Julia Smith has a problem. Despite litters of fast-growing piglets and surging demand for her pork, she can’t find an abattoir that can slaughter them before December. Demand for local meat has surged during the pandemic, leaving the province’s abattoirs booked months in advance and many small-scale producers struggling.
Farmers want better access to slaughter options not red tape.
Author of the article: Glenda Luymes
Publishing date: Feb 17, 2021 • February 17, 2021 • 3 minute read • Julia Smith, owner of Blue Sky Ranch and a member of the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association. The group wants the B.C. government to improve slaughter capacity to allow farmers to meet the growing demand for local meat. Photo by Submitted photo /PNG
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B.C. farmers who want to slaughter animals on their own property must complete a new training course focused on food safety.
The announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture is the latest in a series of changes to B.C.’s slaughter system, which has come under fire from small-scale producers who say red tape is preventing them from meeting a growing demand for local meat.
Marc Fawcett-Atkinson, Local Journalism Initiative
Ranchers, farmers, and livestock owners â including llama lovers â must register their properties in the province s Premises ID system as of next year.
Image Credit: PXHERE February 16, 2021 - 6:00 AM Starting next year, anyone rearing farm animals everything from bees to llamas to cattle in the province will need to register their property under the government’s Premises ID program. “It’s basically a record of who and how many (animals) are on a site,” said Kevin Boon, general manager of the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association. “It’s a complete way of doing that traceability aspect.”
“It’s basically a record of who and how many (animals) are on a site,” said Kevin Boon, general manager of the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association. “It’s a complete way of doing that traceability aspect.” Implemented in 2011, the program is part of the province’s traceability system, alongside animal identification and movement reporting programs. Currently voluntary, it lets farmers and ranchers register land where animals are kept, handled, or disposed of regardless of the herd or flock size. Hobby farms with a pet horse or amateur beekeepers with a single hive are as eligible to sign up as a ranch with several hundred heads of cattle. Under the new rules, anyone raising farm animals, even a single individual, will need to register their land in the system.
Own a llama in B C? Register it, province says - BC News castanet.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from castanet.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.