#hogs

#hogs

Data-driven approaches in livestock health management can significantly enhance decision-making processes, leading to improved animal welfare and productivity in the agriculture sector.

The public comment period is an important opportunity for producers across Canada to review the draft Code and provide feedback on how it applies to their operations. Producer perspectives from across the country help ensure the Code reflects the diversity of Canadian beef production systems and remains practical for producers who raise cattle.

The herd is Navajo-Churro, a heritage breed long tended by the Diné people of the American Southwest. Resilient and rooted in a fragile history, these sheep carry something beyond wool and weight.

While bacon and eggs only made their way to the breakfast table in the 1920s, the processed meat has been part of the American diet since pigs first arrived on the continent in the 1500s. These days the average American eats around 18 pounds of bacon annually.

Set within a 350-acre fruit orchard in Dahanu, Maharashtra, the 'Gaughar' occupies nearly 14 acres of a larger rural campus that includes a tribal school for 600 children and a skill development centre. More than an isolated structure, the gaushala forms part of a living landscape, one shaped by agriculture, learning, and care.

For someone aiming to end the global livestock industry, Bruce Friedrich begins his new book called Meat in disarming fashion: I'm not here to tell anyone what to eat. You won't find vegetarian or vegan recipes in this book, and you won't find a single sentence attempting to convince you to eat differently. This book isn't about policing your plate.

Police do not know if the meat was intended "to feed wildlife, to lure animals for hunting, or some other unknown reason," the department said. "Hunting on conservation land and in Newton parks is prohibited under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 131, Section 59, which forbids hunting or harming wildlife on any reservation, park, common, or land owned or leased by the Commonwealth of its municipalities, except under very limited, authorized circumstances," Newton police wrote in a Facebook post.

The proposed amendments would allow affected livestock producers to defer this compensation over a prescribed schedule from 2026 to 2030, providing them with greater flexibility to manage their incomes and sustain their operations as they rebuild their herds.

"If Canada wants generational change in agricultural innovation, we need to transform our policy around how we fund plant breeding," he says. The current system, heavily reliant on public funding and check-off dollars, is increasingly under pressure. Reinheimer points to signs that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) is shrinking its breeding footprint-especially in wheat, where AAFC varieties still account for about 80 per cent of acres. The problem? There's no updated funding model to match that shift.

"We're bringing over 20 new products... in the adjuvant space, the crop protection space, seed treatment, as well as the plant nutrition space," Walker states, emphasizing the significant volume of innovations for the upcoming year.

It's a big part of MCA. Our funding for wheat breeding is a big investment that we make on behalf of Manitoba producers and their check-off dollars. There's still going to be some ongoing. We're just trying to figure out what the effect these cuts are going to have on these programs and where we might have to step up.

Central to this window is the delivery of colostrum, which provides essential antibodies and energy. To ensure success, she recommends following a "two by four" rule. "...getting colostrum in within those first four hours is really critical to getting the best absorption," says Fowler, specifying that calves should receive two litres by four hours of age and an additional two litres by 12 hours. She points out that failure of passive transfer can lead to a 10-kilogram decrease in weaning weight.

Large production sheds, known as "confinements," hold up to 2,500 sows, which are pumped full of antibiotics to help them survive their cramped, windowless existence. CAFOs generate colossal amounts of manure waste, forming gargantuan anaerobic lagoons that foul the air and pollute local water supplies around the farm.

Profitability in the cattle business often hinges on understanding the real cost of production, something that can be difficult to pin down when labour, land, and opportunity costs aren't always clearly accounted for.

My older brother has worked with pigs his entire adult life, managing about 70,000 of them across five counties, Faaborg says. But we got to a point where he went from laughing at me to saying: well, I guess maybe I'll quit my job and help you out. Now he's the most dedicated, says Katherine Jernigan, director of the Transfarmation Project at Mercy for Animals, a non-profit that helped the Faaborgs make the switch and set up their new business, 1100 Farm.

Middleton owns and operates Manawan Mills, a feed mill operation that processes grain into complete livestock feeds for species ranging from poultry to cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. The mill sources most of its grain from nearby farms, often purchasing product that may be discounted at commercial elevators due to quality factors such as splits or lower test weight. Middleton says in this episode of Profitable Practices that those characteristics don't limit the grain's usefulness once it is processed.

Swine life on Staples' sustainable family farm is a jarring contrast to the existence of a pig on one of America's "intensive" corporate-owned mega-farms, where some sows are confined to cages so small they literally can't turn around or take more than a step or two in any direction.

There's strong momentum in the cattle industry right now with tight supply and high demand driving well-earned profitability across North America, though concerns remain about long-term supply without cowherd expansion. Trade is a central theme of this year's conference, with tri-national cooperation among the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and the upcoming USMCA review seen as critical to maintaining a "do no harm" approach for beef markets.

If summer is for growing things, winter is for learning things.

At its core, GrainFox really helps producers and agri businesses make clear, more confident grain marketing decisions. Instead of reacting to the hot headlines of the day or relying on that gut feel, they have a structured plan that really helps guide them throughout the whole sales year.