Canadian farmers who own dairy or poultry quota may not have to live with the stress that comes from marketing a product on a volatile open market, but their stress comes in another form: the worry that the federal government will pull the rug (or one of the three pillars) out from under the regulatory... Read More
Category: Livestock
The Canadian Pork Council is exploring the feasibility of a hedging program to help hog producers manage price volatility and cash flow needs. Bev Shipley, MP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex and chair of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced federal funding of up to $169,530 for the project through the federal AgriRisk Initiatives program on... Read More
Haying conditions, new funding for wheat breeding, the International Rapeseed Congress (aka “the Canola Olympics”) and more — here’s this week’s ag news podcast: Sign-up for RealAg’s free email ag news here! Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS
There's no doubt that having a vaccination protocol on hand could save booster misses, bring all farm employees to the same page and improve overall confidence in our herd health programs. But, developing that protocol can be more than a little overwhelming. At the 2015 UCVM Beef Cattle Conference, I (finally!) tracked down Cody Creelman,... Read More
Anyone with an eye on mainstream media or the meat shelves in the grocery store won’t be surprised to hear that the average beef retail price has hit another record high, weighing in at $19.69/kg. “That’s up 3% from last month, but more importantly i think — this is what people are going to hone... Read More
Saskatchewan farmers have an extra 15 days to plant greenfeed crops and still receive crop insurance coverage. The federal and provincial agriculture ministers announced the deadline has been pushed back from June 30th to July 15th in hopes it will help mitigate a potential feed shortage. “The lack of moisture through the spring and so... Read More
Last month, TMX Group announced the launch of a new, web-based subsidiary to connect U.S. and Canadian cattle producers in an online marketplace, called AgriClear. “Today’s launch of AgriClear represents an important opportunity for TMX Group to apply the depth of expertise we have across our business lines to address client needs in a new... Read More
Note: There are a couple of rather graphic pictures in this post. Audio included at the end. Losing an animal to any sort of predation can be incredibly difficult to stomach, and a lot of times completely unexpected. The scenes we typically imagine in the wild are those of peace, where cattle low, birds sing,... Read More
After coping with excess moisture in many instances over the last few years, farmers in much of Western Canada are suffering from a case of “weather whiplash,” as Dave Phillips, veteran meteorologist with Environment Canada, has termed it. Much of the west has received less than 60 percent of average precipitation this growing season, with... Read More
There are few things on livestock operations more difficult than deciding whether or not to euthanize an animal. And according to Jan Shearer, professor at Iowa State University, we tend to let that decision go on way too long. Shearer was a speaker at this year’s UCVM Beef Cattle Conference pre-conference, where he spoke on... Read More