If Wales can raise 10 million sheep, why can the Prairies, at 100 times the area, only raise around 300,000? The demand for lamb is there, whether for domestic or export purposes, Ieuan Evans writes.
Sheep/Goats
Why not a Prairie sheep sector?
Practical Research: We have demand here for lamb but the supply, for now, is mainly elsewhere
Alberta lifts feeder loan guarantee limit
Amendment boosts individual limit by 50 per cent
Alberta has boosted the limit on the size of loan available under its Feeder Associations Loan Guarantee program, aiming to help producers keep up against rising livestock prices. An order in council amending the provincial Feeder Associations Guarantee Regulation was approved Monday, raising that program’s individual and joint-membership loan limit to $3 million, from $2 […] Read more
CFIA seeks feedback on traceability, animal ID amendments
Producers have until June 16 to comment on proposals
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is now seeking comment on its proposed amendments to livestock identification and traceability regulations. The regulatory proposal would address what the agency calls “gaps” in the current system, including: adding goats and cervids as animal species that share diseases with other regulated livestock, and therefore subject to traceability requirements, shortening […] Read more
Préval closes deal for Alberta lamb processor, feedlot
Quebec firm picks up defunct NALCO's Alberta assets
Quebec agrifood firm Préval Ag has wrapped up its deal to buy the Alberta processing and production assets of the defunct North American Lamb Co., marking Préval’s first move into the lamb sector outside its home province. As per Alberta Farmer’s report last week, Préval confirmed Monday its divisions Westfine Meats and West Excelamb are […] Read more
U.S. sheep herders’ suit alleges cartel-like wage suppression
Reuters –– Sheep herders in the U.S. West have banded together to sue their employers, accusing them of operating an illegal cartel that artificially suppresses their wages, according to court documents filed Wednesday in Nevada. The case could have implications for how antitrust laws are applied to labour markets, according to legal experts, as the […] Read more
Be prepared for an animal disease outbreak
Hopefully, infectious diseases don’t appear in Canada but the industry needs to have a plan in place
Hopefully, infectious diseases don’t appear in Canada but the industry needs to have a plan in place
If there ever is a foreign animal disease outbreak in Canada, we all know it could be devastating to the industry. Contagious pathogens such as foot and mouth in bovines, sheep and swine, or African Swine Fever (ASF) in pigs, can cost individual producers in lost production and animal deaths, as well as closing the […] Read more
U.S. to lift BSE-related rules off sheep, goat imports
New scrapie-specific rules take effect next month
U.S. restrictions that have hindered that country’s imports of live Canadian sheep and goats, going back to the start of the BSE crisis in 2003, are set to be scrapped and replaced with rules applying specifically to scrapie. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on Friday published a new […] Read more
Britain, New Zealand strike free trade deal
London/Wellington | Reuters — Britain and New Zealand have reached agreement in principle on a free trade deal designed to reduce tariffs, improve services trade, and take London one step closer to membership in a broader trans-Pacific trade agreement. Prime ministers Boris Johnson and Jacinda Ardern sealed the deal in a Zoom call on Wednesday […] Read more
Anthrax kills southeastern Saskatchewan sheep
Spores forced up by changes in soil moisture
Dramatic shifts in soil moisture are again bringing anthrax spores to the surface on the Prairies, this time in a southeastern Saskatchewan sheep pasture. Lab results on Wednesday confirmed anthrax as the cause of death of one animal in a flock of sheep in the R.M. of South Qu’Appelle, about 50 km east of Regina, […] Read more
Ontario names new ag minister in shuffle
Lisa Thompson replaces Ernie Hardeman
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has drawn another aggie from his existing cabinet to replace Ernie Hardeman as his agriculture minister. Ford on Friday announced a major cabinet shuffle, dropping Hardeman, the long-time MPP for Oxford, from the cabinet table and naming Lisa Thompson as minister for agriculture, food and rural affairs. Thompson, who until Friday […] Read more
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