Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– The U.S. government on Thursday reduced its forecasts for poultry exports by nearly six per cent from last month due partly to an accelerating outbreak of bird flu that has triggered wider-than-expected trade restrictions. The steep cuts came as the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed a second commercial flock of turkeys […] Read more
U.S. cuts poultry export forecast as avian flu spreads
Ont. turkey farm’s avian flu confirmed as H5N2
Reading Time: 3 minutes A quarantined southwestern Ontario turkey farm has been confirmed with the same strain of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian flu seen on farms in British Columbia and several U.S. states. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Wednesday that samples tested at its National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg have confirmed the virus’ subtype and […] Read more
Taiwan, Japan ban Ont. poultry over avian flu
Reading Time: < 1 minute Winnipeg | Reuters — Japan and Taiwan have imposed trade restrictions on poultry and poultry products from Ontario, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Tuesday, a day after avian flu was confirmed in the province. The government agency said a turkey farm near Woodstock, Ont. was under quarantine after the presence of H5 avian influenza […] Read more
SW Ont. turkey farm quarantined, avian flu suspected
Reading Time: 2 minutes A quarantine has been set up at a commercial turkey farm west of Woodstock, Ont. pending the outcome of federal tests for avian flu in the flock. Ontario’s Feather Board Command Centre, the emergency response office for the province’s chicken, turkey, egg and hatchery sectors, said in a statement Monday that birds from the flock […] Read more
Canada blocking poultry from Montana, South Dakota
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada is blocking cross-border shopping for raw poultry, eggs and live birds from another border state, after H5N2 avian flu was confirmed in central Montana on Friday. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Friday expanded restrictions that block travellers to Canada from H5N2-positive states from bringing in live birds, hatching eggs, eggs, yolks, egg […] Read more
H5N2 avian flu arrives in South Dakota
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — A virulent strain of avian flu has spread for the first time to poultry in South Dakota and infected a fourth turkey flock in Minnesota, the nation’s top turkey producer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday. The latest infections of H5N2 flu show the virus, which can kill almost an […] Read more
Ont. poultry packer back under hidden-camera spotlight
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s biggest poultry processor is back under animal welfare activists’ scrutiny with hidden-camera footage alleging more mishandling of birds at one of its packing plants. Maple Lodge Farms, which in September 2013 was convicted under the federal Health of Animals Act over birds’ exposure to cold weather during transport, said Saturday it’s paying “prompt attention” […] Read more
Last of avian flu quarantines lifted in B.C.
Reading Time: 2 minutes The quarantine has been lifted at the last of the 13 farms in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley known to have been infected with highly-pathogenic avian flu. The farm, a 53,000-bird table egg layer operation at Langley, B.C., was confirmed Dec. 13 with high-path H5N2 avian flu. At the end of a 21-day waiting period following […] Read more
SW Ont. pork plant to morph into turkey processor
Reading Time: 2 minutes The vacant pork slaughterhouse formerly known as Great Lakes Specialty Meats is now expected to restart as a turkey processing plant by year’s end. Meat processor Sofina Foods bought the 78,000-square foot plant and property at Mitchell, Ont., about 60 km west of Kitchener, for $4.77 million last September, after Great Lakes entered receivership in June. […] Read more
Be a better farm ambassador
More farmers are developing strategies that actually do connect with consumers
Reading Time: 5 minutes In her other life as a school board trustee, Okanagan Valley chicken farmer Christina Coers sees the value of education. It’s a mindset that she brought with her when she and her husband Steven became chicken farmers under the new-entrant program of the British Columbia chicken-marketing board a year ago. Coers, 46, didn’t grow up […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
