Issues & Insights

By CTV News Edmonton Animals were the star of the show this weekend, with Alberta beef cattle getting pampered and paraded at one of Canada’s top agricultural shows. Farmfair International is Alberta’s largest beef cattle show, and it kicked off Wednesday at the Edmonton Expo Centre. This year’s event is the largest since 2017, with…

The Animal Health Emergency Management (AHEM) project has recently released its new resource, Emergency Response Procedures for NON-DISEASE RELATED EMERGENCIES. The 10-page document was developed to provide producers and animal caregivers with guidance on preparing for and responding to: You can view, download, and print the new resource by visiting www.animalhealth.ca/resources. 

Producers still dealing with drought fallout, but looking ahead to better days By Alexis Kienlen, Alberta Farmer Express Cattle producers are feeling cautiously hopeful, thanks to June and July rains. “It’s a sigh of huge relief, as least what I experienced in this area — it’s just a burden of worry lifted,” said Fred Lozeman,…

The Federal, Provincial, and Territorial Ministers of Agriculture announced the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership following their Annual Meeting. This five-year agreement, in principle, will see $500 million in new funds, increasing the cost-shared portion of funding by 25 percent. Ministers agreed to improve Business Risk Management (BRM) programs, with a raise to the AgriStability compensation…

More funding, more vet and vet technologist training won’t fix problem overnight, warns the AVMA By James Snell, Alberta Farmer Express There’s a major shortage of veterinary professionals in Alberta causing long wait times for routine livestock medical procedures. Introducing The Bovine — ABP’s inaugural podcast There are more than 840 veterinarian and veterinary technologist vacancies in Alberta…

Ground meat is a nutritious food and saying it is high in saturated fat is misleading and harmful, groups say By James Snell Alberta cattle producers say they are feeling betrayed by the federal government after Health Canada recently announced a plan to add saturated fat warning labels to ground meat. “Labelling ground beef — an affordable, nutritious…

Researchers at the University of Calgary are looking at potential ways to manage the health of wood bison, with a focus on tuberculosis and brucellosis, and they need your help. Drs. David C. Hall and Kyle Plotsky, independent researchers employed by the University of Calgary, are working on a Parks Canada funded project to understand peoples’…

Antimicrobial use in beef cattle production greatly benefits animal health. But, it has come under scrutiny in recent years, due to increasing incidents of antimicrobial resistance. To bring you the full story, we spoke to an animal health scientist and a feedlot veterinarian about the benefits and challenges of antimicrobial use, the developing risk of…