Alberta's Livestock Sector To Benefit From UCVM Pilot Expansion

Sep 10, 2020

The University of Calgary's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine will see a pilot expansion of its diagnostic service unit for enhanced animal disease diagnosis and welfare.

The project is funded through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership and Alberta Agriculture and Forestry with the support of the Alberta Beef Producers and Alberta Cattle Feeders.

Dr Baljit Singh is Dean of the University of Calgary's Facultry of Veterinary Medicine.

He says the investment will directly help producers ensure the health of their animals and integrity of food supply chains.

" While UCVM's DSI has been operating for more than a decade, it has a limited capacity to serve Alberta's livestock production industry. This project will increase capacity in disease diagnostics right here in Alberta for livestock producers."

The funding will mean the addition of one clinical microbiologist, one anatomic pathologist along with two technicians and one support staff member.

He notes they will also be able to purchase some new equipment to provide clinical microbiology expertise as well as some onfarm disease investigation.

The University's pilot expansion is expected to start in October 2020.

Click here to see more...

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.