A fall wave of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has hit a cross-section of BC farms, but the response effort is so far keeping pace to contain the outbreaks. “We have the capacity to continue this pace,” Clayton Botkin, executive director of the BC Poultry Association’s emergency operations centre, told stakeholders during an October 30 …
Milk price holds the course
The Canadian Dairy Commission is leaving farmgate milk prices essentially unchanged in 2025, following its annual review of production costs and consumer prices. The price of fluid milk leaving will decline by 0.02% on February 1, thanks to declines in input costs that marginally outpaced increases in consumer prices. This will mean a marginal decrease …
Beef herd drops
KAMLOOPS – Two years of high cattle prices and low moisture have triggered a dramatic drop in BC’s cattle herd, but the bottom is in sight. The latest data from Statistics Canada indicates a 4% drop in Western Canada’s beef herd since 2022, not far off the national decline of 3%. But within BC, the …
Experts provide drought management tips
METCHOSIN – Over 20 South Vancouver Island producers attended the livestock drought management field day held at Brass Bell Farm in East Sooke and Parry Bay Farm in Metchosin on September 12. The sessions were facilitated by North Okanagan farmers and professional agrologists Greg Tegart and Mike Witt. The day started at Brass Bell Farm …
Bird flu returns
Three farms in Abbotsford and Chilliwack have been hit with highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza. The affected farms include turkey, broiler, and egg operations. The detections occurred on October 21 and are the first in the province since December 25, 2023. “The response is currently active and we are working with partner agencies and the …
Raw milk hopes soured
A challenge to the province’s raw milk rules has been creamed by a BC Supreme Court decision delivered September 11 and published this week. The matter traces its roots to 2005, and Gordon Watson’s challenge of BC’s policy against raw milk sales. The policy is common across Canada, the only G7 nation that prohibits the …