Dr. Justin Derner who works at the USDA Agricultural […] Read more

TRADE CANADA, KOREA HINT AT DEAL ON BEEF With a World Trade Organization ruling pending, Canada and South Korea may have an agreement in place this month to reopen Korean ports to Canadian beef, Korean news agency Yonhap reported as this issue went to press. Citing a government source the news agency said Seoul and […] Read more

MARKETING SATELLITE SALES MOVING ONLINE Canadian Satellite Livestock Auction (CSLA) will be phasing out its televised cattle auctions this year as it moves into full real-time Internet auction service with Xcira’s OnLine Ringman. CSLA owner Blair Vold says the television broadcasts on Shaw Direct channel 299 will continue alongside the webcasts for some larger upcoming […] Read more

TRADE EU IS OPEN BUT NOT EASY TO ACCESS After decades of wrangling with the EU over its refusal to import hormone-treated beef Canadian beef producers finally gained access to a 20,000-tonne annual duty-free quota in late November. The quota was negotiated by the U.S. in 2009 as compensation for retaining the ban on hormones […] Read more