The Alberta government is almost doubling its loan guarantee for cattle and sheep feeder associations in the province, following the record high cattle prices in 2014-15. Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier announced Wednesday that the guarantee limit in the Feeder Association Loan Guarantee Program will be raised from $55 million to $100 million. “The cattle and... Read More
Category: Livestock
A frustrating summer has come to a head over the last few weeks, as already-weak cattle prices are on a streak lower. Cash prices in the U.S. have fallen to $110 per hundred weight, notes Anne Wasko of Gateway Livestock. "That's the lowest they've been in five years, and that's five bucks off of last... Read More
According to the Western Canadian Cow Calf Survey completed in 2015, 72 percent of calves in Western Canada are sold at weaning, with 80 percent being sold via an auction market. The combination of stressors calves face in that short time from weaning to auction to entering a feedlot has major health and economic implications,... Read More
Although he sees minor improvement in the cattle industry’s work towards mitigating the risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), Cody Creelman, managing partner and DVM, Veterinary Agri-Health Services, says there’s much more work to be done to understand the extent of AMR. “There needs to be more dedicated research,” Creelman told RealAgriculture, in an interview filmed... Read More
We've all heard that phrase, often used to console in the gruff way most ranchers know best. "When you have livestock, you have deadstock." But that phrase places too much emphasis on the notion that the death is out of our hands. It's not. While we must not beat ourselves up for lost animals, there's... Read More
Draft horse competitors from all over Alberta were in Picture Butte last weekend for the Coyote Flats Harvest Days, competing in the horse log skid and horse pull. Our own Shaun Haney was at the pioneer celebration, hoping to get footage of some old tractors and the threshing show. But what he found to be... Read More
In my travels I have met many people that inspire through their words or efforts given certain adversities or situations. Age can be a real barrier for many people to continue to live out their passions. Age can be an excuse when some people feel older than they should — some people use age as... Read More
It’s an unusual case. Then again, it was an unusual incident. Most involving attention-seeking animal rights activists are. If you haven’t been following the case of an animal rights activist in Ontario giving water to a pig destined for slaughter, you’ve missed out on something that should shock you back to a changing world, far... Read More
For some ranchers procedures like dehorning/disbudding, castration and branding are necessary evils of the job. But necessity doesn't make the work any easier. In an effort to improve animal welfare, and to respond to consumer concerns, the beef industry is addressing procedures like these with pain mitigation, and improved genetics. The Code of Practice for... Read More
Agriculture has a very rich tradition that involves adversity and hardship. Today we view adversity as a dip in the futures market or the air conditioning suddenly breaking down. But the adversity faced by the pioneers is like nothing we experience today. It was mentally and physically exhausting; there was no infrastructure, just a vision... Read More