Issues & Insights

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…

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…

By CBC News After last year’s summer drought prompted many Alberta cattle ranchers to cull their herds, ongoing dry weather this winter and spring, especially in the southern part of the province, could mean more of the same. “If we don’t get some significant rainfall, you know, in my area in the next couple of weeks,…

By Sylvain Charlebois Looks like we will all see different symbols on food packaging soon, telling us whether a food product at the grocery store has too much fat, sugar or sodium. Health Canada is likely going forward shortly with a policy requiring front-of-package nutrition symbols on foods high in saturated fat, sugars and sodium….

Are you a woman who leads a farm, works on a farm, or otherwise contributes to a farm? Farm Management Canada and CentricEngine Inc. are working on a research project to provide a “comprehensive baseline for understanding the roles, status, barriers and opportunities to support women involved in farming.” As part of that project, they’ve…

Livestock investigator says some have lost upward of $50,000 due to bad cheques By Jade Markus, CBC Calgary Due to last summer’s drought and winter’s supply chain issues, cattle feed is still hard to come by in Alberta — and what’s available comes at a cost.  That’s leading to a surge in scams, thefts and bad…

When wild boar were first brought to the prairies, experts suggested crossing them with domestic pigs for a bigger, more reproductive animal. Unfortunately, some of the traits that make them great farm animals, also make them a wildly successful invasive pest. According to Dr. Ryan Brook, wild pig occurrences occupy just over one million square…