A long ride is less stressful Wednesday, August 10, 2011 Shorter truck trips are more stressful to market hogs than longer truck rides, according to a study recently published in the Journal of Animal Science.The reason? Pigs need time to recover from the stress of loading before they get stressed again when they disembark, says Prof. Michael Ellis, at the University of Illinois's Urbana-Champaign campus.Another stress factor is floor space. Overcrowding is stressful, but pigs that have too much space are thrown around as the livestock truck moves. University researchers found that U.S. market pigs on average require five square feet each.Co-author of the study with Ellis was Bradley Wolter, chief operating officer of the Maschhoffs packing company in Carlyle, Ill. Wolter says working with Ellis allowed the company to reduce pig losses due to transportation and handling by more than one percentage point in a system that was already well managed and where less than half a per cent of pigs died because of movement and handling. BP Another sign of bacon's popularity: clogged drains 'Welfarists' pressure supermarkets
Group calls on Health Canada to make labels mandatory for gene-edited pork Tuesday, March 10, 2026 An advocacy group of farmers and environmental organizations wants Health Canada to implement mandatory labelling on pork from gene-edited pigs. Earlier this year, the federal agency approved the sale of gene-edited pigs as food. The pigs are resistant to Porcine Reproductive and... Read this article online
Global Conflict Drives Major Surges in Commodity Markets Monday, March 9, 2026 A major international conflict the war in Iran has disrupted trade flows, pushing energy and grain prices sharply higher. On the weekly Ag Commodity Corner+ Podcast with Commodity Strategist Abhinesh Gopal shared the markets made sharp moves in the week of March 2 to 6, after a rapidly... Read this article online
Alberta Beef Producers forming traceability group Monday, March 9, 2026 A livestock organization in Alberta is forming a working group to explore the federal government’s proposed traceability changes. A March 5 statement from Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) indicates the organization’s delegates passed a resolution at the most recent AGM supporting this group’s... Read this article online
Canada invests in youth ag employment Monday, March 9, 2026 The federal government is investing in the future ag workforce. On March 5 at the Atlantic Council Cereals and Oilseeds conference, Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald announced $27 million over two years in AAFC’s Youth Employment and Skills Program. This program, originally launched... Read this article online
SARM Calling for Stronger Rural Emergency Funding Friday, March 6, 2026 The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) is calling on provincial and federal governments to strengthen funding and partnerships that support emergency response services across rural Saskatchewan. Rural municipalities playa major rolein protecting communities during... Read this article online