
Tag Archives animal welfare

Who do you think you are?
Straight from the hip with Brenda Schoepp
The business of agriculture is getting it from all sides. Some folks liken farmers, ranchers and cattle feeders to monsters who are destroying the land and even more so the air. Society has a way of defining those involved in food production by what they do and not who they are. When someone asks us […] Read more

Pain control in cattle remains a complex issue
The age of the animal is often a factor when considering pain mitigating options
When it comes to pain mitigation practices for her cattle operation, Cecilie Fleming believes it’s the right thing to do. It’s also proven to be practical and cost-effective, factors that many beef producers consider when deciding whether to implement pain control. Fleming, who raises purebred Angus, Simmental and Charolais cattle with her family at Fleming […] Read more

Effective stockmanship adds to the bottom line
... and it’s the right thing to do
For Curt Pate, handling cattle in an effective manner is vital to a stockman’s success. “What we really need to think about are what the effects of our cattle handling are doing to the performance of our cattle,” he said during the 2018 Western Canada Feedlot Management School in Regina. Pate, who came into the […] Read more

Tyson leads transparency push on beef production
Prime Cuts with Steve Kay
Consumers in the U.S. and Canada increasingly want to know how their food is produced. As far as beef is concerned, they want to know how animals are cared for, they want guarantees that beef is safe and that it has been produced in an environmentally sustainable way. Until now, the beef industries in both […] Read more

Carbon cut on beef
Straight from the hip with Brenda Schoepp
Will consumers want carbon-neutral and certified cared for beef? Will they determine those to be traits of safe food? Australia has set a goal of carbon-neutral meat production by the year 2030. The focus will be on trees and grasses that cover and sequester carbon for the nation’s 28 million head of cattle, 70.9 million […] Read more

Better tools needed to keep unfit cattle off the truck
Research: News Roundup from the August 2018 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
Researchers have found that improving guidelines for identifying compromised and unfit cattle prior to transport could help lower the number of these animals being transported. A study by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) on the prevalence of compromised and unfit cattle coming into Alberta auction markets and abattoirs has found that while most of these […] Read more

Swiss government urges voters to reject more state help for farmers
Zurich | Reuters — The Swiss government urged voters on Tuesday to reject more help for farmers and other proposals for agriculture in a referendum next month, saying they would send food prices rocketing and hurt the economy. Switzerland will two hold referendums on Sept. 23 — one on giving more state support to farmers […] Read more

Cross Canada cattle transport — the journey and the destination count
Livestock transport is one subject for discussion at the Canadian Beef Industry Conference next week
With hundreds of thousands of beef cattle being transported across Canada each year, welfare during transport is a hot topic among producers, scientists, and society. Discussions around potential regulation changes regarding the amount of time cattle are on a truck, and how many hours cattle are transported without feed and water, have people all along […] Read more

A Technical Access Centre for livestock production
Key industry issues focus on production efficiency, animal health and welfare and environmental sustainability
The Canadian government has been setting up a number of Technical Access Centre (TAC) research programs to aid several industrial sectors. The first TACs were created in 2011 as part of the College and Community Innovation Program. In September 2017, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) announced development of a series […] Read more

Are your cattle fit to travel?
Transport: News Roundup from the January 2018 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
When it comes to culling and marketing cattle, are your animals fit to travel? The beef industry isn’t doing too bad but the dairy industry needs to pull up its socks. Overall there is room for improvement in all sectors of the cattle industry, says Melissa Moggy, a veterinarian and researcher with Alberta Farm Animal […] Read more