Five factors to add to your animal welfare watch list in 2013

Alberta Beef Producers chair Doug Sawyer says livestock welfare issues 
become a permanent part of sustainable production

It’s a fact as clear as the rising sun on a crisp New Year’s Day morning over Doug Sawyer’s Pine Lake, Alberta, area ranchland. As 2013 kicks off, there’s no doubt the issue of livestock welfare has ascended to become a big and likely permanent part of the emerging “sustainability file” for global agriculture. “There’s

Horse herd in limbo after controversial seizure in the RM of Lakeview

An RM of Lakeview councillor complains protocols were breached 
after provincial officials seized a band of semi-feral horses near Langruth

The fate of a herd of horses rounded up in the RM of Lakeview remains in limbo while allegations fly they were improperly seized from their elderly owners. Richard Callander, a local municipal councillor filed an appeal Jan. 21 on behalf of the owners for the return of 10 Morgan-Appaloosa-cross stallions, mares and their offspring,



Dutch law will ban mink farming by 2024

Reuters/Staff –– Humane Society International-Canada is calling on the Canadian government to phase out fur farming following a decision by the Netherlands to end the practice by 2024. “Right now, the Canadian codes of practice for minks and foxes are being reviewed, and it is clear that fur farming is causing immense suffering to animals,”


Manitoba Pork Council prepares for end of gestation stalls

Dealing with aggression, finding the best design, and retraining barn workers are some of 
the issues producers will have to deal with when they shift to open housing

If it’s time to update your hog barn or if you’re thinking about new equipment, then it’s also time to think about converting your sow gestation stalls to open-housing systems. “We’re working with the date of 2025, and we’re continuing to encourage producers to look at that date as well,” said Mark Fynn, animal care

Letters — for 2012-11-15 00:00:00

Let’s get talking I appreciated the article in the August 30, 2012 edition entitled “Animal welfare – act now, or have someone else do it.” To have producers be proactive to address the concerns of both people in animal welfare groups as well as the purchasing public would be terrific. There does seem to be


Inhumane treatment documented again

California processor Central Valley Meat Co. is the subject of a recent Internet animal cruelty video released by anti-meat organization “Compassion over Killing.” The video captured instances of inhumane handling practices that are not condoned by the beef and cattle industry or the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) suspended

Innovative poultry farm family named 2012 Farm Family of the Year

The Doerksen’s of Blumenort become the 46th Manitoba farm family honoured by the Red River Exhibition

The Red River Exhibition Association (RREA) has named the family behind Doerksen Poultry Farm Ltd., of Blumenort as the 2012 Farm Family of the Year. Orville and Beverly Doerksen, and their children Ken and Lorisa Wall, Alan and Myra Brydges and Joel and Christine Doerksen, join a distinguished list of 46 other Manitoba families who


McDonald’s to end sow stalls in 10 years

Reuters / McDonald’s said May 31 that by 2022 it will only buy pork from farmers and other sources that do not use gestation stalls for housing their pregnant sows. In the shorter term, the Oak Brook, Illinois-based fast-food giant said that it would work with producers and suppliers to develop traceability systems to prove that

Injured meat animals can now be killed on farm

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture and the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association have sided with Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz in a political dispute over a change to Meat Inspection Regulations. CFA president Ron Bonnett said the change in regulations to cover the rare instances of livestock put down on the farm “will provide a more practical, outcome-based