News

Unfortunately the wool market continues to struggle in 2022 due to several factors. The industry is still dealing with the after effects of Covid-19 and global trade disruptions. For wool it has meant a significant drop in demand and lower prices with a new crop always on the way.
 
China in particular is still trying to maintain a zero Covid policy which is having a dramatic impact on their manufacturing and retail business. It is far from business as usual in China as the government restricts the movement of people, services and business operations in an attempt to eliminate Covid. It makes everyday life quite difficult for the Chinese people and will have a negative affect on their incomes. Clothing purchases will likely be a low priority. As an example, today there were two positive Covid cases recorded in the city of Tianjin which has a population of nine million people. Tomorrow it is mandated that all nine million residents will be Covid tested without exception. Nation wide Covid testing every seventy two hours is still being implemented. The Chinese economy has suffered greatly as a result with consumer confidence now at an all time low. 
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On August 8, 2022, the NALCO Group sought and obtained protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, R.S.C. 1985, C-36, as amended (the “CCAA”) pursuant to an Order of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta (the “Court”), or (the “Initial Order”). As part of the Initial Order, Ernst & Young Inc. was appointed as Monitor of the NALCO Group.

Please find below correspondence from Ernst & Young Inc., acting in its capacity as the court-appointed Monitor of North American Lamb Company Ltd., Canada Sheep and Lamb Farms Ltd., Canada Sheep Holdings Ltd., Lamb Club Marketing Limited., Canada Lamb Growers Ltd., Canada Lamb Processors Ltd., and Canine Fare Ltd..  (the “NALCO Group”).

They will continue to be operational at CLP on a business as usual basis. Updates will be posted to the website (website link is in the below attachments).

Read the NALCO Notice to Creditors

Read NALCO Ernst and Young Inc CCAA FAQ's

Western Canadian Offer for Breeding Stock:

Western Canadian Offer for Breeding Stock: Offer for producers intending to keep breeding ewes in Western Canada – this will help the processing plant value if more ewes stay in this region. NALC has a group of producers called the Growth Group consisting of approximately 30 producers in Western Canada that supply the Innisfail plant with contracted finished lambs focused on off-seasonal supply. Approximately 6000 breeding ewes are available for this offer, more could be made available in the next week or two.

List pricing:

- $150 for open breeding ewes

- $175 for bred ewes expected to lamb November & December but not pregnancy scanned yet

- $200 for bred ewes expected to lamb November and scanned pregnant

- $250/ram for commercial Rideau breeding rams, max of 1 ram per 25 ewes sold

- $350/ram for commercial breeding rams, not tied to ewe sales

Terms:

- Offer closes August 25, 2022 at noon. First come-first-served basis. Higher bids also given priority. Strong preference for full load quantities at this pricing.

- Must be moved by September 9, 2022, except for weaned critical stage ewes which will take 13 weeks to clear.

- Pricing based on FOB NALC Farms in Manitoba or Alberta. Buyers pay and arrange freight. NALC chooses farm of origin for the packages to streamline logistics while accommodating buyer preference as much as practical.

- Please submit bids to Cathy via email only This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with full contact details, including destination address.

Market Pricing

Market Pricing Contracted Growth Group finished lamb contracts will be honored through the restructure process for contracted volumes. The Innisfail plant will require more supply this fall as we restructure. Producers are requesting space at the plant and asking for pricing. To facilitate this process we are offering two options, subject to revision if needed:

Rail Pricing – Identical grid and market formula as our contracts, but no floor price. Base price on pay-weight to 30.0 kg as recently rolled out. The weekly average Ontario finished lamb revenue ($/head) published Wednesday is divided by 27 kg and rounded to the nearest $0.25 to set the pricing for Thursday through following Wednesday harvests. Based on comparisons reviewed in May 2022, this will outperform the Ontario auction returns by $14-$20/head, depending on feed pricing. As of August 17, 2022, this is estimated at $/lamb benefit with feed pricing trending downward.

Live pricing – Similar to the above, but the Ontario revenue is reduced by $15/head and divided by 125lb (56.7kg). Load maximum average weight is 125lb. Discounts on super heavy carcasses as done in prior years. Rail pricing is intentionally stronger to encourage producers to deliver required carcass quality to support plant operations moving forward. Rail priced deliveries have shackle space priority.

RDAR announced it will be open to receiving applications for the On-Farm Climate Action Fund (OFCAF) program starting August 4, 2022.

The OFCAF is a cost-share funding program that supports farmers in adopting best management practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and store carbon, specifically for in-field nitrogen management, expanding cover cropping, and implementing rotational grazing practices.

This program helps producers adopt different practices by offsetting 85% of the cost. Alberta farmers and ranchers can apply for up to $75,000 in funding to implement practices related to nitrogen management, rotational grazing, and cover cropping.

Read more

Want to learn more about the program? RDAR is hosting a series of one-hour webinar sessions to help producers prepare to apply for funding.

Register for an OFCAF webinar session

ALBERTA LAMB PRODUCERS AWARDED $399,000 FROM RESEARCH DRIVEN AGRICULTURE RESEARCH (RDAR) TO SUPPORT THE ADAPTATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANESTHETIC RELEASING ELASTRATOR BAND FOR USE IN THE CANADIAN LAMB INDUSTRY

Alberta Lamb Producers (ALP) has recently been awarded $399,000 from Research Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR) to investigate the adaptation of a novel anesthetic delivering elastration ligation band, for castration and tail docking, in the Canadian Lamb Industry.  CCR has partnered with Alberta Veterinary Laboratories/Solvet (AVL/Solvet) of Calgary Alberta to manufacture the device in Alberta.  Studies are in progress to register this device for sale in Canada with a local anesthesia label claim for use in cattle and lambs. 

This project will require several on farm studies involving Alberta sheep producers. Typically, the studies are relatively straight forward with the producer allowing access to their facilities and a small number of their male lambs for castration, tail docking and data collection (including some or all of weights, blood and tissue samples, pain assessment) once a week for several weeks, with very little time required on the producer’s part.  If you would like to participate or have questions about participating, please contact Nick Allan (CCR) at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ALP's office hours are Monday to Thursday from 7:00am - 4:15pm.  

Below is part of the news release from the FPT ministers meeting last week. They’ve reached an agreement and inject new funds to support the sector.

This week, the federal, provincial, and territorial (FPT) Ministers of Agriculture reached an agreement in principle for the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership at their Annual Meeting in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This new five-year agreement will inject $500 million in new funds, representing a 25% increase in the cost-shared portion of the partnership.

To enhance economic sustainability, Ministers agreed to improve Business Risk Management (BRM) programs, including raising the AgriStability compensation rate from 70% to 80%. Under the cost-shared envelope, they agreed in principle to the $250 million Resilient Agricultural Landscape Program to support ecological goods and services provided by the agriculture sector.

The new agreement includes stronger targets such as a 3-5 MT reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, increasing sector competitiveness, revenue and exports, and increased participation of Indigenous Peoples, women and youth. There will also be a focus on measuring the results of framework investments.

View the Sheep Supply for month ending March 2022

July 14, 2022 – OTTAWA - On July 20th Federal/Provincial/Territorial (FPT) Agriculture Ministers will be meetingto make important decisions regarding the direction of the Next Policy Framework (NPF), the primary fundingenvelope for Canadian agricultural policies and programs for the next five years.

The NPF comes at a critical juncture for Canadian farmers and ranchers all across the country. Canadianproducers recognize the sector’s incredible potential to help address many of the most pressing issues intoday's society such as mounting food security concerns and the fight against climate change. But this potentialcan only be realized with policies that support farmers taking proactive actions, as global leaders, rather thanreacting to market demands as they emerge.

The NPF creates the foundation for the next five years of Canadian agriculture, and they may be the mostimportant five years in recent history. Inflationary pressures have made food production costlier and riskierthan ever before. Adding onto this, extreme weather events and emerging animal diseases are becoming moreand more common, creating situations that are impossible to control and very difficult to predict. Geopoliticalevents have generated additional uncertainty around the availability of crucial inputs, which could have longlastingimpacts beyond 2022. All of this plays out against ambitious and rapidly approaching emissionsreduction targets, while the associated science, strategies, and on-farm practices required to reach thosetargets continue to evolve.

Livestock feed pre-market applications can now be submitted, renewed and amended through My CFIA. As an alternative to mail, fax, or email industry can now access and submit service requests, and pay for any application fees through the My CFIA portal.

Benefits of using My CFIA

My CFIA is a secure and convenient way to do business with the Agency online. By signing up for a My CFIA account, users can submit service requests for a growing number of CFIA services, including:

• Submitting applications digitally and securely, from anywhere in the world, at any time

• Tracking the status of applications
• Paying required fees online, at any time
• Receiving email notifications and reminders about expiring permissions, to ensure that they are renewed on time
• Receiving issued permissions online

Sign up for My CFIA

To take advantage of the new online services for livestock feed, members of your association will need to sign up for a My CFIA account. For those that do not have a My CFIA account, they can learn how to sign up for one.

Supporting industry

Step-by-step instructions on how to manage an account, request services, and pay for services using My CFIA are available on the User Guidance page.

The CFIA will continue to provide regular updates as livestock feed related services are added to My CFIA.

Read the most recent updates below:

Western Canadian Animal Health Network (WeCAHN) update 1

Western Canadian Animal Health Network (WeCAHN) update 2