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SWIFT CURRENT RESEARCHERS TAKE THE LONG VIEW THE BEEF MAGAZINE

APRIL 2014 $3.00

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DAVE SOLVERSON: CCA PRESIDENT

SPECIAL FORAGE ISSUE

The grazing plan 12 Grazing habits of cattle 28

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Contents CANADIAN CATTLEMEN · APRIL 2014 · VOLUME 77, NO. 4

 ASSO C I AT I O N S

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DAVE SOLVERSON: CCA PRESIDENT  FO R AG E M A NAG E M E N T

FEATURES

President: Bob Willcox Glacier FarmMedia Email: bwillcox@farmmedia.com

Swift Current researchers take the long view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The grazing plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Contents of Cattlemen are copyrighted and may be reproduced only when written permission is obtained from the editor and proper credit is given to Cattlemen.

Grazing Prior style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Cattlemen and Canadian Cattlemen are Trade Marks of Farm Business Communications.

Bale grazing still too chancy . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Cattlemen is published monthly by Farm Business Communications. Head office: Winnipeg, Manitoba. Printed by Transcontinental LGMC. Cattlemen is printed with linseed oil-based inks. Subscription rates in Canada — $39 for one year, $58 for 2 years, $83 for 3 years (prices include GST). Manitoba residents add 8% PST. U.S. subscription rate — $35 (U.S. funds). Subscription rate outside Canada and U.S. — $55 per year. Single copies $3. We acknowledge the financial support of the Govern ment of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage. Publications Mail Agreement Number 40069240. Canadian Postmaster: Return undeliverable Canadian addresses (covers only) to: Circulation Dept., PO Box 9800, Winnipeg, MB R3C 3k7.

Dave Solverson: CCA president . . . . . . . . . 24

Grazing Prior style Making the most of a small holding.

Grazing habits of cattle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Sharpen your human resource skills . . . .30 Verified Beef Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 You can learn a lot about grazing yearlings from a dairy man . . . . . . 36

 FO R AG E G R A Z I NG

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Grazing habits of cattle

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Congratulations!

They look for more than taste.

To our April survey winner, Devon Donald, Rossendale, Man. This month’s survey is on page 20. Cover Photo: by Kathy Broen

Comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Newsmakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Our History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Holistic Ranching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Research on the Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Straight from the Hip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Vet Advice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Prime Cuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 CCA Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 News Roundup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Purely Purebred . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 The Markets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Market Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Sales and Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 C AT T L E M E N · A P R I L 2 0 1 4

 COMMEN T

By Gren Winslow

A pretty good deal

Producers seem to be getting their money’s worth out of the CCA

t meetings around the country this spring provincial cattle organizations have been adding a dollar to their local checkoffs. The reasons are well known. Cattle numbers are down, and likely to remain so for a while yet, so checkoff revenues are down. Once an organization gets around to asking for an increase the final vote is generally a sure thing, but not always. At the Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) meeting this spring some delegates wanted to know if Ontario was getting full value from the $400,000 or so it expects to send the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) this year. In the end they agreed it was and voted the $1 increase. I know some of you still think your checkoff goes to the CCA but that’s not how if works. Provincial cattlemen associations collect the checkoff and are billed for their share of the CCA’s annual budget based on their share of national marketings. In 2013 CCA took in $3.2 million in direct payments from the provinces plus $300,000 in an extra legal assessment. The CCA has been running a legal kitty for years, mostly to pay for pricey lawyers who fight off trade actions in the U.S. If you want a bit of encouraging news, the legal bill was down last year from $561,000 the year before. Toss in a bit of interest on their savings and the CCA raised $3.4 million in 2013 but spent $3.5 million. That meant once again it had to pull a little bit from the mattress (which is now down to about $440,000). The total the CCA receives from producers hasn’t changed much since 2008, which is as far back as I bothered to check. So $3.2 million is essentially what you spent on CCA last year through your provincial associations. Of course, the CCA mines more money out of sponsorships and industry and government grants to keep all its programs running. What you pay for is the people who run the organization and associated travel costs for them and producer directors who volunteer much of their time to represent your interests. None of this money is spent on marketing and promotion. Your share of that much larger pot comes out of the national $1 checkoff that is sent to Canada Beef Inc. With that in mind I started flipping through the 2013 CCA annual report to see just what you got for your CCA dollars in the past year. Since my space is limited let’s focus on the biggies

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in the trade file. Market access remains the single biggest need of the industry and quite rightly tops the CCA’s agenda. • After years of discussion, debate and arm twisting at every level Japan finally increased the age limit for beef imports related to BSE from under 21 months of age to 30 in January 2013. Canadian packers can now select beef for Japan from any A grade animal 52 weeks a year. As a result exports to Japan increased by 35 per cent and $9 million to $70 million in 2013 and are projected to reach $90 million in 2014. • The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) was the other major trade deal that was signed last year. That alone could be worth $600 million to the industry. Of course governments sign trade agreements so it’s hard to say how much the CCA had to do with this win. What we know is the organization spent a lot of time and money being on hand to offer advice and prodding to negotiators at endless meetings both here and abroad. At one point they even sent directors over to talk to European producer groups in an attempt to quell their fears over the agreement. • The results with country-of-origin labelling were more disappointing but that’s not through any lack of effort on the part of CCA or the Government of Canada. Some might wonder if things would have turned out any differently had the CCA not been involved, but that could be said of any lobby group. A good deal of the groundwork in accounting for the damage caused by COOL was led by the CCA. We can hope that retaliatory tariffs are not needed, but if they are approved by the WTO panel, Canada will be prepared. • At the end of 2013 and early this year the CCA was in Singapore at the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations pushing for the position shared by the Five Nation Beef Alliance that tariffs on all products should be eliminated and non-tariff barriers addressed. Another old shoe dropped last month with the signing of the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement which has been a long-term goal of the CCA trade team. This is only a small sample of what the CCA has been doing with its $3.2 million. It’s also had a hand in the new beef code, the creation of the western livestock price insurance program, environmental roundtables… the list is a long one. You should check it out; it’s your money. c

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 THE INDUST RY

NewsMakers Dave Solverson of Camrose, Alta., is the new president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. Dan Darling of Cramahe, Ont., was acclaimed as vice-president making him the heir apparent Dave Solverson to take over the top job in 2016. Solverson who operates a cow-calf to finish operation near Camrose with his brother Ken takes over from Martin Unrau, who moves to the position of CCA past president. Darling is the Dan Darling past president of Beef Farmers of Ontario and operates a cow-calf operation with his brother Van. McDonald’s Canada is the first recipient of the Beef Industry Innovation & Sustainability Award (BIISA) unveiled by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) at its March annual meeting in Ottawa. The award recognizes industry stakeholders and value chain

McDonald’s reps Rob Dick (l) and Sherry MacLauchlan receive BIISA award from then CCA president Martin Unrau. Photo: Jake Wright

members for their outstanding commitment to the sustainability of Canada’s beef industry through loyalty and innovation. McDonald’s was selected for its long-standing commitment to Canadian beef in its hamburgers and its “Our Food, Your Questions” program which is an innovative way to address popular myths about food products like beef. The communications arm of Canada Beef is going to be short staffed for a time with the recent resignations of Annemarie Pedersen, the stakeholder communications manager in Calgary, and Heather Travis, the Annemarie director of public relations Pedersen and marketing communications in Mississauga. Pedersen has taken a similar position in co-operative communications with UFA in Calgary and Travis has been hired as vicepresident and chief marketing officer for Merkato Heather Travis Communications Inc. Pedersen has been contracted to complete her work on the Beef Advocacy program but for the most part industry communications coordinator, Tayla Fraser is left holding down the fort in the interim. The work of Lee Hesketh, program coordinator for the British Columbia Cattlemen’s Association Farmland-Riparian Interface Stewardship Program was recognized last month when he was presented with the Excellence in Water Stewardship

Mary Polak and Lee Hesketh

Award. The award was established by the Council of the Federation — a collaboration of Canada’s provincial and territorial premiers — to recognize outstanding achievement, innovative practice and leadership in the area of water stewardship. Hesketh received the award from Mary Polak, B.C. minister of the environment. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) has developed a new logo as the next step in a rebranding process for the association that began with the launch of the new CCA website in the fall of 2013. The first president of Canadian Western Agribition, Chris Sutter of Redvers, Sask., passed away March 14 in Calgary. He was 94. In 1957 his Aqua Hollow Hereford Ranch won the first grand championship for a Polled Hereford female in open competition at the Toronto Royal Winter Fair. His cattle were exported as far abroad as England, Scotland, Spain and Chile. He also played an instrumental role in the establishment of Canadian cattle exports to Japan. Sutter served as president of the Saskatchewan and Canadian Hereford Association and was inducted into the Northern International Livestock Exposition Hall of Fame, the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. He received Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 1988 and was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1990 for his contributions to “the preservation of rural life, to the cattle-breeding industry and to the agricultural community of Saskatchewan.” Continued on page 50

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Letters Nothing wrong with A&W ad

Open letter to Canadian and B.C. Cattlemen’s Associations: I am writing regarding comments made by your associations about the A&W beef burger ad. To me the ad makes two good points: • Beef tastes very good. • Beef can be produced without hormones and other additives. This addresses consumers who may not be eating beef now because of these concerns. I consider this the best ad for beef I have seen in my 50 years in the cattle business and it has not cost us a cent. The only negative is the official reaction of our cattle organizations. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Heidi Trescher Brisco, B.C. Don’t beam me up

Regarding the column by Reynold Bergen “Beam Me Up” in the February 2014 issue of Canadian Cattlemen. Reynold’s column discusses the safety and acceptability of using irradiation to improve the safety of food in general and beef in particular. There is an interesting parallel in history that is appropriate to review in this context — the pasteurization of milk. Pasteurization was and is seen as a major advance to reducing human illness related to the consumption of dairy products. Just like irradiation, pasteurization had little, if any, impact on the taste of the product but it had an enormous and positive impact on the safety of the product. Nutritionally pasteurization does have a negative impact, but that may not be true with the irradiation of beef. Today, less so in Canada, more so in the U.S., there exists two dairy systems. A “raw milk” dairy system and an “industrial” (pasteurized) dairy system. Both produce an extremely “safe” product. However, there are interesting differences. When milk is tested prior to bottling at a raw milk dairy the product is safe — as it must be. However, milk tested just prior to the pasteurization stage in the conventional dairy is not. The difference between these two prod-

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ucts is not so much the difference in the way the milk is produced on the farm but rather what happens to the milk when it leaves the farm. Raw milk leaves the farm in a milk bottle. Industrial milk leaves the farm in a bulk tanker where it is mixed with the milk from many farms and transported for many hours with multiple handling stages. So how does this relate to the irradiation of beef? If the irradiation of beef became common practice, and perhaps even mandated, would it change the way the beef is handled in the packing plant? Would meat packers become less concerned about the sources and frequency of contamination of the product? Since the consequences of contamination would be greatly reduced I suspect the frequency of contamination would increase despite promises to the contrary. Our beef industry has a sordid history of innovation when it comes to how we produce our product and consumers are showing increasing signs of losing confidence in our ability to produce a safe, healthy, high-quality product. More and more we see requests for beef that is free of antibiotics, beta-agonists, hormones, and genetically modified feeds, beef that is grass fed, organic, and “natural.” Consumers are no longer trusting that our industry has their best interests at heart, that we are putting safety ahead of profit. Irradiation may be a perfectly safe and valuable tool in the process of producing a safer product but it couldn’t come at a worse time. I don’t believe our customers have the stomach for yet another “science-based” innovation that makes food more “industrial” and less “natural.” David Dockendorff Silver Rapids Farm Powassan, Ont. Reynold’s response

Thanks for your comments. It’s great to know that people are reading this stuff! I agree the parallels between irradiation and pasteurization really are interesting. Back in the early 1900s, opponents of pasteurization suggested that it would be used to mask low-quality milk, or would fail to destroy bacterial toxins in milk, or may lower the nutritional value of milk, or could give consumers a false sense of security, or increase the price of milk, or put small milk dealers out of business. Pasteurization didn’t do any of those

things. Replace “milk” with “meat,” and we’ve got the same concerns being raised about irradiation today. Parallels indeed. Pasteurization helped eliminate the transmission of bovine tuberculosis to humans through milk. It improves the safety of milk, without reducing the nutritional value in any meaningful way. Irradiation has the same potential for beef. After approving irradiation for poultry in 1990, the U.S. went on to approve it for beef, lamb and pork in 1997. Beef consumption did not suddenly drop as a result of that decision. The U.S. also allows irradiation of poultry, eggs, sprouting seeds, fruit and vegetable juice, imported fruits and vegetables, shellfish, lettuce and spinach. Over 50 other countries around the world allow irradiation for one food or another. Canada also allows irradiation of some foods. It just doesn’t allow our own Canadian beef to be irradiated. The recommendation that industry resubmit its irradiation petition to the Government of Canada came out of the 2012 Independent Review of the XL Foods Inc. Beef Recall. The petition does not ask that beef irradiation be made mandatory in Canada, but there are valid questions about why it is not legal to use a tool that can make ground beef safer without affecting quality or nutritional value. The idea is simply to allow packers the option of using irradiation as a final food safety step, for customers who would appreciate that additional level of assurance. Approving irradiation for trim or ground beef only would mean that the other food safety interventions and standards that are already in place for carcasses and cuts would still be necessary in order to ensure that the other cuts (stew beef, steaks, roasts, etc.) are just as safe as they are now. These columns are a great opportunity for me to explain the science and technologies that Canada’s applied beef and cattle researchers are developing. Consumers are human; most of their fears are really based on a lack of understanding. I believe if people really understood the science and technology that our industry applies, they would be less fearful. Hopefully these columns provide producers like yourself with some information to share with consumers you interact with from time to time. Reynold Bergen PhD Science Director Beef Cattle Research Council

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

 OUR HISTO RY

WESTERN EVANGELINE By Senator F.W. Gershaw December 1947 Canadian Cattlemen

he Bingville country lies northeast of Medicine Hat and the history of the people who settled there is of more than usual interest. Before the First World War started, the land was opened for homesteads. Men waiting at the land office for days and nights to file on quarter sections. When located, they lived as bachelors doing their homestead duties and often living in poor shacks. The good crops of 1915 and 1916 brought some prosperity and married men had their families come. School districts were organized and schools built. Then there was a long series of dry years. Many of the people were discouraged and moved out. When driving through the district in this period abandoned farms, deserted homes and unused school buildings could be seen in many places. The visitor would be reminded of the stanza: “The house that has echoed a baby’s laugh And held up his stumbling feet Is the saddest sight when left alone That ever the eye could meet.” Some of the more persevering remained and established comfortable homes. Greatly to the credit of Marshall Ballard, I.C. Jones, W. Bishop, Alf Pratt, the Dewers, Sanladers and Berrymen, there was a good community spirit always in evidence. Groups of neighbours got

together on Sundays and one day of each year was set aside for a picnic at Bingville school. All planned to be present for this event. It was looked forward to all the year around and was a big day for the lonely settlers. In 1941 the news came that the area was needed for military purposes and the 125 pioneering families had to move. These people had weathered the storms, they had built up homes and loved those homes. The migration resulted in those neighbours of many years standing being scattered as were the Acadians in the story of Evangeline. The annual picnic that year was a sad affair as all realized this it would be the last one. All felt the strain. Women wept and even the children seemed to be less happy. Men gathered in groups and talked of the future with misgivings. All recognized that they had come to the end of a chapter in the record of their lives and in the life of the community. In just one month the pioneers had scattered to Medicine Hat, Suffield, Tilley, Brooks and some to distant points in Saskatchewan. The school is gone, the homes are gone and the stock is gone. Even the wild antelope have been driven off so that experiments with poison gas, explosives and other war materials can be carried on. Some of these worthy families were inad-

Bingville

equately compensated. Some never found places as good as those they left, but it was the losing of the happy associations and the ending of community life that brought the real sadness. The sacrifice was made in the interest of the war effort and public recognition is due to these pioneers. c For more of the past from the pages of our magazine see the History section at www.canadiancattlemen.ca.

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 FORAGE R ES EA RC H

By Duane McCartney

SWIFT CURRENT RESEARCHERS TAKE THE LONG VIEW

he central grasslands of the northern great plains of Western Canada is a major forage growing area and makes up a significant portion of the landscape of the Prairies. This semi-arid region extends from southwestern Manitoba to southwestern Alberta; north to just below Saskatoon and south to the United States border. Swift Current Ag Canada Research Centre or SPARC (Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre) sits in the middle of this area and focuses on native grasslands research for the region. Climate models suggest the Swift Current climate will extend to other regions in the Prairies over time which adds some impetus to the work of range ecologist Dr. Mike Schellenberg and grazing management and animal nutritionist Dr. Alan Iwaasa to keep livestock on pasture longer in this area where recurring droughts are common. “Our research is directed to identify appropriate species mixtures, their benefits and resilience potential to deal with extreme weather events, provide nutritionally adequate forage during the dry summer slump periods, and during the winter feeding period,” says Schellenberg. “In order to do this, one needs a supply of potential species and thus the reason for our mainly native plant breeding effort. We are identifying species mixtures for resilient forage plant communities along with the use of perennial grasses, perennial legumes and annuals for forage production as part of the grazing management strategies for the native rangelands. “Along with nutrition, you want plants

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that are able to extract their resources from the entire soil profile. Plants have different rooting depths, often deeper than Kentucky bluegrass or smooth brome — two common introduced species — to pull up much needed moisture and soil nutrients. We are working with a number of other species that explore the soil environment differently. For example, native legumes such as prairie clovers with a taproot, little blue stem with a deep fibrous root, and northern wheatgrass with a rhizomatous root system.” The program does not only look at species but also their function. For example, they’ve identified a benefit in having two legumes (alfalfa, purple prairie clover) as opposed to a single legume with grass. Traditionally, it has been recommended producers grow a single legume; however, the researchers are now finding two legumes produce the highest hay yields while having two grasses (western wheatgrass, green needle grass) is better than having a single grass for grazing and biomass production in this arid region. The right combination of species will improve nutritional quality, especially for crude protein. Pastures comprised of warmseason grasses plus cool-season grasses which mature later, will have better quality in the late summer compared to a pasture with only cool-season grasses. They are also looking for mixtures that maintain themselves rather than a mix with overly aggressive species that result in a monoculture. Grazing management systems are also being examined as this has an influence on how the mixture is maintained. “We are not only working with perennials as we have recently obtained research

funding to determine the possible benefits of mixtures of annuals. The groundwork is being done by Dr. Jillian Bainard and we are working with three species of annual grasses (barley, oats and triticale), three species of legume (hairy vetch, field pea, forage pea), three root crops (forage radish, purple top turnip, kale) and three warm-season grasses (corn, millet, sorghum) as monocultures and in 2-, 4-, 8- and 12-species combinations. All of these species are presently being grown in this semi-arid region. The actual number of species in a mixture is also being evaluated, and the first results have shown mixtures with the greater number of functional groups and species provide better biomass than most monocultures, as well as improved weed and insect control. “There has been a decrease in weed diversity and numbers and there has been no pesticide applied to these plots,” says Schellenberg. “We also see a notable shift to beneficial pollinating insects with mixtures. We are also evaluating soil analysis and nutritional quality of the different mixture combinations.” NATIVE SPECIES

The Swift Current team is also evaluating a number of native species for grazing yield potential including side oats grama, nodding brome, rough fescue, prairie sand reed and northern wheatgrass as well as the introduced grasses hybrid brome, meadow brome, and crested wheatgrass in conjunction with Dr. Bruce Coulman at the UniContinued on page 11

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forage research

Continued from page 10

versity of Saskatchewan/Ag Canada, Saskatoon. A number of native legumes are also under investigation: prairie clovers, Canadian milkvetch, slender milkvetch and ascending milkvetch as well as alfalfa. This work was originally initiated under Dr. Grant McLeod, now retired. Species such as the prairie clovers provide quality forage and possibly more. Most native plant species remain largely unexplored for potential benefits like the condensed tannins in prairie clovers as well as their antimicrobial effect, and the increased digestion of other feed components as has been noted for the semi-shrub winterfat. Just as research is reliant on financial partnerships within and without the research community, Schellenberg says resilient plant communities are dependent on strong working relationships among forage plants. “These right combinations of plants and research people will increase and maintain productivity while providing benefits beyond just forage yields,” he says. Just down the hall from Schellenberg’s office, Dr. Alan Iwaasa is evaluating grazing and forage effects on livestock production, using different management practices, and looking at the effects on the environment. “Beef cow-calf producers want to keep their livestock longer on pasture and reduce winter feed costs and this is the research strategy that we are looking at,” he says. “We are evaluating grazing native and tame grasses under different grazing systems including work with the new saline-tolerant grass, AC Saltlander. In addition, we are studying the benefits of grazing legumes containing condensed tannins, such as sainfoin, purple and white prairie clovers and their potential benefits to reduce E. coli shedding from cattle and increase nitrogen utilization.” Other research is looking at the effects of changing calving times to calve on spring grass, the benefits of feeding biofuel byproducts in a grazing system and the impact of winter bale grazing on the environment. “We are looking at re-establishment of grasslands from long-term cropping systems using a simple seven-species or a 12-species mixture to assess long-term grazing, forage production, biodiversity and environmental benefits. No nitrogen fertilizer and continuous and/or rotational grazing was used. We found that although at first the aggressive cool-season grasses, western wheat grass, northern wheat grass and slender wheat www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Native legumes add a nutritional kick to mixtures plus some added health benefits.

grass associated with the simple native mixture established quickly and gave increased forage production, the complex native mix eventually provided similar forage production. It is difficult to envision a selection of tame grasses that could provide the tolerance and ability to adjust to changing environmental conditions from one extreme to another. A more diverse pasture mixture allows the animal to make grazing selections and this resulted in higher livestock performance with a 15 per cent improvement in gain of beef per hectare for complex mixtures. Each set of complex pastures were grazed in the spring, summer and fall in a three-year rotation as a deferred rotational grazing system. Higher livestock performance (10 per cent) for grazing more diverse pasture mixture were also observed under a continuous grazing system.” “There was very good persistence of the purple prairie clover and many of the warmand cool-season grasses. The only grasses that seem to have declined were slender wheatgrass, which was not surprising, and needle and thread grass which was a bit surprising since we were grazing at 50 per cent utilization level. In the native deferred rotational grazing, we did see an increase in the little bluestem plant population and purple prairie clover, which was also not surprising, since we were deferring on grazing in the spring and summer grazing period, which allowed little blue stem and purple prairie clover to set seeds for the fall grazing period.” Purple prairie clover is a warm-season legume and its main growth is during July and September, in the mid-summer growth slump. It’s a drought-tolerant forb with nitrogen-fixing abilities that provides good forage

quality, grazing preference and an ability to extend the grazing season. The digestibility ranged from 65 to 50 per cent from vegetative to seed pod stage, while crude protein ranged from 20 to 12 per cent over the same time. The plant also contains condensed tannins, and thus improves protein utilization and feed efficiency which is important for fall grazing. The condensed tannins also can reduce E. coli 0157:H7 and is anti-parasitic. The Swift Current team also found that purple prairie clover increased biodiversity and helped bee pollinators prosper. Another study that Iwaasa is involved in used sainfoin in alfalfa to reduce the risk of bloat. “Fifteen per cent or more sainfoin in an alfalfa mixture can eliminate risk of pasture bloating,” “We are evaluating different sainfoin germplasms in alfalfa mixtures to achieve bloat-safe grazing by grazing the stands when sainfoin is at full flower and alfalfa at 25 to 30 per cent bloom. We are also interested in stand longevity and after five years we still have 15 per cent sainfoin in the sward for continuous and rotational grazing systems and no bloating incidences occurred throughout our grazing study.” Both Schellenberg and Iwaasa stress that for perennial forage and grazing research to deliver meaningful results requires long-term grazing studies, longer than five years. There is a need for funding to support this work and the people with the training to do it. That continues to be a challenge for researchers whose ranks have been thinned in recent years by retirement and resignations. c Duane McCartney is a retired forage and beef research scientist from Lacombe, Alta.

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 forage g r a z i ng

By Steve Kenyon

The Grazing Plan

op e yo u h ave yo u r p l a n together for this year’s pastures. If not, your first question is: What is your stocking rate? Stocking rate is the number of animal units that you plan to have on the pasture for the season. This, of course, is not determined by the number of acres grazed, but it needs to come from the production of the land. Every environment is different so I cannot give you a “one size fits all” remedy. I graze mostly yearlings on our ranch as I am a custom grazier but every year I gain some land and/or I lose some land because all of my land is leased. I am constantly adjusting my stocking rates. I have a rule of thumb for my area of one Animal Day for every open acre of good-producing land in my pasture. Now if it’s not my best-producing pasture then I will adjust it down from there but I don’t include bush acres. For example, if my pasture is 290 acres in size, and I have 200 acres that are open, productive land, and the remainder is bush I would stock it at about 200 light yearlings. (For my calculations, one AD is a yearling less than 700 lbs.) If I know the production on the land is less than optimal, then I might bring in only 150 head. Now, of course, this rule of thumb might not work for you as we have different environments, but I would suggest that you develop your own stocking rate rule of thumb for your area. This might need to be adjusted for the type of land or type of forage. Maybe you are in a drier area and you will only get an Animal Day for every two or three or 10 acres of open land. It will be your rule for your area. My rule is also for grazing feeder cattle when I know the owner will be taking the cattle to the feedlot in early fall. This would mean I

am only aiming at a 4.5- to five-month grazing season. If I have bred heifers or cows coming in and the producer wants pasture as long as possible, then I would lower the stocking rate as I would like to keep the cattle out on grass much later into the winter. Maybe I would only bring in 125 yearlings or maybe 75 pairs. For this example, let’s stick to the 150 yearlings for five months and I will plan for a twice-over graze.

under irrigation the rest period can be shorter (30 days to a full year’s rest). We now have our stocking rate and we have our rest period. Next is the length of the graze period. We use a calculation for this. Graze period = rest period/(number of paddocks -1). The reason we need to minus one off the number of paddocks is because we will always have the cattle on one paddock at any given time. Graze period = 60/(22-1) = 3 days average on the first rotation. I say average because at the beginning of the season, we will not have enough grass in the paddocks to last the full three days. And by the end of the 60 days we might have way more than three days of grazing in the paddocks. In the real world we also know that each paddock is not exactly the same size and I don’t mean the same size in acres but more importantly not the same size in forage production. Some paddocks have more Animal Days per acre (ADAs) than others. Now it is time to look at the map, and plot our first graze period on the grazing chart. As you will see on the map, we need to plan for animal movement. I do not graze in the order of the paddock numbers. I graze for ease of movement, for the rotation as well as where the gates are located. My loading system is portable so I can start grazing in more than one spot. For this example we will start grazing in paddock S4. We will start grazing on May 15 and I am looking for an average graze period of three days. Remember that on May 15, there will not be a lot of grass out there so I will plan to be in that paddock for only one day. For training purposes, I would actually strip graze (or Mob Graze) down that paddock on the first day. This means I will move a portable fence about eight times down the paddock on the first day to train the

I have a rule of thumb for my area of one Animal Day for every open acre of goodproducing pasture

Next we need to determine our desired rest period. This depends on how dry or wet your environment is, the condition of your pastures, and your desired management for the land. Let’s continue using our example of 290 acres and we will say we have it fenced off into 22 paddocks (because that is the map I am using). Let’s say we are in a moderate rainfall area and we get some good growth most years. We have decided that for the moisture conditions and the quality of the pasture we would like a 60-day rest period. (This number is variable depending on your conditions; don’t write this number down!) This means that between grazings, we want to have 60 days for the plants to recover and replenish their root reserves. In a drier environment, the rest period needs to be longer and in wetter areas or the plan

Paddocks

N 10

N 11

N 12

N 13

N 14

1st graze

May 15

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May 30

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July 5

2nd graze

July 11

July 15

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July 23

July 27

July 31

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Oct. 3

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forage grazing

animals to come when they are called. For the next five or so paddocks I know that I will only be on them for about a day. The paddocks in the N quarter have a little better production so I know that once I get onto paddock N3, I will be getting two days out of each paddock. You will see that once I hit June 1, I am predicting that I will be getting three days out of each paddock. I skipped N4 and N7 as they are riparian areas and they will be too wet to graze just yet. We will graze them later on in the rotation. On the right quarter with the alley system design (the N quarter), for ease of movement, it is easiest to start grazing farthest away from the water and work your way back. I also skipped paddock N2 as I will need it to get back into the S quarter. By June 16, I am predicting we will be up to a four-day graze period. Picture the grass at the end of June as compared to May 15. I know from history that S6 and S8 both have about six days worth of forage by this time in the season. This might be a good time to go camping. The end of

the first graze period works out to be July 11. That would make my rest period 60 days which is right on my prediction. If you are not happy with that rest period, you can go back and adjust a few days here and there to get your 60-day rest period. For this particular pasture, it is in pretty good shape so I would have been happy with 58 days. I know from experience that you never graze exactly as you plan anyway. Now that we are onto the second graze period, we know that we can lengthen the graze period a bit as the growth has slowed. You will also notice when you are out grazing that the paddocks on your second rotation will be a lot more uniform in production. The second rotation is easier. In this example I would expect to be on each paddock for about four or five days each, depending on the paddock and the production in that year. Every season is different but if all goes well, we can expect those four days for the rest of the season. Four days times 22 paddocks should give us 88 more days of grass, taking us to the beginning of

October with a total grazing season of 148 days (October 3). I hope this helps you understand how to develop a grazing plan. Of course, if you are planning to graze later in the season with cows or bred heifers, you would lower your stocking rate to extend the season. At this point you need to understand that the plan is not written in stone. You may need to make adjustments due to weather, the animals or the production. This will be a guideline to make sure you keep control of both your graze period and your rest period allowing for a healthy productive stand. Keep referring back to your plan during the spring to make sure you are still on track. Clear as mud? It is more difficult than I thought to put a grazing plan into writing. I’d be happy to clarify any details if you want to contact me. Best wishes! c Steve Kenyon runs Greener Pastures Ranching Ltd. in Busby, Alta., www. greenerpasturesranching.com, 780-307-6500, email skenyon@greenerpasturesranching.com or find them on Facebook.

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 foRAGE M A NAG E M E N T

By Melanie Epp

Grazing Prior style

Tim Prior knows intensive grazing pays in Ontario

he ultimate goal of good pasture and range management is to produce higher livestock yields while maintaining the condition of the surrounding environment, including soil, plant, water and animal health. As beef producer Tim Prior well knows, intensive grazing does just that. The system he uses allows him to control when, where and what his livestock grazes on, a management system that reduces selective grazing and perfectly balances livestock numbers with forage supplies. Prior has been using intensive grazing on his 90-acre farm, Grazing Meadows in Brussels, Ont., for over 15 years now. His cattle rotationally graze on 30 meadows, located along the laneway, using a leader-follower system. Stock is shifted daily, giving each paddock up to 30 days of rest and recovery. Each paddock is about 1.5 acres in size, and is surrounded by electric fencing, which easily controls stock. “Stress is a huge factor in gain in cattle,” says Prior. Daily movement helps to tame stock, which reduces stress and results in more weight gain. Fresh, clean water is another key to cattle performance. Typically, beef producers in this area fence the perimeter of their land and turn the cattle out to graze as they wish. Water is kept in one spot and the cattle walk to the water whenever they’re thirsty. “What’s different with our system is that we take the water all the way out to the cattle,” he says. “We’re not running a weight loss clinic here with our cattle. We want them to gain as much as they can.” Prior says that his grazing method gets him double the production per acre. He knows because he uses scales to measure their growth. Just as cash croppers measure

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in bushels per acre, beef producers, he says, measure in pounds of meat per acre. Using his system, Grazing Meadows has yielded 500 to 650 pounds per acre. Over the past 10 years, his cattle average a gain of 354 pounds or 2.46 pounds per day over 144 days on grass. Management is the key to a successful grazing system, says Prior. Moving his cattle daily allows for better species diversification, which, in turn, provides a variety of nutritious feed for his cattle. Pasture species include perennial ryegrass, reed canary grass, orchard grass, tall fescue, white clover and chicory. Minor species include alfalfa, bird’sfoot trefoil, Kentucky bluegrass, Matua prairie grass, creeping red fescue and crown vetch. And more often than not, plants are rested more than they’re grazed, which means that regrowth isn’t an issue. Besides species diversification and better nutrition, there are many benefits to using Prior’s system. Grazing does not require confinement barns. It uses less machinery, which lowers the cost of fuel and repairs. Because he has healthier animals, his system also has fewer vet bills. Overall labour costs are lower, as is the cost of feed, since there’s a decreased demand for grain and supplements. Finally, Prior’s system saves on manure handling. He says that 90 per cent of nutrients — which are evenly spread around by the cattle themselves — are returned to the soil through urine and feces. In fact, Prior did the math on manure distribution. For him to get one patty per square yard in a continuous grazing system would take up to 27 years. In his intensive system, grazing a maximum of two days per paddock, it would take just two years to get the same coverage. Prior’s system also allows him to turn his cattle out earlier in the spring, which helps control grass growth and introduces new

Tim Prior raises 500 to 650 pounds of beef per acre every year with intensive grazing.

feed slowly. If the grass growth is ever too slow, he has a hay field ready for use. When Prior speaks to beef producers he’s usually hit with questions about time and money. Specifically, producers want to know how much a system like his will cost them, and how much time it takes to rotate cattle daily. “In 10 minutes I can be out in my vehicle, move the cattle, move the water, and be back to the house again,” says Prior. “If you’re going out to look at your stock every day anyway, I don’t think that time is a consideration.” Prior broke his costs down for the nearly 100 producers at last year’s Ontario CowCalf Roadshow. To have fencing installed for 100 acres will cost you about $29,000, he says — and that fencing will last for years. The fencing at Grazing Meadows is going into its 17th year and is still going strong. “Plus,” says Prior, “those extra costs are well paid back with the gains you’re getting in production.” Grass seed is another cost. Prior spent about $5,400 on grass seed for 90 grazeable acres. The moveable watering system set him back some $2,900. At a total of $37,300 amortized over 10 years (a number that includes fencing), it costs Prior about $41.44 per acre per year. Custom feeding, on the other hand, is usually based on dollar per pound gained, and can be much more expensive with decreased results. Finally, his system helps preserve the land around him. Intensive grazing systems like his reduce selective grazing and provide adequate recovery time for the plants, reduce soil erosion, and meet the physiological needs of the cattle themselves. It also reduces the need for machinery and fuel. Prior says he only needs one type of farm machine — a four-legged forage harvesting dung spreader. c

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 Nutriti o n

By John McKinnon

With Calves at $2 — Attention to Detail Pays Dividends!

arly in the new year, I was at a local beef meeting where a group of cattlemen was discussing what they see as an issue with spring calving, that being a small but nevertheless disturbing increase in the number of open cows in the fall. The discussion included producers, extension specialists and researchers and focused on a variety of potential reasons to explain the increase without coming to any consensus as to the extent of the problem or the reasons behind it. While puzzling, this issue serves as a reminder of the need to continually focus one’s attention on the reproductive performance of the cow herd and the importance of proper nutrition in achieving your goals. As many operations are calving as I write this article or will be in May and June, it is worthwhile to review the relationship between reproductive success and nutritional management. In previous columns (i.e. January 2011 and 2012), I have discussed how nutrient requirements change with stage of pregnancy, as well as with lactation. So without going into detail, it is safe to say that for many of you, the next two to four months (i.e. the last six to eight weeks prior to calving and the period from calving through breeding) are going to be critical for ensuring a successful 2014 breeding season. When consulting with producers on their pre-calving and pre-breeding feeding programs, high on my checklist is ensuring that the nutrient requirements for pregnancy and lactation are met, particularly that of energy. Failure to meet the increased demand for energy imposed by the developing fetus or initiation of lactation will result in a loss of body condition as the cow compensates by mobilizing body fat stores. It is well established that cows losing weight coming into calving will take longer to return to breeding status (i.e. estrus or heat) while excessive weight loss after calving will extend the anestrus period as well as reduce firstservice conception rates. To prevent this weight loss, now is the time to adjust your feeding program. Cows entering the last six to eight weeks of pregnancy will have energy and protein requirements 15 to 20 per cent higher than in midgestation while lactating cows will have these requirements increased by an additional 10 to 20 per cent or more. To compensate for these increased needs, an adjustment to either the amount fed or the quality of the ration is necessary. The latter usually means higher-quality hay and/or providing a supplemental energy/protein source. For those relying on earlyspring pasture growth to meet these needs, remember

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that such forage is typically high in moisture, which limits dry matter intake and may not meet the energy requirements of early-lactation cows. This spring it will be advisable to pay extra attention to body condition at calving as it was a long winter which likely resulted in a higher-than-normal percentage of thin cows and heifers. If this is the case, consider flushing these animals with extra grain about a month prior to breeding. This is also a time when you want to be on top of your mineral feeding program. Both pregnancy and lactation increase the requirements for many of the essential macro and trace minerals. A good example is calcium. As calving approaches, the cow’s requirement increases dramatically due to the high calcium content of colostrum. Failure to provide adequate calcium or imbalances in the mineral content of the diet can induce milk fever, particularly in older multiparous cows. As well, trace mineral deficiencies can lead to a variety of reproductive issues including prolonged anestrous, reduced conception rates, retained placentas and poor semen quality. Ideally you have had your herd on a complete mineral over the winter that was designed to match your forage feeding program. If so, your animals should be in good shape coming into calving, however, post-calving, it will be important to ensure continued access to a mineral specifically designed for breeding cows. Herds with a history of reproductive issues such as those listed above can often trace the cause to a specific mineral deficiency such as copper, zinc or selenium. In some cases the cause is as simple as failure to provide a supplemental mineral source while in other cases there can be confounding factors such as high sulphur and/or molybdenum levels in the feed and/or water that tie up trace minerals such as copper and induce a deficiency. In such cases chelated minerals may be a good option. Chelated minerals while more expensive, are better utilized by the animal. Their strategic use can alleviate a deficiency or ensure requirements are met more efficiently than conventional inorganic mineral programs. Most companies involved with selling minerals have products specifically designed to meet the needs of breeding cows including blends of chelated and inorganic minerals for problem situations. While some may feel that such nutritional fine tuning is not worth the effort or expense, astute cattlemen such as those who inspired this column know that when it comes to a successful breeding program, attention to detail pays dividends, particularly with calf prices at $2 or better. c

John McKinnon is a beef cattle nutritionist at the University of Saskatchewan

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 forage g r a z i ng

By Debbie Furber

Bale grazing still too chancy

lenn Cline fears he may be getting a little old-fashioned in his views for not jumping into bale grazing. His success in the cow-calf business says otherwise. He and his wife, Norma, established Bright Water Lake Ranch near Dundurn, Sask., in 1972, after a job with the nearby community pasture brought him to the area a few years earlier. Cline, whose family roots have run deep in agriculture in the Moose Jaw area since 1882, says he’s always been keen on cattle. He recalls as a kid watching his dad, uncle and neighbours move cattle to the military pasture east of the city, wishing his parents would allow him time off school to help out. They consider themselves fortunate to have been able to build a ranch from scratch and earn a living raising beef cattle. “It can be done,” he tells those who ask if it’s possible in this day and age, but it meant foregoing some luxuries and really pulling in the reins on spending during tough times. Those lean years, though, were oftentimes the trigger for trying new approaches or looking at old ways in a new light. Such is the case with winter feeding systems. Mornings during their early years would find them hitching the heavy-horse team to a bale wagon he had made to roll out hay in a pasture near the yard for the main herd. The heifers were wintered in corrals even though the reason for rolling out the hay was to make sure all animals had equal access to the feed. A bale processor was purchased during the dry years of the ’80s when crops of all kinds in the area were salvaged for cattle feed. The team wasn’t retired to the back 40 altogether and they continued feeding with team and wagon for many years because it was something he enjoyed doing. He now relies on the bale processor to make the best use of their hay resources, lays out enough feed in a large wintering pasture to last three or four days to avoid having to run the tractor every day, and successfully winters the heifers alongside the cows to adapt them to the environment for future years. Their hay is grown on 160 acres of deeded and 240 acres of leased native grassland that is part of a 3,600-acre flood irrigation project dating back to 1958. Water flows in natu-

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Glenn Cline set up a small bale-grazing paddock last fall but only as an emergency supply.

rally from the Hanley reservoir to the south and a series of dikes and control structures was built to facilitate drainage. The system handles the water nicely, with 2006 being a memorable exception because they were marooned on the farm for three weeks due to heavy snow cover and a quick spring melt. The hay land is a gem in the rough considering the light sandy soils and periodic gale-force winds typical of the area. Yields can be phenomenal, he says, as Norma pulls out the record book with carefully written entries showing a yield of 732 bales or approximately 4.5 bales an acre off their 160 acres alone in 2013. Some years the yield has been heartbreaking, the latest being 2010, when it gave them only 78 bales. “If we can get it put up in good condition, it’s as good as any other hay, with nine to 12 per cent protein, but the quality is quite variable,” Cline explains. Plant types range from fine-leafed highly palatable grasses nearer the field’s perimeter to coarse-leafed stemmy plants farther in. He considers this a mixed blessing of sorts because the cows go after the best hay and any of the coarse hay not eaten doubles as bedding, which saves the cost of purchasing straw. Variable hay quality is the main reason for his cautious approach to bale grazing even though he knows it’s costing $7 in fuel

alone every feeding day to put out hay with the bale processor. His observations and conversations with producers who are bale grazing leads him to believe that it can work very well with highquality hay, such as alfalfa-brome, because the cows readily clean up each bale leaving residue and manure spread quite evenly across the field and all animals have access to good hay. His concerns with native-hay bales in a balegrazing setup are that the boss cows would get first dibbs at the best hay and partially eaten lower-quality bales would be used for bedding resulting in too much feed waste and heavy residue packs to deal with come spring. In his pasture feeding system, variable hay quality is managed by grouping bales of like quality in the stack yard and picking some of each to mix off through the bale processor on feeding days, giving all animals equal access to quality hay. One or two passes with the harrows in spring spreads the residue nicely and the pasture is left to recover until fall. Other reasons for change

Cline says conception rates have improved since he began supplementing with OLS lick tubs that provide additional protein and minerals. According to the label, one inch of prod-

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FORAGE GRAZING

uct equals a pound of supplement and each cow should consume 82 to 165 grams per day. Measuring the disappearance each week indicates that their cows are consuming roughly 110 to 120 grams per head per day. Heavy-duty portable windbreak panels with 14-foot wide legs to withstand strong winds have been another worthwhile investment. The four large sheltered areas created by setting the panels perpendicular to each other provide protection from wind from any direction and have been very effective in conserving light bluffs of trees. It doesn’t take many winters for cattle to wear a frozen bluff thin with their rubbing, Cline says, whereas the trees are much more resilient once the branches supple up in spring and recover well from light use for a short time during calving season. Their calving start date has moved from March 1 to March 18 and he is considering bumping it to the end of March due to the bitter cold start last year when almost all of the cows that calved in the first 10 days had to be cycled through the barn. Turnout onto their native grass range is usually the first week of May, by which time

new shoots are starting to grow fast to get past the ample carryover from the previous season. A decade ago they settled into a LimousinBlack Angus breeding program. The first Limo bull was purchased in 1979 when the carcass angle caught his attention. They continued breeding their blue-roan ShorthornHereford base cows to Limo bulls, keeping all of their own replacement heifers, which led to an all-red herd. Wanting to get some hybrid vigour back into the program, he started using Charolais bulls. Those buckskin calves really did grow and sell well and keeping replacements gave the herd a decidedly buckskin hue. Weighing about 300 pounds more than the reds, the buckskins were the first to be shipped to greener pastures when drought hit in 2001 and were sold when 2002 turned out drier yet. Seeing the Angus breed put a lot of effort into development and promotion, he started putting Angus bulls on the red Limoinfluence cows and breeding the replacement heifers back to Limo bulls. “I really like this two-way cross and we are proud of the quality of our herd because it has always been a closed herd, except for the bulls,” Cline says.

He’d have to say that participating in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine’s herd health program is the best thing he’s done. Located a half-hour south of Saskatoon, Cline was among the first cow-calf operations to sign on when Dr. Eugene Janzen started the program some 35 years ago. A set fee per cow entitles each client to a certain number of visits each year, bull evaluations and preg testing. Generally two or three students accompanied by a professor assist with routine processing spring and fall including vaccinating, castrating, tagging, parasite control and dehorning with a hot iron, which now includes use of an injectable anaesthetic. They’ll also assist with difficult calvings, disease issues and perform postmortem examinations, which Cline says are fascinating because every part of the animal is examined for learning’s sake. Many procedures do take more time with two or three people involved, but the program gives future veterinarians great on-farm experience and he has learned just as much from them through the years.

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References: 1. Platter WJ, Tatum JD, Belk KE, et al. 2001. Effects of repetitive use of growth promoting implants on beef carcass quality and consumer ratings of beef palatability. Colorado States University final Report To The Beef Quality Assurance Advisory Board. National Cattleman’s Association. 2. Pritchard RH. 1999. Comparison of Lifetime Implants Strategies for Beef Steers On Production And Carcass Variables. Final Report to the South Dakota Beef Industry Council. 3. Withbank CW, Hawkins EW, Lunt DK, et al. 2000. Anabolic Implants And Meat Tenderness. J. Anim. Sci. 78 (suppl.1):160. Zoetis is a trademark and Synovex C is a registered trademark of Zoetis or its licensors, used under license by Zoetis Canada Inc. SYN JADP01 1213 E

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2014-03-13 2:17 PM

fo r ag e g r a z i ng

Continued from page 19

Cline shares his ranching knowledge through the Ag with Kids program at Dundurn school. Recently, he gathered up some of his doctoring supplies to explain that cattle don’t get sick very often, but helping them when they need help is all part of having cattle. He feels it’s a great opportunity for kids to ask questions and asking questions shows they are really interested. A preconditioning program designed to garner premiums from buyers died out after a dozen years or so, but was a valuable learning experience nonetheless. The veterinary association developed a protocol for preconditioning calves and participating producers were able to obtain a certificate signed by their veterinarian along with special tags to apply before putting the calves through the sale ring. Presorting into semiload lots to get the numbers required by the big feedlots came on the scene shortly afterward, so it was always questionable as to whether premiums were because of preconditioning or presorting.

The variable quality in his hay crops is one of the reasons he remains cautious about bale grazing.

“The bottom line is the reason for any change has to make sense for your own operation,” Cline says. As for bale grazing, he went ahead last fall and set out 60 bales in a paddock next to the winter feeding pasture. As of February, the gate remained closed. He’s not exactly sure why. It could be the severe winter weather

holding him back from giving it a test run, or it could be he hasn’t had a reason to open it. What really makes sense for their operation at this point in time is the security of knowing that if he fell ill or the equipment failed some cold winter day, chores would be as simple as letting the cows into the bale-grazing paddock. c

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 Holistic R a nc hi ng

By Don Campbell

HRM CONFERENCE REPORT

M Canada held its annual conference in Lloydminster, Alta. on Feb. 10 and 11. Our first speaker was Jim Reger of the Reger Group that focuses on key leadership skills required for success in business and in life. Jim spoke about living a life of meaning and purpose by learning to live in harmony with the earth and all living things. He offered some practical advice on closing the gap between the values we hold and the way we demonstrate those values every day in our thoughts, words and actions. Next up was Kathleen Charpentier who has farmed in the Castor area with her husband Richard Griebel for 33 years. They farm-gate market their naturally raised beef, lamb, pork and chickens. Kathleen shared some of the challenges they have faced and how HM helped them meet those challenges. It was a very personal and emotional presentation and while it wasn’t really planned Kathleen was the perfect speaker to build on what Jim had taught us. In our producer panel we heard the first-hand experiences of Grant and Hali Taillieu from Tomahawk, Jan and Marian Slomp from Rimbey and John Cross from Nanton. Each speaker was excellent. I will mention one or two highlights from each speaker. This doesn’t do justice to all that was shared. To really benefit you needed to be there. The Taillieus’ main point was how they are able to utilize a large tract of low-lying wet land. In many operations this land would be considered wasteland and left unutilized. The Taillieus graze this land in the winter and supplement with pellets to achieve adequate nutrition. It was easy to see how this would reduce winter feed costs and contribute to a more profitable operation. Not many of us would have a large tract of land like Grant and Hali but many of us have smaller areas that might be used in a similar manner. Jan and Marian are dairy farmers. They operated a dairy farm in the Netherlands and immigrated to Canada in 1989. Jan shared how they have been able to utilize grass in their operation. Their grass-based dairy has evolved from a cost-conscious, high-productivity focus in the ’90s to a high soil and animal health, low-cost and high-margin focus today. The result has been a drop in production but an even larger drop in expenses. The net result has been more profit. This was truly a remarkable story. This is a story we could all benefit from. What matters is the bottom line not how high your production is. Jan and Marian both talked about being workaholics. They have been able to address this by hiring a full-time employee. This has resulted in a great improvement in their quality of life. John Cross was one of the early adapters to HM. John shared two main points. One was how he is able to graze www.canadiancattlemen.ca

about 11 months a year by having a grazing plan and stockpiling forage. He also shared how he is able to achieve better utilization and nutrition by strip grazing his stockpiled forage. The second point John shared is how he is able to direct market a large portion of his production. Ben Wilson spoke about Farm On, a small group of young farmers who use social media to educate other young farmers and the consuming public. Ben gave an interesting presentation about social media. This is the way of the future and an area where HM Canada needs to be present. Jim Reger wrapped up our first day with his talk on maximizing value from your management club, but many of his ideas were applicable to any group including a family or a business. He outlined the critical importance of creating trusting relationships through self-disclosure, giving and receiving constructive feedback and exploring deep self-discovery. Day two opened with Dr. Jill Claperton speaking on healthy soil for a healthy world followed by Jill and Fred Fleming who founded Rhizaterra in 2011. Jill does an excellent job of explaining how complex the soil is and how our management impacts the soil and the life below. Our next session offered three breakout sessions. Rob Rutherford led a session on financial planning. Ron Moss led a session on multi-species gazing. Jason Williams led a session on using RFID technology to enhance your herd management. This was followed by another series of breakouts. Allison Guichon led a session on financial planning. Kelly Sidoryk led a session on the human resources. Brian Luce led a session on financial management. Our windup speaker was Rob Rutherford. Rob was a professor at Polytechnic University for many years where he had extensive experience with grazing sheep. He is now retired but shared with us some of the exciting things he is doing with sheep and land reclamation. Rob brought us a very motivational message. HM has much to offer the world and we are posed for a period of rapid growth. Two additional highlights to this year’s conference were the large number of children who took part in our kid’s program and the fact that we had more new people attend our conference than ever before. Both bode well for the future of HM. Our conference is open to everyone so if you weren’t able to attend this year plan to come next year. You will enjoy the learning, the networking and the friendship. Happy trails. c Don Campbell ranches with his family at Meadow Lake, Sask., and teaches Holistic Management courses. He can be reached at 306-236-6088 or doncampbell@sasktel.net.

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 researc h o n t h e r eco r d

By Reynold Bergen

THE HIGH COST OF SHORTCHANGING COWS

ast month’s column talked about how cold, snowy winters increase the energy needs of cows, especially when wintered on pasture, and how cows will use their body fat reserves to maintain themselves if the feed doesn’t provide enough energy. Reproductive performance will drop if thin cows don’t recover their body condition. A 2013 paper published by Cheryl Waldner and Alvaro García Guerra of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon reported on a twoyear study of over 30,000 beef cows from more than 200 herds across Western Canada (Theriogenology 79:1083-1094). Cows were body condition scored before calving, at the start of the breeding season, and at pregnancy testing in fall. Cows with a body condition score (BCS) below 2.5 (on a five point scale) were less likely to be pregnant than cows with a BCS of 2.5 or more. The same thing applied to cows that lost body condition between calving and the start of breeding, and cows that lost body condition during the breeding season. The risk of non-pregnancy went up as BCS went down. That data was collected in 2001 and 2002. The following year brought BSE, border closures, and depressed prices. Many producers adopted winter grazing systems in response to an acute need to minimize input costs. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada statistics indicate that 69 to 79 per cent of producers were using some form of extended grazing technique by 2007. Well-managed extended grazing is an excellent way to lower winter fed costs, provided the cow’s dietary requirements are being met. But these management practices need to be managed appropriately, and forage quality and body condition score need to be monitored closely. Forage quality: Saskatchewan Forage Council’s March newsletter contained the results of a forage quality survey conducted by Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture staff in the fall of 2013. Chemical analysis indicated that only 38 per cent of forage samples would meet the energy needs of a cow starting the last third of pregnancy at -25 C. Only five per cent of samples would meet the cow’s energy needs in the last month of pregnancy. Those percentages may be even lower if forage quality declined in the swath. Cows relying solely on these forages likely lost body condition score last winter. Body condition score is a combination of handson palpation and visual assessment. Handling cattle to feel their short ribs and tail head is more difficult when cattle are on pasture, so many producers may rely only on eyeballed body condition scores. Eyes get

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better with training and experience, but looks can still be deceiving. The shadows that help you see the body’s dips and hollows are harder to see on black cattle. The accuracy of visual evaluation also varies with the season of the year. Prominent rib, hook and pin bones can be masked by long winter hair coats. Research from the University of Guelph reported that even trained visual evaluators had a hard time accurately predicting the body condition score of cows in winter. The correlation between visual scores and ultrasonic backfat measurements was low (r2 = 0.14) in January to March (Can. J. Anim. Sci. 83:593-596). A hands-on evaluation of the body condition score will give you a much better sense of their real fat stores. As a general rule of thumb, mature cows need to gain 80 pounds to increase one BCS score (150 lbs. for a firstcalf heifer). Even with supplemental feed, a cow that has calved in BCS 2.0 that is repairing her reproductive tract and producing milk will have a hard time gaining the 40 pounds necessary to get up to BCS 2.5, rebreed in 83 days and maintain a 365-day calving interval. Thinner cows and heifers will have bigger problems. Visit www.beefresearch.ca/resources/webinars.cfm to watch an excellent presentation and Q&A session on “Boosting the Calf Crop in Your Beef Herd,” by Dr. John Campbell of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. One final note. A year ago this column highlighted concerns about cow marketing and transport practices. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s 2013 statistics (based on every animal slaughtered in Canada’s federally inspected beef packing plants) are now available. Transport of thin cows remains a serious welfare concern for the industry, but there are signs of improvement. Key statistics pertaining to cow body condition are 16 to 27 per cent better than last year. Notably, the proportion of cows with cancer eye was the lowest reported since before 1999. Keep up the good work. Many provinces have confidential phone numbers for producers to call if they see animal welfare concerns. If you know someone who needs help but doesn’t want your help, your provincial beef association can tell you whom to call. The Beef Research Cluster is funded by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to advance research and technology transfer supporting the Canadian beef industry’s vision to be recognized as a preferred supplier of healthy, high-quality beef, cattle and genetics. c Reynold Bergen is science director of the Beef Cattle Research Council.

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Beef 2014: International Livestock Conference This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conference will focus on the opportunities of marketing the whole carcass. With the trends that are taking shape today, there are many opportunities for the future. Hear an update on the local and global economies and the market opportunities that exist for the entire carcass both here in Canada and around the world.

ILC Beef 2014: Wednesday July 09, 2014

Deerfoot Inn & Casino, 1000, 11500-35 Street SE, Calgary, Alberta

Cattle photo courtesy of Canada Beef Inc.

ILC_2014_CanadianCattlemen_FullPage_Non-Bleed

 COVER STO RY · ASSO C I AT I O N S

By Debbie Furber

DAVE SOLVERSON: CCA PRESIDENT “The government right now has an aggressive rules-based trade agenda and trade deals will be very much a part of what the CCA can do for producers,” Solverson says

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ave Solverson won’t need an introduction to the readers who remember him and his daughter, Joanne, as the faces of Canadian beef producers on tray liners in more than 1,400 McDonald’s restaurants across Canada back in 2012. Solverson now is looking forward to his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be the face of the Canadian beef industry at home and abroad as the new president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA). His election was affirmed in April at the association’s annual meeting in Ottawa. Having grown up on the family farm west of Camrose, Alta., he brings a lifetime of experience in the beef industry to the CCA’s top job. “I’ve always been very interested in farming and the beef industry,” Solverson says. “One of the aspects I enjoy the most is the information exchange.” His introduction to industry politics started with three, two-year terms as a delegate to Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) that ended in 2002. He might have left it as that except for the BSE wipeout in 2003 that reinforced in his mind how important industry

work is to international trade. So in 2005 he let his name stand again and was elected as one of ABP’s representatives to the CCA. He’s since served on several CCA committees and as a long-time chair of the animal care committee until elected vice-president when Martin Unrau became president in 2012. Building and maintaining relationships with industry leaders across Canada and trading partners will continue to be an important initiative for the CCA during Solverson’s tenure. He gained an early introduction to the importance of relationships in this industry during his time as a seedstock producer where he learned it took strong relationships as well as quality cattle to be successful. Those 20-plus years of production sales, showing and a bit of judging took him across Alberta and Western Canada giving him insights into the needs of commercial cattle producers. An opportunity to expand and raise more cattle with a commercial herd resulted in him, his brother Ken, and their parents, Bill and Mary, who still reside on the ranch, pooling their holdings to form a corporation. Solverson credits his parents for providing a strong work ethic and his dad particu-

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associations

larly for having the character to let the next generation learn by taking over management of the operation. Today, Woodwind Ranch Inc. includes an 800-head cow-calf operation, a feedlot on the farm to finish their own calves, 2,000 acres of cropland, some pasture along the Battle River that runs through the farm and additional grazing land in the Athabasca area three hours north of Camrose. They’ve also relied on community pastures to accommodate growth of the herd through the years. The high price of land is one of the drawbacks of raising cattle in a grain-growing area, he says. It does, however, offer the advantage of providing fairly secure feed supplies considering the many circumstances during a growing season that result in crops being salvaged for greenfeed or silage. The feedlot was established in 2000 to capture the full advantage from using quality genetics in their cow herd. A ready feed supply and ability to market liner loads of finished calves to attract competitive bids made this a feasible venture. Purchase of a cattle liner to do all of their own hauling to the packers and distant pastures was another worthwhile investment. “I feel that I know the full scope of the industry,” Solverson says. “Being on the CCA board for seven years has given me a good understanding and respect for the needs and different opportunities and challenges of beef producers across Canada.” A major challenge countrywide is the contraction of the cow herd, translating to fewer cattle marketings and reduced checkoff revenue for the provincial associations to do the work of representing beef producers. The CCA in turn receives its operating funds from eight provincial associations. Each pays an annual assessment based on the province’s share of annual cattle marketings across the country. This fee is paid from the provincial checkoff and is in addition to the non-refundable $1 national checkoff that goes to Canada Beef for market development, promotion and research. With money tight, the CCA, with the support of its provincial members, has worked out a renewed five-year strategic plan that focuses expenditures on initiatives that improve competitiveness, beef demand and productivity. Solverson’s interest in trade grew from the ABP and CCA membership in CAFTA (Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance) along with other export commodity organizations representing agriculture products such as pork, canola, wheat and barley. “I www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Daughter Joanne and family members will share the extra work when Dave’s away.

soon realized that government really does look to industry to help develop policy, especially on international trade.” “It’s impressive how the government has included us (CCA) in the decision-making process. We have been consulted at every step of negotiations on CETA (CanadaEuropean Union Trade Agreement), TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership), the Korea freetrade negotiations, and ongoing maintenance of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) including COOL (mandatory country-of-origin labelling).” “The government right now has an aggressive rules-based trade agenda and trade deals will be very much a part of what the CCA can do for producers,” Solverson says. He credits CCA’s full-time staff in Ottawa, John Masswohl and Ryder Lee, for fostering this good working relationship with members of the government and opposition parties and their staff. “I enjoy the interaction with MPs and MLAs and appreciate the work they do for us,” Solverson says. Another valuable initiative has been the CCA’s involvement in the Five Nations Beef Alliance with producer associations in the U.S., Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. It is a venue where producers can share information on common concerns. Because of these strong relationships the CCA has been better prepared to offer guidance to Canada’s TPP negotiators and mobilize support beyond our borders for Canada’s

PHOTO: Kathy Broen

efforts to convince USDA to modify its COOL regulation. Additional trilateral meetings between Mexican, American and Canadian beef industry leaders happen a couple of times a year and the CCA sends representatives to the annual meetings of the U.S. and Mexican beef associations. No doubt, tending to CCA business for the next two years will take Solverson away from the farm more often than usual. That wouldn’t be possible without the support of his family, including his daughter Joanne, a graduate of the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders development program, who is employed as a livestock specialist with UFA but lives on the farm. Besides the family, he says long-time employee Joe Bennet certainly deserves the title of vicepresident of production. In anticipation of this extra work load Solverson has taken some pressure off the home ranch by moving 300 cows into the Peace Country where Shelley Morrison custom calves, pastures and winters the herd using a bale-grazing system. Moving the start of calving to mid-April has also helped to relieve some of the labour demands during the busy spring season. As for the workload on CCA business, Solverson says he will be relying on his fellow board members and their seasoned professional staff to help him meet the challenges the beef industry is bound to face in the years ahead. c

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 straigh t f ro m t h e h i p

By Brenda Schoepp

The next transformation

apeseed has a long history. It was used for thousands of years as a lubricant and as a fuel but contained a high level of toxicity. After the Second World War, acreage diminished but innovation with the plant did not. Canadian scientists worked with the seed to develop canola which has high nutritional qualities without the dangerous levels of toxicity found in the original plant. What will the next agricultural transformation for Canada be, particularly in the beef industry? Where will it come from and who will drive the bus? With such a large portion of our population foreign born, now 55 per cent in Toronto and 45 per cent in Vancouver, it would seem redundant to continue to grow and process the same beef product that we all grew up on. New Canadians bring with them their wonderful basket of food needs. They are used to less volume presented in a more flavourful way. There is also strong evidence to support that we have graduated from the experience economy (having the party) to the ethics economy (reading the story), an economy in which consumer focus is on our social licence to produce. The ethical economy may not say that beef is bad or bad for you. It does declare that decisions are made on other attributes of the product, that it makes a difference to folks on how the animal was treated and where it lived. Canadians are sensitive, informed and vote with their dollars. Even at the burger shop they respond and that is why food service and retail are scrambling to define and deliver the story behind what consumers want to buy. In some circles, there is a feeling that disruptive innovations will displace beef. The Dutch, for example, have knitted together a complex digestible protein that tastes and digests like beef made from tomato fibre. It is promoted as an ethical alternative to beef. In many international food forums that I have attended the Dutch have repeatedly indicated that this product will replace beef. The question we then must ask from a systems perspective is — is this transformational? A knitted protein comes with other complexities that may be less desirable. Growing a tomato requires intensive farming with equipment that uses fossil fuel, irrigation, coverage, fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide and extensive labour, cooling and transportation systems. As for cost benefit to the consumer, fresh vine tomatoes in Canada cost the same as sirloin steak. An ethical discussion would focus on the use of natural resources to produce food in a way that leaves a small environmental footprint. Grasslands are large carbon sinks and producers manage grasslands with cattle. The appropriate use of grazing technique encourages root development and that is an important carbon sink. Cattle leave behind valuable nutrients. Vigorous grasslands host birds, insects and wildlife; they clean water, mitigate erosion and decompose waste. Grasslands are essentially health reservoirs. This leads to the discussion of leading the transforma-

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tion of beef. While there are great initiatives to create the story behind the product, what the consumer also wants to know is, “what has changed?” or more importantly, “why hasn’t it changed?” Our last disruptive innovation that was totally transformational was the shaping of ground beef into a hamburger patty. Since that time, the beef industry has made great advancements for full carcass utilization, such as beef medallions and flat iron steak — but we have yet to again revolutionize beef consumption. While the industry has talked “differentiation” for a long time, there is no real buy-in here. To be identified through a narrow lens as a grain-fed protein is not of relevance to the ethical buyer, nor is it transformative for the industry. Will we continue to produce beef without differentiation and put beef at the same risk as wheat? Wheat varieties grown today are inferior in the bakery because of the focus on blending in export markets. Canadian processors cannot use many new varieties of Canadian wheat for further processing. Is beef travelling the same road? This is an important question because when processors can’t use or technically buy what we domestically produce, our international buyers eventually won’t either. For beef, this means that asking the question is more important than providing a solution. In the big picture, it is Canada’s $6-billion food-processing deficit that we should be looking at because the glaring hole is in value-added meats. The fact that Canada owns a mere 1.1 per cent of the world’s cattle inventory should be reason enough to get back to the research lab. People know more about food than they ever did and they have an abundance of affordable choices. Caring and resourceful, we must fully appreciate that however our buyers perceive beef to be is their reality. The solution is with the people and they drive the bus. We must respect our youth, small family and foreign-born Canadian dynamic in our research and decision-making process. They hold our social licence. As for canola, it looks like apomixis will be the next transformation. Finding the genomic sequence that allows plants to produce seed without fertilization is a naturally occurring disruptive innovation that breaks the dependency on seed companies and is highly favourable to consumers. The ethical economy is all about natural selection and supports farmers keeping their own seed. Beef needs to be in that space of finding ethical, acceptable keys which radically transform the industry. c Brenda Schoepp is a Nuffield Scholar who travels extensively exploring agriculture and meeting the people, who feed, clothe and educate our world. A motivating speaker and mentor she works with young entrepreneurs across Canada and is the founder of Women in Search of Excellence. She can be contacted through her website www.brendaschoepp.com. All rights reserved. Brenda Schoepp 2014

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 forage g r a z i ng

By Heather Smith Thomas

Grazing Habits of Cattle Cows can be trained to eat healthy

oung animals learn plant preferences and grazing habits from their dams. If the dams have been trained to eat certain plants in certain locations, they pass this behaviour to offspring. A number of studies have been done on grazing behaviour. Dr. Fred Provenza, professor emeritus at Utah State University, has been observing and researching grazing for 50 years. He has studied animal behaviour and consulted with stockmen and land managers around the world. He recently spent time in Australia and Tasmania. “Some vineyard owners there want to train sheep to not eat the vines. This would be beneficial, to use sheep to eat the forage around the vines but not the vines. These vineyards have a mix of grasses and forbs in the understory and it is very expensive to mow. We are working with them to use sheep to clip and fertilize vineyards. They already graze the vineyards when vines are dormant, but they’d like to graze them during the growing season,” says Provenza. There are ways to train sheep to leave the vines alone, based on research he and his colleagues have done.

IT STARTED WITH GOATS

When he was in graduate school at Utah State University, he and his wife did a study project in southern Utah. “The goal was to use goats to prune shrub blackbrush during winter to stimulate new growth — which is much higher in nutrients than unbrowsed plants. We were able to show that browsing would stimulate new growth. But the goats wouldn’t eat the new growth. This spurred my interest in grazing habits. We weren’t sure why the goats refused to eat the new growth even though it was the most nutritious,” he says. “We found that ‘secondary compounds’ were present in high levels in the new growth compared to old growth. These compounds were condensed tannins; the bark was about 70 per cent condensed tannins. It was a little bitter, but it wasn’t the taste that deterred the goats. They avoided it because of what happened once the tannins got in their bodies,” says Provenza. “At first we thought they innately knew to avoid the new growth, but we found out later that they did try it — and learned to

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Biofeedback, not taste, is what causes cattle to turn away from plants that aren’t good for them.

avoid it after the first bad experience. They were learning, and really quickly. Unless a person was there, the first day when they were sampling the new growth, you’d never see them eating it,” he explains. “We worked with chemists and obtained extracts of different compounds in the new growth. We’d put the extracts on pellets to see if the goats would avoid it. They didn’t avoid any of the compounds we tried until we finally got to the condensed tannin. We offered them pellets with the tannin on it. That first day, every one of them ate all the pellets. We were stunned, because we’d thought for sure this was the ingredient they were avoiding. So we decided to try it again the next day.” The second day, the goats wouldn’t touch it. “We realized they were learning to avoid it, based on the consequences after the food got into the body — giving them indigestion. This was a huge discovery, because up until then people hadn’t made the connection. We all thought it was just taste, and that the animals innately know it’s not good for them, based on taste. This study taught us — and enabled us to train sheep to avoid eating vines in vineyards — that it’s the body feedback from cells and

organs that changes the animal’s desire to eat foods,” he says. Feedback is how cells influence the body to eat what the cells need to thrive. HEALTHY BIODIVERSITY

“We studied this topic for many years, looking at primary compounds (energy, protein, minerals) and secondary compounds (phenolics, terpenes and alkaloids), with relationships between the two. This led to insights into relationships amongst all the different compounds in foods, and to our realization that biodiversity is important for health through nutrition — for all creatures, including humans. All plants have different kinds of phytochemicals, the secondary compounds. There are thousands of compounds in each of those classes. All plants produce them,” says Provenza. “When we started to study this, the main research was at poisonous plant labs, looking at a pyrrolizidine alkaloid or one of the 23 alkaloids in larkspur, which were viewed as toxins. But what we were not considering was that in small doses these can have health benefits,” he explains. When there are many different plants on

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forage grazing

a landscape, animals learn to mix their diet and eat only a little of each. “The compounds that have an adverse effect if animals eat too much, or cause them to reach a point they don’t want any more — ensure that only a little is eaten. So the animals mix and match and eat many different things,” he says. This ensures a varied and healthy diet, containing all the different things they need. In nature, grazing animals move over the landscape in herds, eating a variety of plants and moving on. Mob grazing simulates this, and helps promote plant diversity because all the plants are allowed to fully grow and mature before cattle come back to that part of the pasture. Favourite species are not repeatedly grazed and weakened. “Frequent movement helps cattle learn to mix their diet. In nature, animals are always moving. It is healthy for them (and for the land and plants) to move across the landscape and encounter/utilize different foods. Movement helps them escape predators and also means parasites can’t build up,” says Provenza. “If we can encourage movement — to new pastures — this is healthiest. There are many benefits that come from eating a variety of plants. Pasture-finished animals also provide healthy meat. Their bodies have phytochemical complexity. LEARNING FROM MOM AND NATURE

The culture we grow up in shapes us. “In our studies we’ve done a lot of work with wild and domestic animals, showing that you can change the culture/habits of animals. We try to observe how natural systems work, and get back in sync with this,” says Provenza. Ranchers can utilize natural tendencies of grazing animals for better management, and can also change their habits if necessary — such as training lazy pasture cattle to climb up out of riparian areas in a range situation and use more of the upland areas for grazing. It’s all part of the culture they learn, regarding the foods they eat and places they go. Calves learn habits from their mothers. If you train the cows to utilize a range more efficiently and effectively, the calves will develop those same good habits. “This is where we can have a positive influence. We all get into habits that are not the best, and sometimes need to be retrained.” Cattle that haven’t had to climb hills and work for their feed, or depend on someone bringing feed to them, are reluctant to change unless someone shows them another way. Cattle, just like people, quickly www.canadiancattlemen.ca

 n ut r i t i o n

Vary the diet

Fred Provenza

take the easy way if we pamper them too much and kill their creativity. “With good stockmanship we can change the culture of a cattle herd from bottom dwellers to ambitious animals that live in the uplands. Once you change the culture you don’t have to do much, because the cows teach their offspring. The first year is the toughest, and by the third year you have the job done,” he says. When you keep replacement heifers, they already know good habits, learning from their mothers. “For better land management, we can use cattle grazing and stockmanship, as well as strategic supplements that help cattle use plants like sagebrush. In our work we’ve used cattle and sheep for sagebrush control rather than herbicides or mechanical treatments. If we implement livestock into the system, they become a part of rejuvenating their own landscape,” says Provenza. “We found that late fall and winter is a perfect time for grazing sagebrush. The deterrent compounds — terpenes — are at low concentration at that time, and it’s easier for the animals to utilize sage as part of their diet. Ranchers can strategically supplement cattle out on rangeland, moving them across the landscape. This creates mosaics and patches of changed vegetation. You can’t change thousands of acres all at once, but you can work at it gradually to rejuvenate the landscape, by integrating livestock into the management system,” he explains. “We had good success in trials with sheep and cattle. Some ranchers in Oregon are now using these principles to cut winter feed costs. They don’t spend time trying to get rid of sagebrush, but use it as a forage resource.” This keeps it in balance with the rest of the ecosystem, by grazing it. c

Going away from a natural grazing diet (sampling a little bit of everything) can be unhealthy, such as forcing animals to graze a monoculture like a pasture planted to one type of grass. “We made a mistake, selecting for quantity rather than phytochemical richness. We add a lot of fossil fuel input in agriculture to try to replace the roles that plant diversity and secondary compounds used to play,” says grazing expert Fred Provenza. The body benefits from combinations of foods. When we (or animals) eat a variety of things we get synergies and it’s like two plus two equals seven. When people eat a highly processed diet, however, instead of a variety of foods, there is more risk for obesity, cancer and a host of diseases. “Humans need phytochemically rich foods, in moderation — including pasture-finished meat,” Provenza says. “Diverse foods complement each other. There are thousands of compounds that work together and the body utilizes them. In agriculture people went to monocultures and sacrificed quality for quantity, trying to maximize production to feed the world — not realizing the drawbacks. We didn’t know that when you have enough complexity and quality you don’t need so much quantity,” he explains. “We were thinking in terms of energy and protein, rather than phytochemical richness and complexity, not realizing it’s all tied together. Many of the things those phytochemicals do are now missing in feeds, and we ended up substituting fossil fuel inputs — everything from pesticides, dewormers, to fertilizers. Some plants produce natural pesticides and compounds that hinder internal parasites, especially if animals can move to new grazing areas in combination with eating these plants. There is research now on tannins, alkaloids and terpenes in certain plants that reduce internal parasite loads. When you have a variety of those plants, animals can move around the landscape and eat them, and parasites are not an issue,” he says. When we get out of the vicious cycle of using chemical fertilizers, dewormers, etc., we find we don’t really need them. We just need to figure out how to manage pastures and animals to minimize the problems and add fertility naturally to pastures.

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 manage m e n t

By Dawn Hillrud

Sharpen your human resource skills Part 2. Performance Management

hear you saying, “Why can’t people just do what they are supposed to do?” Ah yes, the frustration of performance management (PM). As the manager and the human resource professional for your operation, you need to manage people’s performance. PM is an ongoing process (not a yearly event called performance review) and requires communication, that is talking, and listening with understanding. PM also requires clearly defined expectations and consequences. The three critical elements (communication, expectations and consequences) are embedded in PM’s four Fs: frequency, fodder, feedback, and followup. Frequency: Once is not enough. Take time to communicate with your employee at the start and end of each new task or responsibility. The goal of the first communication is to understand the standard of the task — the expectation. The goal of the communication at the end of the task is to provide feedback — how was the expectation met? If the task is large, communicate at critical points along the way. Provide detailed expectations, repeat the main expectation and give feedback on what has been completed to that point. Frequency is dependent on the experience and knowledge of the employee. For a longterm employee, there will be fewer PM discussions. But less discussion does not mean no discussion; communication still needs to happen. New employees, regardless of their experience and knowledge, need frequent PM communication. Remember, there is a lot of new information being thrown at them in a short period of time, and you’re setting the stage for performance management. Fodder: PM communication needs to be meaningful. In a feedlot sense it needs to be nutritious. Nutrition is found in clearly articulating sound expectations. Use the SMART goal rule to determine if your expectations have nutrition. The expectation should be Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. For example, rather than telling someone to clean the barn, consider this expectation using the SMART goal rule: “A clean barn

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has no debris on the floors, walls and chute. Removing the debris takes about 45 minutes. After the debris is gone, the floor is pressure washed. This takes about 30 minutes.” Does this seem like overkill? Face it — this is really what you want done, so you might as well clearly share your expectation. Feedback: It is fine to say “good job,” but even better to say specifically what was good about the job. For example, if the hired hand just finished chopping a silage field, rather than telling them they did a good job (not a lot of nutrition), consider these statements: “Good job on chopping the field. You cut at the right height which ensured that no nutritional feed was left behind. You also maximized the full width of the chopper. This saves us money and time. You did plug the chopper once. Next time you get to a spot where it is really thick, slow down. I expect that in the next field you will slow down for those trouble spots and not plug. Plugging slows down operations.”

s the human A resource professional of your operation you need to manage people’s performance This nutritious statement clearly confirms what performance achieved the standard and what didn’t. It also communicates what needs to happen next time so that the performance can improve. This nutrition statement also includes consequences of the performance, both positive and negative. Followup: You have clearly communicated the standard, and you have provided feedback. Now you have to followup, especially on performance that didn’t meet the standard. Followup is a critical part of the consequence element. If you identify work that is not up to your expectations, let the employee know so they can correct their performance. For example, if you told the employee not to plug

the chopper in the next field, followup. The more timely the followup, the more meaning it will have. Followup should include assessing if they got it right, if they understood and if there is some other problem. Basic PM requires communication, expectations, and consequences. Just remember the four Fs and you will be off to a great start. As discussed above, frequency, fodder, feedback and followup are what you need to know 90 per cent of the time for performance management. Critical conversations, training, discipline and termination should address the remaining 10 per cent. Critical conversations: Talking to employees about poor performance can be tough. We’re often afraid that these conversations can upset the apple cart or cause a display of emotion, so we avoid them. Don’t. As the employee’s manager, it’s your job to deal with the performance problems. These are high-stakes discussions. Employment and people relationships are at stake so these conversations need to be respectful, calm and about the behaviour, not the person. For example, telling an employee he/she has a poor attitude is a bad idea (and they may tell you what they think of your opinion). Attitude is about the person. Discuss the behaviour; state facts, such as: two of five days this week you were late, you overloaded the feed bunk because you were texting, and you never checked the cows when asked. Once you’ve put the poor performance (the behaviour) on the table, make sure the employee knows the expectation. Expectations should be specific: driving down the lane at 8:00 is not starting work at 8:00; starting work at 8:00 means that you’re ready to work, your gear is ready and your morning smoke finished. Identify what needs to be changed. Then work towards a collaborative solution. A well-executed critical conversation will strengthen your relationship with your employee. If you’ve been clear about the expectations and provided feedback all along, this should not be a surprise. It will help determine if the poor performance is a result of non-culpable or culpable behaviour: “I would if I could, I can but I won’t.” Sometimes there is a third category,

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management

temporary-culpable: “I can but I didn’t because I didn’t think you noticed or cared.” If the poor performance is a result of nonculpable (I would if I could) behaviour, training may be the solution. If the behaviour is culpable (I can but won’t), then discipline or termination may be required. Being late and texting while working are examples of culpable behaviour or temporaryculpable behaviour. Now that the employee knows you notice and care, the performance will probably change. Make sure you talk about the consequences if the changes do not happen. For example, will the pay be docked; will there be discipline or termination? In the case of not checking the cows, you may discover that it is non-culpable behaviour. They didn’t check the cows because they didn’t know what to do. Training might be the consequence. Training: Training can be the solution to poor performance. First, know what it is you want to improve. Of course you want to change an employee’s behaviour so their performance improves, but tie that changed behaviour to an operational outcome, such as reduced cost of feed errors, improved efficiency in checking cattle, etc. You will know if the training has been effective when the employee not only has learned something, but also has changed behaviours; behaviours that have a positive impact on the operational outcome you identified. Training not only solved the performance problem but now can be considered an investment with a return. Termination: Sometimes poor or unacceptable performance needs a strong consequence to drive home the point that the performance must change. When the employee or employee relationship is worth saving, consider discipline. Progressive discipline (discipline that progresses in severity) can be an effective tool to drive home a strong message. It also is a strong consequence. Progressive discipline can be a discipline meeting, short to longer suspension without pay, and termination. There are times when performance is so bad, behaviour so unacceptable, or the employment relationship so unsalvageable that firing is the answer. Firing an employee is never easy and it shouldn’t be. Make that decision when you’re not emotional (be sure it is a rational decision). Once you’ve made the decision, act on it. Delaying only causes you sleepless nights and delays the inevitable. Termination can be the best answer if the employee is not right for the job or the operation. When terminating an employee be calm www.canadiancattlemen.ca

and firm, treat them with respect, follow the labour laws, don’t engage in a debate, and inform them of termination consequences. Some of those consequences are pay in lieu of notice, receiving a record of employment, turning in keys and passwords, etc. PM has its challenges; but it is your job to deal with poor performance. You can deal with those challenges using critical conversations, training and discipline or termination. This is the second in a series of three

articles on human resource management on cattle operations. c Dawn Hillrud is a partner in Knibbs/associates Sourcing People and an associate of Knibbs/ associates HR Consulting that provide HR and employee recruitment services to agricultural organizations. Co-author Leah Knibbs is the owner of Knibbs/associates HR Consulting and a partner in Knibbs/associates Sourcing People. For more information contact Dawn at dawn@sourcingpeople.ca or 306-442-7460.

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 vet aDv i c e

Disease prevention equals crisis prevention

ED in the pork industry should be a recent and staunch reminder to all livestock sectors that preventing animal diseases is the cornerstone to crisis prevention. Where and how porcine epidemic diarrhea virus emerged as a killer of nearly four million young pigs in the U.S. remains a mystery. We know it’s highly contagious and easily transmitted between hog operations. It should not be a surprise to anyone that PED jumped the border into Canada. Bad habits perpetuated by trade merged with husbandry practices that forever lag with what we know scientifically are important precursors to animal health crises. New evidence indicates PED may be linked to incorporating highly digestible protein from porcine serum collected at slaughter into early weaning rations. The livestock industry’s search for cheaper ways to produce food enhances the tendency to find ways of recycling animal products in feed — déjà vu 2003 and the decade-long struggle with BSE. Still the most important way to avoid a crisis with any disease is to make sure not to bring it home. For example, even in the face of what we knew about PED, virus-laden boots carelessly transported back from the U.S. found their way into Saskatchewan, without consequence we think. Most cases of bovine virus diarrhea (BVD) in commercial herds began with the purchase of permanently infected animals (PI) from auction markets or herds of unknown disease status. Many cases of scour and respiratory disease outbreaks start with the purchase of orphan calves as replacements for those lost during calving. Johne’s disease commonly and unknowingly walks onto farms in latent shedders purchased as bull or heifer replacements. The introduction of many diseases is silent and insidious. The unfortunate fact is most people pay very good money for disease. That bull purchased just before the breeding season without a thorough health check, that group of young cows with calves that seemed like such a bargain during calving season, or that calf you bought to put on a cow that lost hers can all be disease carriers that devastate herds. Unfortunately, much of our livestock biosecurity mentality has been formed around prevention and reaction to threats of catastrophic foreign animal disease, especially foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). Although FMD poses a very real and dangerous threat to the health of the North American cattle and swine industry, applying biosecurity practices to indigenous diseases achieves the greatest return on investment, and establishes a core of practices that prevent those that ravage nations. Clint Peck, director, Beef Quality Assurance, Montana State University and contributing editor to Beef magazine in a 2008 article made the following statement: “We know disease transmission can’t be completely avoided, but basic logic and management can be employed to effectively prevent unwanted biological invasion.” In the same article, Peck mentions the landmark report, Animal Health at the Crossroads published in July 2005 by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), and the contention made by its authors, which included Canadians, that while safeguarding animal health was of paramount importance to the North American economy, public health and the food supply, the animal health framework has been slow to validate and implement new scientific tools and technologies that could significantly enhance animal disease prevention.

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By default, the onus falls on the production sector and its ability to work with the veterinary profession to develop communitybased approaches to livestock biosecurity. This means changing animal health paradigms and ranch management practices. Disease prevention in effect becomes the function of doing simple things right every day. Good disease control increases time spent on management, planning and record-keeping. Disease prevention doesn’t require that you operate a livestock operation in a totally enclosed and controlled environment. It’s systematic. A successful biosecurity plan covers three main areas — isolation, traffic control and sanitation. Over 60 per cent of producers add new cattle to herds without isolating replacements. Breeding bulls are often bought and purchased with no knowledge of the animal health status of herds from which they originate. Truisms about disease prevention to prevent a crisis: • Partner up. Personal connections with a herd health veterinarian are necessary to plan disease prevention properly and tailor disease prevention to an operation’s needs. • “Know thy neighbour” and the programs and background of purchased animals. Hundreds of hours are spent studying EPDs, thousands spent buying bulls and replacement females, but almost no time is spent reviewing ranch-of-origin’s health programs. • Foundations of disease control in herds are: isolation, traffic control and sanitation. • Understand how disease is introduced and spread. Carrier animals can appear normal, so quarantine and test before purchase. Consider water sources, manure, vehicles, wildlife, feedstuffs, and nonlivestock such as dogs, birds, insects and humans. • Biosecurity is both cost effective and the least costly control program for preventing disease. • Know thy own herd. • Understand disease susceptibility. Young animals are nearly always more susceptible. Don’t introduce animals during calving season. • Disease doesn’t respect fences. • To a large extent health risks can be mitigated by anticipating occurrence, managing risk factors and assuring everyone on the team understands what is being done and why. • Managing risk: Prioritize disease and diseases control measures. Concentrate on the ones that have the greatest impact; determine what practices need to be changed to prevent introduction/transmission of disease. Think systems and population medicine. Make sure the process is clearly understood by everyone involved and maintain records of health and productivity. • Health management is only as effective as the weakest part. Disease doesn’t generally sneak into a herd like a skilful burglar; it walks boldly onto the farm or ranch through the front pasture gate. — W. Mark Hilton, DVM, Purdue University c Dr. Ron Clarke prepares this column on behalf of the Western Canadian Association of Bovine Practitioners. Suggestions for future articles can be sent to Canadian Cattlemen (gren@fbcpublishing.com) or WCABP (info@wcabp.com).

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 prime cuts

By Steve Kay

Roller-coaster record ride

t’s hard to tell which has been tougher this year in the U.S., to be a beef buyer or running a packing plant. For the first quarter of 2014 we saw the most volatile wholesale beef market since October 2003. Beef prices have been on a roller-coaster this year. They set new record highs at the end of January, slumped in February then roared back to new record levels midMarch. This led retail and food-service buyers to call the market the most challenging they had ever experienced. The quarter saw records set at the wholesale level for every class of beef and beef variety meat. By coincidence, the price of beef cuts, grinds, trim and byproducts set new daily records all on the same day, on March 11. The Choice and Select cut-outs each hit new record highs, as did the price of 50CL fatty trim and 90CL domestic lean beef. Not to be outdone, the daily hide and offal value hit an all-time daily high as well. Cuts, grinds and trim make up USDA weekly comprehensive boxed beef cutout. Its trajectory so far this year reflects the volatility I mentioned. It began the year at US$201.20 per cwt but advanced to a record $229.73 by the end of January. It then slumped to $211.44 only two weeks later. But it then found new life as packers slashed their live cattle kills, and it set a new record of $233.73 the second week of March. Meanwhile, cash live cattle prices were volatile until mid-February but prices held up better than the beef because market-ready supplies were at their tightest throughout the quarter. Ironically, the early rally in prices began in what looked like being a quiet Christmas holiday week. But packers suddenly paid a lot more for cattle (a weekly record at the time of US$134.22 per cwt). Packers had clearly lost leverage over cattle feeders and prices kept moving up the next four weeks to $148.22 per cwt (basis USDA’s five-area average Choice steer price). Prices declined somewhat as wholesale beef prices collapsed but they only fell to $141.89 the week of February 14. The rally then restarted and the last week of February saw a new record price of $150.61. www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Prices scarcely dipped the two weeks after that but the futures market continued to show deep discounts in the June and August live cattle contracts to March cash prices. The discounts though were reflecting a normal decline from a spring high to summer low in cattle prices. The record-breaking beef prices understandably raised concerns about the impact on consumers’ beef purchasing. Retailers were forced to start raising their everyday beef prices in mid-February and feature less beef in March. The early February dip allowed them to book some items ahead for late March features. But the early March wholesale beef rally snuffed out prospects of much featuring after that. One anomaly though was that packers the first two weeks of March sold prod-

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uct for forward delivery (22 to 90 days) at sharply lower than the spot market prices at the time. Packers appeared prepared to drop prices in the hope that live cattle supplies will increase enough in April and May to force their prices much lower. Beef is now priced at record-high levels at both the retail, food-service and wholesale levels. Consumers have kept buying beef, with ground beef still strongly supported. Grocery stores benefited at the expense of restaurants from the harsh winter across large parts of the U.S. Beef ’s real sales test though will come when spring finally arrives and Americans haul out their grills. c A North American view of the meat industry. Steve Kay is publisher and editor of Cattle Buyers Weekly.

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 CCA repo rts

By Dave Solverson

Positive momentum

t’s been a few weeks since I took on the role of president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) at the annual general meeting in Ottawa. I would like to thank all of the CCA presidents that came before me for working so closely with government, which has helped to ensure our trade agendas are in synch. This relationship is a big part of the reason why I travelled with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Seoul, Korea for the March 11 announcement that Canada had reached a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Korea. The CCA made a Canada-Korea FTA a priority and rightly so, as Canada was facing a tariff parity gap with the U.S. under KORUS that was close to being untenable. There was added pressure from FTAs that Korea has signed with the EU and Australia. That this trip happened just four days into my new job as CCA president is indicative of the momentum the CCA has achieved after many, many years of hard work. With government and CCA’s trade priorities aligned so very closely we are in an excellent position to push ahead on further trade deals that will benefit Canada’s beef cattle industry. There is renewed optimism for an FTA with Japan although much work remains. More immediately on my radar is to ensure the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union is implemented in a manner that enables Canada’s beef cattle producers to derive the very significant benefits that have been negotiated. I am optimistic about the commitment to resolve long-standing technical barriers that have prevented the EU from approving Canada’s main packing plants to export to the EU. Once these issues are sorted out and full equivalency is achieved, the larger and medium-size federally inspected Canadian beef packers can begin to develop the EU market and better utilize the current quotas that have gone underfilled due to technical barriers. The EU is a lucrative market for Canada’s beef cattle producers and access should be unhindered by technical barriers. Mandatory U.S. country-of-origin labelling (COOL) is another issue I want to see concluded. This issue has become very politicized since the Farm Bill and we now look to the World Trade Organization (WTO) process and retaliation to bring about the resolution we seek. Another example of government and industry collaboration is the development of a cattle price insurance program. The recent expansion of the Alberta program to the Western Livestock Price Insurance Program (WLPIP) is good news and we appreciate the federal and provincial governments working together on this inno-

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vative program for livestock producers. Price insurance is a particular passion of mine, and of now CCA past president Martin Unrau, and CCA will continue to push federal and provincial governments to develop an effective and affordable national price and basis insurance program for cattle producers. As it happens, all of this positive momentum comes at a time when CCA’s members are having difficulty raising enough checkoff to continue funding the good work we do to traditional levels. These are belt-tightening times for everyone and the CCA is appreciative that some of our provincial members have voted to increase checkoff despite facing a significant revenue shortfall. In my view now is not the time for our members to pull back, with the government moving on such an aggressive trade agenda. The CCA does have a significant trade file but our focus is also on ensuring a competitive industry for the long term. Our work on a strategic five-year plan for industry continues. This has been, and continues to be, a very large undertaking for CCA staff on behalf of industry and I appreciate the effort. I am fully confident in CCA staff and their ability to incorporate crucial member and stakeholder input into a comprehensive plan that will see the industry through. The CCA has the expertise to deal with this and it is important that stakeholders have faith that their views will be represented fairly in the final plan. The strategic plan is about industry sustainability. The CCA has done a lot of good work on sustainability outside of this plan. I feel strongly that industry should lead the conversation on sustainability with value chain members so that any directives that may come of it are practical, rooted in reality and executed in a manner that makes sense for beef cattle producers. Many of the practices producers use today are inherently sustainable and it is important that we promote this as we progress down this road. I am excited at the opportunities that lay ahead. My involvement with the CCA goes back many years and I know the good work that the association accomplishes on behalf of cattle producers. I look forward to reporting our successes to you in this column in the months ahead. I encourage you to stay on top of CCA news by subscribing to Action News, our free biweekly newsletter, and following us on Twitter @cdncattlemen — both of which can be done on our website, which is another excellent source of information. I also want to hear from producers and encourage you to attend CCA town halls and other events or contact the office with your questions. c

Dave Solverson is president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

BUILDING TRUST IN CANADIAN BEEF

the promise of a new beef year Thoughts from beef producers to renew energy and ideals No time of year represents the hope of the beef industry like the arrival of young calves each spring on Canadian beef farms and ranches. It’s a powerful time, with emotional, personal moments that can find producers thinking about what’s really important. One of the things that Verified Beef Production (VBP) program provides is an opportunity to learn directly with those beef producers. It’s a privilege to be able to hear that feedback. Here are some of their best thoughts about success and how producers can contribute to the end product regardless of size or scale of operation. Credibility starts at the beginning. It all starts with the cow-calf industry. Credibility begins here and producers want to contribute to a wholesome, healthy food product. Do what’s right for your industry. People are watching and expect the best. Don’t let them down. Lead through behaviour. Leading by example helps and modelling industry practices can help others do the right thing. Think like a consumer. How would you feel if you think someone is breaking the rules? They likely feel the same, so don’t push limits without being able to react to consequences. Think about how someone else would react. Records anchor trust. Keep the important information. It helps you identify trends and it provides a backup if something unexpected comes up. Many animals will have three owners in their lifetime and records can link them together.

Ask for a VBP pocket record book, a great tool to capture important information at calving time.

You don’t have to be big to be good. It’s proven every day across this country in the beef business. The most passionate and successful players are not always expansive operations. Cattle quality is not necessarily a function of herd size. Get involved. Industry programs aren’t perfect but participation builds reputation and tells others our industry is strong. It also helps demonstrate to customers what matters. Build your own reputation. Leaving it to someone else to enhance your reputation doesn’t work in the real world. It starts at home. Producers care. It’s about proving that in real time. Stay in the game and like the Olympics, showcase your best for all to see. Programming is low cost or no cost. Take a close look. The VBP program is

designed to be built into your daily routine. Practices need not be complicated. Taking notice of a few key ones means one is ready in case something needs to be tweaked slightly. These actions are entry-level building blocks of a bigger opportunity. Leadership means everything

As producers get their calves on the ground this year, there’s promise of a new year and another production cycle. Whether it is food safety, animal care or environmental stewardship, the ball is in our court. We can play the “A” game ourselves or sit on the bench and let others determine the score. There’s a renewed interest in the power of positive actions. Help your industry thrive.

DEVELOPED BY PRODUCERS. DEVELOPED FOR CONSUMERS

One implant. That’s it. You’re done! Avoid the inconvenience and stress of re-implanting. Do it right. Do it once. Merck Animal Health, operating in Canada as Intervet Canada Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA. MERCK is a trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA. Copyright © 2011 Intervet International B.V., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA. All rights reserved.

For more information, talk to your veterinarian or call our technical service at 1-866-683-7838.

® Registered trademark of Intervet International B.V. Used under license.

REV-XS Canadian Cattlemen QSHere.indd 1

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 FORAGE G R A Z I NG

By Duane McCartney

YOU CAN LEARN A LOT ABOUT GRAZING YEARLINGS FROM A DAIRY MAN

or 25 years Jan and Marian Slomp have been making a good living harvesting grass with dairy cows at their farm east of Rimbey, Alta. “We run a grass and grain farm and we seldom need to buy any feedstuffs off the farm except a little protein concentrate. Our profit margin is up and we milk less cows than in the past. We use lots of old stored manure on our orchard grass pastures and we grow lots of straw for the dairy cows.” When Jan and his family moved to Canada from Holland he got involved with the Grey Wooded Forage Association, a group of farmers interested in growing forages, where he learned a lot about pasture management in Alberta. On his farm, he grazes a high density of cows rotating them to fresh forage twice a day. He has low capital investment in his operation as he farms with a minimum of equipment, usually used machinery in good condition. Jan wanted to retire and was hoping that his son Paul would come back home and take over the farm. Paul, a civil engineer in Ottawa basically said, Pa, your farming and grazing operation is working so well there are no challenges for me. So he rented 100 acres of pasture in the Ottawa area to graze yearling and sell his beef directly to local consumers. Paul also became involved with Community Supported Agriculture. Jan has always farmed intensively in Holland and in Rimbey and over the years has paid off lots of debt. However, Paul wanted to farm without a lot of capital debt so he pre-sold his beef to the Ottawa public before he bought his yearlings in the spring. In the first year he spent $3,000 on fencing and scavenged materials for corrals. Then he attended a stockmen’s school and learned how to sort cattle on foot.

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Paul now sells his organic grass fed beef for about $9.50 a pound to 180 Ottawa families and keeps in touch with his customers through his website at www.grazingdays.com. His clients are a closely knit group and Paul keeps them involved in the grazing operation by hosting field days and family events on the farm. When Paul was having difficulty making ends meet he held a meeting of his buyers group. They agreed to stay with him and pay a little extra for his beef which he delivers right to their door on a regular schedule. With pre-ordering and set delivery dates, Paul is able to run a very efficient operation. He keeps track of everyone’s previous orders and arranges to provide different cuts so each family over time gets a fair distribution of prime cuts. He is in the process of buying a farm about an hour’s distance from Ottawa in Quebec where he feels there is a real opportunity to continue raising grass-fed beef yet still be an easy drive for his Ottawa customers. “A beef farmer can learn a lot about grazing from a grass-based dairy farmer,” says Jan, “Dairy cows can tell you in 24 hours what they think of your grazing management. It’s all in the pail. If I have quack grass in my pasture and I force the cows to graze it, the cows will let me know if they don’t like it. My pastures are mainly orchard grass, with some blue grass and legumes. I cannot keep it as a monoculture as other grasses keep coming in. I don’t worry about dandelions as they don’t amount to much in my well-manured pastures.” Jan keeps his pastures in top condition by cutting a crop of grass silage or hay from each paddock every other year. This helps get rid of perennial thistles and other perennial weeds. His forage regrowth provides excellent grazing and he harvests his silage or hay clipping when

he sees a stretch of good weather. He finds that this is extremely important for his grazing management. He adjusts his harvesting time so he can meet his future grazing goals or needs. In any particular paddock, he will graze first then take a silage cut followed by grazing the regrowth. It’s a method that really works for Jan. He knows where his cows will be grazing six weeks from now. Well-rotted manure is spread in alternate years on the grazing paddocks after the first graze or second cut for hay or silage. This is key to Jan’s grazing operation. Dr. Neil Harker, a weed scientist at Lacombe Research Centre, has found that farmers can almost eliminate their wild oat problems by harvesting several consecutive silage crops as compared to harvesting the crop for grain. The effect was especially pronounced when the silage was cut a little earlier than normal to prevent the wild oat from producing viable seed. He sees the advantage of farmers having a mixed-farming operation where silage is involved as a means of lowering production costs and reducing dependency on expensive herbicides as weeds are developing resistance to several popular products. This is a major concern. Jan feels beef producers can make big gains by grazing high-quality forage regrowth from the middle of August to November. On our visit to Jan’s farm in late September his pastures were lush and green with lots of forage regrowth while other pastures in the region were brown and grazed down to the ground. He thinks beef cattle could gain an extra 100 pounds at this time of year on high-quality forage. “Calves will suck if the grass isn’t good. Fall gains are very important and the beef producer needs to know where his gains are

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forage grazing

coming from. Quality is the most important factor to consider at this time of year for grazing beef animals. I move my cows in the paddocks using tumble wheel fences. They look like combine reels but use no fossil fuel. With shorter days the animals are getting ready for winter and the animals are putting on more weight.” Jim Stone, a grazing mentor involved with Canada’s Grazing Mentorship Program and former teacher at Olds College, stresses that paddocks for grazing yearlings or beef calves should be small enough that you have to move the animals frequently to gain full value from high-quality grass regrowth.

Jan looks at his farm as a natural system. “It’s been a paradigm shift for me. The sun is what I am working with and grass harvested by my cows is the core of my business. Does it still make sense for farmers to be producing more by buying more cows and land? Is producing more still sustainable in these economic times? I want to see what I can do through better management instead of buying more land and increasing debt load. I want to be sustainable with little outside inputs.” If he was to give any advice to young people hoping to take over the family farm it would be “build on experience.”

“Work with what you have. Find out which grass species gives you the most intake in the fall. Never borrow money to purchase big new machinery. This takes discipline.” “The biggest concern I have for the future of agriculture in Canada is there is no generation jumping up to take over the family farm.” Jan and his wife Marian were nominated as Western Canada’s representatives for the 2013 Dairy Farmers of Canada Sustainability Award. c Duane McCartney is a retired forage beef systems research scientist from Lacombe, Alta.

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BFO board is looking for some positive results from a project it started last year to come up with ways to encourage producers to expand the provincial cow herd. As part of that effort the BFO will continue to push for enhancements to the breeder and feeder finance co-operatives to make them more attractive to producers. Last, but not least on the BFO agenda for 2014 is research. A special committee has been set up to investigate how BFO in concert with universities and government can come up with a workable long-term solution for beef research in the province following a decision by the University of Guelph last month to close its Kemptville and Alfred campuses. The university has said programs delivered through the New Liskeard Agricultural Research Station will remain “unaffected for the immediate future.” Kemptville operates research stations at Winchester, New Liskeard, Verner and Emo. Bowman says BFO is committed to sponsoring the necessary research to help renew the programs at the New Liskeard and Emo research stations. Those northern Ontario stations are home to a large percentage of the province’s current beef research herd.

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pasture

Manitoba to fund community pasture transition

The Manitoba government is providing $1 million over three years in transitional funding to transfer land management responsibilities to the Association of Manitoba Community Pastures (AMCP), a nonprofit group of pasture patrons. AMCP and the province will work together to ensure the environmental benefits of managed grazing on community pastures is maintained, said Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development Ron Kostyshyn. The transition to co-operative-style management required an operating loan guarantee from the province, as well as an injection of cash to allow the new management to buy, rent or lease necessary equipment for running the pastures. Once fully operational, it is expected that the pastures will be run on a cost-recovery basis supported by grazing fees paid by patrons. “The connection between environmental stewardship and sustainable agriculture is clear in Manitoba’s community

pastures, which is why it’s critical to continue to maintain these natural landscapes,” he said. AMCP will become responsible for land management on up to 10 pastures in 2014, with others transitioning over time. There are 24 community pastures, totalling 400,000 acres, located across Manitoba. About 85 per cent of the land is owned by the province and the rest by 11 municipalities. The federal government had previously provided land management services for 10 community pastures in Manitoba, first under the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act, then later via the Agri-Environment Services Branch. But in 2012, federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced that Ottawa would gradually step away from the program over six years. Barry Lowes, AMCP chair, says keeping the pastures open is important because it offers new entrants into the cattle business an important leg up. Producers using community pastures will continue to pay grazing fees consistent with market rates. Continued on page 42

C at t l e m e n · A p r i l 2 0 1 4

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The Community Pasture Patrons Association of Saskatchewan (CPPAS) says the Manitoba announcement, makes it clear Saskatchewan pasture patrons are being placed at a disadvantage. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s frustrating when you hear your own agriculture minister speak about the importance of patrons on this issue yet refuses to put in place an affordable program in this province that not only recognizes the public good but also recognizes the vast differences of private lease land versus the community pasture lease land,â&#x20AC;? says Brent Cammer, a CPPAS director and rancher. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Instead our cattlemanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s association along with the Agriculture Ministry is putting a program in place which has already proven to push many producers out of the community pasture system and will eventually push them out of the cattle industry.â&#x20AC;? In a release CPPAS says the Manitoba approach needs to be compared to Saskatchewan where patrons will be charged a full private lease fee and where any monies allotted to patrons cannot be used for capital assets or startup funding other than accounting and legal fees. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Saskatchewan government is still insisting that in spite of the fact that pastures have saved patrons and the government tens of thousands of dollars by working together, there is no way to reallocate this money to uses which would be valuable to start up viable pastures,â&#x20AC;? says the release. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Patrons donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need more lawyers and advisers, we need post pounders, trailers, and

a truck to move horses around these large pastures,â&#x20AC;? says Ian McCreary chair of the Community Pasture Patrons Association (CPPAS) in the release. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Manitoba transition plan appears to balance the cattle producer needs with the needs of the public interest. Perhaps now is the time to learn from our neighbours. Just like Alberta, the benefits to the wider community are recognized from the outset in the Manitoba approach.â&#x20AC;? CPPAS is a volunteer association that claims a membership that includes a majority of patrons from 40 of the 62 pastures in Saskatchewan.

FORAGE

BrettYoung and Lallemand team up

Two Canadian companies, Lallemand Plant Care of Montreal and BrettYoung Seeds of Winnipeg, have teamed up to introduce Lallemand biostimulants and biofertilizers for crop production in North America. BrettYoung will be the exclusive distributor of BioBoost growth-promoting rhizobacteria and Lallemand lines in Canada through its established distribution network. Its new high-capacity seed-treating and -coating facility is on track to open this spring. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our companies have already identified perennial forage crops as targets for technologies that are and will be developed,â&#x20AC;? says BrettYoung CEO Calvin Sonntag. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We hope that at some point in the not-toodistant future we are in position to launch products that enhance the establishment and productivity of perennial forage crops.â&#x20AC;? Lallemandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Biotal silage inoculant and Levucell rumen-specific live yeast are recognized names in beef and dairy circles here. The company became one of the largest suppliers of silage inoculant in North America with the 2001 purchase of Calgary-based Biotal. c

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Raymond and Laverne Nendze had something of a surprise on February 19 with the birth of triplet female calves at their place in Newbrook, Alta. Laverne says it wasn’t really a great shock as this particular commercial Simmental cow generally throws twins. “But she really outdid herself this time.” It was the fifth calving for the cow. All three calves were born unassisted and healthy. The fact that they were all female was a bonus. The Holstein World website reckons the odds of having female triplets at one in two million. The odds that they are all born alive they put at one in eight million.

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C at t l e m e n · A p r i l 2 0 1 4

 NEWS AB OUT YOU

By Deb Wilson

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Suggestions are always welcome. My phone number is 403-325-1695 Email: deb.wilson@ fbcpublishing.com

table meeting held that week and two other government-industry committee meetings in conjunction with the roundtable discussions.  The Olds College Growing the Legacy Gala in March attracted 400 government, academia and industry representatives as well as a number of local residents. Alberta Minister of Agriculture Verlyn Olson and Canadian Minister of Employment and Social Development Jason Kenny were two of the notable attendees at the event.

 Here are the names from our Oldie Picture in the March issue (l to r): Charon (Beaton) Chamberlain, Louise Beaton, Bernard Payne, Terry Nixdorff, Doug Baltimore, Wayne Hanson and Dusty Beaton at the halter.  At its 20th annual meeting in Calgary March 13 Canadian Beef Breeds Council (CBBC) presented its Don Matthews Award for Dedication to Animal Health to Dr. Bob Church. Rob Matthews presented the award. The new CBBC logo was approved and will be phased in over the next few months, along with changes to the new website. The CBBC board of directors for 2014 are David Bolduc (president), Garner Deobald (vice-president), Byron Templeton (past president), Bruce Holmquist, Anne Burnet-Burgess, Rod

Remin, Rob Smith, Wendy Belcher and Roger Peters. Retiring directors are Gary Smith and Gordon Stevenson. Michael Latimer, along with CBBC president David Bolduc, attended the Canadian Cattlemen Association annual meetings in Ottawa in early March to make a presentation on the priorities of the CBBC to the CCA’s foreign trade committee and the board of directors. David was included in the CCA delegation that met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. They also participated in the Beef Value Chain Round-

Presentation to Dr. Bob Church (l to r): David Bolduc, Rob Matthews, Dr. Bob Church, Michael Latimer.

C at t l e m e n · a p r i l 2 0 1 4

 Our condolences go out to Gary and Faye Anderson of Sunset Acres Charolais, Bowden, Alta., longtime Charolais breeders, on the loss of their daughter-in-law, Melanie. She was Scott’s wife and apparently died of H1N1 flu virus, in the influenza outbreak that hit hard and affected so many.  The 95th Annual Pride of the Prairies Bull Show and Sale was held March 2-3, 2014, with all breeds showing on Sunday, March 2. The show is supported by CIBC and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. The judge for the show was Owen Legaarden, Paynton, Sask. A total of 52 bulls from eight breeds sold at this year’s sale. The Pride of the Prairies Bull Sale held its first-ever Purebred Pen of 3 sales to test a new way of marketing bulls. The sale day was Monday, March 3. They also hosted the 1st GMack Junior Steer and Heifer Show on Saturday, March 1 with 49 junior exhibitors. Jennifer Jones of Lloydminster exhibited the grand champion heifer Jenn’s Fay 135A while Nolan Blair of Drake, Sask., exhibited the grand champion Shorthorn X Hereford steer. The Jones heifer also took grand champion honours in the 3rd annual GMack Oilfield Progress Steer and Heifer Show on March 2. The steer competition judged by Dusty Howell of Penhold, Alta., was won by a steer named Monopoly X exhibited by Jon Fox V, Lloydminster, Sask.  I attended the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders Annual Spring Forum in Calgary Mar. 21-22 where 25 candidates for the 2014 Mentorship program were participating

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PURELY PUREBRED

Attendees at the CYL Spring Forum 2014.

in roundtable discussions designed to test their knowledge of the industry and their particular interests. The 2013 grads also attended and took part in sessions to wind up their year, as well as a roundtable recap, along with some of the mentors. The event was attended by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association’s new president, Dave Solverson as well as past president Martin Unrau. Numerous other industry leaders took part in the role of judges, roundtable facilitators, speakers and mentors of the grads. The event wound up with a graduation ceremony of the 2013 CYL mentees. The successful candidates for the 2014 program will be announced in the first few weeks of April. Following that they will be paired with mentors, for either a professional or industry mentorship, by a select committee of industry leaders. Sales results

 The 114th Calgary Bull Sale was held Mar. 5 and 6 at Stampede Park in Calgary, Alta., along with a Replacement Heifer Show and Sale, sponsored by Zoetis, a Ranch Horse Sale along with a trade show area. This is still the largest consignment bull sale in Canada, and the first year that the management of the sale has been handed over from the Calgary

Stampede to the Alberta Cattle Breeders Association. The grand champion Hereford was also the high seller, consigned by the Gordon Henderson family, Little Poplar Grove Herefords at Forestburg, Alta. It sold for $35,000 to Crone Herefords of Hardisty, Continued on page 46

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Belvin Angus Bull Sale March 4, Innisfail, Alta.

65 Bulls, av. $4,385 Lewis Farms 29th Annual Bull Sale Feb. 22, Spruce Grove, Alta.

53 45 37 2 1 36 1 3 22 19 16 9 2 71

Black Simmental yearlings, av. $7,665 Black Simmental extra age bulls, av. $7,191 Red Simmental yearlings, av. $7,006 Red Simmental extra age bulls, av. $6,940 Fullblood Simmental yearlings, av. $7,118 Fullblood Simmental extra age bulls, av. $9,019 Black Angus yearlings, av.$6,579 Black Angus extra age bulls, av. $6,736 Red Angus yearlings, av. $4,125 Red Angus extra age bulls, av. $5,750 Total, av. $6,813 c

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Continued from page 45

Alta. The reserve champion Hereford bull was entered by Fenton Hereford Ranch of Irma, Alta. and sold to Scott Pahl of Medicine Hat for $17,000. The grand champion Angus bull was entered by Chad Lorenz of Markerville, Alta. The buyer was M & R Damen Farms of Strathmore, Alta. for $7,000. The reserve bull was the consignment of Four L Cattle Holdings, Stettler, selling for $5,300. Fifteen pens of commercial replacement heifers were also shown in the Zoetissponsored show with the grand champion pen entered by Bushfield Farms of Airdrie, Alta. The top-selling entry in the annual ranch horse sale from Clinton Brost of Consul, Sask., was a palomino gelding that went for $10,750 to Pahl Livestock, Medicine Hat. The second high-selling horse went to John Scott of Longview for $10,000.  Bow Valley Genetics Ltd. has opened its new export qualified semen collection centre at Bassano and is accepting bulls for owners’ use collection or export sales to go with its embryo collection and transfer services. Rob F. Stables is the attending veterinarian and Clint and Angela Morasch of Lazy MC Angus are the herdsman and office manager. The centre is located 10 km east of Bassano on Secondary Hwy. 550.  The Canadian Simmental Association (CSA) is welcoming Kelly Richardson to the Simmental team in the role of industry and member services representative. Kelly’s main responsibilities

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will be to work with CSA members in meeting their advertising and marketing needs and promote advertising opportunities in the association’s official publication Simmental Country. General manager Bruce Holmquist says Kelly is no stranger to the Simmental breed. She purchased her first Simmental 4-H steer at the age of 10. She and her children Caleb and Carisa live on the family farm near Sundre.  If you are between the ages of eight and 21, and are involved in Beef 4-H, junior cattle shows or beef you are eligible to win one of three prizes in the Young Guns Contest in Alberta sponsored by Alberta Beef Producers and show how you can advocate for the beef industry. Entries can be in the form of an essay, YouTube video, radio advertisement, social media campaign, poster, cartoon, press release or any other form of communication outlining the biggest challenge you see for the industry going forward and what the industry should do to overcome it. The top three will receive prizes of $1,000, $500, $250. Entry forms are available at www.albertabeef.org/uploads/youngguns-218. pdf or on the home page of www.albertabeef.org and must be submitted to Katelyn Laverdure at Alberta Beef Producers, #165, 6815 8 Street, NE, Calgary, Alta. T2E 7H7, katelynl@albertabeef. org, by May 30, 2014. c

bull Sale results calgary bull sale — March 6

Number of lots sold

Average price

Breed

2013

2014

2013

2014

Angus

$3,7 73

$3,546

—

Gelbvieh

—

2,500

137

Hereford

4,9 65

5,1 90

181

101

TOTAL

4,675

4,954

95th pride of the prairies bull sale — March 3 (Lloydminster)

Number of lots sold

Average price

Breed

2013

2014

—

2013

2014

Black Angus

$3,039

4,420

Black Angus pen sale

—

3,050

Red Angus

2,575

3,650

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Charolais

3,374

3,933

WITH NIKI CAMMAERT

—

Charolais pen sale

—

3, 788

Horned Hereford

5,400

3,200

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4,1 50

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—

Polled Hereford pen sale

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3,278

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Limousin

3,033

3,233

Simmental

4,433

3,533

—

Maine-Anjou pen sale

—

2,100

TOTAL

3,720

3,7 31

Email: boneyardcc@gmail.com

C at t l e m e n · a p r i l 2 0 1 4

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

 Market Su mma ry

By Debbie McMillin

TheMarkets Fed Cattle Since the highs reached earlier in the year, the average fed steer price traded fairly steady in the mid-$130s through much of February and early March but rallied again to average $141.81 three weeks into March. Fundamentally, supplies are tight in both Canada and the U.S. and carcass weights are under the five-year average, which indicates feedlots are current in their marketings. Retail beef prices continue to reach new highs and as demand generally increases at this time of year prices at the consumer level will likely hold in the near term. Although fed prices remain strong relative to years past, the local basis is still much wider than normal. The cash-tocash basis last week was -29.07/cwt when the average for this time of the year would generally be closer to -11. Cattle on feed in Alberta and Saskatchewan on March 1 totalled 980,675 head, an increase of 10 per cent over last year. This was an expected response as producers pulled cattle forward to cash in on the soaring prices that have marked the start of 2014. High volumes now will leave fewer cattle available to be placed mov-

ing forward. February placements were up 15 per cent over last February 2013. On the marketing side steer slaughter was up eight per cent on the year at 281,473 head by mid-March and heifer slaughter was up 13 per cent at 107,837 head. Up to March 8 USDA reported 72,219 head of fed cattle exported to the U.S. for slaughter, an increase of one per cent from last year.

Feeder Cattle Demand for all classes of feeder cattle has been strong throughout the first quarter of 2014, fuelled by lower grain prices, a profitable feedlot sector and a smaller beef cow herd. Prices naturally followed with 550pound steers posting a 20 per cent rise since the start of the year to average $206 per cwt during the third week of March. That’s over $55 more than these cattle were bringing last spring. Heavy feeder cattle also trended higher in the past month, up 13 per cent since the start of the year and currently trading near $168 per cwt. The 850-pound feeder basis is currently -29.08/cwt. This wide basis coupled with a lower Canadian dollar and larger auction market volumes has led to increased feeder exports. The total number of feeders exported to the U.S.

up to March 8 was 81,080 head, an increase of 41 per cent from the same time last year.

Non-Fed Cattle Non-fed cattle have climbed steadily in 2014, breaking one record after another. D1,2 cows increased over $9 per cwt in the past month and over 25 per cent since the start of the year to average $99.40 by the third week of March which is $23 higher than the same week last year. Exceptional demand and limited numbers have also kept cow exports moving ahead of last year’s pace. To date this year 65,567 cows have been exported for slaughter to the U.S., four per cent more than last year. Domestic cow slaughter is down seven per cent at 107,837 head. Butcher bulls are trending much the same as the rising demand for grinding beef had culls selling for an average $102.18 per cwt at press time. Bull exports were 12,234 head, about two per cent ahead of last year. Bull slaughter is up by 78 per cent at 701 head. c Debbie McMillin is a market analyst who ranches at Hanna, Alta.

More markets 

 DE B’S OUTLOOK Fed Cattle In the near term the market should see a seasonal increase in beef demand along with an expected smaller supply of market-ready cattle. Both factors will support the current higher fed cattle market. In addition lighter carcass weights will result in fewer pounds of production for the near term. With feedlot margins profitable many cattle have been priced ahead of marketing leaving fewer to trade on the cash market. Nevertheless the cash market is expected to remain strong through April although we’ll see some

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seasonal summer pressure on the market further out. Feeder Cattle Barley prices have started to creep up but are still 37 per cent under a year ago. The lower cost of gain and strong fed cattle prices will continue to support the feeder market, as will the wide basis and the weakened Canadian dollar that encourages competition from U.S. buyers. While heavy feeders may see slight pressure due to their expected finishing dates falling on the typically sluggish summer market, light calves should trade

sideways to higher with premiums given for good-quality grass-type cattle. Goodquality replacement type females will continue to fetch a premium. Non-Fed Cattle Strong demand for grinding and trim meat, a softer Canadian dollar and a historically small North American supply will support cull cattle prices in the near term and throughout the remainder of 2014. Seasonal volatility will remain but a solid export floor will keep cull cattle trading within a higher-than-normal range moving forward.

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M A R K ETS

Break-even Prices on A-Grade Steers 150

ALBERTA

140

Market Prices 205 185

130

175

120

165 155

110 100 155 145

Steer Calves (500-600 lb.)

195

145 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

ONTARIO

135

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

D1,2 Cows

85 75

125

115

105 95 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Canfax weighted average price on A-Grade steers

Break-even price for steers on date sold

2014 2013

March 2014 prices* Alberta Yearling steers (850 lb.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $164.63/cwt Barley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.72/bu. Barley silage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46.50/ton Cost of gain (feed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57.70/cwt Cost of gain (all costs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87.54/cwt Fed steers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135.90/cwt Break-even (August 2014) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134.35/cwt Ontario Yearling steers (850 lb.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $166.30/cwt Corn silage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.56/ton Grain corn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.82/bu. Cost of gain (feed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74.48/cwt Cost of gain (all costs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.72/cwt Fed steers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147.60/cwt Break-even (September 2014) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139.1 6/cwt *Mid-month to mid-month prices Breakevens East: end wt 1,450, 183 days West end wt 1,325 lb., 125 days

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Ontario

Alberta

2014 2013

Ontario prices based on a 50/50 east/west mix

Market Summary (to March 8) 2014

2013

Total Canadian federally inspected slaughter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503,760. . . . . . . . . . . 47 1,082 Average steer carcass weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852 lb.. . . . . . . . . . . . 888 lb. Total U.S. slaughter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,393,000. . . . . . . . 5,834,000

Trade Summary Exports 2014 2013 Fed cattle to U.S. (to March 1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62,283.. . . . . . . . . . . . 61,397 Feeder cattle and calves to U.S. (to March 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68,348.. . . . . . . . . . . 49,284 Dressed beef to U.S. (to January) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34.14 mil.lbs.. . . . . . 33.51 mil.lbs Total dressed beef (to January). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47.01 mil.lbs.. . . . . . 41.49 mil.lbs IMPORTS 2014 2013 Slaughter cattle from U.S. (to January) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 *Dressed beef from U.S. (to January) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.12 mil.lbs. . . . . . .34.53 mil.lbs *Dressed beef from Australia (to January) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.99 mil.lbs. . . . . . . . 3.96 mil.lbs *Dressed beef from New Zealand (to January) . . . . . . . . . . 1.29 mil.lbs. . . . . . . . 3.01 mil.lbs *Dressed beef from Uruguay (to January) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.62 mil.lbs. . . . . . . . 5.10 mil.lbs Canadian Grades (to March 15, 2014) % of A grades +59% 54-58% AAA 24.7 23.4 AA 26.0 8.8 A 1.3 0.1 Prime 0.3 0.5 Total 32.8 52.3 EAST WEST

Total graded 126,523 421,445

Yield – 53% Total 10.9 59.0 2.0 36.8 0.0 1.4 0.8 1.6 13.7 Total A grade 98.8%

Total ungraded 6,000 2 1

% carcass basis 7 7.6% 88.2% Only federally inspected plants

C at t l e m e n · A p r i l 2 0 1 4

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ď ľ market ta l k

By Gerald Klassen

Barley Fundamentals Changing

eed barley prices in Lethbridge have strengthened by $25 per mt from the lows of $155 earlier in winter to $180 in mid-March. The market was under pressure during the first half of the crop year due to larger domestic crop size and aggressive farmer selling. Secondly, the commercial elevator system was plugged causing export movement to slow down. Lower-quality milling wheat moved into feed channels setting a negative tone for the overall feed grain complex. We now find the barley fundamentals changing and the market outlook appears to be neutral to bullish. While the 2013-14 Canadian barley carry-out will be rather burdensome, ending stocks for 2014-15 are forecasted to finish below the 10-year average largely due to lower seeded acreage and larger exports. Canadian feed grain prices will be further supported by lower world coarse grain production and more specifically, a year-over-year decline in U.S. corn acreage. Stronger feed grain prices will have a larger effect on feeder cattle values. We all remember how the U.S. Midwest drought during 2012 caused feeder cattle prices to soften; therefore, it is important that cattle producers be aware of the price risks for Canadian barley and U.S. corn for the 2014-15 crop year. While it is still early, the important point is to plan ahead. The 2013-14 barley carry-out is expected to finish near 2.8 million mt, which is sharply above the 1.0 million ending stocks of 2012-13 and higher than the 10-year average of 2.0 million mt. Looking forward, Canadian barley farmers are expected to plant 10 per cent fewer acres this spring and using an average yield, production is expected to finish at 7.3 million mt which is down from the 2013 crop of 10.3 million mt. Domestic demand is not expected to change drastically during the upcoming crop year; however, the export program has potential to be sharply higher. The rail backlog is coming to an end with the warmer temperatures and recent government legislation which will help increase offshore movement. At the time of writing this article, barley in central and northern Alberta and Saskatchewan was priced competitively on the world market but grain companies could not make further sales. This is expected to change during the first half of the 2014-15 crop year. World barley prices have been percolating higher as the major exporters are experiencing a tighter supply scenario. Feed barley prices in France, which naturally trades into North Africa, have strengthened due to stronger domestic demand, steady exports and lower seeded acreage. Australian barley prices have also moved higher due to drier conditions affecting domestic maize production during the previous growing season. Australia has almost sold out of its export surplus and its domestic market is rationing

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demand to encourage farmers to sell locally, rather than into export channels. Argentine barley is competitively priced but available volumes are limited and will not be a major player from June forward. Major importers such as Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries are experiencing drier conditions resulting in a year-over-year increase in import demand. Finally, the political situation in Russian and Ukraine, which naturally trades into the Middle East, has caused the barley market to incorporate a risk premium due the uncertainty. All these factors suggest Canada will have a larger export program for 2014-15. In normal years, the Canadian domestic market secures supplies and the surplus is exported. However, next year, we may see the world market pull supplies offshore tightening Canadian fundamentals. Another factor to consider is U.S. corn, which has a large effect on world coarse grain markets. Analysts are anticipating a year-over-year decline in U.S. corn-seeded acres. Plugging in a 10 per cent decrease in the balance sheet will result in a very tight fundamental structure for 2014-15 and the market will be extremely sensitive to growing conditions and temperatures during the pollination season. If we only see a five per cent decrease in acres, the market may be somewhat tamer but it is important to realize the U.S corn fundamentals have the potential to be rather snug in the upcoming crop year. Ukraine is the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s third-largest corn exporter and we have all seen how sensitive world prices are to Crimea and the recent droughts affecting export prices from the Black Sea. While U.S. corn basis levels are quite weak, the corn futures have also factored in a risk premium encouraging U.S. farmers to sell corn in the old-crop year, rather than storing into the 2014-15 campaign. In conclusion, look for barley prices to trade in a sideways range until the seeded acreage is more certain. If the industry is correct and a 10 per cent year-over-year decline materializes, look for barley prices to percolate higher into the fall period. Canadian cattle producers should be aware that the corn market has potential to be volatile during the summer period which will influence Canadian barley prices. In any case, the industry is anticipating larger barley exports next year, which will tighten available supplies. Feeder cattle prices have been selling at historical highs in part due to the abundant feed grain situation in North America. However, lower production of Canadian barley and U.S. corn could take the steam out of feeder cattle prices as the cost-per-pound gain for finishing feedlots increases. c Gerald Klassen analyzes markets in Winnipeg and also maintains an interest in the family feedlot in southern Alberta. He can be reached at gklassen7@hotmail.com.

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 GOINGS ON

Sales&Events Events

April

28-29 Advancing Women — Women in Ag Conference, Life Skills for Leadership, Deerfoot Inn and Casino, Calgary, Alta., www.advancingwomenconference.ca

June

4-8 Canadian Angus Association AGM and Conference, Temple Gardens Mineral Spa, Moose Jaw, Sask. 11 Alberta Beef Producers Semi Annual Meeting, Edmonton, Alta. 13-14 Canadian Shorthorn Annual General Meeting, Elkhorn Resort, Riding Mountain National Park, Man. 16 Canadian Beef Breeds Council Golf Tournament, Heather Glen Golf Course, Calgary, Alta. 18-20 Canada’s Farm Progress Show, Evraz Place, Regina, Sask. 18-21 Beef Improvement Federation Symposium, Cornhusker Marriot, Lincoln, Nebraska 22-26 World Congress on Conservation Agriculture, Winnipeg Convention Centre, Winnipeg, Man.  ADVERTIS E R I ND EX Page Advanced Agri Direct 31 Advancing Women 9 Ag Growth Industries 13 Airdrie Trailer Sales 43 Bow Valley Genetics 42 Brett Young Seeds 17 Canadian Angus Assoc. 42 Canadian Charolais Assoc. OBC Canadian Gelbvieh Assoc. 33 Canadian Hereford Assoc. IFC, 40 Canadian Red Angus Promotion Assoc. 40 Canadian Simmental Assoc. 40 Canadian Welsh Black Society 42 Case-IH 5 Double D Custom Hats 43 Hi-Hog Farm & Ranch Equipment 42 International Livestock Congress 23 International Stock Foods 40 John Deere Ag Marketing Center IBC Lakeland Group/Northstar 10a-p Mel Stewart Holdings 42 Merial 39, 45 Merck Animal Health 35 Plain Jans 40 Riverside Welding 40 Salers Association of Canada 40 Stavely Indoor Pro Rodeo 46 The Cattle Range 6 Tru-Test Inc. 41 Vermeer Corporation 15 Wild West Gallery 43 Zoetis Animal Health 7, 19

C at t l e m e n · a p r i l 2 0 1 4

27 Canadian Charolais Association Annual General Meeting, Renfrew, Ont.

July

4-6 Quebec Junior Beef Show, Brome, Quebec 9 International Livestock Congress 2014, Deerfoot Inn, Calgary, Alta. 17-19 Showdown 2014 — Canadian Junior Angus Association National Show, Virden, Man. 17-20 Alberta YCSA Classic, Lacombe, Alta. 24-26 Canadian Junior Limousin Conference, Saskatoon, Sask. 25-27 2014 Canadian Simmental Association AGM, Elkhorn Resort, Riding Mountain National Park, Man. 25-27 YCSA National Classic, Elkhorn Resort, Riding Mountain Nat. Park, Man. 30-Aug. 2 Saskatchewan YCSA Classic, Prince Albert, Sask.

August

1-3 Canadian Junior Shorthorn National Show, Neepawa, Man. 1-3 Manitoba All Breeds Youth Round-up, Neepawa, Man. 12-14 Livestock Gentec Annual Conference and Field Day at Kinsella Ranch and Edmonton, Alta. 17-22 10th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP), Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, B.C. 21-22 Maritime YCSA Classic, Truro, Nova Scotia

November

24-29 Canadian Western Agribition, Evraz Place, Regina, Sask.

Sales

April

14 Justamere 19th Annual Bull Sale — 60 Black Angus Bulls, at the farm, Lloydminster, Sask. 14 Moose Creek Red Angus Sale, at the farm, Kisbey, Sask. 18 South Shadow Angus — Your Choice Bull Sale, Cowtown, Maple Creek, Sask. 19 Shortgrass Angus Bull and Female Sale, at the ranch, Aneroid, Sask. 19 WRAZ Red Angus — Cornerstone More Bang for Your Buck Bull Sale, Whitewood Auction Mart, Whitewood, Sask. c  Event listings are a free service to industry.  Sale listings are for our advertisers. Your contact is Deborah Wilson at 403-325-1695 or deb.wilson@fbcpublishing.com

News Makers Continued from page 6

Don McLennan was presented with the 2014 Alberta Forage Industry Network Leadership Award in February. He worked as a district agriculturist for Alberta Agriculture first in Camrose Don McLennan and then Medicine Hat where he later was employed as a rangeland agrologist with Alberta Public Lands, a soil conservationist, and later as range and forage specialist for PFRA. Bob Colpitts of Fredericton, N.B. passed away in January. He retired from the New Brunswick Department of Agriculture as the director of the Animal Industry Branch after 35 years of service. During his career he served as secretary-treasurer of the N.B. Hereford and Angus associations, the Livestock Breeders Co. Ltd., and manager of the N.B. Provincial Livestock Show. We were saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Byrnne Rothwell in late January at the age of 77. Following his retirement from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Rothwell assisted the SasDr. Byrnne katchewan Horse FederaRothwell tion and sat on the board of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association. He was named Saskatchewan Veterinarian of the Year in 2000. The Cattlemen’s Young Leaders (CYL) program has named 16 new recipients for 2014-15 from the 26 semi-finalists who vied for a spot in the national youth initiative of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. The 2014 CYL recipients are: • British Columbia: Erin Durrell, Williams Lake. • Alberta: Stacey Domolewski, Taber; Laura Ecklund, Olds; Tessa Nybo, Sundre; Stuart Somerville, Endiang; Colin Verbeek, Sturgeon County. • Saskatchewan: Shari Beamish, Maidstone; Rae-Leigh Pederzolli, Saskatoon; Rob Voice, Bradwell. • Manitoba: Kristine Blair, Woodside; Andrew Kopeechuk, Brandon; Brett McRae, Brandon; Neil Overby, Ste. Rose du Lac. • Ontario: Scott Boese, Marysville; Amanda Broadhagen, Guelph; Jaclyn Horenberg, Stratford. c www.canadiancattlemen.ca

We just couldn’t leave well enough alone. 6M SERIES TRACTORS - IT WASN’T EASY IMPROVING PERFECT.

Item/model may not be exactly as shown.

If you owned a John Deere 6030 or 7030 Series Tractor, you know why they were so popular. Some owners even called them “perfect.” But we just couldn’t leave well enough alone—not with the ever-changing demands of today’s agriculture. We engineered the 6M Series Tractors in response to those demands. Six models are offered from 105 to 170 horsepower.* ReƟned John Deere PowerTech™ engines offer more performance from every drop of diesel. (And yes, diesel is the only fuel you need.) We increased the hydraulic performance up to 45 percent. Hitch capacity went up. Loader cycle times went down. There are now a variety of transmission choices for fast loader work, and fast transport. And optional, PowerFill™ Brakes give you better stopping with less effort. See what else we did to make great tractors even better. Visit your John Deere dealer to learn more. *Manufacturer’s estimate of power (ISO) per 97/68/ED.

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