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Originally published:

January 2019
Vol. 105 Issue 1

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Stories In This Edition

Victoria tweaks ALR rules

Ranch must allow anglers

Grappling with challenges

Editorial: Learning from leopards

Back forty: Livestock protection is a grey matter

Viewpoint: One zone shows foresight as BC ag evolves

Popham pursues ambitious agenda as 2019 arrives

Milk stocks rebuild but skimmed milk an issue

Holstein spring show grows, moves to Chilliwack

Dairy producers withhold national levies

Wave of retirements sweeps through dairy associations

Fund aims to give BC fruit growers a competitive edge

Ag Brief: New chair for Farm Industry Review Board

Ag Brief: BC Tree Fruits shake-up

Ag Brief: Thompson retires from dairy centre

New trap set to reduce Okanagan starling flocks

Consumer prices could buoy farm cash receipts

BC potatoes yield increase in 2018

‘Green rush’ overwhelms OK planning staff

Show, gala showcases BC agriculture

Hort show covers buds to spuds

Sidebar: Budding interest

Spotlight on dairy, innovation

Popular dairy tour showcases diversity

Overseas markets demand top quality

Sidebar: Gerbrandt coordinates berry research

Local seed initiative shifts focus to economics

Big dreams for small pepper growers

Cattle feeders bullish on packing plant

Research: Increasing green fodder could decrease allergies

Beekeepers learn to defend against wildlife

Online platform connects producers, consumers

Public trust programming to expand in 2019

Farmers institutes meet to forge connections

The rock road of water buffalo in BC

Wannabe: Pulling together

Woodshed: Deborah finds it’s better to give than receive

Jude’s Kitchen: Start healthy

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1 day ago

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details. ... See MoreSee Less

A turkey farm in West Abbotsford is the second commercial poultry flock to tested positive for avian influenza since the initial case was reported in Enderby on April 13. CFIA announced the case May 19, but has yet to define the control zone. Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association says more than 50 farms are in the vicinity of the infected premises, meaning control measures — including movement controls — will have a significant impact on the industry. The supply of birds moving into the country from US hatcheries will also be affected, compounding the host of supply chain issues growers have been dealing with over the past year. A story in our June issue will provide further details.
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2 weeks ago

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the province's deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed. ... See MoreSee Less

The province has extended the order requiring regulated commercial poultry operations to keep their birds indoors through June 13. Originally set to expire this Friday, the order was extended after a careful review by the provinces deputy chief veterinarian. Poultry at seven premises, all but one of them backyard flocks, have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza since April 13. The order allows small-scale producers to continue pasturing their birds outdoors provided biosecurity protocols developed by the Small-Scale Meat producers Association are followed.
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Sounds like 2 weeks to flatten the curve turning into 2 years.

USDA doing avian vax research, May 11 bio-docs to UN incl section on H5N8 w/wild bird spread. Found link to apparent pre-release on May 11 Geller Report. Good luck farmers.

2 weeks ago

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.” ... See MoreSee Less

Two more small flocks in BC have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The latest cases are in Richmond and Kelowna. CFIA is in the process of determining a control zone around the property in Richmond, the first report in the Fraser Valley of the H5N1 strain of the virus among poultry. Speaking to Country Life in BC this week, federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said CFIA staff are working diligently to address outbreaks, and she encourages small flock owners to do the same. While commercial farms have tightened biosecurity measures, owners of small flocks have greater freedom. “Some smaller ones don’t necessarily have these measures in place,” Bibeau says. “They should also be extremely careful, because if we have a case in a backyard flock ... it could have an impact on bigger commercial installations.”
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Killing our food chain. How do we know they are actually carrying a virus, look what's taking place with covid, is it real.

Ik kan niet zo goed Engels maar als ik het goed begrijp is bij jullie ook vogelgriep maar nog niet bij jullie

Any idea when this episode or bird flu might be over?

3 weeks ago

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions. ... See MoreSee Less

Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC welcomed its first new members in 20 years at its AGM on April 27. The BC Blueberry Council, BC Cherry Association, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission, BC Food & Beverage Association, BC Meats and Organic BC were approved as members, bringing the IAFBC’s membership to 15 farm and food organizations. IAFBC is also growing in responsibility, managing a record $8.3 million in funding from six funding agencies and developing new programs to support the agriculture sector including Farmland Advantage and Agricultural Climate Solutions.
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4 weeks ago

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises. ... See MoreSee Less

A second BC flock has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the province reported this evening, April 25. The small backyard flock of chicken and ducks near Kelowna has fewer than 100 birds and is relatively isolated. This is the second backyard flock to be suspected of high-path avian influenza in the past week. The other, on Vancouver Island, was found to be AI-free. Amanda Brittain, chief information officer with the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, says the latest case is of minimal concern to industry because there are no commercial flocks within 12km of the premises.
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Cattle feeders bullish on packing plant

Proposal to grow the local industry will keep cash in BC

December 31, 2018 byTom Walker

WESTWOLD – Townhall meetings as the new year gets underway will determine whether or not a beef packing plant proposed for Prince George will go ahead. If it does, it will mean changes in how the BC industry finishes cattle.

Someone intimately familiar with what that could mean is BC Association of Cattle Feeders executive director Andrea van Iterson, whose family has run Westwold View Farms near Kamloops since relocating  from Kelowna in 1993.

“I have this deep love for the place and the cattle industry,” she says. “I worked off farm for about eight years, but I’ve been back full-time for four years now.”

The farm includes a dairy as well as a backgrounding operation that feeds 2,500 animals each winter.

“We purchase calves in the fall, mostly through the BC Livestock Producers Co-op auctions in Kamloops, though we do get some from Alberta and some direct from ranchers here in BC,” she says.

They look for smaller calves between 350 and 500 pounds, both steers and heifers, and aim to double their weight. The steers are typically 875 to 900 pounds when they leave, while the heifers reach around 850.

The largest ones will begin to leave as soon as February and the last ones are out the door by May.

“Typically, our animals are under contract and go south to a finishing feedlot in the US,” she says. “But that depends on our cow plan each fall.”

The finishing feedlot doubles their weight again over the next six months, up to a slaughter size of 1,500 to 1,600 pounds.

While the pens will be empty by spring, the work doesn’t stop. Some grass-fed cattle spend the summer, but the operation hinges on growing its own forage.

Year-round work

“We bale alfalfa and we grow corn that we put up for silage and have some extra dairy hay that we are able to sell,” says van Iterson.

Cow manure and composted chicken manure nourishes the forage crops and is their only source of fertilizer. All the feedlot waste (sawdust and manure) is carefully composted and sold to commercial clients including landscapers, school districts and the city of Kamloops.

Costs are managed with the same eye to efficiency.

“There is no ‘let’s guess this,’” says van Iterson. “We try to buy our extra inputs like barley in the summer months when it’s a little bit cheaper and we will try to contract some so we have a pretty good idea going into the fall what our costs will be through the winter.”

Three unknowns are exchange rate fluctuations, how weather will affect the crops and price of extra feed ingredients, and, of course, calf prices.

“Some years, the calf prices are high and the cow-calf guy has a wonderful year and we are paying more for their calf,” says van Iterson. “And maybe the calf isn’t worth more out the other end, or maybe it is worth more, but we don’t take the opportunity when we should and prices drop through the winter.”

She says contracting is a way to hedge against price swings.

“We contract most of what we do, so that is our way of managing the risk,” she explains. “There is Western Livestock Price Insurance we can buy. It’s a government-run program, kind of like the crop insurance program but different.”

With respect to the proposed packing plant, she doesn’t think cattle feeders need convincing.

Excitement

“There is excitement in the feeding industry around the proposed BC packing plant,” she says. “If there is somewhere to kill cattle, we can get a supply of them.”

Westwold View has looked into feeding year-round but hasn’t done it, even though it could make economic sense.

“Any pounds that we put on the cattle we are getting paid for, so the longer we retain them that, is going to benefit us,” she says. “If we had a market in BC, we would never turn that away.”

A local packing plant would also remove middlemen from the market.

Right now, there’s a broker for every transaction. A producer sells calves at the auction mart, which takes a commission. Backgrounders feed them and when the animals go for finishing, they are going to go through a broker again as another trade occurs.

“There wouldn’t be the in-between backgrounder like us if there wasn’t money in it,” says van Iterson.

The new plant could create finishing opportunities in BC, helping keep more money at home. But producers need to see a clear benefit versus selling at auction.

“There is likely going to need to be some retained ownership through the feeding process so that they get their premium when the animal goes into the BC plant,”  says van Iterson.

On the whole, however, she thinks change will come.

“It is very welcome to the feeding industry,” she says. “Build it and they will come.”

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