The fleece and conformation of Canadian alpacas impressed an American judge at the Canadian Western Agribition Alpaca Halter Show and Fleece competitions.

Beverly Brehm has been a certified judge since 2019 and was particularly appreciative of the care that Canadians show for conformation, such as legs, ears, mouth, and bite, noting she didn’t see a single incorrect bite.

Read: More Canadian Western Agribition coverage.

“It means that they’re placing a lot of value on the things that are very important,” Brehm said.

“Like the eating aspect, being able to graze correctly, get the food in the alpaca’s mouth so that it can grow, and that’s where that correct bite is really, really important.”

Cathy Merkley, an alpaca owner and judge for more than 20 years, chalks this up to the seriousness of alpaca breeders, who she said are keen to continue educating themselves.

“We know good conformation, and so we fixed that early on in our breeding programs,” she said.

“Everybody breeds for correct conformation. If he doesn’t have correct confirmation, he’s out. Like, it’s just simple. So we have that fixed in our herd, really.”

While judging the fleece competition, Brehm engaged in a discussion about breeding capabilities with some of the volunteers. One area that particularly fascinated her is Canadians’ ability to rapidly improve fleece length and continue to produce a very long stapling length.

“In the ‘A’ fleeces that I was looking at, which is the juvenile fleeces, their first fleece after birth, they have a massive stapling, which is not something that we normally see in that age group in the U.S.,” she said.

“And so some of the conversations that we were having was, is it something that they’re trait selecting for or are they doing it out of necessity? Because it is quite a bit colder here, and in order for that animal to survive in the winter months, it needs to have enough fibre for it to stay warm and survive outside.”

Environmental influences may be the most unique difference between Canadian and American alpaca trait selection.

Another difference has been the judging system. Canada weighs fleece as 60 per cent and conformation for 40 per cent, while the United States weighs it 50-50.

Fleece is judged on traits important for processing, such as uniformity of microns (the fineness across the fleece), crimp definition and uniformity and uniformity of colour and length. Points can be lost due to management issues such as improper skirting, weathered fleece and vegetation or dirt.

The 60-40 weighting approach affected placing decisions because when deciding on first place and weighing two animals, the choice comes down to fleece traits.

”I think it probably happened in about three or four of the classes where I really had to make sure that I was focusing on the fleece trait specifically,” Brehm said.

“Versus, ‘yeah, this guy looks great in conformation, but he just doesn’t have everything packed in it.’ So that was a little bit of a difference, besides Canadians having red for the first place ribbons.”

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced Thursday it would move forward with depopulating over 300 birds at Universal Ostrich Farms, near Edgewood, about 120 km northwest of Castlegar.

The farm has been in an ongoing standoff with the CFIA since last winter, when a cull order was given after two dead birds tested positive for highly-pathogenic avian influenza (HAPI).

The farm has already made several attempts at stopping the CFIA order, including an appeal denied in August. The stamping-out procedure is standard practice for infected flocks.

“The CFIA has respected all orders and decisions of the courts throughout the legal process and expects the ostrich farm owners and supporters to do the same now that the Supreme Court of Canada has issued its judgment,” the CFIA said via a Thursday written release.

It also reminded the public any obstruction of the process of officers performing their duties would be an offence. Universal Ostrich Farms has drawn crowds of protestors ever since the initial order.

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is seeking feedback on proposed changes to the program, which is intended to improve risk management in farmed cervids and better meet the needs of partners, industry, stakeholders and consumers.

CFIA employees and the public can give their thoughts on the changes here. 

The proposed changes will move away from mandatory herd destruction and toward a regional, management-focused approach to control disease spread. The new proposed CWD control program will recognize regional variability in CWD status for the purposes of CWD risk management.

It will consider CWD to be established in a province or territory where CWD has been detected in wild or farmed cervids for two or more consecutive years. The CFIA will consider CWD to be emerging in a province or territory where CWD has been detected in some wild cervid populations for two or more consecutive years, but not in farmed cervids.

Under the proposed program change, CFIA will consider CWD to be established in Alberta and Saskatchewan, emerging in Manitoba and not detected in the rest of Canada. Under the new proposed program, CFIA will not order the destruction of CWD-infected herds in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

CWD is spreading across Canada. The disease is established in wild cervids in Saskatchewan and much of Alberta. New cases are continually detected in cervid farms and wild cervids in the two provinces.

CWD has also been found in Québec in 2018 and was detected in British Columbia in wild cervids in January 2024. Since 2021, Manitoba has been searching for CWD in wild cervids. Other provinces have not seen any CWD in their wild cervid populations and there is no CWD in the wild populations of caribou either.

To date, there has been no known transmission of CWD to humans and no direct evidence to suggest CWD could be transmitted to humans. However, there is always an uncertainty for zoonotic (animal to human) cross-species transmission.

Under the proposed change, CFIA will work collaboratively with provinces not affected by CWD to carry out eradication measures if the first case is detected in a farmed cervid, on the condition that the relevant provincial or territorial wildlife authority carry out similar eradication measures in wild cervids near the infected farm. This response will prevent further spread of CWD into other parts of Canada.

Restrictions on movement of live cervids from CWD-infected herds are controlled under CFIA’s Cervid Movement Permit policy. Live cervids originating from CWD-infected herds in Canada will continue to be permitted to move only to terminal locations (abattoirs or terminal hunt farms) if allowed by provincial or territorial authorities.

The CFIA’s current CWD control program encourages disease prevention and early detection by focusing response action on CWD-infected herds enrolled in the CWD herd certification program (HCP), found to be compliant at level D or higher through CWD HCP compliance evaluation.

The CFIA takes response actions in CWD-infected herds not eligible for the CWD compartment response. These can include placing a quarantine, tracing epidemiological links to other cervids herds and conducting confirmatory testing.

The second goal of the current CWD Control Programs applies to all CWD-infected farmed cervid herds and aligns with Health Canada’s recommended precautionary approach to keep cervids known to be infected with CWD out of the commercial food supply.

Currently, all CWD-exposed cervids (those from CWD-infected farms) must be tested for CWD. Their results must be negative before their consumable products can be released into the marketplace.

Questions can be emailed to CWD-MDC@inspection.gc.ca

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“This package of regulatory changes is about building a regulatory environment that reflects and responds to the realities of today’s agriculture sector,” said federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald in a Wednesday press release.

The changes to the Health of Animals Regulations and the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations fall into three categories: removing overly prescriptive requirements; increasing flexibility and speed; and levelling the playing field for the Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector.

Industries of greatest impact are fruit and vegetable, and livestock — mainly poultry and veal.

For fruit and vegetable producers, the changes include:

• Fresh fruit and vegetables will no longer require prescriptive label.

• Produce intended for further processing, manufacturing, or preserving is exempt from mandatory grading requirements.

• Fresh fruits and vegetables grade standards will be managed by the Fruit and Vegetable Dispute Resolution Corporation to more effectively meet industry needs.

Changes for the poultry industry include:

• Reduction of traceability labelling requirements for hatching eggs and chicks to align with current industry practices.

• Required testing for Salmonella Enteritidis on hatching eggs imported from the United States to licensed Canadian hatcheries.

Changes to livestock regulation are:

• Increased efficiency and ease in updating animal import rules to align with international standards or new science.

• Updated import requirements for veal to give more flexibility.

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RCMP said the incident occurred on Sept. 22 and the alleged perpetrator was arrested without incident. He was later released with the promise not to return to the area.

Media reports said the neighbour, a woman in her early 70s, spotted a person dressed in black, wearing a balaclava while pouring gasoline on her home. She confronted the person, who allegedly splashed gasoline on her and a scuffle ensued. Since then, Katie Pasitney of Universal Ostrich took to social media to condemn the accused’s actions, stating the protest against the cull of their remaining ostriches is peaceful and non-violent.

“We do not condone violence of any kind so please, if you are one of those people, you are not part of this,” Pasitney said.

In December 2024, some of the farm’s ostriches contracted avian influenza. Shortly after, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency ordered the remaining birds to be culled. Since then protests and court actions followed in an effort to halt the cull.

Presently, the matter has gone to the Supreme Court of Canada. The court already granted a stay of the cull until they chose to hear Universal Farm’s case or not.

As for the CFIA, they issued a statement on Oct. 1, saying two of the ostriches were being treated for the condition of their feet. Also, the farm is under CGIA control, and the agency is following their stamp out policy pertaining to bird flu.

There were 10 current outbreaks of avian influenza in Canadian poultry as of Oct. 1, according to CFIA data. No cases have been found in Canadian cattle.

In the United States, the latest discoveries of bird flu have hit turkeys at commercial farms in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Utah. Also, a whooping crane in Wisconsin that was due to be released into the wild died of bird flu. There are about 700 wild whopping cranes left in the U.S.

Over the course of September, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said there are 19 commercial bird flocks and eight backyard flocks in which bird flu has been diagnosed. That placed the number of affected birds at 3.83 million.

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The Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday granting an “interim-interim stay” of a culling order made on Dec. 31.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency late last year ordered about 400 ostriches to be killed. Since then the Universal Ostrich Farms in Edgewood, British Columbia, has fought the order. They lost multiple lower court rulings but won some powerful supporters in the U.S. who have launched a campaign to stop the cull.

Why it matters: Experts have called the ostriches a risk to animal and human health.

In their motion for a stay co-owners Karen Espersen and Dave Bilinski included an affidavit from a University of British Columbia professor arguing the ostriches have immunity to avian flu.

Mehmet Oz, U.S. administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, offered in August to house the birds to study them. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has also argued against the cull.

The culling had been scheduled for later on Wednesday, the farm’s lawyer Umar Sheikh told Reuters.

He said he was “obviously very, very happy” with the order but emphasized this is “a very uphill battle” and “this is just a very short, temporary breather.”

A severe bird flu outbreak in recent years resulted in millions of chickens, turkeys and other birds being killed in the United States to contain the spread of bird flu, which can infect humans and is fatal in poultry. The cullings contributed to egg prices at U.S. grocery stores climbing to a record high. Smaller commercial poultry flocks have been eliminated in Canada.

The farm, whose owners say they specialize in studying ostrich antibodies, had argued culling the birds would cause “irreparable harm” and “permanently destroy unique genetics and a specialized research‑based business.”

The ostriches’ reprieve could be short-lived as the court has yet to determine the ostriches’ fate.

Now the food inspection agency maintains custody of the birds and has until Oct. 3 to file its reply to the farm’s application to the Supreme Court. The court will deal with the case on an expedited basis, it said in the ruling granting the stay.

— Additional reporting by Ed White in Winnipeg

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a June 19 notice to industry it’s the first time the virus has been detected in a commercial operation in Canada since 1973.

The disease, caused by the avian paramyxovirus type 1, is highly contagious and can infect both domestic fowl and wild birds. According to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), Newcastle Disease can present clinically very similar to avian influenza, including a drop in egg production, respiratory distress, nervous signs (such as tremors, paralyzed wings, head and neck twisting) and diarrhea. Mortality can be variable.

To minimize trade disruptions, the CFIA has set up primary control zones 10 kilometres around each of the infected premises. The agency said the infected birds have been depopulated and a thorough cleaning and disinfection of the premises must be completed to help prevent spread of the virus to other poultry premises.

Poultry producers in the area are encouraged to practice heightened biosecurity as the disease is mainly transmitted by direct contact with diseased or carrier birds. The CFIA said infected birds may shed the virus in their feces, contaminating the environment. The virus can survive for days in litter, feed, water, soil, carcasses, eggs and feathers. The disease spreads rapidly among birds in close confinement.

The virus can also spread unintentionally through the movement of contaminated material, footwear and equipment.

Most commercial broiler, turkey, layer and breeder flocks in Canada are vaccinated for the disease.

The CFIA said Newcastle disease is not a food safety concern.

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Even one or two positive results of H5N1 can be enough to declare an outbreak said Dr. Giorgia Sulis, who is Canada Research Chair in Communicable Disease Epidemiology.

“The issue is that avian influenza is highly transmissible, and the detection of even a very small number of positive samples is something that has to be taken with extreme caution,” Dr. Sulis said.

“It usually indicates that there is a lot more than that. So, what you detect is normally the tip of the iceberg.”

International attention drawn

Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, B.C. has gained widespread public attention since the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) ordered the cull in December of last year. Protestors have gathered at the farm. A Facebook group called “Save Our Ostriches” now has some 13,000 followers as of June 11 and an online fundraising campaign had raised more than $36,500.

The case has gained international traction as well. U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent an open letter to the CFIA asking them to reconsider the cull. Dr. Mehmet Oz offered to house the birds in Florida, which the farm’s owners reportedly declined.

According to the Save our Ostriches website, the CFIA’s order was based on two PCR tests, which showed positive results of H5N1 avian influenza in birds dead for over 24 hours.

The website says the farmers were shocked by the results and requested further testing on tissue samples, which they call “the gold standard for diagnosing any illness.”

Sulis said the specificity of these tests is close to 100 per cent and the potential number of false positives “is extremely low or virtually zero.”

Farm not co-operating

According to a May 30 release from the CFIA, Universal Ostrich Farms “has not cooperated with the requirements set out under the Health of Animals Act including failure to report the initial cases of illness and deaths to the CFIA and failure to adhere to quarantine orders.”

It also said the farm failed to take necessary risk mitigation measures like limiting the ostriches’ exposure to wild animals, controlling water flow from the quarantined zone and improving fencing.

Sulis said it’s extremely important to stop transmission as quickly as possible once the virus is detected. There’s a risk of transmission to wild animals or even to humans.

“That’s why it’s important to act very, very quickly, and sometimes depopulating the flock is the quickest way to do that.”

Late last year, a B.C. teen was hospitalized in critical condition after she contracted bird flu.

The CFIA statement says keeping birds that have been exposed to H5N1 alive and failing to stamp out the infection means a source for the virus potentially still exists, along with the risk of it mutating.

Flock could provide research opportunities, farm argues

The owners of the farm have argued the birds have developed herd immunity and should be studied to help fight avian flu and contribute to antibody research.

“The ostriches at Universal Ostrich Farms are valued not only for their genetic traits but also for their strong, robust immune systems, which have attracted the interest of researchers worldwide,” including collaborations with professors from Kyoto, Japan and Boston into antibodies found in ostrich eggs, the farm said on the Save our Ostriches website.

The farmers argue their flock could provide research opportunities for managing diseases in wild populations. Kennedy echoed this notion in his letter to the CFIA.

According to the CFIA’s statement, the farm has not substantiated their claims of on-farm research and provided no research documentation during a request for exemption from the disposal order.

No long-lasting immunity

Sulis said avian influenza viruses can’t induce a long-lasting immune response.

“They might be immune for a while, but this immunity most likely will wane over time, and usually immunity lasts for only a few months.”

Sulis added this is not entirely understood and there is need for more research in this space, “but generally speaking, given how influenza viruses are structured and the type of immune response that they induce, it’s unlikely that animals that are exposed and do not show symptoms will remain immune for a long time.”

According to the Save Our Ostriches website, 69 ostriches died in December during the outbreak that prompted CFIA intervention, but as of several weeks later “no further illnesses or deaths (had) occurred.” They argue the remaining birds are healthy.

The birds’ fates may not be a done deal, according to Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Heath MacDonald. When asked by reporters in Ottawa about the fate of the birds, MacDonald said the birds will “not necessarily” be killed, although “the process is in place.”

According to the May 30 statement, the CFIA says it still plans to move forward with a “humane depopulation with veterinary oversight at the infected premises”

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For Canada, the Beef Cattle Research Council has been the centre for compiling information, putting out brochures and posters illustrating clinical signs, and organizing webinars and videos for veterinarians and producers. These should be of interest to the general public as well.

We all know FMD is an extremely contagious viral disease affecting all cloven-hoof animals, which includes wildlife species such as elk or deer as well as all farm production animals. Horses can get a disease called vesicular stomatitis, which resembles FMD.

FMD symptoms do resemble vesicular stomatitis or bluetongue, which is what they were ruling out in Germany. It also resembles more common diseases with oral lesions, such as BVD and IBR.

Producers, and the general public, need to be aware of several things. One is where outbreaks are happening in the world. The other is that the most likely transmission route is travellers bringing the disease into Canada from abroad, either on themselves or on contaminated meat.

(For the public, a huge misnomer to remember is that FMD in animals is not the same as hand, foot and mouth disease, an infection children can commonly get from other kids.)

Even-tighter border security, and the use of more sniffer dogs for meat, are a great preventive step. These days, this step would also help prevent the introduction of African swine fever into the country.

Diligence about biosecurity helps prevent not only FMD and ASF but all transmissible diseases that affect animals and humans.

We all saw how biosecurity could be increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that is now a somewhat distant memory and we have all gone back to old habits.

The list of countries with FMD outbreaks is ever-changing, but hopefully the media can keep us up to date. Generally speaking, most of Africa and much of Asia and the Middle East are endemic for the disease. Countries such as Turkey — and, in January, Germany — have had outbreaks in recent years. The World Organization for Animal Health has a great web page showing where FMD exists.

It is scary to think the disease is only an air flight away under the right circumstances.

Prevention is always the best remedy, which is why it’s important to ask questions at the border such as whether travelers were on a farm while abroad and if they plan to travel to a farm while in Canada.

Tourists visiting mountain parks are one example of where wildlife could become infected.

I believe stricter protocols with disinfection might be necessary, depending on where travellers come from. For example, a farm worker coming from Africa or Germany might require quarantine or at least strict scrutiny.

Producers should be very aware of where visitors to their farms are coming from, as well as the FMD and ASF status of their home countries.

When a country reports an outbreak, it results in an immediate cessation of meat exports from that country.

FMD has been called the greatest economic threat and the most important transboundary animal disease in the world.

I have heard it can spread over land up to 60 km and over oceans up to 300 km. Those are scary numbers, and though they are extreme, we need to remain vigilant.

A sign-in register for visitors to our farms, for example, is where we as individuals fall short. This is especially true on purebred operations, which could employ foreign workers or host visitors from abroad.

Self-isolation in some cases may be the most appropriate thing to do.

Heavier fines and/or people being turned back at the border when unlawful products are brought in are likely necessary to stress the seriousness of the situation.

It’s also important to know how to identify the disease if it shows up on your farm. Signs of infection include animals that are drooling or lame with initial blister-type lesions that soon rupture and appear as open wounds before clearing up in a few days.

This is where a diligent producer can call in a veterinarian, who can then notify the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to start the investigative process.

If FMD is ever found in Canada, hopefully we’ll get lucky like in Germany, where the farm was relatively isolated and the disease pretty much contained.

They always say it is not a case of if we get FMD but when. I would highly hope we can prevent entry and if it does enter, diligent producers and veterinarians recognize it right away, for the sake of the entire cattle industry but also hogs, sheep, goats and cloven-hoofed wildlife.

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Smart Paddock’s founder and chief executive officer, Darren Wolchyn, moved his family from Alberta to Australia and ended up working on GPS-tracking golf carts. Ranching friends in Alberta suggested he help them GPS-track cattle, and the company was born.

The technology’s target market is cattle on the range or in remote locations and uses solar-powered tags, installed on the back of a cow’s ear, to keep track of them.

When they begin using the system, ranchers usually start by tracking bulls — but other uses include tracking herd movement and where cattle have grazed. It can also be used to predict calving and identify potential problems, such as access to water.

Wolchyn says the solar power on the ear tags sets the product apart. The cattle can then go out onto a range without worry about how the tracker is powered.

Once the property is mapped out, the tracker is designed to give alerts about an animal that has strayed from the herd or is down.

As each animal is tied to GPS co-ordinates, it’s easy for the producer to track the animal’s location.

Marking important points of management on the farm can help producers understand how it is being used and see if an animal is not visiting a lick or a supplement feeder at its required intervals.

Many producers opt to start out tracking their most valuable animals. “Ideally I’d like you to track all of your animals, but some guys track their bulls to start with,” Wolchyn said at Agribition. “If they stray, they are worth a lot of money.”

“On an individual animal, we will model what normal behaviour is over several days and then we will look for a drop in behaviour for that one specific animal.”

Once an individual animal’s behaviour is understood, lessons can be learned from how that animal reacts to its environment.

Cohorts of the herd can be managed, such as tracking all first-calf heifers as they are more likely to have calving problems.

From an even wider perspective, Wolchyn says 10 per cent of the animals in a herd can be tracked for herd-level understanding of movement and feeding patterns.

“We’ll look at the grazing patterns over the whole herd over a week,” he says. Producers can see what areas of the pasture are being grazed and what areas are being left. Adjustments can be made to the herd management, or to the future management of the grazing land.

For example, maybe a temporary fence is needed, or a watering point can be moved to encourage more balanced consumption of the grass, he says.

Farmers can interact with the maps and data through a computer screen and a smartphone app, allowing for use and sharing of the data anywhere.

The app is focused on notifications, to let a producer know about an event in the pasture — say, for a stray animal, or an animal that’s calving.

The company has been selling the system in Australia and is now expanding to North America. It has some systems running in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

“We’re not a solution for a feedlot. We’re not a solution for a pasture around your house. We’re really for the bigger grazing areas,” Wolchyn says.

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