Dr. Stephen Koontz, of Colorado State University, is shining a light on a rather complicated, but incredibly important part of how cattle prices are currently set. Markets and marketing evolves over time, and the cattle industry is no different. Koontz says that the strong transition from a negotiated cash trade, to formula and forward pricing... Read More
Category: Livestock
The province of British Columbia has confirmed a tenth barn is infected with avian influenza. This news comes only two weeks after the province notified the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) of the detection of an H5 subtype in two barns in B.C.'s Fraser Valley, later identified as the highly pathogenic H5N2. Avian influenza has... Read More
Mixing alfalfa and sainfoin for a pasture stand has potential, as research scientists pointed out last week at the Western Canadian Grazing Conference in Edmonton. Sainfoin is a perennial forage legume. It was introduced to North America from Europe and Asia in the late 1800s and has since been used for both grazing and hay.... Read More
Could Johne's disease be lurking in your dairy or beef herd? It very well could be, and you'd potentially never know it, or most of your herd could be infected before you have a positive test. The same can be said for beef herds, so those of you with all types of cattle need to... Read More
On Friday, Montana state officials announced that a few thousand head of cattle had been quarantined, as a cow near the border of Yellowstone National Park has tested positive for brucellosis. Brucellosis was first introduced into North America by infected livestock brought in by European settlers. It’s a zoonotic bacterial infection with forms that affect... Read More
One of the stipulations for funding the Beef InfoXchange System (BIXS), was that it one day become self-sustaining, and yesterday, the Canadian Cattlemen's Association announced a step in that direction in its partnering with ViewTrak Technologies. “Partnering with industry to expand BIXS’ reach and potential has always been our vision,” said Rob McNabb, General Manager... Read More
When Megan Lacelle and Kaitlyn Van De Woestyne needed to tackle a particular project for their fourth year University of Regina journalism course, Megan immediately thought of telling the story of Jim Commodore. While the step-change occurring with the PFRA pastures is an ongoing news story in and of itself, it's Jim and Jim's history... Read More
The Canadian agriculture sector is welcoming the ratification of the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement in both countries' Parliaments. After being approved by the Korean government this week, International Trade Minister Ed Fast announced Wednesday that the CKFTA will come into force on January 1st, 2015. As discussed previously on RealAg, the deal is expected to... Read More
Verified Beef Production (VBP) is a national on-farm food safety program which evolved from Quality Starts Here. It is based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points, with workshops to help producers through the verification process, from Standard Operating Procedures to on-farm assessments. In order to participate, producers are encouraged to contact their Provincial Delivery Agent.... Read More
If beef prices at the retail level stay elevated, will consumers pick pork and poultry? Have we topped out on these cattle markets? It’s questions like these that many ranchers and feed yard operators have been thinking about, so in this special “Ask Annie” edition of the Beef Market Update, Shaun Haney went to the... Read More