Food and Farming Canada » cattle

Keeping tabs on where the cows are

Lilian — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:12:45 +0000

RFID tags are placed in an animal's ear

Many modern-day pet owners microchip their four-legged companions.

This is to help identify them should they become lost, injured or otherwise harmed in some way.

Farmers are doing a similar thing with their beef cattle.

They’re using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to keep track of their animals as they move [...]

As cows live and eat

Lilian — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:59:02 +0000

Here’s the third in a series of guest posts I’ve been writing for the Canadian Beef Blog.

Last month, I described some of the different cattle breeds and how to tell the difference between a dairy cow (one that gives milk) and a beef cow (one that is raised for meat).

Now we’re going to take a quick [...]

Cows of many colours

Lilian — Tue, 17 May 2011 02:11:43 +0000

Here’s another guest blog I wrote for Canadian Beef Blog recently:

A cow is a cow is a cow, right? Not exactly.

Yes, they’re all the same type of animal but there are many different breeds. For example, even though they’re both dogs, there aren’t a lot of similarities between a small white Bichon Frise and a large [...]

Testing key to knowing what’s in your water – and protecting your farm

Lilian — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:14:24 +0000

Water testing has long been part and parcel of buying and selling agricultural properties. But knowing exactly what’s in your soil and well water is becoming increasingly important to safeguard both human health and property values.

E.coli O157:H7 is one pathogen that can have serious human health implications but that many people don’t realize may be [...]

Measuring agriculture’s economic footprint in Ontario

Lilian — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 12:34:47 +0000

Farming affects the daily lives of all Ontarians – what we eat, where we live and what we do to earn a living.

Now, a newly released report spells out in stark detail the economic impact of the agricultural sector as well as the punishing effects of long term farm income losses on the Ontario economy.

The results [...]

Plea from farmers: Save our farms

Lilian — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:54:50 +0000

Ontario’s farmers are using a town hall meeting in Stratford today to reach out to the public. The Save our Farms forum will focus on the beleaguered state of Ontario’s farming sector and on what the future of an Ontario without farming could look like down the road if nothing is done.

The past several years [...]

Farmer faces fine over cow attack

Lilian — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:05:25 +0000

Here’s one for the “you’ve got to be kidding me!” file…

I read this article on the website of Farmers Weekly, an agricultural publication in the United Kingdom.

According to the story, a UK dairy farmer has been found liable for injuries suffered by a walker who was attacked by his cattle while walking across his fields in [...]

What’s in a name? More milk!

Lilian — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:04:54 +0000

Names are important to cows.

So much so, it seems, that they’ll produce more milk, say researchers in Britain.

A study by a research team at Newcastle University has found that cows with names will produce up to 500 pints more milk than those without names.

How did they figure that out?

Researchers asked more than 500 British dairy farmers [...]

Taking care of animals on the road

Lilian — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:58:46 +0000

At any given point, there are more animals on the move in Canada than most of us realize.

Livestock – like cattle, sheep and pigs – travel our highways as they move from farm to farm or when they are sent to market.

And because our food and farming sector is dealing with the same consolidation issues as [...]

Canadian e.coli vaccine approved

Lilian — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:42:15 +0000

Food safety in Canada received a boost today with the announcement that an e.coli vaccine with the potential to reduce risk to human health has been approved for use in Canada.

Econiche, a livestock vaccine that greatly reduces the shedding of e.coli O157:H7 by beef and dairy cattle, is now available to Canadian farmers.This particular strain [...]