
Tag Archives animal welfare

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

Talk to family, friends about farming
This holiday season Melodie Chan wants producers to avoid what she calls the “spiral of silence,” which can happen around the dinner table, over beers or even in the gentle lull between turkey and pie if farmers don’t speak up when they hear misinformation about agriculture. “What are we afraid of?” asked Chan, speaking at […] Read more
Thank you k.d. lang
Straight from the hip with Brenda Schoepp
When k.d. lang entered the world of the beef industry, she did so full on. A talented young girl from the little town of Consort, Alta., lang had grown up with cowboys, dust and the soothing voice of Patsy Cline. She originally played small gigs around Alberta and especially in Edmonton at the Sidetrack Café. […] Read more
Culling on temperament and maternal behaviour
Joe Stookey, a cattle producer and recently retired professor at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, says no one really wants to cull a pregnant cow, but sometimes you need to look hard at other reasons. Some years back, one of his students did a project looking at culling, and talked to many […] Read more

Public input sought on sustainable beef indicators
Ranchers, consumers and others who have thoughts on how beef and its cattle should be sustainably produced in Canada are asked to speak up again, this time by early November at the latest. The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB), in the midst of developing a Verified Sustainable Beef Framework, has released its new draft […] Read more
Pre-plan for emergency slaughter
Animal Health: An animal’s suffering should be ended as soon as possible
All producers run into the need for emergency slaughter from time to time to preserve the value of an animal and prevent the waste of good meat protein. By its very nature these are emergency situations so it is important to pre-plan the chain of events that would happen in cases when it becomes necessary. […] Read more

Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein receives 2017 Canadian Beef Industry Award
Lethbridge researcher presented with Outstanding Research and Innovation award at Canadian Beef Industry Conference
A nationally and internationally respected researcher of beef cattle health and welfare has been awarded the 2017 Canadian Beef Industry Award for Outstanding Research and Innovation. Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein, PhD, was honoured Aug. 17 at the 2017 Canadian Beef Industry Conference. Dr. Schwartzkopf-Genswein is a Senior Research Scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, Alta., and holds […] Read more

Talking about euthanasia
Cattle Management: The final call is ultimately up to the cow-calf producer
When cow-calf producers talk about the need to euthanize an animal, their first thoughts turn to those that are sick or injured and whether the animal is likely to recover. If it hasn’t responded to care and is suffering, then there is really no other option. This decision isn’t made lightly, as Dr. Melissa Moggy […] Read more

Greig: Animal welfare research focusing more on emotional states
Animal welfare research is moving beyond identifying what keeps an animal healthy, to focus more on their state of being and their happiness. For years, farmers have justified the way they manage and house animals based on objective measures of their health: disease prevalence, growth rates and feed consumption. Consumer research, however, shows that’s not […] Read more