Water quality can affect animal welfare and the financial bottom line long before visual symptoms start to appear. "It never bothered them before" is an often-heard refrain when the welfare of animals is impaired by poor water quality. "We just can't determine the quality of water by just looking at it," explains Leah Clark of... Read More
Category: Livestock
As our beef market expert Anne Wasko puts it, 'It was the dog days of summer —but for the beef industry' last week. It was a quiet trade week, and the cattle that did trade looked about $2 lower than the average price this year — however, it's not a big surprise due to the... Read More
What we know A tweet posted July 26th by Dr. Egan Brockhoff, DVM, stated that two environmental samples (not livestock) in Saskatchewan had tested positive for PEDv. Heads up! PED Virus +ve environmental samples. Saskatchewan has found a #livestock trailer and #truckwash positive for the virus. Direct connection to US transportation identified as the... Read More
The latest USDA Cattle on Feed report shows once again that the "wall" of cattle was not an unreasonable description. Thankfully, sustained consumer demand has helped greatly. The June report met expectations and further confirms what a bulk of analysts have been talking about the entire 2018 marketing year. Anne Wasko, with Gateway Livestock Exchange... Read More
Alberta-based Canada Gold Beef Ltd, owners of SunGold Specialty Meats Ltd., and the Canada Gold Lamb Lot have announced the merger of their lamb operations with that of Fresh Canada Meats Ltd, the majority shareholder of Manitoba-based Canada Sheep and Lamb Farms Ltd. Fresh Canada Meats is a wholly owned Canadian subsidiary of Integrated Foods... Read More
It was a big week for the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) and McDonald's Canada. McDonald’s Canada says it will soon become the first company in Canada to serve beef from Canadian farms and ranches that are “certified sustainable." Many of the beef producers participating in the pilot project are very excited about the... Read More
It's been a volatile couple of weeks in cattle futures, with the market giving back most of last week's gains in the last few days. Meanwhile, cash prices in Western Canada have remained strong, reports Anne Wasko in this latest Beef Market Update, with average prices for fed cattle getting back into the mid-150s in... Read More
The news on Monday about the Schuurmans and the tragic collision on the Canadian Milk Tour near Saskatoon was devastating. This is clearly a situation that comes with shock, surprise, and sadness. In reflection of the events, it really hits home for me that life can be so fragile. My takeaway from this event is... Read More
Canada imports more than half the lamb it consumes, which spells opportunity for our sheep farmers, but that opportunity isn't the easiest to capitalize on. In the interview below, Marc Carere, vice chair of Ontario Sheep Farmers, talks to Shaun Haney about the tremendous amount of potential — but also incredible challenges —of this still-maturing... Read More
McDonald's Canada says it will soon become the first company in Canada to serve Canadian beef from farms and ranches that are "certified sustainable." The restaurant chain will introduce the sustainability claim with its Angus burger lineup, and is expecting to sell more than 20 million Angus burgers sourced according to these standards in the... Read More