Issues & Insights

2022 will be remembered as a year of near record high fall calf prices, but also a time when auction market owners were watching some looming clouds on the horizon. Not enough clouds, at least of the rain-filled type, showed up to save southern regions of the province from a third straight drought year. Ranchers…

By Dylana Twittey, The Gateway – The Official Student Publication at the University of Alberta Research by a University of Alberta professor aims to help combat high levels of stress, depression and suicide in Alberta’s farming and agriculture industry. The research is being done by Rebecca Purc-Stephenson, a professor in the department of social sciences…

Summer’s over and the bulls are ready for their winter off. They’ve made their contribution to production and can be off the active ranch radar. But the time has come to look beyond their seasonal service, to see if there’s room for management improvement. “We think about bulls getting semen tested in the spring, and…

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. 

In June, Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) aligned with cattle producers and organizations across the country calling on Health Canada to exempt ground beef from the proposed front-of-package (FOP) regulations. As part of the Government of Canada’s Healthy Eating Strategy, proposed labelling regulations included a requirement for ground beef sold at retail to carry a “high…

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…