B.C. Milk Board Resumes Milk Pick-Up at Chilliwack Cattle Sales

Jun 23, 2014

The B.C. milk marketing board says that it will now accept Chilliwack Cattle Sales milk, after an undercover video produced by the animal activist group, Mercy for Animals Canada, at the farm captured footage of alleged animal abuse prompted the milk board to stop delivery until independent audits had been completed.

Milk pickups were ceased following the request of milk processors, including Saputo. The notice was posted on June 17, and up until now milk from the farm in question was being destroyed. According to several news reports, including one from CTV News, the milk was being transported from the farm to Washington State to be incinerated and turned into energy. Milk board members agreed on June 20 that normal milk pick-up and delivery could resume.

Chilliwack Cattle Sales, the largest dairy farm in Canada, following the animal abuse case, has installed cameras to provide 24-hour surveillance. The eight farm workers who were identified in the video were fired and are facing criminal charges. The investigation is being carried out by the B.C. SPCA.

The board identified some corrective action measures relating to the incident:

Oversee the veterinary team asked assigned to the case to provide direction for best dairy animal welfare practices at Chilliwack Cattle Sales
Update regulatory measures in board policies to include mandatory compliance with the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle
The board has invited leading dairy experts to participate in a debrief/ next steps meeting with the goal to develop a plan for dairy animal welfare

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.