More cases of avian flu detected in B.C.

Dec 15, 2014

Total number of farms now at 10

By Diego Flammini, Farms.com

The avian flu outbreak in British Columbia continues as 10 farms are now confirmed to have birds infected with the H5N2 virus.

It’s estimated that more than 53,000 birds at the latest farm, in Langley B.C., are infected with the virus and are set to face euthanization or have already died because of it.

This comes after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) confirmed a ninth farm in Abbotsford on Thursday, where about 7,000 chickens are affected.

These new findings push the number of dead birds or birds to be euthanized to more than 230,000 according to the CFIA.

The virus was first confirmed at a farm in Chilliwack on December 1st and as a result, Singapore, Mexico, South Africa, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and the United States have placed restrictions or complete bans on poultry products from British Columbia and Canada.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.