“The elk population just really exploded, and we have to work with producers to mitigate the effects of that,” he said.

The most recent data available, from 2011, put the Manitoba elk population stable at 6,500 animals.

Predation from wolves and bears is another hot button issue. Wild boars are also becoming more of a problem as their populations continue to grow in Manitoba, Nottveit added.

Last April, the federal and provincial governments launched the Livestock Predation Prevention Program, a permanent successor to the industry-led pilot project that ended in 2023.

Resolutions approved by delegates at MBP’s annual general meeting, held in Brandon on Feb. 11 and 12, include continued lobbying for provincial analysis of elk and deer populations, financial assistance for fencing and compensation for wildlife damage to crops.

Producers are also increasingly concerned about feed losses and herd health impacts tied to wildlife.

Wildlife and disease concerns intersect with broader traceability discussions that have surfaced in recent months. It is important that producers facing disease outbreaks are supported appropriately, Nottveit said.

“I really want to make sure that ranchers that have disease outbreaks on their herds are treated fairly and … it’s as stress-free a situation as can possibly be.”

Past president Matthew Atkinson said wildlife damage, particularly from elk, has also been a major file during his six years on the board.

“Wildlife issues have really dominated, both in terms of the predation on livestock as well as impact on crops, from largely elk, but from wildlife in general,” he said.

Crown lands unsettled

Alongside wildlife advocacy, MBP continues to push for long-term stability on Crown lands.

“We need a long-term, stable plan going forward,” Atkinson said. “We need that to be settled and consistent.”

He acknowledged the file has created divisions within the membership.

“It’s either a major priority or it’s no priority at all,” he said.

Last October, the province extended its rental rate freeze on Crown land forage leases into the 2026 growing season.

Trade uncertainty

Trade uncertainty and the upcoming CUSMA review with the United States and Mexico remain on the radar, though provincial influence is limited.

“It’s a hard thing to negotiate our way through,” Atkinson said. “It’s not a typical negotiation.”

Nottveit highlighted the critical need to sustain robust cross-border cattle movement, given the close integration between the Canadian and U.S. beef industries.

Strong prices, tight margins

Despite high cattle prices, both leaders cautioned that rising input costs continue to squeeze margins.

Atkinson called the current market strength “overdue,” but said producers must use the opportunity wisely.

• READ MORE: B.C. ranchers face rising elk conflict

“It’s time that we start looking at … the tools available to us to make them as profitable as we can and to ensure that we can be profitable when things aren’t at their highs and move ahead from there,” he said.

For Nottveit, the focus in the coming years will be on practical supports that help grow Manitoba’s cow herd, which sits at historic lows.

“There’s a lot of work that can be done still, to make it viable for young people, especially to make a living raising cattle in this beautiful province,” he said.

-Corrects an earlier version of the story which said the elk population was 605 animals

The post Manitoba beef producers target exploding elk, deer numbers appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is seeking feedback on proposed changes to the program, which is intended to improve risk management in farmed cervids and better meet the needs of partners, industry, stakeholders and consumers.

CFIA employees and the public can give their thoughts on the changes here. 

The proposed changes will move away from mandatory herd destruction and toward a regional, management-focused approach to control disease spread. The new proposed CWD control program will recognize regional variability in CWD status for the purposes of CWD risk management.

It will consider CWD to be established in a province or territory where CWD has been detected in wild or farmed cervids for two or more consecutive years. The CFIA will consider CWD to be emerging in a province or territory where CWD has been detected in some wild cervid populations for two or more consecutive years, but not in farmed cervids.

Under the proposed program change, CFIA will consider CWD to be established in Alberta and Saskatchewan, emerging in Manitoba and not detected in the rest of Canada. Under the new proposed program, CFIA will not order the destruction of CWD-infected herds in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

CWD is spreading across Canada. The disease is established in wild cervids in Saskatchewan and much of Alberta. New cases are continually detected in cervid farms and wild cervids in the two provinces.

CWD has also been found in Québec in 2018 and was detected in British Columbia in wild cervids in January 2024. Since 2021, Manitoba has been searching for CWD in wild cervids. Other provinces have not seen any CWD in their wild cervid populations and there is no CWD in the wild populations of caribou either.

To date, there has been no known transmission of CWD to humans and no direct evidence to suggest CWD could be transmitted to humans. However, there is always an uncertainty for zoonotic (animal to human) cross-species transmission.

Under the proposed change, CFIA will work collaboratively with provinces not affected by CWD to carry out eradication measures if the first case is detected in a farmed cervid, on the condition that the relevant provincial or territorial wildlife authority carry out similar eradication measures in wild cervids near the infected farm. This response will prevent further spread of CWD into other parts of Canada.

Restrictions on movement of live cervids from CWD-infected herds are controlled under CFIA’s Cervid Movement Permit policy. Live cervids originating from CWD-infected herds in Canada will continue to be permitted to move only to terminal locations (abattoirs or terminal hunt farms) if allowed by provincial or territorial authorities.

The CFIA’s current CWD control program encourages disease prevention and early detection by focusing response action on CWD-infected herds enrolled in the CWD herd certification program (HCP), found to be compliant at level D or higher through CWD HCP compliance evaluation.

The CFIA takes response actions in CWD-infected herds not eligible for the CWD compartment response. These can include placing a quarantine, tracing epidemiological links to other cervids herds and conducting confirmatory testing.

The second goal of the current CWD Control Programs applies to all CWD-infected farmed cervid herds and aligns with Health Canada’s recommended precautionary approach to keep cervids known to be infected with CWD out of the commercial food supply.

Currently, all CWD-exposed cervids (those from CWD-infected farms) must be tested for CWD. Their results must be negative before their consumable products can be released into the marketplace.

Questions can be emailed to CWD-MDC@inspection.gc.ca

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“It’s pretty ubiquitous throughout the province, but what changes is species,” says Mark Lyseng, government relations and policy lead with Alberta Beef Producers.

Different parts of the province have different issues. In the north and west parts of Alberta, large elk herds cause issues. East-central and southwest Alberta have deer issues.

Producers have been making sacrifices over the years to deal with the problem, Lyseng says. For example, a producer might stop swath grazing because wildlife defecated in the swaths, rendering them unsuitable for livestock. Or a producer may not bale graze because deer congregate around the bales.

“They have adapted to dealing with these problem situations,” Lyseng says.

In Alberta, there are two issues. One is elk management and the other is a shift in hunting. Elk is a tricky species to manage because they form large herds.

“If you’re the unlucky producer who gets a herd of 600 elk on your land, you get absolutely hammered. You can be the best manager, but you could lose an entire alfalfa field.”

Large herds of elk don’t stay in the same spot year-round. This makes it very hard to control them through hunting. Lyseng says he hears hunters complain producers with the large elk herds should have allowed more hunters on their land. But the elk might not have shown up until February or March, outside of hunting season. Even with longer seasons and more tags, unless the hunters find where the large herds are, the success rate is low and not effective for managing the population.

“That’s one of the biggest issues with elk.”

It doesn’t matter how the producer is feeding their animals, alfalfa fields alone can attract several elk or deer, reducing hay yields in the coming year. However, Lyseng says that is not what they hear about the most.

“The big one we do hear a lot about is swath grazing.” Swath grazing, as well as bale grazing, are eligible for the AFSC Wildlife Damage Compensation program, but the compensation ends on October 31 — right when most producers begin using their swath grazing or even before wildlife has taken a bite out of it.

“When we pushed back, they said if you have that high of population of wild ungulates you shouldn’t be doing those management practices,” says Lyseng of the government response.

“They are taking one efficient, low-cost, effective management practice out of beef producers’ toolbox.”

Alberta Beef Producers is pushing for a later date to claim wildlife damage to feed. “That October 31 date needs to be January 31.”

Compensation is available to producers for wildlife damage. It covers damage to stacked hay and greenfeed, silage and haylage in pits or tubes, according to the AFSC website. Producers don’t need to have AFSC coverage to submit a claim. They do need to pay an appraisal fee of $25 per inspection. The monies for funding are split between the federal and provincial governments. To receive a claim, a producer needs to consult with a Fish and Wildlife officer, who will then provide recommendations, before a claim is paid.

The maximum claim paid for haystacks and haylage in pits and tubes is $5,000. For subsequent claims, producers must have implemented Fish and Wildlife’s minimum recommendations. If recommendations are not met, on the second claim, the producer is only eligible for 50 per cent of the claim amount, and after no claim will be paid. For fencing off haystacks, the fencing materials are paid for but not the labour.

Unfortunately, the program monies don’t adequately cover the problem. Lyseng says, “They want to see these populations grow. So we’re only going to see the populations get worse.”

Alberta Beef Producers has heavily pushed the point that if the government wants to encourage these sizeable populations of elk and deer, then the government needs to pay for them.

“Or pay for the loss of use,” Lyseng says. “Ultimately you’re losing a use of your landscape.”

Calculating population size isn’t cut and dry — it’s heavily debated. Lyseng says it makes things tricky for beef producers, especially for producers who have pasture surrounded by cropland. These producers end up “providing feed” for the wild ungulates on their pasture land for being good land stewards.

“That’s the burden they have to bear and that seems unreasonable.”

Hunting has also become an issue because, in many areas of the province, cow elk and doe deer tags aren’t being filled. Hunting has shifted from subsistence to trophy hunting. The main mechanism the government has to control the wildlife population is hunting.

“Nobody wants to shoot the doe,” Lyseng says.

Producers are seeing pressure from wildlife during winter following a dry summer or in a cold, snowy winter. When feed is scarce, the deer and elk move in on cattle feed.

“This is at the time the livestock need the most feed. It’s also when your feed is worth the most. That’s a big issue for producers — they’re competing with the wildlife in a lot of cases. It’s a kick when you’re down.”

Some producers are coming up with creative ways to deal with wildlife on their land. One way they are finding is working with hunting and outfitter groups during hunting season. “This can help focus where the problem is. It’s both a deterrent and population management, which are both really useful.”

The working groups in Alberta are looking to their neighbours to the south, in the Western U.S., and seeing if strategies there will work here. Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota all have innovative programs regarding wildlife and livestock. Many of the strategies in the U.S. involve hunting. Some states will reward the landowner with a dollar value for each animal harvested from their land, Lyseng explains. Other states have access program incentives for both landowners and hunters.

While it sounds like livestock and wildlife are constantly competing for feed, the reality is many beef producers like to see wildlife and waterfowl in their pastures. Lyseng is also a beef producer in Camrose County.

“I know I want to see wildlife on my land. It’s great when I see deer. I post on Instagram when the fawns are playing in the pasture. Beef producers have that intimate relationship with biodiversity and stewardship.”

But when populations are allowed to grow unchecked, it becomes a problem. The burden falls on beef producers, and becomes “unreasonable,” says Lyseng. If society wants the wild ungulate populations to keep growing, organizations or groups will need to step up and pay their feed bill.

“I think that’s the big issue we’re running into. When is too much? That’s the big struggle right now. We shouldn’t lose the viability or sustainability of our operation for something that benefits all of society.”

The post Deer and elk take a bite out of winter feed appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

The routine stopped midsummer when the jays disappeared. On our walks, we found two decomposed jays lying in the green space behind our house. My initial thoughts: they died from highly pathogenic avian influenza, a viral disease that terrorized the Alberta poultry industry through the summer of 2022. Another possibility: late season West Nile virus, with its predilection for species of the Corvidae family. Corvids include crows, ravens, jays and magpies, among another 129 affected species. Reports also suggest West Nile virus has drastically reduced rough grouse populations.

West Nile virus jumped ship in the New York area around 1999, then spread northwest across North America as a passenger on migrating waterfowl. Crows and jays are known to get sick and die from the infection. Most birds survive as carriers. Since West Nile virus was discovered in the United States in 1999, the virus has been detected in over 300 species of dead birds. Mosquitoes spread West Nile virus as part of their blood meals.

People, when infected, often don’t develop signs or display only mild fevers and minor headaches. In a few cases, humans can develop life-threatening disease when infection invades the spinal cord or brain. In Western Canada, West Nile virus occurs in late summer and early fall, paralleling the hatch of several Culex species of mosquitoes. Horses are susceptible to West Nile virus. Mortality rates in infected horses range up to 25 per cent. Vaccination may be used to prevent infection in horses. Currently, there are three West Nile virus vaccines registered for use in Canada. Local veterinarians should be contacted for guidance on appropriate vaccination products and their use.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza, carried by migrating water birds, ravaged prairie poultry flocks through the spring and summer of 2022. Wild waterbirds, the natural reservoir of low-pathogenicity avian influenza viruses, are probably involved in long-distance spread of these viruses.

Friends visiting from home in Saskatchewan reported a massive die-off of snow geese and Canada geese during this year’s annual migration. Thousands of dead geese littered fields around the Watson Reservoir, a small PFRA dam near Avonlea that became a significant staging area for geese over the last thirty years. Highly pathogenic avian influenza turned out to be the killer, something not seen to this degree before. While chicken and turkey producers struggled to protect their flocks across the province, prevailing winds blew dead birds into lifeless mats along small bays and sloughs bordering the dam. An eerie quiet enveloped the place where our family enjoyed many fall hunts amongst the clatter of geese in search of food every morning and evening. Scavenging hawks and eagles also fell victim.

RELATED: How wild birds may spread avian influenza

Avian influenza in birds is caused by a Type A virus. Type A viruses occur naturally among wild aquatic birds worldwide and can infect domestic poultry and other bird and animal species. Wild aquatic birds include waterbirds — such as ducks, geese, swans, gulls and terns — as well as shorebirds such as storks, plovers and sandpipers. Wild aquatic birds, especially dabbling ducks, are considered reservoirs (hosts) for avian influenza A viruses. They often become infected, may not get sick, but still transmit the virus. Generally, avian influenza A viruses are very contagious among birds. Pathogenic viruses sicken and kill domestic bird species quickly. Mortality in chickens can be 90 to 100 per cent within 48 hours. Highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus infections in poultry can spill back into wild birds, spreading again when birds migrate.

This year’s situation is especially unusual for North America. The highly pathogenic avian influenza strain detected in wild birds happened only once before (between 2014 and 2016) when wild birds spread the disease from Eurasia to Alaska. That outbreak led to the deaths of more than 50 million domestic birds in the United States alone, costing US$3 billion. Then the virus “vanished,” says Andy Ramey, a wildlife geneticist at the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science Center in Anchorage.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency data indicate 25 currently infected Alberta premises, and 96 country-wide, as of November 1. Over 3.2 million poultry have been infected in Canada. As of November 1, the U.S. dealt with 47.9 million infected poultry and 3,124 infected wild birds, the Center for Disease Control reports. As well, Canada imposed a ban on live birds, products and byproducts from the U.S. Before April 2022, Saskatchewan had remained free of avian flu for 15 years.

Chronic wasting disease is a degenerative and ultimately fatal disease of cervids (primarily deer and elk). It has affected wild populations of farmed cervids for several decades. Chronic wasting disease purges local cervid populations and remains a significant threat to deer populations in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Darrell Crabbe, executive director of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, said the prevalence of the disease in some areas is “disturbing.”

In areas of North America, when chronic wasting disease prevalence reaches 30 per cent, populations of mule and whitetail deer decline. In the Saskatchewan River Valley, chronic wasting disease-positive deer (males) exceed 80 per cent. Chronic wasting disease has now been found in 59 of the province’s 83 wildlife management zones. The disease is considered endemic across southern Saskatchewan and south of the boreal forest. “These are among the highest rates reported globally,” states the Ministry of Environment.

The world is starting to realize that wildlife is not merely a source of personal pleasure. We are beginning to understand that the health of our wildlife is an indication of the health of the environment on which we depend. Healthy wildlife populations and habitats are important to our social and economic well-being, states the Canadian Wildlife Federation.

Understanding and accepting the challenge is critically important.

— Dr. Ron Clarke prepares this column on behalf of the Western Canadian Association of Bovine Practitioners. Suggestions for future articles can be sent to Canadian Cattlemen or the WCABP.

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In a media release announcing the case, officials said it was found near Lake of the Prairies as part of the province’s wildlife health surveillance program. It was in a male mule deer, which was observed in an “unhealthy state” and euthanized Oct. 14 then subsequently tested.

The government noted ongoing surveillance efforts by the game ranching sector.

“The elk farming industry has ongoing CWD surveillance and there have been no reported cases in farmed animals in Manitoba,” the release read. “CWD does not infect cattle or other domesticated animals.”

Because other animals in the area may have CWD, a hunting ban in the area for deer, moose, caribou and elk is coming into immediate effect, to prevent its spread through the transportation of diseased carcasses. The final boundaries are still being determined but the media release said it will “… initially include at least a portion of Game Hunting Area (GHA) 22.”

CWD is an incurable fatal disease that affects members of the deer family, including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, moose and caribou. Animals infected with CWD may appear healthy until the later stages of the disease, and while CWD is not known as a human health risk, meat from a CWD infected animal is not recommended for consumption.

“In order to protect their health, hunters active in areas where CWD has been detected should have their harvested animal tested, practise safe carcass handling protocols and avoid consumption of any animal that has tested positive for CWD,” the province noted in the release.

CWD has been known to infect animals in Saskatchewan, Alberta and 24 states. Manitoba has had a prevention and surveillance strategy that included reporting and testing requirements for CWD, and made it illegal to bring certain unprocessed meat into Manitoba.

The province has begun to plan for additional CWD surveillance actions in the area surrounding this finding and will include stakeholders such as First Nations, Métis and other groups who need to be aware.

The post Chronic wasting disease discovered in Manitoba appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and her Quebec counterpart Andre Lamontagne on Thursday announced their governments’ respective 60-40 shares of funding for the Canada-Quebec Livestock Assistance Initiative.

Eligible farm operators are expected to be able to apply to the program through la Financiere agricole du Quebec (FADQ) starting May 10, up until a registration deadline of July 30.

The applicant must have kept animals on-farm for “a longer period than expected” due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from the beginning of the pandemic up until March 31.

The program “aims to offset part of the costs borne by livestock producers to keep animals awaiting slaughter on farms until normalcy is restored,” the governments said in a release.

Quebec’s livestock slaughter pace “slowed considerably” starting last spring, the governments said, leading to “significant additional costs” for producers and risks to the held-back animals’ health and welfare.

The slower slaughter pace, they said, stemmed from “sanitary measures” at affected plants, as well as COVID-related worker absences.

Spearately, the governments noted, game farmers also saw a “substantial drop in demand for large game meat caused by the reduction and cessation of hotel and restaurant activities.”

“This initiative will help, among other things, to offset the costs generated by the temporary closure of certain slaughterhouses, to ensure animal welfare, and to preserve the food security of the people of Quebec and Canada,” Bibeau said in Thursday’s release.

“We will soon learn about the terms of the program and we would like all steer producers who have suffered negative impacts to be compensated,” Jean-Thomas Maltais, president of les Producteurs de bovins du Quebec, said in the same release.

“In the past 13 months, our farmers have faced daunting financial and logistical challenges,” Alexandre Cusson, general manager for les Eleveurs de porcs du Quebec, said in the same release. “The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly hard on the outbreak-affected hog industry, which was already experiencing labour shortages.

“The past year has also reminded us of the importance of each link in the pork chain. If one of them is affected, the whole production is affected.”

The big game sector has also seen “a number of challenges over the past few years,” said Josee Toupin, president of la Federation des eleveurs de grands gibiers du Quebec, referring partly to the fallout from a 2018 outbreak of chronic wasting disease in a farmed herd of red deer in the province’s Laurentides region.

That, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, have “completely crushed our markets and put breeders in a precarious situation,” she said.

Similar AgriRecovery initiatives have been previously announced in various areas of Canada in the wake of COVID-19 outbreaks, with at least one more on the way.

The federal and Prince Edward Island governments on Thursday called a virtual news conference to be held Friday afternoon, to announce “a new initiative to assist hog producers affected by processing shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The province said Thursday it has amended regulations under its Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act that will ban anyone from importing live, captive cervids into Ontario “with some exceptions.”

Any of those exceptions will need a permit from the provincial natural resources and forestry ministry (MNRF). To get that, the cervids must have “fully certified status” from a CWD herd certification program and may only be imported from jurisdictions free from CWD during the six-year period up to the date they’re moved.

Imported cervids must either be headed for slaughter, in transit through the province in a sealed vehicle, or en route to a captive herd facility that meets biosecurity rules.

The new rules also prohibit people from moving live cervids from one part of Ontario to another — again, with “some exceptions,” such as for slaughter, export or veterinary care, or for livestock shows where the cervids have no contact with other animals. Otherwise, the animals being moved will need an MNRF permit.

The rules announced Thursday also expand the province’s ban on the use or possession of lures, scents or attractants made from cervid parts such as urine, feces, blood or gland oils. The new amendments will ban those products for “any purpose,” not just hunting.

The rules also expand the province’s ban on import of “high-risk” parts of cervids that were hunted in other jurisdictions.

People may only bring in “butchered, deboned and packaged” meat, finished taxidermy mounts, tanned hides and skull plates and antlers from which all tissue has been removed — and in those cases, only from animals that haven’t tested positive for CWD. Anyone who later learns his or her cervid products came from a CWD-positive animal must notify the MNRF and dispose of the products accordingly.

The amendments were filed Wednesday, following public consultations than ran from mid-July through August. All the new rules come into effect Jan. 1, 2021.

CWD is one of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) family of fatal nervous system diseases such as BSE in cattle, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people. The disease is federally reportable in Canada, meaning any and all suspected cases must be reported to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

In Canada, CWD has been found mainly in deer and elk populations — both wild and farmed — in Saskatchewan and Alberta, along with “sporadic” confirmed cases in wild moose, according to CFIA. CWD in 2018 also turned up in a farmed herd of red deer in Quebec’s Laurentides region.

“While it has not been detected in Ontario, it is important to remain vigilant,” the Ontario government said Thursday, noting the infected Quebec herd was near the Ontario border and CWD has also been found in all five U.S. states that border Ontario.

Evidence suggests the infectious abnormally-folded proteins, or prions, that cause CWD can pass between cervids by direct contact or through contaminated feed, soil, and/or water sources with saliva, urine and/or feces from infected animals.

No evidence has yet shown CWD can affect humans, but the World Health Organization and other such bodies recommend against eating meat or consuming any products from animals known to be infected with TSEs.

Conservation officials in neighbouring Manitoba have also urged hunters not to shoot animals that look sick. If a hunter shoots a deer or elk that appears unhealthy and/or extremely thin, its carcass should not be field dressed. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The province on Wednesday announced a mandatory sampling program, in which hunters must submit heads from mule deer and white-tailed deer harvested in wildlife management units 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 4-6 and 4-7 along the province’s southern border, in the Kootenay region.

The requirement is in place for deer harvested in those WMUs between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30 this year. Heads must be deposited within one week of harvest at one of the freezers listed on the B.C. government’s CWD web page or at any B.C. Wildlife or Conservation Service office during business hours.

B.C. imposed the new mandatory sampling program after the confirmation in June of nine white-tailed deer with CWD at Libby, Montana, about 125 km southeast of Creston, B.C.

The discovery by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials marks the first time CWD has been detected west of the Rocky Mountains, B.C. government officials said in a release Wednesday.

“The discovery raises concerns about infected deer making their way into B.C., as Libby is within the range of deer movements between B.C. and Montana,” the province said.

The province, which has yet to find a case of CWD, has been monitoring for it since 2002 — particularly in its Peace and East Kootenay regions, due to the disease’s presence in both Alberta and Montana.

Over 3,900 cervids have been tested in B.C. for CWD since 2002, the province said, but sample numbers in recent years “have not consistently provided confidence in disease absence in the province.”

More sampling is needed to confirm the province’s CWD-free status and “inform any additional response,” the province said Wednesday.

Along with the mandatory sampling program the provincial Wildlife Health Program is urging hunters in other parts of the province — especially the Peace region — to bring deer, moose and elk heads to drop-off locations for testing.

In Saskatchewan, where the disease showed up in game farm animals in 1996 and is now found in deer, elk and moose in 48 of its 83 wildlife management zones, the province is also calling for more samples this fall from five specific WMZs.

The province on Tuesday said hunters who harvest mule deer and white-tailed deer in zones 9 and 10 (between Swift Current, Leader and Maple Creek) and 2W (south of Shaunavon) in the province’s far southwest, and zones 35 (between Moosomin and Esterhazy) and 37 (east of Yorkton, Melville and Canora) along the Manitoba boundary, are “strongly urged” to submit heads for testing.

Saskatchewan’s environment ministry said it hopes to collect at least 300 samples from each targeted zone “to more accurately assess changes in the disease and help guide future management options.”

CWD is a member of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) family of diseases such as BSE in cattle, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people.

Evidence suggests CWD prions can pass from animal to animal by direct contact or through contaminated feed, soil, and/or water sources with saliva, urine and/or feces from infected animals.

No evidence has yet shown CWD can affect humans, but the World Health Organization and other such bodies recommend against eating meat or consuming any products from animals known to be infected with any TSE disease.

CWD-infected deer and elk show abnormal behaviour accompanied by progressive weight loss. In later stages, animals with CWD show signs of extreme weight loss, repetitive behaviour, drowsiness, lack of co-ordination, drooping head and ears, drooling and increased drinking and urination. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Monday announced quarantines have been lifted from all Prairie cattle operations tested during its probe of a bovine TB outbreak beginning in the fall of 2016.

The agency’s probe followed the discovery of a southeastern Alberta cow that tested positive for bovine TB when it was slaughtered at a U.S. packing plant in late September 2016. Five more cattle from the same farming operation later tested positive for the disease.

About 30,000 animals across 79 “trace-out” herds and 71 “trace-in” herds in the three Prairie provinces were tested. From those, about 11,500 cattle were ordered destroyed.

All that said, no further cases were discovered, and no source of infection has been identified for the six TB-positive cattle, the agency said Monday.

“Trace-out” denotes herds that got animals from the infected herd, while “trace-in” refers to herds that sent animals to the infected herd.

CFIA expects to post an investigation summary report on its web site later this spring, and to declare the investigation officially closed once the final lab culture test results are completed.

Producers whose herds were depopulated, and whose premises have gone through cleaning and disinfection, have restocked their herds, the agency said.

Two rounds of testing will be done on the restocked herds to verify those animals are TB-free, the agency said. One round of testing has just been completed and the second will take place this fall. These herds are not under quarantine in the meantime.

“While the investigation will not be officially closed until final laboratory culture results are received later this spring, this is a positive step forward for Canada’s cattle industry,” federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay said in a statement Monday.

MacAulay hailed the affected producers and cattle industry associations for their co-operation and their “key role” in the investigation, which, he noted, has “allowed Canada to retain its bovine TB-free status with no disruption in access to international markets.”

Producers whose herds were ordered destroyed have received $39 million in federal compensation. Income tax deferrals were also put in place allowing them to defer portions of the lump-sum compensation they received in 2016 and 2017 into the 2018, 2019 and 2020 tax years.

A Canada-Alberta program budgeted up to $16.7 million more to cover “extraordinary quarantine costs,” MacAulay added.

Costs covered under that program included feeding and water infrastructure, feed for animals, transportation, cleaning and disinfection and “interest costs on loans due to the circumstances.”

CFIA said Monday it is still working with the provinces to ensure any risks tied to TB in wildlife are included in its investigation. That work will include “active surveillance” this year on elk in southeastern Alberta, the agency said.

According to Alberta Beef Producers, “active surveillance” of wild elk means a proportion of the elk harvested by hunters will be tested for TB regardless of whether any unusual lesions are spotted.

During the 2016-17 hunting season, ABP noted, no evidence of bovine TB was seen in any of the 1,258 elk harvested in the Suffield area of southeastern Alberta.

Furthermore, CFIA in late 2016 found the strain of Mycobacterium bovis in the six TB-positive cattle wasn’t the same as any strains previously detected in Canadian domestic animals, wildlife or people.

Rather, the agency said, the M. bovis strain was “closely related” to a strain originating from cattle in central Mexico in 1997. — AGCanada.com Network

The post All quarantines lifted in bovine TB probe appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

The provincial government recently opened a public comment period, running until Jan. 19, on a list of changes it proposes to make to various hunting and trapping regulations between April this year and the end of March 2020.

Among the proposed new rules is a ban on “any part or derivative of a deer, elk, moose or caribou, sourced from outside B.C., to be used for the purpose of hunting or trapping.”

CWD is a member of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) family of diseases such as BSE in cattle, scrapie in sheep and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in people.

B.C.’s Wildlife Health Program has monitored for CWD since 2002 and has yet to find an infected animal in the province, the government said, noting CWD has been seen in Alberta and Saskatchewan and is known to be “moving west toward the B.C. border.”

The infectious abnormally-folded proteins, or prions, that cause CWD are present in tissues and “biological materials” from infected cervids, particularly in body fluids such as urine, the B.C. government said in a proposal document.

Urine and other such materials are used to make attractants for use by hunters, and are “frequently” collected from farmed cervids in jurisdictions outside the province, the government said.

The impact of CWD on native cervid populations and the disease’s spread have already led “several” jurisdictions elsewhere to set up bans on such products containing biological material from cervids.

“There is little regulation in the production of these materials, they are usually available without labelled information on their origin and cervid farms in two Canadian provinces and 21 U.S. states are known to be or have been infected by CWD,” the provincial government said.

The province described such attractants as “a potential route of introducing CWD to new jurisdictions, including B.C.”

Evidence suggests CWD prions can pass from animal to animal by direct contact or through contaminated feed, soil, and/or water sources with saliva, urine and/or feces from infected animals.

No evidence has yet shown CWD can affect humans, but the World Health Organization and other such bodies recommend against eating meat or consuming any products from animals known to be infected with any TSE disease.

CWD-infected deer and elk show abnormal behaviour accompanied by progressive weight loss. In later stages, animals with CWD show signs of extreme weight loss, repetitive behaviour, drowsiness, lack of co-ordination, drooping head and ears, drooling and increased drinking and urination.

Conservation officials in Manitoba — another province which has yet to turn up any cases of CWD — urge hunters not to shoot animals that appear to be sick. If a hunter does shoot a deer or elk that appears unhealthy and/or extremely thin, its carcass should not be field dressed. — AGCanada.com Network

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