Smoke rises from a wildfire in Alberta’s Strathcona County, east of Edmonton, on May 5, 2023. (Photo: Video screengrab from @hellohildy on Twitter via Reuters)

Alberta fairs, auctions offer space for evacuated livestock

Central areas catch break with moisture, cooler weather; CN service resumes

Alberta’s ag societies and livestock auction marts are offering up pen space for producers forced to evacuate animals away from dozens of wildfires in the province’s northern and west-central regions. As of early Thursday evening, the province was tracking 76 active wildfires, of which 22 were listed as “out of control” and 17 as “being […] Read more


Flames from the Hennessey Fire are seen in the last image from a tower-mounted camera before it melted, according to AlertWildfire, on Atlas Peak northwest of Vacaville, Calif. on Aug. 18, 2020. (Photo: Alertwildfire.org/Handout via Reuters)

‘Lightning siege’ sparks wildfires across California wine country

Almost 11,000 strikes reported over 72 hours

Vacaville, California | Reuters — Lightning strikes sparked dozens of wildfires in northern California’s wine country on Wednesday, burning dozens of structures and forcing thousands to flee their homes. California was hit by nearly 11,000 lightning strikes in 72 hours, sparking 367 fires, nearly two dozen of them major, as the state suffered a record […] Read more

Update your emergency plan and consider a wide range of ‘what-if’ scenarios, says Rebecca Husted, an expert in emergency planning for livestock. (Supplied photo)

Ahead of any emergency, plan for the worst

Disaster planning is not a pleasant task but it's vital that producers have a plan, expert says

Identify your resources and review your plan, says an expert in emergency planning for livestock. The COVID-19 pandemic is a very different type of emergency, said Rebecca Husted, a teacher of technical large animal emergency rescue. “Most disasters like fires and floods have people moving around, but in COVID-19, people are not supposed to move […] Read more



(DusanPetkovic/iStock/Getty Images)

Ottawa looks to speed up emergency access to livestock drugs

Livestock drugs not currently available in Canada could become easier to access in emergencies, if proposals for amended federal drug regulations get on the books. Health Canada, proposing to streamline the processes for emergency access to drugs for livestock as well as people and pets, on Friday announced a public comment period on its proposals, […] Read more