Improving transportation of calves

Improving transportation of calves

In 2007, Alberta Beef Producers funded a transportation benchmarking study led by Dr. Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge Research Station. The research team surveyed over 9,000 loads and close to half a million cattle commercially transported to, from and within Alberta over an 18-month period. That study was completed in 2009 and […] Read more


Doug Sawyer in a pasture with cattle

Animal care lives here

Driving down the road to the family’s old homestead established in 1903 near Pine Lake, Alta., Doug Sawyer stops to look at the corrals he helped design and build when he was a kid. “We thought about the ways animals move and how to make it work for us by rounding out corners and letting […] Read more

cattle grazing

Drought management for pastures: Q & A

Tips on getting past a drought and when you should consider destocking

Q. We have just experienced the driest May on record. The growth on my pastures is pretty dismal. I am under a lot of pressure and stress. Can H M help me? A. Yes, definitely. H M is a decision-making process. Good decision-making is always important. In difficult times it is critical. Thank you so […] Read more


Cherie Copithorne-Barnes, CEO of CL Ranches.

The new world of ‘sustainable beef’

Straight talk on what it means, where welfare fits and what the future holds

Who’s driving this bus? Amid ‘grocery wars,’ Jamie Oliver, ‘hormone free’ Walmart and a storm of related debate, this is the core question many producers and others in animal agriculture have about the new swath of expectations and ‘sustainability’ programs taking hold throughout the industry and the marketplace. One person with a unique, up close […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Wal-Mart urges meat suppliers to curb antibiotic use

Chicago | Reuters — Wal-Mart Stores is pressing meat, seafood, dairy and egg suppliers to reduce the use of antibiotics, becoming the first large retailer to take a stand against the excessive use of drugs in raising farm animals. The guidelines announced on Friday would limit suppliers to using antibiotics to treat and prevent disease, […] Read more


calves in a stable

Looking for ways to manage the pain

The cattle industry is moving toward low stress handling, better ways to manage cattle, etc., but one issue that still needs to be addressed is pain management for routine procedures such as branding, castrating and dehorning. Dr. Eugene Janzen at the University of Calgary says the veterinary profession is rapidly changing its attitude to pain […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

New agency to handle Sask. animal welfare enforcement

Saskatchewan’s animal protection officers will start Wednesday with a new not-for-profit agency handling animal welfare enforcement work in the province. The provincial agriculture department on Thursday announced a two-year, $610,000-per-year agreement to fund investigative services provided by Animal Protection Services of Saskatchewan, effective April 1. A new toll-free phone number, 1-844-382-0002, will be in place […] Read more


cattle in a feedlot

Sustainability is in sight

The world agrees on a definition

As we look ahead to 2015 I imagine most of you are anticipating, or hoping, for a repeat of 2014. We can’t always see what lies ahead, but in at least one small aspect I’m pretty confident that you are going to hear the word sustainability crop up in conversations a lot more in the […] Read more

Proving feedlot animal welfare

Proving feedlot animal welfare

In an effort to assure consumers some retail and food-service companies are auditing the animal welfare procedures of packing plants. The packers, in turn, are starting to ask feedlots for signed affidavits stating their operations meet accepted standards. “What we don’t want to see happen is retailers and packers coming out with different animal welfare […] Read more