Number of B.C. farms identified with avian flu up to seven

Dec 12, 2014

H5N2 found at farms near Chilliwack and Abbotsford

By Diego Flammini, Farms.com

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) identified two more farms in British Columbia, bringing the total number to seven. The added farms bring the total number of birds to be euthanized up to 155,000 from 140,000.

Officials still don’t know the origin of the avian flu and there is speculation more farms could be infected.

"The identification of additional farms is not unexpected, given that avian influenza is highly contagious," Harpreet Kochhar, Canada's chief veterinary officer, said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters.

As a result of the original outbreak, the United States, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, South Africa, Mexico, and China installed bans on B.C. poultry and in some cases, any poultry coming from Canada.

Customers hopeful of finding that turkey for Christmas dinner shouldn’t be worried about a shortage.

“The number of birds being euthanized that would have made it for Christmas is probably only 1% of those produced,” said Phil Boyd, Executive Director of Turkey Farmers of Canada. “With some rescheduling of birds and transportation, there shouldn’t be any shortage.

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.