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June/July 2011

Volume 74, No. 7

Established 1938 ISSN 1196-8923 Cattlemen Editorial: Editor: Gren Winslow 1666 Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1 (204) 944-5753 Fax (204) 944-5416 Email: gren@fbcpublishing.com Field Editor: Debbie Furber Box 1168, Tisdale, SK S0E 1T0 (306) 873-4360 Fax (306) 873-4360 Email: debbie.furber@fbcpublishing.com

FEATURES Samantha sperber — cyl graduate...................................8 Nanita blomquist — cyl graduate...................................9 Is year-old hay a good deal?.......................................... 10 A bit of this and that..................................................... 12 A replica of the cow....................................................... 16 Implants pay..................................................................... 18 Certified angus beef targets canada............................. 20 Some new ideas for moving hay...................................... 24 Hi-tech branding............................................................ 27 Early-warning device looks for a market. ................... 30 Verified beef production................................................ 33 Departments

30

COMMENT............................................... 4 NEWSMAKERS......................................... 6 LETTERS.................................................. 6 NUTRITION............................................ 22 VET ADVICE.......................................... 32 PRIME CUTS......................................... 34 HOLISTIC RANCHING.............................. 35 RESEARCH............................................ 36 CCA REPORTS...................................... 38 STRAIGHT FROM THE HIP...................... 39 NEWS ROUNDUP................................... 40 PURELY PUREBRED............................... 44 THE MARKETS...................................... 47 MARKET TALK....................................... 49 SALES & EVENTS.................................. 50

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Cattlemen / june/july 2011 3

c o m m e n t

by Gren Winslow

On the tipping point Things are changing

A

s we move into the second half of 2011 Canada’s beef industry seems to be at the tipping point on a few fronts.

The first one has to do with the national traceability system. A recent report by Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) says the mood coming out of a Beef Traceability Round Table meeting in Calgary last month was that “the industry is past the point of wondering if we need to have a traceability system or not.”

“We do and we need to focus on national implementation starting with premise identifications across the country. Animal identification and a standard national database are important and animal movement comes after that.”

That doesn’t mean all the concerns have been swept aside. There are still plenty of unanswered questions. What will it cost? Who will pay? And how will those costs be equally shared across the whole industry?

The report on Alberta’s traceability study in six auction markets released in late April gave some answers.

It showed it is possible to scan RFID tags in a market setting at the government’s minimum 95 per cent read rate without slowing down normal operations. The biggest challenge was making sure the cattle arrived with a functioning tag.

Some tags didn’t scan nearly as well as others and that needs to be sorted out by the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency and the manufacturers. There’s more on that inside this issue.

The study also looked at the costs of scanning cattle coming in versus doing it as they come in and go out. Ottawa still hasn’t decided what the national program will require so the markets wanted some idea of the costs with both options.

Not knowing the rules of the game is just one of the things that is driving auction market owners nuts. The other is a fear that they will be stuck with extra costs, and charging extra fees, while direct marketers will be let off scot free.

They also looked at reporting their results on a permit, such as the electronic manifest Alberta’s brand agency has developed (pg. 27) or directly to the Canadian Livestock Tracking System database. Scanning them in-out on a permit is the best for tracking purposes, but also the most costly.

There may be labour savings if they could get brand inspectors involved at the scanning chute, but they didn’t look at that.

4 Cattlemen / June/july 2011

Another problem: the internal management software used by Alberta auction markets doesn’t talk to the scanning software, which negates most of the value-added benefits the markets could get out of this exercise.

It’s all fixable with money and the ABP says that is where the national debate on traceability is now focused. “It’s become one of recognizing the economics of the program for producers and conveying the benefits of a health policy for consumers,” says the ABP report. “The difficulty is balancing economic costs and benefits for each sector of the producers’ value chain with benefits and payment transfer(s) to agriculture by food consumers.”

The other tipping point is our ever-shrinking cow herd. We’ve already seen two packing houses close so it was not surprising that Canfax noted some losses in its annual survey of finishing feedlots in Alberta and Saskatchewan. More than market forces might be at work in this sector though since all the lost capacity occurred in Saskatchewan which was hit hard by rain last year. Alberta’s finishing feedlot capacity actually increased slightly from 2010.

Everyone is watching now to see if the better markets will bring on any expansion in the cow herd. Nationally the herd is down 10 per cent from what it was in 2003, and off 19 per cent from the BSE swollen herd in 2005. But we just may have turned the corner this year. At least that is the conclusion of analysts in Canfax research services. In a fact sheet put out last month they looked at all the cyclical and market indicators and determined Canada’s beef industry is entering another expansion phase.

How large and rapid that expansion will be is yet to play out. Certainly no one is predicting a jump in cow numbers next January but the heifer retention reported this year seems to be real and soundly based.

The route in the fed market late last month may have shaken the confidence of some but maybe others took heart from the leaked report as this issue went to press that the WTO panel has sided with Canada and Mexico in their dispute with the U.S. over country-of-origin labelling. The U.S. can still appeal and drag out the process but perhaps the Obama administration will finally gain some common sense and rewrite its rule to restore fair trade in beef. Now that would be a tipping point. www.canadiancattlemen.ca

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NEWSMAKERS The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association was obviously pleased with the reappointment of Gerry Ritz as agriculture minister in the new conservative Gerr y Ritz majority government.

“Minister Ritz has worked tirelessly to improve market access for Canadian cattle, beef and other agricultural exports and we appreciate his efforts,” said CCA president Travis Toews. “The CCA will continue to press for improvements to our competitiveness both on the trade front and at home in our regulatory and business environment.” Another key figure on the CCA lobbyists’ list of people to contact will be Fraser Valley, B.C. lawyer Ed Fast who replaces Peter Van Loan as international trade minister. In his new role Fast will be at the centre of Canada’s ongoing trade negotiations with Europe, South Korea and Japan. Environment Minister Peter Kent will also be down

LETTERS They’ve already had the cake In his column Let them eat cake (pg. 32, April CANADIAN CATTLEMEN) Dr. Weder provides producers with excellent advice; calve in above-zero temperatures, and keep diesel consumption down to a dull roar. But consumers are unlikely to heed Marie Antoinette’s infamous advice to “eat cake,” since they have been having their cake and eating it too for the past 60 years of overproduction and low food prices. But they will eat chicken.

The reason the price of cattle has risen is because herds in North America have been killed down and cattle are now in shorter supply.

That will soon change. Ranchers are talking about holding back heifers so that they can make even more money and the 500-hp tractors are about to get busy tearing around the Great Plains and Parklands making sure the pig, poultry, egg, milk and beef factory’s do not run out of feed.

Food producers are not the only ones that have no idea what is going 6 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

in the CCA’s appointment book for discussions on the role beef producers play in providing habitat for wildlife and migratory birds and sequestering greenhouse gases through grassland management.

Beef-producing MPs Larry Miller from Ontario and James Bezan, a former manager of the Manitoba Beef Producers, were also re-elected along with fellow farmers Ted Menzies, Chris Warkentin, Randy Hoback, David Anderson, Rob Merrifield and Bev Shipley.

The Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan’s We Care campaign was launched on 36 billboards across the province last month. Producers representing the beef, dairy, bison, egg, chicken and pork sectors are being rotated through the billboards from May to November promoting the same message, On Our Farm…We Care. The 35 billboards and one superboard are located in and around Regina, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, North Battleford and on. The euro zone, U.S., Japan, California, etc., etc., are standing on a precipice staring into the abyss of bankruptcy with a debt avalanche above their heads and they are not going to do anything about it other than print more money. Folks cannot stand 60 years of gratuitous prosperity without getting very soft in the head, and a well-deserved and overdue Darwinian flush is just around the corner.

The best advice Dr. Weder can give readers is to invest in gold, guns and lots of dry power. The future does not lie in producing food that no one will be able to pay for.

JOHN HARRIS PEACE RIVER COUNTRY, B.C.

A response to criticism of aggressive cow article We read with interest the article in the January Calving Issue regarding aggressive cows. We enjoyed and agreed with the author’s take on the subject so the response from Lucie Lamoureux in the March issue got us in a head-shaking mood.

We run a very small cow-calf operation by western standards in Northern Ontario, 30-plus or -minus animals

rural areas. Details are can be found at www.facs.sk.ca.

Adele Buettner has been re-elected president of Prairieland Park Corporation, the non-profit body that operates the Saskatoon Trade and Convention Centre. Buettner is the founder and president of AgriBiz Communications, a company that contracts management and communication services to agriculture oraganizations such as the Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan where she serves as executive director.

Rhett Parks won the 2011 Manitoba/Saskatchewan Livestock Auctioneer Championship last month in Weyburn. Parks operates Whitewood Livestock Sales in Whitewood, Sask., and is the current president of the Livestock Marketers of Saskatchewan (LMS). The competition attracted nine competitors from Saskatchewan and six from Manitoba. Brock Taylor of Taylor Auctions in Melita, Man., was in some fairly rough terrain. Bears, wolves, coyotes, fishers and even domestic dogs are a fact of life here and we have a couple of old girls that take offence very quickly to any of these four-legged interlopers. Unfortunately, we have also had cows that take offence to the two-legged members of society.

We raise our cattle in a stress-free/ open-concept/free-choice environment.

They are worked with since birth, and we select sires known for their quiet dispositions. We also use only our own stock cows that personify the qualities that we wish to see passed on to their offspring. Even so, we have had a few renegades. It happens. We give them the old, “every dog is entitled to one bite” chance, but that being said, we do not take any foolish chances. We have stock depending on us to stay healthy, land requiring our attention and family to consider. We do not mess around.

Apparently Mlle. Lamoureux in Montreal has had a different experience with her cattle or perhaps she has been watching too much Walt Disney.

Very much enjoy your publication.

PETER AND KATHRYN LOCH PARRY SOUND, ONT. www.canadiancattlemen.ca

runner-up while Farron Ward of Candiac Auction Mart in Glenavon, Sask. finished in third place. Rick Wright, of Virden, Man., and Tyler Cronkite of Heartland Livestock in Moose Jaw rounded out the top five finalists. Joey Chescu of Russell, Man., won the Rookie Award.

Parks advanced to the Canadian championships of the Livestock Markets Association of Canada in Kitchener-Waterloo being held June 8 to 10.

Fawn Jackson has been appointed program co-ordinator for the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders Program operated by the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. She was raised on a cattle operation at Inglis, Man., and is a graduate of the University of Alberta with graduate studies in international agriculture at Oklahoma State University.

Amanda Hughes of Calmar is the recipient of the 2011 Alberta 4-H Premier’s Award. She has participated in a variety of projects from crafts, market/ewe lamb, light horse and market steer to canine, photography, performing arts and foods. Earning

top honours at 4-H’s provincial Horse Classic program last year, she was awarded a trip to Denver in 2011 as a member of Alberta’s Hippology team to compete in an international judging competition.

Feedlot veterinarian Dr. Craig Dorin from Airdrie, Alta., and Dr. Harold Fast of Fast Genetics were recently appointed to the board of directors of Prairie Diagnostic Services Inc., the animal health laboratory based in Saskatoon. They join Dr. Doug Freeman, the dean of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and Godwin Pon, a livestock policy analyst with Saskatchewan Agriculture, the other first-time board members.

The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council now has its publication AGRIGUIDE: THE DIRECTORY OF CANADIAN AGRICULTURE ASSOCIATIONS available online in a searchable database format at www.agriguide.ca, or from the main website at www.cahrcccrha.ca. The directory includes contact information for not-for-profit and publicly funded national, provincial and

territorial farm-related organizations and commodity groups across Canada.

Compensation is available for Manitoba producers hit by unprecedented flooding or a pre-flood snowstorm this spring. The province will pay up to $100 per cow-calf pair to replace feed, pastures or transport feed and livestock to farms flooded by Lake Manitoba.

Damaged livestock facilities and pasture will be repaired or replaced. Compensation is also available for some 2,000 animals killed by a late-April snowstorm with purebreds valued at 1.5 times the commercial value of eligible livestock up to June 30. Another $22 million has been budgeted over three years to compensate producers in the Shoal Lakes area for flooded hay and pasture lands. The province is also paying for livestock buildings, lost crop and cleanup costs in areas flooded when a dike near Portage was deliberately breached to ease flood pressures on the Assiniboine River. These are all part of a $175-million federal/provincial farm compensation and flood protection plan announced by Premier Greg Selinger.

C

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CATTLEMEN’S YOUNG LEADERS

SAMANTHA SPERBER — CYL GRADUATE

“L

eadership is about one’s ability to inspire others,” says Cattlemen’s Young Leaders (CYL) graduate, Samantha Sperber. “All young people are more interested in and excel at some things more than others in life. The CYL program helps us focus on our own areas of interest and find ways to inspire others.”

Sperber is definite about her interest in agriculture, especially in beef cattle, and has set her course in life on taking full advantage of having grown up on the family’s mixed farm near Rimbey, Alta. “There are lots of opportunities in agriculture in the business sector,” she says, “but it’s very difficult to become a farmer if you haven’t been born into it.

That’s why I feel it’s so important to take advantage of the opportunity I have.”

Her plan is to complete her bachelor of science degree at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton and work into farming full time. She already owns some commercial cows and says it’s neat to think that it all started when she was three years old when her grandmother gave her a heifer calf that went on to live for 15 years.

Her grandpa and dad mentor her on the commercial cattle and crop side of things, so her initial goal when applying for the CYL program was to learn as much as she could about the purebred industry. However, the program also opened her eyes to the whole wide world of the beef industry beyond the farm. It has motivated her to do more to encourage others to take advantage of opportunities to be in agriculture and share her knowledge with those who don’t have that chance or inclination.

Her mentor, Jordan Buba of Lewis Farms, committed her time to the CYL program for much the same reason. “I love agriculture. I knew right from the time I was nine years old, picking and halter breaking my first heifer that I wanted to farm. I can’t imagine doing anything else and I think it’s important to help young kids have the best chance possible to be in agriculture.”

Buba, who is still within the age limit to qualify as a CYL candidate, says it was an honour to be asked to be a mentor considering her age and of all of the other purebred breeders who fit the bill. Many of whom, she adds, are among the network of industry people who influenced her along the way.

She doesn’t have to look far to find mentors when she considers how her grandfather has managed through the ups and downs without having to take a job off the farm and still remains active in the farm today. Then there’s her uncle who introduced purebred Simmentals to the farm, and another who is a vet.

Lewis Farms, located near Spruce Grove, runs a purebred operation with Simmental, Black Angus and Red Angus cattle, a feedlot and a grain operation specializing in seed potatoes. She and her cousin, Kyle, are the fourth generation to be involved full time with the farm, while her brother will be attending Lakeland College at Vermilion next year and her sister and cousin pitch in whenever they can fit it in with their university studies.

“Lewis Farms didn’t start out big and today it is so well run and so successful. It was so inspiring to hear their story and see how all of the family is still involved,” Sperber says.

The experience has given her confidence to go ahead with her

8 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

Jordan Buba (l) and Samantha Sperber own purebred operation by starting small, focusing on quality, and showing as much as possible to get her name out there.

She and Buba met face to face at Lewis Farms for five mentoring sessions and between times to cover everything from genetics, breed attributes, expected progeny differences (EPDs), feeding regimes to meet specific targets for all classes of purebred and feedlot cattle to marketing savvy. She also had a chance to visit the family’s exhibition stalls at Farm Fair and Agribition, where she saw how they set up the show string she had learned about back at the farm, as well as all of the work required to show and market cattle at premier events.

The shows were a great place to start making the connections that are so important in the purebred industry.

It didn’t take her long to put her new understanding of genetics and EPDs to work when she attended the SanDan Charolais purebred sale and in a roundabout way managed to purchase her first purebred heifer. Sperber says it was really encouraging to see the breeders go that extra mile and be so excited to have youth involved, which again goes to show that there are leaders and mentors at every turn if you are willing to ask.

The CYL program also provided opportunities to learn more about the commercial side with student tours of Western Feedlots and the Cargill plant at High River as part of the International Livestock Congress (ILC) in Calgary, and to King Sooper’s case-ready plant in Denver, Colorado, as part of the Five Nations Beef Alliance Young Ranchers Program during the International Livestock Congress and National Western Stock Show.

Those events and sitting in on the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association semi-annual meeting during the ILC, and attending the CYL Fall Forum were great opportunities to hear leading industry people address topics about which she had little prior knowledge.

Sperber recalls Temple Grandin telling the Five Nations group that young people are most influenced by other youths and how important it is to spread positive stories out about the people who dedicate their lives to producing food. Since then, Sperber has been busy posting pictures and links to informative videos and articles on her Facebook page and says it’s surprising how many kids really do read them and comment.

C — Debbie Furber www.canadiancattlemen.ca

CATTLEMEN’S YOUNG LEADERS

NANITA BLOMQUIST — CYL GRADUATE

N

anita Blomquist and her mentor, Judy Nelson are both passionate about the beef industry. Their enthusiasm extends beyond their connection with the cattle, land and way of life to a desire to better the industry for all producers.

After obtaining her bachelor of science degree from the University of Alberta, Blomquist held various positions in the industry before returning to farm full time on her family’s mixed grain and cow-calf operation near Big Valley, Alta.

Her objectives for the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders (CYL) development program centred on gaining insight into industry-led programs promoting and expanding sales opportunities for Canadian beef in domestic and international markets.

Her ultimate goal is to become involved in setting the direction of these programs as a producer representative.

Nelson is already living that life. She is a cow-calf producer from Lundbreck, a long-standing delegate of the Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) and the current chair of the Beef Information Centre (BIC) board of directors. She says she’s been with BIC long enough to have seen Canadian beef producers lose their global market and now start to claim it back again.

“I appreciate Nanita’s perspective as someone starting out in the industry,” Nelson says. “Her generation has such positive energy and zeal. They aren’t tied down with issues such as traceability, regulations and policies. They approach them with an attitude that ‘if we have to we will and we won’t let it stop us from moving ahead.’”

Nelson arranged a number of contacts within the industry to help Nanita meet her objectives. These included Canada Beef Export Federation president Ted Haney at the October Beef Value Chain Roundtable, where she sat in as an observer to the international trade meeting. The purpose of the round table is to present policy recommendations to the Canadian government on behalf of the industry with a united voice.

Beef Information Centre’s stakeholder communications manager, Annemarie Petersen compiled an extensive package of information about BIC and the Canadian Beef Advantage projects, partnerships and campaigns. The two met to discuss communication tools BIC uses to promote beef in Canada and the U.S. She also met with BIC director of U.S. market development, Marty Carpenter, who explained the steps involved in creating relationships with U.S. retailers, packers and key customers to offset country-of-origin labelling regulations.

The CYL Fall Forum and ABP zone meetings provided opportunities to learn from Canadian Cattlemen Association (CCA) officials like general manager Rob McNabb.

Blomquist was pleasantly surprised to hear from Maurico Arcilia of CBEF, about the number of countries that are once again importing Canadian beef and a rundown of current market conditions from Brian Perillat, senior market analyst and manager of Canfax.

Blomquist sees ABP as an organization that she would like to become involved with someday to gain a voice at the table.

“I learned so many things from each of my experiences during the CYL,” Blomquist says. “I encourage the younger generation to get involved and have a voice. It can be intimiwww.canadiancattlemen.ca

Nanita Blomquist (l) and Judy Nelson dating at first, but taking opportunities to participate in programs like CYL and to attend industry events will help you find your voice.”

Attending the Five Nations Beef Alliance Young Ranchers Program in Denver was an unforgettable experience. Blomquist is looking forward to further opportunities to participate in international events at home and abroad through her involvement with the CCA’s CYL Advisory Council.

The council is made up of CYL graduates and participants, to provide a youth sounding board that the CCA board of directors can turn to as they formulate policy positions.

The CCA has already launched the national CYL development program offering eight-month mentorships to accommodate the busy schedules of both the participants and mentors. The 16 candidates for 2011 have been selected and applications for the 2012 program will be available on the CYL website this November.

CYL graduates and candidates can apply to attend the Five Nations Beef Alliance Young Ranchers Program, in Mexico this fall and in Regina at Agribition in November 2012. Plans are also in the works to arrange a meeting between CYL Advisory Council members and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Young Producers Council members during Western National Stock Show at Denver in January 2012.

C — Debbie Furber This concludes our series on the five young leaders from Alberta who participated in the 2010 pilot for the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders (CYL) development program, an initiative of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association with support from CYL foundation partners, Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency and Cargill, and sponsorship from CANADIAN CATTLEMEN. The CYL program provides industry-specific training and mentorship opportunities for youths, ages 18-35, to gain the expertise and business skills needed to lead the cattle industry into the future. For details on how to become involved, visit www.cattlemensyoungleaders.com.

CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011 9

FEEDING

IS YEAR-OLD HAY A GOOD DEAL?

T

his spring, there are regions around the country that are short of hay and forage. Other areas have surplus hay stacked in long rows in feedyards or at the sides of hayfields. Buyers may see this surplus as an option to fill their bale yards now instead of worrying about securing hay supplies later in the summer. Buyers are looking for deals and sellers want to make room for the next hay crop.

Everybody wins: Well, maybe.

Hay is a perishable commodity that deteriorates when exposed to weather. Time is a factor. For example, 90 days after cutting, the vitamin precursors lose strength and animals will require supplementation. The fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and E are the first nutrients to oxidize. Injecting or feeding vitamins 90 days after animals are taken off fresh forage is necessary until they are put back on pasture the following spring.

Bales stored under a shed, covered or wrapped in plastic do not deteriorate over the winter as much as hay stored outdoors. If you were to feed test in the spring and compare it to the results from the previous fall, the protein, fibre (energy) and mineral content of the hay stored under cover would be very similar. This is not the case for hay stored outdoors, uncovered, and on the ground.

In a six-foot-diameter round bale, 27 per cent of the weight is found in the outer five inches of the bale. For every inch of rain, 82 litres or 180 pounds of water will land on the bale.

Some will run off, but some will enter the bale. When the exterior of the bale is rain soaked and is exposed to weather, it rots.

10 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

More weather damage occurs to legume hay compared to grass hay.

Applying twine at four-inch spacing reduces moisture entry into the bale compared to bales with twine at eightinch spacings. Net-wrapped bales shed rain better and have less damage than bales tied with twine. Bales wrapped with solid plastic have the least amount of damage. A denser or tighter bale sheds more water than a looser bale.

Late-summer and fall rains can reduce bale weights by eight to 12 per cent. A bale weighing 1,450 pounds in July can shrink to 1,275 pounds

by October even though there may be no visible difference in the bale’s size or appearance. Last year’s bales that may have been wet (more than 20 per cent moisture) to start with and absorb excessive moisture from fall rains or contact with wet soil suffer higher levels of microbial activity. Moulds and bacteria have to live on something and what they use up first is the best nutrients. The soluble proteins and highly digestible sugars are consumed leaving off-coloured mouldy feed that reduces the feeding quality of the hay. Weather damage can increase the indigestible fibre levels in hay by five per cent or more and reduce energy levels by similar amounts. Hay that had 14 per cent protein in the fall may only have 11 to 12 per cent next spring, and TDN values can be reduced from 65 to 58 per cent. Our advice; even if you see last year’s feed test results, retest the hay before purchasing.

Storage methods How the hay is stacked impacts the amount of hay retained in each

bale and the quality retained. Stacking hay in pyramid-shaped piles can create conditions that cause damage. If the stacked bales are left uncovered, rain or moisture that lands on the top bale of the pyramid runs down between the bales into the middle layer. The same thing happens when moisture from the middle layer moves down to the bottom layer. This stacking system can create the most damage compared to other stacking methods. Dry matter loss from this system can be as high as 20 per cent.

The stacking of hay in a mushroom shape — the first bale flat-side down on the ground and the second placed on its side on top of the first bale — creates less damage than the pyramid. The Prairie Agriculture Machinery Institute reported 10.6 per cent spoilage in mushroom-stacked bales.

If storing bales outdoors over winter, place them in rows on their sides with six inches of space between each bale and three to four feet between the rows. Place the rows parallel to the prevailing winds to allow the snow to be blown out from between the rows. Damage to forage occurs where the bales touch each other.

Storing hay on a high area or knoll allows rain or spring melt to run off rather than pool and damage the bottom of the bales.

Two-year-old hay When hay is exposed to the elements for a year, damage occurs.

Digestibility of the outer five inches of the bale is reduced by 20 per cent.

Continued on page 11 www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Continued from page 10

Overall forage digestibility in a round bale is reduced by 10 per cent. If the hay is kept over for a second year, further weight loss occurs and digestibility is reduced even further. In some situations, this older hay could be no better than cereal straw.

Much of the 2010 hay crop was rained on and turned many times before baling. Hay growers who waited four to eight weeks for the weather to change, harvested a larger volume of lower-quality mature hay. Generally, the feeding value of the 2010 forage crop was lower than what we consider to be average quality from other years.

If you compare the feeding value of straw and good hay from previous years, much of the 2010 hay was nutritionally halfway between straw and normal good hay. Protein was lower, acid detergent fibre and neutral detergent fibre levels much higher, and energy content lower. The impact of this lower quality showed up with many cows coming through a tough winter carrying less condition than in previous years.

If you expect this older feed to be the majority of this year’s feed supply it will require protein and energy supplementation to meet animal requirements. As a guideline, hay made in 2010 should not make up more than 25 to 30 per cent of the forage in the ration for cows in early to mid-pregnancy and 15 to 20 per cent in late pregnancy. Depending on quality, yearold hay may not be suitable to include in lactating cow or newly weaned calf rations.

To come up with a fair price on year-old hay: • Weigh the bales. Don’t use average weights from last fall.

• Take a representative sample and test the feed. Does the quality meet your needs?

• The price should reflect the 10 per cent loss in digestibility if it was stored outdoors. When cows cannot digest the hay efficiently, more nutrients end up in the manure.

• Compare the price of year-old hay to greenfeed or straw. Pay according to quality, not forage type.

C — Barry Yaremcio Barry Yaremcio is a beef and forage specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Arby’s Roast Beef 100% Canadian

The Beef Information Centre (BIC) recently partnered with Arby’s Canada to re-launch their core roast beef menu offerings with 100% Canadian beef.

The fully integrated marketing campaign runs for seven weeks from mid-April and focuses on Arby’s oven-roast methods as well as the benefits of roast beef – nutrition, quality and taste.

“We are proud to serve 100% Canadian beef, seasoned and slow roasted in-house in our unique line of wholesome sandwiches, wraps and salads,” says Tracey Fletcher, Vice President Marketing, Arby’s Canada.

BIC worked with Arby’s for over two years on this move to 100% Canadian beef. The process included consumer research which clearly demonstrated that their guests wanted them to use Canadian beef for their sandwiches, as it is perceived to be a premium product and of high quality.

Canadian beef is

perceived by Arby’s guests as being a premium, high quality product.

“This is a great opportunity for Canadian beef,” says Judy Nelson, BIC chair and cow-calf producer from Lundbreck, AB. “Arby’s Canada is a national chain and beef is their number one offering; this partnership not only builds volume, it also creates awareness of Canadian beef and the brand mark.”

BIC helped develop promotional programs and offered some unique ideas. Arby’s took advantage of BIC’s Make it Beef Club (over 25,000 members) and added value for members by offering a “2 for 1” coupon, and increasing distribution of the offer.

“Partnering with BIC was a great experience,” says Fletcher.

“They worked with us to gain insight into what our guests are looking for and then helped us to promote our new 100% Canadian beef program.”

The campaign is supported with TV and online advertising, social media, public relations and in-store merchandising, all featuring the Canadian beef brand mark.

To see the full campaign go to www.arbys.ca.

For more information, visit www.bic.cattle.ca CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011 11

MANAGEMENT

A BIT OF THIS AND THAT

The Bellamys market a full range of protein products direct to consumers

B

eef with some pork, poultry and eggs on the side complete the fare at Big Coulee Farms, owned and operated by Rusty and Agnes Bellamy. The Bellamys direct market meat from about 30 beef cattle, a dozen hogs, 200 turkeys, 1,600 broiler chickens along with eggs from as many as 200 laying hens produced each year on their farm located near Athabasca, Alta., 150 kilometres north of Edmonton.

Big Coulee Farms has undergone a transition from a traditional mixed family farm in the ’70s, to a certified organic grain farm in the 1980s, to a grass-based protein-growing operation during the 2000s.

Bellamy says it was his aversion to fixing farm machinery and rising fuel prices that drove him to consider alternative farming systems after his father passed away in the mid1990s. They dropped the grain production and organic certification process to concentrate on raising beef and started doing things differently in that area as well. After learning about how the Joel Salatin family uses pasture-based livestock production systems mirrored after nature’s patterns to supply food for the local market around his farm in Virginia, U.S., the Bellamys began adapting the methods to their operation and the northern Alberta climate.

“If I wanted to be a grass producer and get away from using diesel fuel and feeding in the corrals, I needed cows to match that type of system. For the past 10 years or so, we’ve been pushing the cows hard to get to the point where they could bale graze and do it well,” Bellamy explains. “We have what we want now with short-statured cows that look like what I call barrels with legs. They have to have a lot of gut space because we are asking them to do everything without grain.”

The herd is of British breeding, reminiscent of the cattle of the 1960s. He has culled out conformation problems such as poor hooves and udders and expects the cows to stay in the herd for about 15 years. He now has a homeraised Angus-type bull that is exactly what he wants, producing offspring that put more meat in the box than his last purchased bull, which was 1,000 pounds heavier. He is strict about sticking to a 42-day breeding season, therefore, being open is the main reason for culling a cow under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, the breeding herd had to be trimmed down to 30 animals to match grass conditions during the two years of drought leading up to 2010.

He uses a mob grazing system with a high stocking density on small pieces of pasture, moving the herd every 12 to 24 hours. The key to knowing whether you are giving them enough pasture is to watch the condition of the yearlings and two-year-olds, he says. If they start to drop off, you know your pasture size is too small.

The herd starts into the summer rotation on stockpiled grass about two weeks before calving begins in mid-May. Calving in the mob grazing system goes smoothly now that the cows are tuned into the routine. They don’t have a prob12 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

Rusty and Agnes Bellamy lem finding an open spot to calve, mothering up without interference from the rest of the cows, and quickly teaching their calves to follow along to fresh grass now that they are tuned into the system, Bellamy says.

He has trained them to move to the next pasture at the sound of a cow bell and uses a bell with a different sound to get the pigs moving along in their pen pulled behind the quad. You want the bell or your call to be consistent and last as long as the move, he explains. He begins by quietly walking through the cows to make sure all of the calves are up before starting to ring the bell and heading toward the gate.

For the first few years, he would leave the back wire down so a new pair could move on its own time or a cow could go back to her calf if it stayed behind or went back under the wire. Now, the cows know that when the bell rings it’s time to get their calf and move on. More often than not, he finds the calves in the shelter of the long grass ahead of the cows.

Continued on page 14 www.canadiancattlemen.ca

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The mob grazing system, which provides a good long rest for the forage to recover before it is grazed again, has increased forage production and diversity with a variety of grasses, clovers and alfalfa being the predominant plant types in the pastures.

Using the cows to seed is another way to rejuvenate pastures, Bellamy adds. It begins by resting the pasture until the plants set seed. The high-protein seed heads are the first thing the cattle eat as he moves them across the pasture. Being ruminants, a lot of seed passes through the digestive system and the hoof action provides the seedto-soil contact.

The diesel that he does use goes into making bales and placing them ahead of time for the winter grazing season.

If he had his druthers, he would leave the bales untied where they drop in the hayfields, but that would be an open invitation to dinner for the elk population. Bale grazing in the pastures nearest the yard helps to protect the hay supply from destruction. The bales are placed 15 feet apart from the side of one bale to the side of the next bale in rows of 12 that are 25 feet apart in areas where he wants to boost fertility.

Pigtail posts pushed into the ends of the bales hold the electric wire so that the herd has access to one row at a time, which will carry them for about 10 days — less in cold weather and longer in nice spells.

The stock tank is located just inside a four-foot-wide opening in an old granary in which he keeps a firebox stoked to prevent the water from freezing.

It takes a couple of lengths of garden hose to fill the tank from the hydrant once a day, after which the hoses are rolled up and kept in the heated barn that houses the laying hens during the winter. It’s a simple and inexpensive system without the worry of power outages or malfunctions causing freezeups as was his experience with using watering bowls — usually on the coldest days of the year!

The calves stay on the cows until sometime in March, by which time you can hardly call it weaning because they’re not getting much milk and eating their fair share of hay, he says.

He separates the pairs for about three weeks to complete the natural weaning process, then reunites them with the cows to form the grazing mob.

14 Cattlemen / june/july 2011

They graze as long as pasture and weather conditions allow. He tries to deliver the yearlings to his processor as soon as possible after they come off pasture. Those that aren’t needed to fill pre-booked orders go into the bale-grazing system to be processed as needed.

Any heifers they can manage to hold back as replacements are bred for the first time as two-year-olds. With three nice prospects this year, strong demand for their beef, and decent moisture conditions, they hope to be able to begin the rebuilding process.

Diverse animal species “We started full force with beef and pasturing broiler chickens in 2000 and the pork and eggs have been customer driven,” Bellamy comments. “Beef and eggs are year round with pork starting to get to that point.”

Every February they mail out a newsletter to all of their regular customers who place their orders for the year. This way, they know how many chicks, poults and piglets to purchase and will grow extra if possible to sell from their home freezers as long as the supply holds out.

All of the poultry and pigs are reared outdoors in portable pens or shelters routinely moved to fresh grass.

Because they are monogastric species, they receive additional grain to meet their nutritional requirements. The laying hens are housed in the barn for the winter and receive second-cut alfalfa in the ration to provide the beta-carotene that gives the egg yolks a bright orange-yellow colour.

As soon as weather permits, the layers move into their summer home, which is a henhouse on wheels with a large outdoor area enclosed by electric poultry netting. The unit is moved when the grass runs out, which is every week or two. Their heritage breeds have a productive lifespan of three to five years as opposed to the one-year production cycle of modern laying breeds.

The broilers are protected from predators by placing the 16 shelters side by side in a tight row and moving them as a bunk to provide fresh grass.

Each 10x12-foot tarp shelter is covered by a tin roof with a door at the front end and roll-up tarp at the back end for ventilation.

The pigs are pastured in 16x32foot pens constructed from 34-inchhigh pigwire that are moved every day.

Again, a heritage breed — the large black — has proven to be the best for their system. Their big, floppy ears block their vision making them far less mobile than their rooting relatives and much more content to stay put. They purchase the piglets as weanlings in the spring and finish them out by fall, though the 2010 lot had to be held into the new year because of the difficulty and delay in sourcing weanlings last spring. Once the weather turned cold they were housed in a bank of straw bales with the two sows retained on the chance they may have to rear their own piglets.

Connecting with customers Big Coulee Farms is one of about 400 reasons why people flock to the St. Albert Farmers’ Market every Saturday from June through October. Billed as the biggest outdoor farmers’ market in Western Canada, the vendors’ booths string up and down two full city blocks.

Meat must be processed at a provincially or federally inspected plant to be able to sell it at a farmers’ market in Alberta. The Bellamys’ beef and pork is processed in a provincial plant at Barrhead, while a provincial processor at St. Paul handles the poultry, including pickup from the farm.

All of their meat is sold as frozen product. The best buy is a whole beef because there is no repackaging involved and it simplifies the recordkeeping. They charge a bit more for halves, more again for quarters, and premium prices (about twice as much as supermarket beef) for individual cuts. They also sell a family pack, which is the same weight as a quarter, but with more or less product of the customer’s choice.

The Bellamys have built up a substantial list of regular customers through the farm’s 10-year association with the farmers’ market. He speaks highly of this established venue and encourages anyone who is thinking about direct marketing to link up with their nearest farmers’ market. Not only is it satisfying for consumers to talk with the people who grow their food, but he appreciates the long-term, faceto-face relationship with customers — and even hugs from happy customers from time to time!

For more information, contact Big Coulee Farms at 780-675-2485. C

— Debbie Furber www.canadiancattlemen.ca

GRAZING

A REPLICA OF THE COW

T

his month, I would like to talk about nutrient recycling and how important it is to our overall biodiversity and soil health, but I would like to look at it from a different angle. If we let go of some of our paradigms, then we can sometimes see that change is a good thing.

Did you know that 80 per cent of what goes into the cow comes out the back end? Why would Mother Nature make such an inefficient critter? I will tell you right now if man made the cow, or at least a machine to replace the cow, we would make her 95 per cent efficient. We would get as much out of that machine as we could because we don’t want any waste. I know this because we have already built one.

Maybe Mother Nature made the cow inefficient for another reason.

Maybe it was not for the benefit of the cow but for the benefit of nature, to ensure sustainability. In any environment that has a dormant season, like our winter, Mother Nature placed ruminant animals. In a rainforest, there is no need for ruminants as the soil is always alive with microbiological life that can break down plant material and recycle nutrients year round. In an environment with a dormant season, soil life goes dormant and the nutrient recycling activity of the soil bugs comes to a standstill. However, the ruminant gives the microbiological life an environment where they can survive and still do their job.

The cow provides the bugs with a place to work, inside her rumen. The plant material is recycled. The cow just gets her 20 per cent off the top, 80 per cent goes back to nature. The problem in agriculture is we see the cow as the be all and end all of our operations.

She is our moneymaker. In reality, she is only a tool in the big picture and until we wrap our head around that, we will not be sustainable.

Now I told you that man has already built a replica of the cow and we try to make her as efficient as possible. We call this device a combine. We harvest the plant material by removing about 80-90 per cent of the nutrients and then we export them off our land.

We only leave about 10-20 per cent

16 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

to be recycled. We try to get as much out of her as we can because we sure don’t want to waste anything. Is this sustainable?

Now grain farmers don’t get your tail in a knot, but let’s look at this from a sustainable point of view. In a grazing operation 80 per cent of the nutrients are recycled through the cow. Even on a grain land, I have heard it stated many times that after about four years of swath grazing on the same field, very little if any fertilizer is needed.

This is because most of the nutrients put into the soil are recycled back into the soil through the cattle.

All grain farmers need to somehow incorporate winter grazing strategies on their land I know I’ve had swath-grazed fields side by side where one has better fertility only because it was owned by a mixed farmer who ran cattle on the grain land for years. Is the price of fertilizer getting cheaper? I don’t think so. To make grain farms sustainable for generations, should we not be thinking a little more about recycling our nutrients today?

Let’s exaggerate a little and say we close up the sieves and let 80 per cent go out the back end of the combine.

We harvest 20 per cent for grain, the rest we allow the cattle to graze during the winter months. If we are only after 20 per cent, would we need to worry quite as much about weed control? Those weeds are sometimes quite nutritious. After about four years of recycling 80 per cent of our crop, I would assume that the soil would need very little fertilizer.

Would our costs go down? We probably would not need to invest quite as much on the newest and best combine either. That second crop off the field each year would give some excellent winter grazing for a herd of

cattle. Maybe we look into some polycultures that would provide three or four crops. We might even try backgrounding or finishing out there after the combine. Let the cattle do the work each winter and save a bundle on yardage costs.

It does come down to profitability and that means we would have to do some experimentation with this idea.

I know that we are born and bred to worry about efficiencies so maybe my example is too extreme for most folks.

How about something in the middle?

Chaff bunching is a fantastic concept that more grain producers need to take a look at. We have a very economical feed source right at our fingertips and only a handful of producers are utilizing chaff bunching. There are many benefits to the grain land in this.

In our environment, the land needs ruminants on it. I believe all grain farmers need to somehow incorporate winter grazing strategies on their land.

If you don’t have cattle, find someone who does and have them manage it. It is great for the land.

There are many young producers out there who would jump at the chance to manage some cattle. My point is simple. Do what will make your operation sustainable. We need to think about nutrient recycling in all our production practices. I know that this is a tough sell to diehard grain farmers but we need to think long term. We need to push aside our paradigms and think economic sustainability for generations.

So when you are next planning your field rotation, think about trying to get a second crop from your efforts by utilizing crop aftermath with some cattle.

You might just find your profitability goes up, even though your efficiency goes down. I realize I risk offending some producers with this idea, but when I see the benefits my land receives from the great recycling job my cattle do, it just gets me to thinking about the sustainability of all our agricultural practices.

C — Steve Kenyon Steve Kenyon runs Greener Pastures Ranching Ltd. in Busby, Alta., www.greenerpasturesranching.com, 780-307-6500, email skenyon@greenerpasturesranching.com. www.canadiancattlemen.ca

This Spring Think Green Efficient and profitable beef production for yearlings on pasture.

Each implant contains:

40 mg trenbolone acetate

One of the keys to a greener world is using our 8 mg resources wisely and Revalor®-G can help deliver estradiol more efficient use of pasture. Revalor-G is designed to increase weight gain; you get more beef out of every acre.

Numerous studies have confirmed the safety of implanted cattle for human consumption1. In fact, compared to a 6 oz serving of beef from implanted cattle, one tablespoon of soy oil contains 7,500 times the amount of estrogen2. Best of all green cattle on green pasture implanted with Revalor-G can deliver a little extra green to you – approximately thirty dollars per head in additional gain3,4,5, so going green pays.

Ask your veterinarian how you can make Revalor-G a part of your greener pasture management this spring.

REVALOR -G ®

1 Proven safe for human consumption in studies completed by the World Health Organization; United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization; European Community Scientific Committee; Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives on behalf of the World Trade Organization.

2 Hormones: A Safe, Effective Production Tool for the Canadian Beef Industry, Canadian Animal Heath Institute.

3 Johns, J. T., K. D. Bullock, D. Nash and T. Slaughter. 2000. The effect of Revalor-G, Synovex-S, or Ralgro on gain of grazing steers. UK Beef Research Report.

4 Kuhl, G. L. 1997. Stocker cattle responses to implants. Symposium: Impact of implants on performance and carcass value of beef cattle. Oklahoma Agric. Exp. Sta. Stillwater. P-957:51–62.

5 Duckett, S.K. and J.G. Andrae 2001. Implant strategies in an integrated beef production system. J Anim Sci 79(E Suppl.):E100-E117.

Intervet Canada Corp.

Customer Service: 1.866.683.7838 www.revalor.com

Revalor® Registered trademark of Intervet International B.V. used under license by Intervet Canada Corp.

MANAGEMENT

IMPLANTS PAY But they need to be placed properly to gain the best result

I

mplanting is still after all these years one of the most underutilized management tools in beef production.

The feedlot sector has pretty much adopted routine implanting but the cow-calf sector lags far behind.

It is one thing if “natural, hormone-free, or organic” beef is being raised and implants must be avoided as part of these programs. With this type of beef production you should be receiving approximately a 20 per cent premium to justify the extra costs in raising your beef. Otherwise the economic benefits are hugely in favour of implanting with a 15-25 to one return on investment in implants through better gains and feed-to-gain ratio. Remember, young calves have the best feed-to-gain ratio so growing them fast at a younger age will decrease both your feed bill and days to market.

There are a multitude of different products out there so your veterinarian can advise which specific one or combination best fits the specific age, size and type of calves you are raising.

Implanting should cross your mind every time cattle are going to be processed. Of course bull calves should not be implanted as it affects their testicular development. It is usually avoided with replacement heifer calves as well but a couple of the implants are approved for use in very young calves if they are used only once. I have personally seen a case where two implants given in succession to growing heifers resulted in a 40 per cent open rate. Besides which having your heifers 20 to 30 pounds heavier at breeding is probably inconsequential to your operation.

On the steer side beef production is about raising pounds of beef and implants allow you to reach your goal sooner with improved feed efficiency.

It is much safer and less stressful to castrate your bull calves preferably at birth with the rubber bands. This is an ideal time to implant them with one of the calf products.

Implanted steers with this hormonal supplementation will grow just as well as intact bull calves. Depending on when they are born most steers could then be reimplanted going to grass. Implants last 90 to 150 days so timing should be based on having very little overlap.

The controversy that has grown up about hormones in the meat, even among some producers, is undeserved.

Suffice it to say you will receive many times more estrogen from a serving of eggs, cabbage or alfalfa sprouts than you will from implanted beef. The amount of estrogen in one pound of implanted meat is minuscule and has been proven time and again to be perfectly safe as these hormones occur naturally in the body in levels many times higher than in implanted beef. Implants generally have zero meat withdrawal, again indicating their huge safety margin.

Where the real problems can develop is with implanting 18 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

technique. The three main problem areas are infection at the site, crushing of the implant and site selection.

You want to make sure the site (in the middle of the ear between the cartilages) is clean. If you are still unsure about implant site check with your veterinarian or someone skilled in the technique. At one time they used to recommend targeting the base of the ear with a Ralgro implant. This is no longer acceptable and all implants are to be given in the middle of the ear. This site ensures proper absorption and the ear never enters the food chain.

A common mistake when first implanting is to drive the needle through the ear and deposit the pellets on the ground.

To avoid this error position the applicator to enter the ear at a flat angle with the bevel of the needle up. Grasp the end of the ear to keep it taut. Avoid placing the implant into the cartilage. Absorption would be seriously impaired as there is very little blood in the cartilage. Avoid the large vessels in the ear to minimize bleeding.

Infection and abscessation with implants being walled off or falling out is another common problem. Take care to keep the site clean. If the ear is covered with manure use the other one. Swipe the needle clean with alcohol or disinfectant and routinely clean the gun, as this is often a source of infection.

The Component line of implants now has one product containing the antibiotic Tylan. This has been proven to help prevent inflammation at the site so the implant is absorbed more evenly resulting in better growth.

Get into the habit of palpating the ear to be sure the implant is placed properly and then pinching off the needle hole. This minimizes the chance of infection wicking up inside the ear or pellets falling out. Every time there is infection the cost of the implant is wasted and gain has been lost so you want to keep infections to a minimum. When the incidence creeps up to even one or two per cent review your implanting technique. Some crews even brush the ear first to remove excess dust and debris. And always be sure to store your implants in a clean, dry area.

Crushing an implant causes the drug to be absorbed too fast and can create riders or bullers. Some implant guns have retractable needles, which pretty much eliminate crushing. Otherwise withdraw the needle a bit before discharging the implant to avoid crushing the pellets.

Restraint is critical to proper implantation. The head must be held secure. Newer chutes have the head bars to do this. The new shoulder restraint device also restricts the backward and forward motion of an animal in the chute.

When using older chutes or calf cradles, try to catch the animal “short in the chute,” with its head just out beyond the front. It cannot be allowed to swing its head from side to side.

If you haven’t implemented an implant program into your operation think of doing it now. The economics definitely support this procedure. There is no better time than now to begin implanting. Incorporate it with other management tools you are using such as vaccinating, ear tagging or castrating. On long-term cattle work out an implant program with your veterinarian. With proper technique there is definitely a big return on this investment.

C — Dr. Roy Lewis, DVM www.canadiancattlemen.ca

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MARKETING

CERTIFIED ANGUS BEEF TARGETS CANADA

R

The producer-directed company is looking for more sales and production from here

ising beef consumption and the growing popularity of branded products are good news for the future of beef production. This is especially true for Canadian cattle farmers and ranchers, as a leading branded beef company based in the U.S. is turning its eyes northward to expand its supply.

Dr. Larry Corah, vice-president of Certified Angus Beef (CAB), arguably one of the most well-known global beef brands, is optimistic about the future of the beef industry in North America and sees Canada as a key player in helping the company expand global beef sales. He shared 10 key insights fuelling that optimism at the Beef Symposium held at the University of Guelph this spring.

1. Beef is the preferred animal protein. Both in restaurants and at retail, beef is the centre of plate animal protein choice.

In the U.S., beef accounts for a 42 per cent share of the meat case; in Canada, the numbers are slightly lower at 38 per cent, but still ahead of chicken, pork and other meats.

2. Where we eat beef has changed. In 2005, 51-52 per cent of beef was sold in restaurants and 46-48 per cent at retail. The economic crisis reversed that ratio; in 2010, 52-54 per cent was sold at retail compared to 48-49 per cent at restaurants, although it is likely these numbers will shift again as consumer confidence begins to rise again.

3. Consumers are eating higher-quality beef. In 2006, the company sold 544 million pounds of product, rising to 777 million pounds in 2010. In Canada, sales of Certified Angus Beef Prime have skyrocketed from 496 pounds in 2006 to over 42,000 pounds in 2010, though still less than half a per cent of total brand sales in Canada.

4. We’re eating different cuts. Consumers like eating beef but the economic downturn meant not as many were willing to spend on steak. This led to a rise in consumption of end meat and grinds.

5. The “gourmet” burger. Premium grind has become a dining classification, establishing a new “gourmet” burger category, which focuses on whole muscle grinds. Ground beef sales from Certified Angus Beef packers have almost doubled, from 48.1 million pounds in 2006 to 83.7 million in 2010.

6. Global demand for beef has grown. Certified Angus Beef’s international sales have more than doubled since 2006, from 37.9 million pounds to 80.5 million in 2010. This trend is expected to continue as consumer affluence in countries like China grows.

7. Consumers are paying record prices for beef. The average fed cattle price of $83.16 in 2009 is projected to exceed $105 for 2011. What remains uncertain, however, is whether 20 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

Larr y Corah price will impact beef demand and if so, at what point this will occur.

8. Consumers like brands. Branded products represent predictability, trust and attribute consistency and shoppers are buying more store and national brands. Branded beef sales have increased 11 per cent from 2004 to 2010, compared to unbranded beef, which decreased from 38 per cent to 27 per cent during the same period.

9. Demand for information. Consumers want to know more about where the product is coming from and what’s in it. A link to a ranch or farm family is rapidly becoming part of the positive eating experience, and one that could potentially command a premium price. A study in Nebraska showed, for example, that consumers would be prepared www.canadiancattlemen.ca

It’s weather – wherever Whether you’re in the field or out on business – WeatherFarm’s mobile Web site can connect you to the weather on your farm. Take your current conditions, forecasts and radar imagery with you wherever you go.

Bookmark http://m.weatherfarm.com on your mobile device today!

Setup instructions at www.cwb.ca/wfmobile . to pay up to $4.74 per steak more if they know its State of origin and up to $8.75 more if it was linked to the actual farm of origin.

10. Natural and organic trends. Currently, sales of “natural” beef make up approximately five per cent of beef sales, a figure that has not changed significantly in the last three to five years. However, it does present a niche that producers could choose to target.

Canada is Certified Angus Beef’s No. 1 international market, consuming 28.7 million pounds of the branded product annually. Of that, only 15.7 million pounds — or the equivalent of 143,481 head — is currently sourced from Canadian production. Corah is eager to grow that number, both to better serve the Canadian market, but also to expand the company’s international business. Certified Angus Beef has set a goal of 60 million to 70 million pounds from the Canadian market by 2020, which Corah believes is achievable.

“Globally, most grain-fed fat cattle come from the U.S. and Canada, and Brazil and Argentina are a long way from having the infrastructure that’s needed,” he says. “Our challenge is to increase the per cent black in the Canadian herd.

Currently we’re at 30 to 32 per cent and we’d like to see that at 45 to 50 per cent.”

A potential impediment to reaching that goal could be the one million head drop in the Canadian cattle herd in recent years, combined with unprecedented cost increases.

However, Canada’s producers do have one unique advantage. The national cattle identification system provides for traceability that will allow Canadian beef under the Certified Angus Beef brand access to many global markets, including China and the United States.

“Your traceback system is absolutely wonderful and a huge global advantage,” Corah said in an interview following the presentation. “There is nice potential for growth here in Canada. There’s a good feeding network here and expansion of our program here could help stabilize the industry.”

C — Lilian Schaer www.canadiancattlemen.ca

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N u t r i t i o n

by John McKinnon John.mckinnon@usask.ca

Hay quality — now is the time to act!

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

F

or many of you, haying season is fast approaching. Stored forage in one form or another is the basis upon which Canadian cow-calf producers plan their winter feeding program. In most cases, hay is the method of choice, although for some silage, swath grazing annuals, corn grazing, stockpiled forages and bale grazing are becoming attractive alternatives.

As haying season approaches, it is appropriate to review how your forage program contributes to the health and productivity of your cow herd. We can summarize this contribution in two words — “quantity and quality.” A 1,300pound cow will typically eat 1.8 to 2.2 per cent of her body weight depending on forage quality.

This means that she will consume on average 26 pounds of dry matter. At 16 per cent moisture, she is eating about 31 pounds of hay a day. If you feed your cows for 150 days, then for every 100 cows you require 232 tons of hay.

If we include wastage, then from a “quantity” perspective, we are looking at an average of 2.7 tons of hay per cow to get through the winter.

The actual quantity consumed will be a reflection of the nutrient requirements of the cow as well as forage quality. As I have written previously in this column, your cow’s nutrient requirements change with stage of pregnancy. The two most important periods are the last six to eight weeks prior to calving and the period from calving to pasture turnout. During this period, the cow’s requirements for energy and protein, as well as essential minerals and vitamins are at their highest. We know that meeting nutrient requirements during this period will influence the ability and time required for the cow to rebreed.

For many producers, particularly those calving in the spring, the majority of the winter feeding period coincides with mid-gestation, a time period where the cow’s requirements are associated primarily with maintaining herself.

Planning a successful winter feeding program involves matching your forage supply to the changing nutrient needs of your cows. From a nutritional perspective, forage “quality” can be defined in terms of its energy and protein content. The two most important factors influencing the quality of your hay are percentage of grass versus legume in the mix and the state of maturity at cutting. A good-quality grass hay can reach 55 per cent TDN and 12 per cent crude protein. Such a hay can meet both the energy and protein needs of your cows throughout the

22 Cattlemen / June/july 2011

winter. As the percentage of legume increases in your mix, hay quality increases with a goodquality alfalfa/grass hay averaging 59 per cent TDN and 15 per cent crude protein or better.

However, these values mean little if we do not take into account stage of maturity at harvest. It is well established that both grasses and legumes decrease in feed value as they mature.

Research by Dr. Peiqiang Yu and co-workers at the University of Saskatchewan illustrates this principle. Alfalfa cut at the early-bud stage averaged 20.5 per cent crude protein while that from hay cut two weeks later at the early-bloom stage averaged 17.7 per cent crude protein. Neutral detergent fibre levels in contrast increased from 49.8 to 54.3 per cent. With Timothy hay, crude protein content declined from 12.8 per cent at the joint stage of growth to 9.7 per cent at the heading stage, again only in a matter of two weeks. Neutral and acid detergent fibre levels were 67 and 36.6 per cent at the earlycutting stage and 70.5 and 39 per cent at heading. Higher acid and neutral detergent fibre levels indicate hay with reduced digestibility and lower intake potential, respectively and as a result, poorer-quality forage. The Alberta Forage Manual states that in order to maximize the yield of total digestible nutrients per hectare, grasses should be harvested at or shortly after heading while legumes should be cut at budding to 10 per cent bloom.

Other factors that you can control to ensure high-quality hay include taking steps to minimize post-harvest losses from nutrient leaching (excessive exposure to rain) and leaf loss (hay is too dry) as well as concentrating on minimizing storage losses. The latter can result from hay that is baled with excessive moisture (greater than 20 to 25 per cent) which results in heating and mould growth or from exposed bales left out in the field.

Many producers experienced the frustration of putting up hay under less-than-ideal conditions in 2010. Rain and delayed harvest in some areas translated into one of the worst hay crops in many years. This resulted in higher feed costs and in some cases negative effects on the herd including lost condition on cows, abortions and weak calves not to mention the potential for delayed rebreeding this spring. Hopefully, this year the sun will shine and our biggest concern will be finding enough hours in the day to get the job done. www.canadiancattlemen.ca

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EQUIPMENT

The 2EZ bale mover.

SOME NEW IDEAS FOR MOVING HAY 2EZ bale mover Vista Supply Co. of Cayley, Alta. has recently become Canada’s first dealer for hay trailers manufactured

by GoBob Pipe and Steel in Oklahoma.

Vista co-owners Alan Gregg and Cheryl Markle purchased two 2EZ bale movers from GoBob last summer for use in their own beef and custom haying operations. After moving 2,500 bales without damaging even one, they figured the 2EZ offered a very costefficient and convenient way to handle bales.

With the 2EZ, you can load, move and unload round bales from your truck or tractor cab. Though it’s one of the newest in GoBob’s line of 10 styles of hay haulers, the original prototype was designed and used by an Oklahoma dairy family back in the early days of big round bales.

The 2EZ comes in a five-bale bumper hitch and a six-bale gooseneck design. Both can be pulled behind a truck, or a three-point hitch adapter is available for use behind a tractor. The optional portable hydraulic 24 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

power unit makes it possible to use the 2EZ with any vehicle, however, the trailer’s hydraulic system is compatible with any tractor or bale-bed truck hydraulic system.

The backup loading method is unconventional, but it takes only a few tries to get the knack of using your mirrors or looking back through the rear window, whichever works best for you and your setup, Gregg says.

Pull the 2EZ in front of a flat end of the bale, then square the trailer with the bale as you back up. Lower the deck to the ground and continue moving backward until the rear tips of the runners slide under the bale. Lift the bale and move on to the next one. It will push the first bale forward as it’s loaded, and so on until you have your load. The bales sit securely along the length of the runners for a trip across the field or down the road.

To unload, just back into your row, lower the runners so the bales touch the ground, then move ahead to pull the runners from under the bales. They

can also be unloaded one at a time if you’re placing them at a wintering site for bale feeding. Likewise, the 2EZ can be used to feed bales from the bale yard. Just back into your row, pick up the bales, drive out to the pasture and place them as needed.

Gregg says the 2EZ worked well on rolling terrain, but you can save time when it comes to loading the bales if, when baling, you drop the bales where there will be clear access to them. They were able to move 500 bales from the field to the headland in one afternoon using two units.

There wasn’t a problem with snagging the twine, either. In fact, the 2EZ is an efficient piece of equipment for gently moving bales with broken twine.

Aside from the three-in-one convenience of the 2EZ, Gregg really appreciates the fact that it does all of this without rolling the bale and creating a new bottom side when unloading. The cost of spoilage on two bottom sides can add up in a hurry, especially in wet weather conditions like last year, he says. www.canadiancattlemen.ca

He also likes the basic design with no moving parts, which makes the 2EZ a very low-maintenance piece of equipment.

It will be priced around $12,500, depending on freight cost to get the trailers from the plant to Cayley. The optional tractor adapter and portable hydraulic unit are priced separately.

The Tumblebug The Tumblebug is now available in Canada through Robert H. Laning & Son, wholesale equipment distributors at Waterford, Ont. Manufactured by Durabilt Industries of Pochahontas, Arizona, the Tumblebug has been a popular item in the U.S. since it was introduced back in the 1980s.

The Tumblebug can load, move and unload a big round bale without ropes, winches, or hydraulics all from the cab of your truck or tractor. Back up to the bale and flip the switch to engage the unit’s electric brakes, then continue backing until the loading frame of the cradle touches the bale Continued on page 26

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Red Rhino inline bale trailer.

Continued from page 25

and the loading arm falls over the top of it. Slowly pull forward to roll the bale into the cradle. Disengage the switch to release the breaks you’re ready to roll.

The Tumblebug weighs approximately 500 pounds and is 144 inches long. It retails for $1,575, f.o.b. Waterford. The only option is mud/snow tires at $375 a pair. Call Rob Laning at 1-800-461-9691, or visit www.laning. ca.

Red Rhino hay trailer The Red Rhino is an inline, selfunloading hay trailer.

Trevor Cook of Portage la Prairie, Man. took a chance and purchased his 40-foot gooseneck Red Rhino off eBay in October, 2009, while Steve Ganczar of Dauphin, Man., made a trip across the line last summer to pick up his 32-foot gooseneck Red Rhino from Prairie Trailer and RV in Glasgow, Montana. There’s a bumper-hitch model as well and both come in lengths from 21 feet to 40 feet. The new super heavy-duty model is 55 feet long.

Ganczar, who runs a small cow-calf operation, spent a lot of time researching options for bale-moving equipment in his price range after years of borrowing a bumper-hitch flatdeck trailer to haul five bales at a time. He paid US$4,700 and there were no special import requirements or border issues bringing it into Canada.

Inline trailers are a popular item throughout the U.S. because doublewide loads aren’t allowed on the highways and roads in most states, Ganczar says. Visibility down each side 26 Cattlemen / June/July 2011

of the load to the back of the trailer is great on the road and when backing up in the bale yard.

The Red Rhino comes ready for road travel with protected rear and signal lights and the wiring completely encased in steel tubing. The unit has safety features to hold the bales securely without having to strap them down. With its sturdy construction and dual axle, Ganczar says it handles big round bales and heavy silage bales without swaying or bumping while driving at regular speed limits on highways and gravel roads. His half-ton easily handled pulling the weight — even out of the soft hayfields last summer.

Using a truck rather than a tractor saves fuel and cut his hauling time by a third. His neighbour spent all day — from sun-up to sundown — hauling two loads of 22 bales each with his tractor and double-row trailer on a 26-mile round trip. The second day, they hauled 100 bales in 10 hours using Ganczar’s Red Rhino and a sixlitre Chevy truck.

The Red Rhino is loaded from the back end so that the bales are pushed forward as each is loaded. His 55-horsepower tractor idling in low gear has plenty of power to slide the bales ahead on the cradle. There have been no issues with twine snagging and ripping when loading or unloading.

The Red Rhino is a side-unloading trailer. The cradle sits slightly off centre to the unloading side. When the unload lever on the opposite side is in transport position, there’s no way the cradle can tip. Make sure the unload side is clear before opening the unload lever, which releases two safety locks

making it possible for one person to tip the load off with a shove. The bales stay in a pipe-like row, so there’s no restacking unless you need to make space in your bale yard.

Cook says his Red Rhino has worked flawlessly and he says it has been “miles of smiles” hauling hay ever since he purchased it. He has even started up a custom hay-hauling business. You can view his unit on his Kijiji Winnipeg ad 174282884.

Cook had been fighting with hauling small square bales or tying down large round bales on a small flatbed trailer to haul hay for the kids’ 4-H calves, which they keep at their grandparents’ farm near Gainsborough.

Borrowing the neighbour’s gooseneck trailer to haul bales right from the field made the job easier, but there was the problem of waiting for the tractor to get back to the farm to unload.

He says he uses his one-ton Chevy 4X4 with a good, old-fashioned 454 Big Block Power to haul large round bales at highway speed without breaking a sweat. His Red Rhino has 14-ply tires filled to 110 pounds per square inch and electric brakes on both axles.

The easy-lube axles are the slickest he’s seen with rubber dust seals on the bearing caps that can be popped off for easy access to the grease nipple.

For more information contact Vista Supply at 403-395-2431, or check out videos of the trailers in action on the website at www.gobobpipe. com. Steve Ganczar at 204-638-4794, Trevor Cook at 204-239-6888, or Kevin James at Prairie Trailer and RV at 406-228-8900 welcome calls about the Red Rhino.

C — Debbie Furber www.canadiancattlemen.ca

IDENTIFICATION

HI-TECH BRANDING Alberta’s LIS wires up to take branding into the traceability era

L

ivestock Identification Services (LIS), Alberta’s industry-run livestock inspection agency and brand registrar for cattle and horses, will begin testing an electronic manifest (eManifest) prototype this summer. Once fully functional, the eManifest will slowly be rolled out, likely beginning with shipments from feedlots to packers and progressing from there as producers determine its effectiveness.

It’s completely commerce driven,” says LIS chief operating officer David Moss.

Big feedlots that write hundreds of manifests every month were the first to express interest in LIS’s concept for an eManifest and have provided the major push for its development.

LIS brought together a focus group with people from feedlots, feeder associations, private finance companies, trucking companies and packing plants. Based on this support for the early prototype, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) provided financial support to take it from concept to reality.

Spira Data Corp., a company with experience writing software for the oil and gas industry, developed the database underpinning this unique product.

Paper manifests will always be an option, however, the eManifest has several advantages. An eManifest is always legible and has to be properly completed before the system will accept it.

Once an eManifest is submitted to the LIS database, the information becomes instantly available to authorized people along the chain through a secure login from an office computer or smartphone. It can be printed out to send with the transporter or for filing.

As the system develops, transaction information from the eManifest will interface with each party’s management software. This will save the time and expense of re-entering information and reduce the chance of errors.

The exact geographic location of the cattle at the time of loading and at their destination will be pinned to the eManifest by entering a legal land www.canadiancattlemen.ca

description or GPS co-ordinates. The physical location can be cross-referenced with the Alberta government database to draw in the premise ID number. If the legal land description isn’t known, just point to the location on the Google map built into the eManifest.

Considering LIS inspected over five million head of livestock listed on more than 250,000 manifests in 2010 alone, eManifest will significantly reduce the time and task of scanning paper manifests into the LIS database and manually entering the data into the computer.

The LIS database holds information on all cattle and horses entering or leaving every inspection point in Alberta — mainly auction markets, feedlots, packing plants — and animals exported to other provinces and countries.

“This commerce-based movement data set with more than 15 years of information is the largest of its kind in North America and is recognized as a vital traceability tool by provincial and federal disease investigators,” Moss adds.

LIS is the service provider for Alberta Pork’s traceability system, so pork producers will also be testing the eManifest this summer. With its capacity to serve other livestock sectors, provisions have been made to store the eManifest system as a stand-alone database to accommodate other livestock sectors that may want to operate their systems independently.

Commerce-based movement tracking Moss says the eManifest was developed as part of a much broader initiative to create a commerce-based, real-time livestock-tracking service. LIS already collects movement information on commercial transactions. The powerful database will enable LIS to work with other national and provincial agencies involved with animal ID, premises ID and movement tracking programs toward establishing a costeffective and sustainable solution for traceability in Alberta.

David Moss Controlling the spread of animal disease is the fundamental purpose of a traceability system. Traditionally, proximity-based statistical approaches have been used to model disease spread. However, just because a farm is within a certain radius of infected animals doesn’t necessarily put it at high risk; whereas, a farm hundreds of miles away could be at very high risk if trading occurred between it and the affected farm.

New research out of the U.K. shows the efficiency of farm network-based disease spread models built on typical trade patterns. Officials at the time of the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic failed to give enough weight to the importance of farm trading networks in spreading the virus and this contributed to the severity of the outbreak that resulted in the loss of four million animals. Early detection, rapid response, and implementing the network-based approach confined the August and September 2007 foot-and-mouth outbreak to eight sites in England.

Recognizing the value of a commerce-based movement tracking system, Dr. John Berezowski, veterinary epidemiologist with ARD’s agri-food systems branch, created a computer model to simulate trading networks and how an animal disease would spread over time in Alberta using LIS data for the animal movement component.

“We always knew the commercebased information had value from a traceability standpoint, but we probably didn’t appreciate its full value until we were able to see the work of Dr. Continued on page 28 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011 27

Tracking diseased cattle as they are bought and sold.

Continued from page 27

Berezowski,” Moss says. “The study really highlighted how it could be used for complete traceability purposes without reinventing the wheel.”

LIS has also been monitoring advancements in ultra-high-frequency (UHF) technology. The extended read ranges and high read rates, coupled with significantly lower tag and reader costs, may soon make UHF technology a viable alternative to the current low-frequency technology used in North America.

“When real-time tag read capacity becomes inexpensive and easy to use, it will become part of the management process, not because it’s mandatory, but because it makes sense,” says Moss. “Ideally traceability should be

an afterthought to a producer’s management system.”

This vision of commerce-based traceability has also been of interest to the International Livestock Identification Association (ILIA) in Denver. The four western provinces and Ontario are ILIA members and Moss is the current president.

Other database developments The new Spira database installed in April replaces the old government database LIS inherited when brand inspection was privatized in 1998. It is behind a number of other improvements at LIS. It enables real-time data sharing between the LIS head office in Calgary and its 28 field offices and 85 inspectors. While the equipment has

changed, the brand inspectors’ work remains the same — inspecting cattle and horses, recording the information, assisting with disease and fraud investigations, and serving as an information source for producers. LIS also contracts the services of two RCMP livestock investigators.

LIS has been able to update its website at www.lis-alberta.com with an interactive version of the provincial statistics it prepares for ARD’s Ropin’ the Web site. Users can now select filters and drag and drop fields to compare inspection statistics by year or month, inspection site, type and classes of cattle. The grids may be viewed as numerical values, per cent of columns or rows, absolute variation, or per cent variation.

The website also provides immediate access to the 48,535 brands cur-

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rently registered in Alberta, reports of missing cattle, the list of licensed buyers active in Alberta and those whose licences have been suspended.

About LIS LIS is responsible for administering the Livestock Identification and Commerce Act (LICA) and the Stray Animals Act. LICA, which came into force on January 1, 2009, reaffirmed branding as a method of identifying ownership and broadened the types of livestock identifiers to include those used in other industry programs, such as RFID tags. It reaffirmed inspections to assist with determining ownership in order to ensure sale proceeds flow to the correct owners and buyers receive clear title on livestock by requiring vendors to disclose any security interests on the livestock they are selling.

In 2010, LIS redirected nearly $4 million in proceeds from livestock sales to rightful owners and managed the sale or return of more than 3,700 stray animals. LIS licenses and holds more than $16 million in security for 285 livestock dealers and administers the $8-million Livestock Assurance Fund.

With the transformation happening at LIS, the agency is in the process of rebranding its corporate identity as an organization that maintains confidence in Alberta’s livestock industry by ensuring the accuracy and integrity of the livestock trade and supporting traceability in commercial channels.

C — Debbie Furber

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EQUIPMENT

EARLY-WARNING DEVICE LOOKS FOR A MARKET Disease detection bolus pricy for feedlots but may be useful in a breeding herd

I

Researcher Brian McBride sees applications for the bolus in feedlots.

n a large feedlot finding sick animals and removing them from the pen can be a full-time job. Illness cannot be identified until visual symptoms occur, which may reduce the ability to treat the animals effectively.

Research conducted at the University of Guelph proved that using a telemetric bolus inserted in the animal’s rumen alerts managers to the possibility of illness long before it can be visually observed. By using the bolus, pen riders can focus on pulling the “at-risk” animals. As well, more animals can be monitored at once via computer and no animal is overlooked.

“The telemetric bolus will essentially monitor the animal’s health for the rest of its life,” explains Dr. Brian McBride, the lead researcher at the University of Guelph. While the Guelph research focused on dairy animals, Dr. McBride says the application would be highly effective in feedlots where it is difficult to monitor every animal regularly.

“By the time symptoms of illness are seen visually, the animal has probably already been sick for many days,” Dr. McBride continues. The bolus monitors temperature and an increase is an indication of health issues.

The use of telemetric bolus tech-

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nology is not new having been used for many applications in research situations. However, researchers and industry are seeing applications for the technology that make sense commercially, which led to the Guelph research. Originally, interest was to monitor dairy cows, but it was realized that the technology could be very useful in feedlots as well.

“While it is true we have not had a lot of success getting the bolus technology into commercial feedlots, we have proven its value in feedlots at Colorado State University and Oklahoma State University,” admits Bill Ardrey of SmartStock in Pawnee, Oklahoma, the manufacturer of the bolus. “It may be that the bolus would work best in a cow-calf operation because it would detect temperature changes in cows in heat which would then allow for a 12-hour window for AI.” The technology seems to have the best application in detecting temperature changes that can indicate the onset of illness or heat. The researchers at the University of Guelph believe the commercial application of the bolus technology could benefit the cattle industry. “At some point this technology needs to be given a chance,” comments Dr. Ousama AlZahal, another of the university researchers. “In feedlots the sick animal could be removed before infection spreads and, by treating the animal early, feed efficiency could be maintained.”

At Oklahoma State University, extension and research beef cattle specialist Chris Richards says their research team has been using bolus technology in their feedlot for five years. “Our intent in using the bolus is to aid in more accurate and early detection of health problems,” he says. “Our feedlot deals with high-risk calves that have been recently weaned, are from multiple sources, or have been transported long distances. We have www.canadiancattlemen.ca

determined the boluses are capable of detecting Bovine Respiratory Disease and Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus by monitoring healthy calves that were intentionally exposed to the diseases.

In trials where we monitored temperatures of calves that were pulled, based on visual observations, temperature indicated illness 12 to 48 hours before the onset of visual symptoms.”

Each bolus has a bar code that is linked to the animal and transmits a signal to a computer that can be set to record the temperature of the animal at set increments. The computer software can be programmed to send an alert if the temperature of an animal changes significantly. The boluses have long-life batteries and can work for up to six years, which is a benefit to the dairy industry. However, in the beef industry, unless used on breeding stock, the bolus would be lost as soon as the animal reached market weight. Richards says if the bolus is recovered, it can be reassigned to another animal and reused, which helps to reduce the cost.

Temperature indicated illness 12 to 48 hours before the onset of visual symptoms At present, SmartStock sells a bolus for US$35 based on a purchase of 1,000 units. Feedlot operators would prefer a much lower price point. However, the cost is recovered if an animal is not lost to illness and can be sold at a healthy market weight. Richards points out that recovering the bolus and reusing it reduces the price the more often it is reused, but recovery can be messy and is not guaranteed.

“A calf will only be in the feedlot from about 100 to 250 days,” Richards explains. “The most valuable time to have health information is in the first 45 to 60 days, so the cost for the bolus would be 50 cents per day for a one-time-use item. Our most expensive anti-microbial treatments are $20 to $25, if we medicate immediately on arrival. Therefore, from a commercial standpoint, the bolus technology is not economical. However, from a research perspective, this technology is giving us valuable information on preventing, detecting, and treating animal diseases www.canadiancattlemen.ca

by more accurately defining onset of illnesses, responses to interventions, and responses to management practice changes.”

Clearly, the technology is still out of reach cost-wise for the average feedlot, but it may have some valuable application in monitoring the health of valuable breeding stock. Dr. AlZahal believes the cost will be offset in the protection of animals by detect-

ing disease early. Perhaps like much of today’s technology, now that it is being tested for commercial use, the cost will slowly come down as manufacturing improves, the software is tweaked and the number of boluses being manufactured increases. The Guelph research proved the technology is a valuable tool, now the tool needs to be cost effective.

C — Rosalie I. Tennison

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VET ADVICE

P

It’s pink-eye season again

ink eye is one of the most common conditions affecting cows and calves on pasture and causes significant losses for the cattle industry.

The national Animal Health Monitoring System (U.S.) reports that pink eye is second to scours and diarrhea as the most prevalent condition affecting unweaned calves over three weeks old. Pink eye alone has been estimated to reduce weaning weights in calves as much as 60 pounds. Add to this the sale ring discounts for bad eyes that often exceed $10 per cwt and the total bill for every calf affected with pink eye reaches $100, or more. The production effects include: • Intense discomfort, pain and temporary or permanent blindness reduces gains.

• When treated early, differences in weaning weight between infected and healthy calves is markedly reduced.

• While pink eye predominantly infects only one eye, infection of both eyes can occur, increasing losses up to threefold.

• Post-weaning, animals suffering from pink eye, have lower ADG, weight per day of age, 365-day weight and final weight.

• Increased mustering costs due to blind or partially blind animals.

• Increased mortality due to thirst, starvation or injury on pasture.

• Milk production is reduced in affected cows and the susceptibility to cancer eye is increased.

• There are occupational health and safety concerns in feedlots when handling calves that are partially blind.

Pink eye, known as infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK), is a contagious bacterial infection caused by organisms like Moraxella bovis that infect the surface of the eye and the conjunctiva or tissues surrounding the eye. The number of organisms proven or implicated to cause IBK in cattle has expanded over the years and the names of bacteria have changed.

Two microbial factors are important for the development of IBK. The first, are surface proteins that allow Moraxella to adhere to the cornea. The second are toxins that appear to “punch” holes in the surface of the cornea.

While bacterial organisms like Moraxella bovis are the root cause of pink eye, the primary vector responsible for spreading the bacteria from animal to animal is the face fly as it feeds on tears produced by infected and irritated eyes. Face flies visit several animals every day and rapidly spread pink eye bacteria throughout a herd. Face flies can remain infected with M. bovis up to three days following feeding on infected material.

Other environmental factors like awns, dust, pollen and UV light increase trauma to the eye, facilitating establishment of infections. Fly control and management of environmental irritants become key components in pink eye prevention. The effect of ultraviolet light is especially a problem for cattle lacking pigmentation around the eye.

Dust can be a problem in confined feeding operations.

Calves are more likely to develop the disease than adult cattle, as adult cattle appear to develop protective

32 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

antibodies on the surface of the eye. For some reason, bull calves have a higher incidence of disease than heifer calves. Carrier cows that maintain infection from year to year probably occur.

Clinical diagnosis is based on the appearance of a central corneal ulcer, corneal clouding and conjunctivitis.

Antimicrobial therapy is often indicated and will be the basis of outbreak management along with elimination of any predisposing factors. Producers should consult a veterinarian when considering treatment and control options. The choice of antimicrobials includes a number of the broad-spectrum products like long-acting oxytetracycline, florfenicol, ceftiofur and tulathromycin. Products not specifically labelled for IBK, require a veterinary prescription and veterinary instruction on extra-label use. In addition to injectable antimicrobials, procaine penicillin G (300 IU) administered beneath the conjunctiva of infected eyes, with or without a corticosteroid like dexamethasone, generally provides prompt relief. Severe cases may call for the application of an eye patch or temporary closure of the eyelids by suturing.

There are a number of commercial IBK vaccines on the market. Some require two doses for immunization, others require just one. The primary problem with vaccination is that producers do not vaccinate soon enough in the year for susceptible cattle to develop immunity prior to the onset of the IBK “season.” This is an important part of prevention, one often neglected until outbreaks occur.

Since IBK is frequently more severe in calves, it is important they become the focus of preventive measures.

Face fly control is a very important factor in preventing IBK. While use of insecticide ear tags can be an effective part of prevention, insecticide resistance plays a role in the choice of appropriate tags. Food animal practitioners can certainly provide valuable advice to producers regarding face fly control strategies. Sprays, back rubbers, face rubbers, and dust bags can help reduce the fly populations early in the season, before ear tag application. Compounds fed or given orally to kill fly larvae in manure can be very effective.

From a biosecurity perspective, the use of disposable latex gloves is recommended when examining eyes. The IBK agents will bind to hands and are effectively transmitted from animal to animal. Because clothing is easily contaminated, leave pink eye treatments until after routine animal-handling procedures on healthy animals are done.

Change clothes after handling pink eye cattle and before handling normal cattle. Producers should routinely disinfect equipment used on animals with IBK. Things like forceps, hemostats, or tweezers used to remove foxtails, nose tongs used for restraint, and rope or nylon halters should be disinfected. It is also a good idea to clean and disinfect the head catch or head restraint area of the chute.

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).

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

BUILDING TRUST IN CANADIAN BEEF

Get the most out of your vet relationship It’s an investment. The better you manage it, the better it pays Most producers understand the idea of prevention. Maintaining a vehicle is an investment of time and money, easier to manage and cheaper in the long run than waiting for a problem to happen.

It’s the same with cattle, says longtime veterinarian Dr. Pat Burrage. Producers who put a bit more into their vet relationship can really get a leg up.

“I’ve had the privilege of working with cattle producers for many years,” says Burrage. “One thing I know from that experience is that those who have a good relationship, good communication with their vet get a lot more out of it. It’s a lot better way to go than just calling a vet when you have a problem.”

VBP can help There’s no reason why the producervet relationship shouldn’t be one of the best ones a cattle producer can have, says

Pat Burrage (r) talks herd health with Glen Olson of Silver top Simmentals, Rimbey, Alta.

Burrage. Devotion, compassion, commitment are the things that any successful industry needs. Producers have this and vets have this. Working together can save time, money and just plain keeps an operation running in top shape.

“Those benefits are also a big reason why the vet relationship is one of the key components of the Verified Beef Production (VBP) program,” says Burrage.

“Whether it’s simple things like keeping good herd-health records that both producers and vets can update and refer to, to consulting a vet more broadly on best ways to incorporate standard operating procedures, it’s a relationship where the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.”

Tips for getting the most benefit Based on his years of experience with producers of all sizes, here are what Burrage views as some of the keys to getting the most from the vet-producer relationship.

Think investment, not cost. When producers are under pressure to cut costs, the vet relationship can suffer.

It’s worth a close look to see if you are really saving, or if it is better economics to invest in good maintenance. “Both producer and veterinarian have to realize that we veterinarians are just a cog in the wheel,” says Burrage. “The wheel just turns better for the producer when the veterinarian is involved.”

Patience and trust are key. “The vetproducer relationship is no different than any other business relationship — it

requires patience and trust,” says Burrage.

“In developing a new relationship, discuss expectations with the veterinarian.”

The VBP program is a very good way of initiating a relationship, he says.

“Veterinarians are well trained in animal health and welfare. Some are better than others at understanding the business of beef production, but when both parties learn, the relationship can flourish.”

A crisis-only relationship is a poor one. “A good relationship can’t be maintained with a once a year call at 3 a.m. for a difficult calving.” Give a veterinarian the opportunity to help the business.

Think total herd health. Most producers with a veterinarian relationship will have animals on a herd health program as an investment in risk management, says Burrage.

Remember: You’re in it together. “We need to keep our producers in business.”

Records uphold health, food safety.

It’s more than just herd health today, says Burrage. “Keeping records is imperative for food safety. Treatments have a withdrawal period from the time the animal is treated until the drug clears the system, making the meat safe to consume. That’s why you need to record date and type of treatment.”

It is far cheaper to prevent disease than treat an outbreak. “Treatments are costly, labour intensive and quite often depressing,” says Burrage.

Keep current. Veterinarians are also aware of new products and management techniques in health management that can benefit producers.

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P r i m e

c u t s

by Steve Kay

Weather moves markets A North American view of the meat industry.

Steve Kay is publisher and editor of Cattle Buyers Weekly

N

ever underestimate the power of the year occurrence. Much of the rest of the state is weather to move markets. One immein moderate, severe or extreme drought status. diately thinks of drought as having Much of the Texas wheat crop has failed and the biggest impact on cattle ranching. probably 50 to 60 per cent of the crop won’t be Rolling droughts through much of U.S. for the harvested. The drought is affecting most other past several years have been a prime reason why crops as well. In turn, lack of pasture, hay and ranchers have reduced their herds rather than water are causing more ranchers to sell their expanded them. cattle. Drought is also severe in New Mexico, At the other end of the spectrum, severe winOklahoma and parts of eastern Colorado. ter or spring storms can cause sizable death While the drought was raging, so too were loss, notably of young feedlot cattle or newflood waters in Manitoba and from Quebec to born calves. The biggest impact though comes in Louisiana. They came to the American mid-south weight loss in feedlot cattle and delayed marketregion after tornadoes had earlier destroyed whole ings. One of the harshest winters in many years communities and caused hundreds of deaths. The hit the Southern Plains in 1992-93. Marketings cattle industry escaped largely unscathed. But the were delayed in the first quarter of 1993, so live tornadoes caused widespread damage to poultry cattle prices rose sharply. Some analysts declared production, mostly in Alabama. The loss of birds in April that there was no backlog of cattle. But was probably not enough to push the wholesale there were warnings that the front-end supply price of chicken higher. But it put many growers’ would start building and livelihoods at risk. it did. The result was a The flood waters summer market collapse, look set to have the bigall because the weather Even before the flooding, ger impact, notably on severely disrupted the every available acre was a loss of valuable corn normal flow out of feedand other feed crop needed to be able to supply acres. The wet spring lots.

This year, a cold, had already delayed corn wet spring delayed the the livestock industry with plantings and caused full onset of the grilling corn at less than $7 per USDA to lower its yield season, in part causprojection by three bushing live cattle prices to bushel. So any acreage loss els per acre to 158.7 retreat rapidly from their bushels per acre. USDA all-time record highs will leave corn supplies expects growers to plant the first week of April. dangerously tight for four million more corn Packers struggled to sell acres this year than last. middle meats, which another year Even before the floodaccount for most of the ing, every available acre beef items that are grilled, or to get retailers was needed to be able to supply the livestock interested in forward orders. The weather finally industry with corn at less than $7 per bushel. So turned warm and dry in mid-May, and many in any acreage loss will leave eventual corn supplies the industry hoped this would encourage more dangerously tight for yet another year. It’s doubly people to fire up their grills and buy more steaks. ironic that lack of rain, rather than too much, This would give much needed support to middle had already sent more cattle to feedlots earlier meat prices and possibly stabilize cutout values and probably lighter than expected, forcing them and live cattle prices, if only temporarily. to eat more not less corn.

Meanwhile, severe drought on the Southern Plains forced far more cattle than expected into Cattle Buyers Weekly covers the North American meat feedlots in April. Drought and fires have ravaged and livestock industry. For subscription information, crops and pastures in Texas, with 26 per cent of contact Steve Kay at P.O. Box 2533, Petaluma, the state said by mid-May to be in exceptional CA 94953, or at 707-765-1725, or go to www. drought status. This status refers to a one-in-50cattlebuyersweekly.com.

34 Cattlemen / June/july 2011

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

HOLISTIC RANCHING

I

Succession

n this article I want to talk about succession, not the process of passing the family farm to the next generation but as a naturally occurring process in nature.

Succession is a natural process it moves from bare ground to hardy simple plants to more complex plants and eventually to trees depending on the available moisture.



SUCCESSION



Naturally occurring process in nature

Bare Ground

Simple Plants

Complex Plants

Trees

It is important that we understand succession so we can co-operate with nature and use our animals to help create the landscape we desire. Part of H M is writing a future landscape description. This describes our individual farms under ideal conditions 50 to 100 years in the future.

Everyone will have a unique description of their individual farm however there are usually some common denominators. Most people will want a healthy ecosystem with a high-energy flow, effective water and mineral cycle and lots of diversity in the plant population. Many people will express a desire to leave the land better than they found it. This type of forward thinking and planning will ensure that future generations will have the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of ranching.

We are managing the land. What we see on the land is a direct result of our management. When we want different results we need to change the management. We do not have to eliminate the perceived problem.

So often in agriculture and in society we miss this simple principle. We identify something as bad and set out to remove it. This is a classic example of treating the symptom and not the problem. It is easy to understand why people treat symptoms. Usually the symptom is obvious.

It is crying for attention and the treatment of symptoms is widely encouraged by government, universities, extension, agribusiness and environmental groups. A good example of this is noxious weeds.

There are all kinds of programs to deal with noxious weeds. All of them treat the symptom. Since the cause (previous management) is not changed the symptom continues to occur year after year. Everyone feels good because we have a program. We are busy and spending money but we are ineffective since we are dealing with the symptom and not the cause.

One of the testing guidelines we use in H M is called cause and effect. This guideline basically asks us if we are treating the cause of a problem or are we treating the symptom of a problem. When we spend the necessary time and energy to identify the cause of a problem and

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eliminate the cause the symptom automatically disappears. It becomes a non-issue. Unfortunately in our society we tend to focus on quick fixes. We see a symptom we don’t like and we decide without a lot of thought that we should eliminate the symptom. At this point agribusiness steps in. They have all kinds of solutions for symptoms. The problem is that since the cause is not identified or removed the symptoms reappear year after year. As individuals we can spend thousands of dollars and as an industry we can spend millions. Yes we do get some temporary benefit but only by spending year after year. This is a great cash cow for agribusiness but for producers there is no long-term benefit and we are saddled with increased costs. All of this could be eliminated by identifying and dealing with the cause of the problem instead of treating the symptom.

Let me give you a real-life example. If we have a very good-quality pasture and suddenly one year we have some thistles appear we have two choices. One choice says that thistles are bad and need to be eliminated. If we make this choice we will increase our costs and since we are dealing with the symptom and not the cause we can be sure our grandchildren will be dealing with the same problem.

The second choice says thistles are a symptom of previous management. We examine our management and see what caused the thistles to appear. After some reflection we remember that we had a dry year last year and because of this we may have overgrazed and created some bare ground. We conclude that this is most likely the cause of the thistles. Nature does not like bare ground. The thistles appeared because they can survive in the harsh conditions we have created. Once we realize this we stop the overgrazing. The result is that our grass becomes healthier and the thistles which are a symptom of our management disappear and become a non-issue.

On our own place we have a lot of natural sloughs.

The water level varies from year to year. When the water recedes it is common to have a ring of bare ground around the slough. The second year this ground grows thistles. The third year it grows thistles and cinqfoil. The fourth year it grows cinqfoil and grass and in year five it grows grass. This is how succession works. Eliminating the thistles or cinqfoil won’t result in grass as the conditions are too harsh for the grass.

One of the things we do in H M is to focus on what we want, not on what we don’t want. In this case we would not focus on the thistle but on our landscape goal which will have a description of healthy, diverse, productive grassland. We manage to make the grass healthier and the thistles disappear and are a non-issue.

I challenge you to think about your management. Are you treating the symptoms of a problem or the cause of a problem? Which approach do you think will be most effective and profitable over time? Happy Trails.

— Don Campbell 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.

CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011 35

RESEARCH

Does vitamin A affect marbling?

V

itamin A is essential for many biological processes.

Cattle cannot manufacture vitamin A themselves, so it must come from the diet. Vitamin A is found at higher levels in fresh green forage, and at much lower levels in weathered forage and grain.

It can be stored in the liver and fat when the diet contains more vitamin A than the animal needs. The stored vitamin A can then be released later when dietary levels are too low.

This allows animals to deal with seasonal fluctuations in dietary vitamin A levels. However, feeding a vitamin A-deficient diet for a prolonged period of time can eventually exhaust the liver stores and result in a deficiency.

Vitamin A deficiency has been seen in Canadian feedlot calves that were raised on dry pasture, then fed straw and grain for nine months.

The most unique symptom of vitamin A deficiency is night blindness, but ill health, reduced feed intake, poor hair coat, joint swelling, and drooling may also occur.

Because vitamin A is important and cheap, feedlot nutritionists may err on the side of caution and supplement more than the National Research Council recommends. However, vitamin A inhibits some enzymes involved in fat cell development, and may negatively affect carcass grade. Several research studies in Japan, Australia, China and the U.S. have examined the effects of removing supplemental vitamin A from corn- or sorghum-based feedlot diets. None of these studies have reported adverse health effects or differences in performance or yield grades, but several reported that removing supplemental vitamin A from the finishing diet increased carcass marbling.

It is difficult to predict how removing supplemental vitamin A would affect the health, performance and carcass quality of cattle fed barley-based feedlot diets in Western Canada. For one thing, the grazing season is shorter in Canada than in the U.S., so vitamin A stores in the liver may be different at the start of the finishing period. Vitamin A levels are also thought to be lower in barley than in corn.

Dr. Darryl Gibb recently completed an experiment funded by Alberta Beef Producers that examined whether removing supplemental vitamin A from feedlot diets will improve carcass marbling score.

What they did: 120 newly weaned 600-lb. heifer calves were divided into 12 pens of 10 head each. All cattle were fed barley silage/barley grain-based feedlot diets. Sixty heifers (six pens) were given a standard level of supplemental vitamin A (1,650 IU/lb. of diet dry matter). The other 60 heifers were fed exactly the same diet, except with no supplemental vitamin A. Heifers were backgrounded for 58 days on 40 per cent barley grain, then finished for 160 days on 86 barley grain rations.

36 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

Feed and blood samples were collected at the start, midpoint and end of the trial to assess vitamin A levels in the diet and serum. Feed intake, growth rate, feed efficiency, and animal health were monitored throughout the trial. Carcass measurements were collected when the cattle went to slaughter.

What they learned Vitamin A levels: Some vitamin A was present in the barley grain, but vitamin A was 38 times more concentrated in the barley silage. This means that even the unsupplemented cattle were getting some vitamin A, although the supplemented cattle were getting about 10 times as much. Serum vitamin A levels were the same in both groups of animals at the start of the trial. Vitamin A levels were 10 per cent higher in the supplemented group after 113 days on feed, and nearly 40 per cent higher at the end of the trial.

Feedlot performance: Growth rates during the backgrounding or finishing periods were the same for both groups. The unsupplemented heifers ate about a third of a pound less per head per day than supplemented heifers during the trial, but feed efficiency was similar in both groups. No signs of vitamin A deficiency were observed, and diet did not affect animal health treatment rates for foot rot or BRD. Carcass measurements: Diet did not affect dressing percentage, carcass weight, yield grade, backfat depth or rib-eye area. Removing vitamin A did increase the marbling score: 42 per cent of the heifers on the supplemented diet graded average Choice or higher and 58 per cent of heifers on the unsupplemented diet graded average Choice or higher. Proportionally, nearly 40 per cent more cattle on the unsupplemented diet graded average Choice or higher compared to those on the supplemented diet.

What it means: Removing supplemental vitamin A from a barley-based feedlot diet improved carcass marbling scores without impacting animal health or performance. However, these cattle were not vitamin A deficient to begin with, and were fed a silage-based backgrounding diet containing natural vitamin A. Removing supplemental vitamin A could have negative implications for calves moving directly from dry pasture to a finishing diet. Feedlot operators are advised to work closely with both their nutritionist and veterinarian before implementing this strategy. Larger trials would help to confirm whether the performance, health and carcass results hold up in commercial feedlots. — Reynold Bergen Reynold Bergen is the science director for the Beef Cattle Research Council. A portion of the national checkoff is directed to the BCRC to fund research and development activities to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of Canada’s beef industry.

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C C A

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Travis Toews is president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association

r e p o r t s

s I write this column, Canadians have just returned the Conservatives to office, this time with a majority. I’m looking forward to the stability a majority government will provide. By the time this column appears, the prime minister will almost certainly have named his cabinet and we will be busy again outlining our priorities, policies and vision for the Canadian cattle industry to this government.

Trade issues remain a top priority for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA). The preliminary WTO report will have been issued by now to the parties disclosing the panel’s views on the country-of-origin labelling (COOL) case. After the panel report is received, we anticipate ramping up our advocacy efforts on a number of fronts. In the meantime, our advocacy work in Washington, D.C. continues along with discussions around possible remedies and solutions.

We are continuing to press for an acceptable beef access settlement with South Korea. The WTO panel is close to issuing their report, however we remain hopeful a negotiated settlement can be achieved in the meantime. A significant amount of resources have been committed to this priority in recent months, yet to date we do not have access. South Korea has been a very valuable market for the U.S. beef industry during the last 12 months, and Canada must procure similar access to maintain our competitiveness.

Technical negotiations are continuing with China based on the agreement signed by Prime Minister Harper and Chinese President Hu Jintao almost a year ago. While negotiations have been active, progress has been glacial. Beef trade experts believe China could become the most valuable market in Asia over the next few years.

The CCA continues to press for increased funding and emphasis on research and innovation. We were pleased with Minister Ritz’s announcement of $2.5 million in funds from the Agri-Innovations Program for the Beef Science Cluster at our Annual General Meeting in March. As well, we continue to make research and innovation one of our key priorities at the Growing Forward consultations.

The long-term competitiveness of our industry will depend in part on our ability to improve efficiency with innovative solutions to challenges.

For instance, significant investment is needed to renew and reinvigorate agriculture research to a more meaningful level with investments focusing on research outcomes that address industry’s priorities and also on developing critical research capacity. This includes having skilled people working both within industry and in research institutions.

This will support industry advancement as access to comprehensive knowledge base is particularly critical in times of competitive challenges.

Enhanced long-term funding for applied agricultural production research is needed as well to rebuild research infrastructure and expertise to

38 Cattlemen / June/july 2011

by Travis Toews

a level that can support innovation within the Canadian agriculture sector.

One of the CCA’s main priorities continues to be improving our regulatory environment. Regulations need to be designed and, importantly, implemented in a way that puts the competitiveness of the Canadian agriculture sector on equal footing with our global competitors. Due to the highly integrated nature of the Canadian and U.S. cattle and beef industries, as well as our high level of export dependency, the Canadian beef industry must have access to and be able to utilize the most effective and efficient production tools and practices in order to remain competitive. Canada is also a relatively small market so to attract new technologies and products we must have a favourable regulatory system that supports innovation. Currently the additional investment required to gain approval for products in Canada is often difficult to justify given the smaller size of our market and numerous regulatory hurdles. Specific emphasis continues to be placed upon harmonizing the Canadian approval process for veterinary drugs with the U.S. to ensure that applications from prospective companies are dealt with in a manner that limits duplicative research and the investments required to gain approval for their products in Canada. Improved access to new veterinary drugs and livestock production products will enhance both productivity and animal health and enable Canadian cattle producers to be positioned more competitively relative to our global competitors.

I recently had an opportunity to review a study the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development prepared on agriculture government support programs in OECD countries. After analyzing government support in each country, the report concluded with several key recommendations as well as a ministerial communiqué. Included in the communiqué were the following points: • A renewed emphasis should be given to innovation, efficient resource use and productivity growth.

• Bioenergy development should be encouraged based on economically and environmentally sustainable models.

• Trade is essential in ensuring sustainable and reliable flow of food and raw materials.

The issues identified in the communiqué are of paramount importance for the Canadian cattle industry and key priorities for the CCA. On behalf of Canadian cattle producers we will continue to press for improvements to our competitiveness both on the trade front and at home in our regulatory and business environment.

Of course, another important issue was developing at the time of this writing: the flooding around Lake Manitoba. We would anticipate that AgriRecovery’s response will be required. The CCA will be monitoring the situation and working with the Manitoba Beef Producers to ensure the right approach is taken. www.canadiancattlemen.ca

STRAIGHT FROM THE HIP

Women in agriculture

A

s we face a global shortfall in access to food, that is magnified by an exploding population, all farmers, but especially women farmers, will experience unprecedented stress in the procurement and development of agricultural products. At a time when commodity prices are favourable and should solidify farm income, most farmers worldwide will encounter rising input costs. Fertilizer, seed and fuel bills will trim gains to the farming community in all countries. For many, the lack of oxen due to their high value as meat will force more children into the fields and interfere with cherished time for education.

Worldwide, women constitute 52 per cent of the agricultural workforce but that rises to 90 per cent in many parts of the Southern Hemisphere. As in Canada, 30 per cent of rural households are headed by women. In many countries the work load of women increases beyond the household and the women are responsible for 80 per cent of all food production. There is a huge difference in average farm size by country with many farms in China being 0.13 hectares to Uganda where farms are 1.3 hectares across to Canada where the average farm size is nearly 300 hectares. Women actively participate in all farms although those owned by women in North America tend to be smaller than those owned by men. Outside of our borders, women may have access to the same acreage of a man but will not have the same level of production.

A lack of access to credit, based on their gender, limits inputs and often adds to the weight of being the sole provider while running the farm.

Although a host of societal and cultural issues barricade men and women farmers worldwide the most common is the lack of land ownership. This has been identified by all levels of government and in agriculture as the most pressing issue globally. It is tough to get enthused about extensive inputs if you never have ownership of land. Land access and control is the ground zero of decision-making for what will be produced and ultimately determines the degradation or enhancement of the life of those on the farm. The failure of most countries to address land ownership keeps the potential production of many farms flat, thus adding to the pressures of a strapped food supply system. Although land ownership affects men and women, it is women who bear the most of this cultural discrimination in the agricultural community.

A failure to address policy that is enabling for women to access the same level of education, technology, credit and land ownership has not prepared farming women for the current and future increases in input costs and challenges in marketing. Indeed, women farmers in all cultures are facing increased stress without the support of systems that make much needed capital or knowledge readily accessible. Although consumers around the world

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are asking for a shorter link between the farmer and the fork, the political environment lacks an appreciation for this potential and fails to recognize that as resources for women increase, so does agricultural production.

In March of 2011, EARTH TIMES reported that “hungry people could be reduced by 150 million persons per year if women had the same access to land, technology, education, financial security, markets and access to land.” It is a call for gender equality that resonates worldwide. The Dairy Women’s Network of New Zealand has stated that “Gender equality is not just a lofty idea. It is critical for agricultural development and food security.”

Food insecurity is driving much of the global unrest today. Crowds have taken to the streets to voice their fear of a lack of food. In North America, consumers are lashing out against corporate agriculture because of their fear of a lack of control of food. In all cases, the infrastructure is fragile. It only takes a few weeks to starve out a city if the transportation infrastructure is interrupted. In developing countries a lack of transportation infrastructure makes market access a real challenge and pressures rural economies.

As rural economies are drained, the role of women in agriculture takes on urgency. In addition to cultural and societal challenges, they face occupational health issues, the task of ecological management and must address the pressure towards monocultures. Although it would seem at first glance that inequality and a lack of access to resources is limited to developing countries the United Nations gives a very candid descriptive of farming women worldwide labelling them all as “undervalued, underpaid and underrecognized.” Corporate agriculture also concedes that as we go forward the challenges will be in infrastructure and in land ownership. Without these critical points, the second of which is vital to women of this day, we will continue to see stress and strife in agricultural food production.

The World Bank Group recently identified gender equality as the key to stimulating economic growth. It is simple logic. You have one vote, I have one vote, and that makes us equal. Yet governments struggle with the concept of ensuring food supplies through enabling policy regarding access to credit, education, tools, materials, technology, land ownership and the encouragement of gender equality for women in agriculture. Despite the overwhelming evidence that addressing the issue provides sound economic foundations for families, communities, regions and countries, we continue to watch women farmers struggle. Only when we empower these resourceful, committed women and provide for them an infrastructure to market product, will we feed our world.

— Brenda Schoepp Brenda Schoepp is a market analyst and the owner and author of BEEFLINK, a national beef cattle market newsletter. A professional speaker and industry market and research consultant, she ranches near Rimbey, Alta. Contact her at brenda.schoepp@cciwireless.ca.

CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011 39

NEWS ROUNDUP IDENTITY TRACEABILITY GETS A PASSING GRADE IN ALBERTA TRIAL The final report on Alberta’s traceability trial at six auction markets basically shows the electronic identification (EID) tag readers installed by Integrated Traceability Solutions (ITS), can read functioning tags at “the speed of commerce.” The real challenge is making sure animals arrive at the markets with functioning EID tags.

From September 2009 through June 2010 the Alberta Agriculture study monitored how well 248,335 cattle were traced through VJV Foothills Livestock Auction, Southern Alberta Livestock Exchange, Perlich Bros.

Auction Market, Provost Livestock Exchange, Stettler Auction Mart, and Sekura Auctions using three scanning systems. Four markets used high-flow systems with four scanning panels on either side of a five-foot alley. One market used dual panels in single alleys inside pre-sort barns plus a six-foot wand for pen reading. And one used 10-foot wands held from a catwalk over the unloading area in conjunction with a high-flow system.

Overall the read rates were over the acceptable minimum rate of 95 per cent — 97 with multiple panels on wide alleys, 98 for single-alley systems and nearly 99 per cent for wand readers — at acceptable speeds, with functioning tags.

The speed of commerce for this trial was set as the time a market normally needs to sell and deliver cattle up to the point they are scanned. In most cases, the distance cattle moved inside the market was increased slightly but not enough to affect the time spent unloading and receiving or the speed and length of the sales.

The tags were another matter. A little over 2,200 of the 15,171 lots (about 18 per cent of the cattle) had to be rehandled because of issues with the tags. Nearly 11,000 animals (4.3 per cent) had to be tagged. Roughly half of those were cows and bulls.

Mostly the tags were missing but a small number were unregistered, didn’t work right or were improperly placed in the ear. Dual tags were 40 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

another niggling problem that slowed down the work.

Tags were also an issue when it came to reporting the data to the Canadian Livestock Tracking System (CLTS) database in Calgary. Only 88 per cent of cattle run through the markets made it into the CLTS. Nearly 13,000 tags (4.4 per cent) scanned OK but were rejected by the CLTS computer, usually because the distributor had not properly allocated the tags to the producer.

About 46 per cent of the cattle with readable tags were age verified in the process. Almost 3,000 were incorrectly age verified.

The report also noted significant differences in the performance of different CCIA-accredited tags used in Alberta. Some consistently performed at an exceptionally high level, over 99 per cent, “while others were consistent underachievers.”

It total it took 8,549 staff hours to perform 328,634 scans at 307 sales.

The overall read rate at the six markets was 93.97 per cent, but that improved to 96.95 per cent when animals with tag issues were removed. Lot sizes ranged from one to 595 head.

The study also estimated the cost of implementing movement reporting capability to all markets in Alberta.

They looked at annual capital and operating costs if markets scanned cattle in and out, linking the information to a permit or uploading it directly to CLTS, and markets scanning cattle only as they arrive.

They also looked at the costs of markets owning and operating their own scanning systems versus markets owning the equipment but contracting the equipment vendor or a third party to operate it, as well as the equipment vendor owning and operating the system.

The market-owned/operated and the vendor-owned/operated were the least-cost models. Capital costs were higher and operating costs lower for the market-owned and -operated model than for the vendor-owned/ operated model. The operating costs over the five years, excluding tagging fees, worked out to $1.87 to $1.92 for the market-owned/operated model and $2.12 to $2.30 for the vendorowned/operated one.

The report didn’t include the cost

of integrating the scanning system with business management software, which will ultimately be necessary if traceability is to become accepted as a normal part of doing business. Nor does it address who will pay for the service over the long term and how to avoid putting auction markets at a competitive disadvantage to other methods of selling cattle directly that won’t be part of the traceability network.

The report makes a number of recommendations to improve traceability operations.

To read the full Alberta Auction Market Pilot Project reports, visit www. agriculture.alberta.ca/traceability.

FORAGE NEW HOLLAND REISSUES HAYMAKER’S HANDBOOK New Holland has released a revised third edition of its HAYMAKER’S HANDBOOK . First published in 1966 the practical “how-to” guidebook has proved popular with farmers and ranchers.

The company says this latest edition combines the latest university research with practical farmer know-how and company expertise to help anyone from novices to experienced producers understand the latest techniques in quality forage production.

To order or read an excerpt from the handbook go to www.haymakershandbookl.com.

SEEDSTOCK FED HEREFORD PROJECT EXTENDED TO 2011 The Canadian Hereford Association has extended its Fed Hereford Project into 2011.

The project runs in conjunction with Dr. Kee Jim of Feedlot Health Management Services and is designed to return actual carcass data to the producer and the Canadian Hereford Association for genetic evaluations.

G.K. Jim Farms purchases the Hereford feeder cattle based on a three-week Canfax average price and provides the carcass data. Interested www.canadiancattlemen.ca

parties may retain differing percentages of ownership under the program. To be eligible the cattle should be at least half Hereford with a registered sire or dam.

Carcass data from straightbred Herefords with two registered parents may be included in the EPD evaluation.

In 2009 producers submitted 1,100 head to the program and some 700 carcass records were returned. Some carcass data was lost in this early run due to computer conversion issues at Cargill in High River.

Of those that were reported 96.9 per cent of the steers and 98.4 per cent of the heifers graded AA or better; 89.4 per cent of steers were yield grade 2 or better and 58.5 per cent heifers yielded yield grade 3 or better.

The CHA office was still compiling the 2010 results as this issue went to press.

For details contact the CHA toll free at (888) 824-2329.

disease Foot-and-mouth study — smaller culls may be needed According to Reuters U.K. scientists have discovered that cattle with the foot-and-mouth virus are infectious for a very short time, hinting that the mass culling previously used to reduce the disease’s spread may be avoided in future.

The scientists in a paper published in the journal Science found that detecting the virus in a cow’s blood does not necessarily mean the animal is infectious when the sample is taken. Their research indicates a cow with FMD is only infectious for 1.7 days.

Their work at Britain’s Pirbright Laboratory indicates FMD could be diagnosed about 24 hours before an animal becomes infectious, raising the possibility that farmers might have time to cull infected animals before they transmit the virus.

Of course it could be some years before these findings are translated into new disease control methods capable of handling large-scale outbreaks. As a first step the researchers need to come up with a reliable tool for pre-clinical diagnosis of FMD on farms.

the number of operators as well as the number of lots. In Alberta 172 operators are managing 185 lots, indicating some remaining lots have been leased out.

Writing in his weekly Canadian Cattle Buyer newsletter George Morris Centre analyst, Kevin Grier went one step further and compared the current finishing capacity to western calf numbers which have been shrinking by an average of four per cent per year over the past four years.

Looking back 12 years he says the ratio of calves to feedlot capacity peaked at 2.3 to one in 2005. In 2011, it is at a 12-year low at 1.85 to one.

“The trend has to be of concern to feedlot operators and packers,” says Grier. “Feedlots tend to turn cattle about two times per year. If the western calf inventory numbers are reasonably accurate, it suggests that there are not enough cattle for the current feedlot capacities. At the very least, the data demonstrate that there is cause for concern in the next couple of years.

“The feedlot capacity and inventory numbers also demonstrate the importance of keeping cattle on the Prairies, as opposed to exported. In that regard, the feed spread on the Prairies is playing a huge, positive role over the past several months.”

In the last nine months, he says U.S. corn prices have been increasing at a compound monthly rate of nine per cent compared to three per cent on Alberta barley.

“While U.S. prices have soared, Alberta barely remains abundant and comparatively cheap. The western feed market is facing declining hog numbers, more wheat feeding and shorter cattle on feed numbers.

The net result is that Alberta cattle feeders have much Continued on page 42

marketing Feedlot capacity shrinking More of the strains from the shrinking size of Canada’s cattle herd were revealed in May by a Canfax report on feedlot finishing capacity in Western Canada.

The market-reporting arm of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association now lists 201 finishing feedlots in Alberta and Saskatchewan with over 1,000-head capacity, five per cent fewer than made the list in 2010.

Total bunk capacity in the two provinces shrank by 0.5 per cent to 1,689,080 head.

Canfax research analyst Brenna Grant says the drop is due to feedlots closing or shifting from finishing to backgrounding calves. All of the losses took place in Saskatchewan where finishing capacity dropped by 26 per cent or 43,100 head to 123,200. The finishing capacity in Alberta by comparison expanded by 36,230 head or 2.4 per cent to 1. 56 million head.

In 2008 the combined finishing capacity of the two provinces was just a bit under 1.75 million.

This year’s demographic survey was expanded to count www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Cattlemen / June/july 2011 41

News Roundup Continued from page 41

greater buying leverage than U.S. cattle feeders.”

Trade data shows the feeder cattle aren’t going to the U.S. Exports are down 43 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2010.

At the same time placements in Alberta and Saskatchewan feedlots were down by three per cent on May 1, the fourth decline in as many months.

“The net result of the lower placements of course is pending lower marketings. Declining marketings are the last thing that numbers-starved packers need,” says Grier.

land Canada’s farmland values keep rising: FCC Farm Credit Canada says the average value of farmland across the country rose by more than five per cent in 2010, with values in Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island leading the way.

Given the variations in land prices and uses within regions FCC doesn’t try to provide average farmland values in dollars per acre, but instead tracks average changes in farmland values.

Canada-wide, the average value of farmland rose 2.1 per cent in the last six months of 2010, following an increase of 3.0 per cent in the first six months of the year.

Prince Edward Island recorded the highest average increase during the second half of 2010 at 3.2 per cent, following seven years of flat or decreasing values.

Saskatchewan farmland rose 2.7 per cent for an average increase of 0.5 per cent per month over the whole year. The increase came largely from sales in a couple of rural municipalities in the southern half of the province where a demand for good-quality land in lentil-producing areas pushed up the overall average. With last year’s spring flooding and unseeded acres, land values were relatively stable in the rest of the province. Purchasers from other countries were another contributing factor.

Stronger potato prices led to an average increase of 2.4 per cent in New Brunswick.

Farmland values in Ontario also 42 Cattlemen / June/july 2011

rose 2.4 per cent in the second half of the year for a total average monthly increase of 0.6 per cent in 2010, the highest in Canada.

Alberta farmland values rose an average 1.5 per cent during the same time, following gains of 2.9 and 3.8 per cent in the two previous six-month periods.

“Activity was ‘generally stable’ in the province’s north as it recovered from the 2009 drought, and was steady along the Highway 2 corridor between Calgary and Edmonton,” FCC said.

Farmland values in Manitoba increased an average 1.3 per cent, following gains of 3.4 and 5.9 per cent in the two previous periods. Values rose an average 0.7 per cent per month during the past two years, the highest such monthly average across the country.

Manitoba’s Interlake and beefproducing areas saw “limited or no increase,” due mainly to wet spring and summer conditions. In Manitoba’s southeast, continued depopulation in the hog sector “could have affected land sales, but demand remained steady as dairy farmers sought more land for nutrient management purposes,” FCC said.

Quebec farmland values rose an average 0.9 per cent during the second half of 2010, following gains of 2.3 and 1.3 per cent in the two previous reporting periods, and remains the only province that hasn’t experienced a decrease in its average farmland values since FCC began reporting them.

British Columbia farmland values increased an average 0.4 per cent in the second half, after slipping 0.9 per cent during the first half of 2010 and flatlining in the second half of 2009.

The Peace River region saw a more active market, but mainly in areas close to the communities of Dawson Creek and Fort St. John due to strength in the natural resource sector.

identification Report those lost tags If your cattle are losing their approved RFID tags the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) is asking that you let them know about it.

The simplest way to do that is to fill in a tag-related complaint form online.

Just type in www.canadaid.ca and click on the “About Us” section.

The form is designed to zero in on what causes these failures. Fences, bale

twine and bale feeders are all known risks for snagging tags.

Tags put in with the wrong applicator or placed in the wrong spot in the ear are other common sources of failures. Paul Laronde, the CCIA’s tag and technology manager, says tags that are put in correctly don’t fall out if they don’t get snagged on anything. When there are problems, “it’s that sort of collision between cows, tags and the management of cattle.”

Exposure to parasiticides or UV rays also deteriorates plastic. Whatever the cause, Laronde says lost tags is the single biggest complaint he gets from producers. It’s his job to check them out and find solutions.

One way he does that is by conducting various audits on the six CCIA-approved tags to ensure the manufacturers are continuing to meet the CCIA standards and that their tags are still up to the task.

If you fill in one of those forms Laronde may call and ask you to send in samples of the problem tags. A tag broken in a certain way usually indicates if it was snagged and broken on twine or fencing. When it’s clear that the plastic has deteriorated, that’s the fault of the tag and Laronde brings those tags to the attention of the manufacturer.

All RFID tags are tested against CCIA standards before they are approved. The standard was revised in 2006 and is again being reviewed to keep pace with changes in tag design.

The plastic in tags today is exposed to accelerated aging through UV and chemical exposure. That wasn’t done previously.

During an annual audit Laronde buys approved tags and taggers at retail outlets and tests the electronics, physical strength and readability of the tags in a laboratory setting. The manufacturer pays for the test.

As part of the audit he picks up retired tags from the packers and runs them through the scanner to make sure they still work.

Last year Laronde found one brand where the cap wore off prematurely because the pin was too long which meant the stud could be pulled out and the tag reapplied to another animal. He’s since identified that problem to the manufacturer so they can find a solution and remain on the CCIA’s approved list of suppliers.

CCIA also has a tag retention trial underway on community pastures in Saskatchewan. Calves were brought in from Ontario and Western Canada and tagged by a professional crew on the pastures. The steers will be monitored www.canadiancattlemen.ca

for two years and breeding animals for five years or however long they remain on the pasture.

The CCIA is also encouraging the manufacturers to look at RFID tag designs other than the standard round button. As a result, a couple of new tags are being tested that Laronde says look like they might offer some answers to the retention issue. “We’re working to make the situation better,” he said. Although progress is not going to happen overnight, what is clear is that producers want tags that stay in, period. Laronde noted that being offered replacement tags doesn’t really sit well with producers because the time and effort involved in retagging an animal is viewed as a drain on production.

grazing The open range goes virtual Our world of electronic conveniences has now reached the cow pasture. In the not-so-distant future, landscapes may be dotted only with virtual fences and cattle will be herded

with global positioning system (GPS) technology. Of course, as with most electronics, how long the battery will last is still an issue. In this case, the amount of battery power a bovine can carry on the collar around its neck limits the use of technology.

The May issue of R angeland E cology & M anagement brings this future closer through a study that employed GPS and automated animal control (AAC) systems as an alternative to physical fences. The study tested a discontinuous use of AAC — the devices were activated only 25 per cent of the time — to reduce power consumption.

The goal of this project was to modify grazing behaviours of cattle.

Livestock and rangeland management includes ensuring a stocking rate that the land can support, protecting areas from overgrazing, and targeting grazing to reduce fuel that can create wildfires. This is usually accomplished with physical fencing.

This study, conducted in Queensland, Australia, tested the effectiveness of virtual fencing on four groups of Brahman steers. Each steer was fitted with a collar containing a GPS receiver, a sensory stimulus device that created

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a buzzing sound, and another stimulus device that produced a one-second electrical pulse.

Each group of cattle was placed in a paddock that featured a supplemental feeder at one end. At first, the animals were given unlimited access to the entire enclosure. Then a restricted zone around the desirable food source was delimited and discontinuous AAC — a five-minute burst of stimuli followed by a random zero-to-30-minute interval of no stimuli — was applied to control the cattle’s behaviour. It was expected that through negative reinforcement the animals would progressively learn to avoid the area.

Overall, the study showed a 97 per cent reduction in the use of the restricted zone by the cattle. This finding provides evidence that discontinuous use of AAC is sufficient to effectively modify the grazing behaviour of cattle. The success of this method of reinforcement will help to overcome energy supply limitations and make AAC applications for cattle a commercially viable option.

The full text of the article is available online at http://www.sr m-

Regular Columns News Roundup Purely Purebred The Markets

5

4

3

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1

Market Talk Sales and Events

2 1 Nutrition Comment Research Special features 5 4 3 2 1 Newsmakers Letters Calving Issue (Jan.) CCA Reports Custom Feedlot Guide (April) Prime Cuts Stock Buyers’ Guide (Aug.) Straight From The Hip Animal Health Special (Sep.) Holistic Ranching Beef Watch (May & Nov.) What would you like to see? __________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ How much time do you and your family spend reading 1666 Dublin Avenue Canadian Cattlemen?  Under 2 hours  Over 2 hours Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1

Cattlemen / June/july 2011 43

purely purebred Suggestions are always welcome.

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

Deborah WILSON

◆ Does anyone know who this woman is tattooing a Hereford calf about 30 years ago? ◆ I had a number of calls on the pic-

ture in the May issue. Lee Hunt of Endiang, Alta. and Don and Myrtle Dewdney of Mayerthorpe, Alta. cor-

rectly identified (l-r) Wilf Sieger, Harold Thornton and Lloyd Quantz, and the occasion was the Grand Opening of the Canadian Charolais Association building in Calgary in 1978. Mark Kihn also identified the three men and Mike Millar was able to identify two of the individuals.

Joyce Stewart, past secretary of the Canadian Charolais Association wrote: I remember this picture very well — March 18, 1978 — the ribbon cutting at the Official Opening of the Canadian Charolais Association new building. From l-r: Wilf Sieger, Cor44 Cattlemen / June/july 2011

onation, newly elected president of the CCA, Harold Thornton, Calgary then past president and Lloyd Quantz, Didsbury, general manager. We had over 250 people in attendance. It was an evening to remember, filled with pride and emotions of so many people who had worked so hard to make the “Charolais permanent home” a dream come true.

◆ In late May I was at a commercial bred female sale at Fort MacLeod, Alta. A package of 18 red first-calf heifers, with calves at side, sold for $2,075 per pair. The next-highest package were 14 black first-calvers with calves, they sold for $1,875 per pair.

With the outstanding bull sale averages this year and the great prices on commercial cows, I look for the industry to be far more upbeat and positive this fall and into 2012. I believe we are entering into a rebuilding stage of the national cow herd.

◆ The Canadian Limousin Association will hold its 2011 Annual General Meeting on August 20 at the Orangeville Fairgrounds Auditorium in Ontario at 9 a.m. As usual, their AGM is held in conjunction with the Canadian National Junior Conference hosted by the Ontario Limousin Association Aug. 19-21. The program, entry form and other information are all posted on the CLA website, under the “junior” page at www.limousin. com. The CJLA board has decided to make $1,000 available towards travel costs for juniors residing outside of Ontario wishing to attend the conference in Orangeville. Interested parties must apply with Cameron Olson prior to the event by email (horizonlimousin@abnet.ca). Financial assistance will be decided according to the number of applicants and the distance they have to travel, for a maximum allowance of $200 per junior.

Invitational Golf Tournament on June 21 and 22 at the Dakota Dunes Golf Links, Saskatoon, Sask. This awardwinning, top-ranked course is built for golfers of all skill levels. Enjoy the 18 holes of golf while taking in the natural beauty of the Prairies. As we are seeing a positive shift in the livestock industry, it is an exciting time to show the juniors our support.

◆ The Saskatchewan Shorthorn Association is pleased to invite you to come on out to Regina and take part in the Canadian Shorthorn Annual Meetings from June 24 to 26. Regina is a city known for its cultural experiences, museums, heritage centres, RCMP training depot, and breathtaking landscapes nearby. Not to mention the quick drive from the airport to any major hotel in the city. Planned activities will commence Thursday

◆ Time is running out to make

STAMPEDE

◆ Plan to attend the 4th Annual T Bar

a donation to the Canadian Angus Association Baldy Fundraiser. Donate toward incoming CEO Rob Smith, president Kirk Wildman, or assistant general manager Michael Latimer.

Whoever raises the most money will have their head shaved at the CAA AGM. All funds raised will be split between the Canadian Angus Foundation and Kids with Cancer Society.

◆ The Canadian Hereford Association has launched the official World Hereford Conference site — go to www.hereford.ca/WHC2012 . The Olds Ag Society, Calgary Stampede and Sheraton Cavalier Hotel have been selected as the sites to host most of the activities. The Junior Hereford Bonanza will be held along with the conference. Stay tuned for more details.

By Jerry Palen

“Flo, it’s too hot to sleep.

Let’s go bale hay.” www.canadiancattlemen.ca

evening June 23 and conclude Sunday, June 26. The meetings will be held at the Regina Inn — 1975 Broad Street.

Phone 306-525-6767 to book your room.

◆ The Canadian Gelbvieh Association has a new animal and member search engine on its website. The member search page allows a person to search the database for current active members listed. The animal search page enables you to search the whole herdbook. The results allow you to view extended pedigrees, ownership and EPD information. The EPD search page allows you to search the active sire and dams database for animals that meet your EPD requirements. ◆ It is a good practice to collect and store DNA on all active females and bulls used in the herd. An at-home DNA bank could be as simple as storing hair in envelopes labelled with the individual’s tattoo. ◆ This year the Manitoba Angus Association will be hosting the Canadian National Red and Black Angus

Shows on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011 at the Manitoba Livestock Expo, Brandon, Man. The Manitoba Angus Association is excited to be hosting this event, as this is the first time they will host the national show since 1999.

◆ The Canadian Cattlemen’s Associa-

tion is particularly pleased that Gerry Ritz remains with the Agriculture and Agri-Food portfolio and looks forward to continuing to work with the minister on issues of importance to Canada’s beef cattle industry. Ritz was first appointed minister of agriculture and agri-food and minister for the Canadian Wheat Board in August 2007. “Minister Ritz has worked tirelessly to improve market access for Canadian cattle, beef and other agricultural exports and we appreciate his efforts,” said CCA president Travis Toews. “The CCA will continue to press for improvements to our competitiveness both on the trade front and at home in our regulatory and business environment.”

◆ The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and the International Stock-

man’s Educational Foundation will be hosting Canadian and international students at the 2011 International Livestock Congress in Calgary Aug. 7-11, 2011. The ILC Student Program provides an opportunity to those taking secondary education to tour the Cargill High River Packing plant (one of the few tours they do anymore), network with like-minded students working in the field of agriculture from across Canada, the U.S. and the world and potentially meet their future employer. The International Livestock Congress is being held in conjunction with the CCA semi-annual meeting this year giving participants the opportunity to meet industry leaders, hear the issues and the experts’ perspectives on these issues.

This program is open to diploma, bachelor and graduate students who are looking to be a part of the industry as primary producers, service providers and researchers, and is an excellent stepping stone for those who are interested in the Cattlemen Young Continued on page 46

Want to know if Chicago feeder futures hit $135?

Do you have a certain price in mind for when you want to sell, but don’t want to spend all your time watching a computer?

We have a solution — or actually two.

• Log on to Commodity Watch at www.canadiancattlemen.ca.

You can set an alert to receive an email when a futures contract reaches your chosen level.

• If you’re not by a computer, no problem. The Cattlemen smartphone app has the same feature. Available free at agreader.ca/cc, it also brings you real-time weather from the WeatherFarm network, headlines from our daily news service and twice-daily audio market reports from Farm Market News The Canadian Cattlemen Mobile app is currently available for Blackberry devices – Android and iphone apps coming soon.

Canadian Cattlemen Mobile is sponsored by

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Cattlemen / June/july 2011 45

12/6/07

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Page 1

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Continued from page 45

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CANADIAN BEEF SCHOOL

MARKET PLACE

This 3-day hands-on school will train beef producers, restaurateurs, food editors and food service representatives regarding quality, fabrication and marketing of beef (gate to plate). The supply chain from producer to consumer is complex and often times fragmented. As a result, information between various levels of the chain is limited, creating a barrier to value based production and customer satisfaction.

Leaders Program which was rolled out nationally this spring. If you know of anyone who would be eligible and a good candidate, please tell them about the program. Students can apply at http://www.ilccalgary.com.

◆ The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association has announced the new program co-ordinator for the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders (CYL) Program. Fawn Jackson will be filling this role as Jill Harvie is taking a leave from her job, for a year. Fawn Jackson grew up on a grain and cattle farm in Inglis, Manitoba. She and her four sis◆ It is that time of year again to think ters were always very involved in 4-H about your nominations for the CSA CSA Bus. Card Jan04 12/9/03 11:21 AM Page 1 and the Canadian Charolais Youth Hall of Fame Award. As in the past, Association. In 2010, Fawn graduated we are accepting nominations from the CSA membership and provincial associations. Please see the CSA webUnbeatable Maternal Performance site for selection criteria and nomination form, http://www.simmental. com/history.htm.

The CSA board will be reviewCanadian Simmental Association 403-250-7979 ing the applications in September, so 13 - 4101 19 Street, N.E. Calgary, AB please have your nomination into the www.simmental.com CSA office by September 1, 2011. If you have any questions please feel free Make Your Decisions Profitable to contact the CSA office or email: mcartwright@simmental.com.

C

Limousin Bank on the Carcass Breed

Canadian Limousin assoCiation

The Canadian Beef School provides participants with hands-on learning activities involving live cattle and carcasses to effectively develop an understanding of those factors that create value differences among cattle and the various components and functions of the supply chain. This awareness will help participants identify areas of value and quality that can assist in the development of profitable production and processing practices leading to greater product consistency and customer satisfaction.

#13, 4101 – 19th Street N.E., Calgary, AB T2E 7C4 Phone: (403) 253-7309 Web site: www.limousin.com

Course: November 2011 and March 2012 Contact: Brad McLeod, Program Coordinator

SUITE 109, 2116 - 27TH AVE N.E., CALGARY, ALBERTA, T2E 7A6 PH: (403) 250-8640 • FAX: (403) 291-5624

1-800-661-6537 bmcleod@oldscollege.ca

www.oldscollege.ca

from the University of Alberta with a degree in natural resource and agricultural economics. Upon completion of her undergraduate degree, Fawn moved south to begin graduate studies in international agriculture at Oklahoma State University. During her time there, Fawn was fortunate to do research and work with an agriculture development team in Afghanistan.

Fawn is excited to have joined the CCA staff as the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders (CYL) program co-ordinator this past May to continue learning and contributing to our great agriculture industry.

SALES Simmental Sale Results January 1 – April 8, 2011 (53 sales)

“A GOOD BOTTOM LINE STARTS WITH A GREAT COW HERD!”

CANADIAN GELBVIEH ASSOCIATION

WWW.GELBVIEH.CA

2,464 63 2,527 263 44 307

Yearling bulls, av. $4,390.56 2-year-old bulls, av. $4,190.46 Total bulls, av. $4,385.57 Heifers, av. $2,660.51 Bred heifers, av. $2,094.59 Total heifers, av. $2,579.40

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46 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

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The markets

Market Summary debbie mcmillin Fed Cattle

Alberta fed steers slipped for six consecutive weeks from $115 at the start of April to $103 by mid-May, which was still almost $12 better than last year. The fed cattle cash-to-cash basis at mid-month was -6.42 per cwt, somewhat wider than the average yearto-date basis of -4.05 per cwt, but narrower than the -10.47 at the same time last year.

The Alberta and Saskatchewan cattle-on-feed report listed 1,000,899 head as of May 1, down three per cent from the year earlier. April marketings at 143,768 head were down 18 per cent from March in keeping with the tight numbers on feed since the start of the year. This marked the smallest April marketings since the start of this report in 2000. Reduced marketings are the result of reduced placements. In the past 12 months, with the exception of November and December 2010, the placement number has been lower than its comparable month from the year before. This month was no different.

Deb’s Outlook Fed Cattle Supply is still one positive in the fed market as placements were down for the better part of a year but a seasonally large supply of calves will be ready for slaughter in late May and June. Exports are down and packers seem comfortable with their current inventory. A strong dollar and the fact the basis generally widens through June add further instability.

As well, beef demand was slow off the mark in the face of rising retail costs and fuel bills, but any warm weather after such a cool spring should trigger some added barbe-

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

April placements were down seven per cent. To date in 2011 producers have placed 119,000 fewer cattle in western feedlots compared with the same five months of 2010.

Fed steer slaughter for 2011 as of May 7 was down 13 per cent at 430,604 head, while heifer slaughter was down six per cent at 365,652.

To the end of April fed cattle exports were down 34 per cent from the same period in 2010 at 160,065 head.

The 850-pound feeder basis held relatively steady over the past month.

By mid-May it was running at -7.66 per cwt, which is 8.27 narrower than the same week in 2010. To date the average 850 basis has been historically tight in 2011 averaging -6.90 per cwt over the first 18 weeks compared to -12.67 in 2010 and -18.40 in 2009.

Total feeder exports to the end of April totalled just 39,614 head, down 57 per cent from 2010.

Feeder Cattle

Non-Fed Cattle

Lightweight steers picked up in recent weeks as warmer weather led to spring grass. After a dip to $146 per cwt towards the end of April 550pound feeder steers popped back to an average $154.50 by mid-May. A small increase was noted on the heavier feeders as well, with 850 steers that had dipped back to an average $115.50 at the end of April picked up another $1.67 to post $117.17 at press time in May. This compares to $117.21 on 550-pound steers and $98.56 on heavy feeders last year at this time.

Earlier in the spring demand for replacement-type females lent support to the heifer market however in recent weeks while steers gained ground heifers moved in the opposite direction.

The 550-pound heifer average slumped from $136.10 to $129.90 per cwt from late April to mid-May. Heavier heifers saw the same downward movement from $115 to $108 by mid-month.

While cull cow prices have slipped back slightly in recent weeks they have certainly enjoyed a strong trend in 2011. Following the high reached in April at $80.45 per cwt prices softened to an average $74.08 by mid-May. That is still well ahead of the $60.01 posted in the same week last year. The average D1,2 price to date in 2011 is $71.41 per cwt compared to $50.97 in 2010 and $48.84 in 2009. Butcher bulls by mid-month were trading at an average $85.59 per cwt, in a range from $76 to $97. Exports of cull cattle to the end of April were only 67,003 head, down 26 per cent on the year. Cow slaughter is also down, by 14 per cent, but bull kill is up eight per cent.

cue sales. It all points to some seasonal downside in the fed market so it will be important for feedlots to remain current. Any increase in demand along with overall light supplies should lend some support to prices through this soft spot.

Feeder Cattle As farmers rush to catch up on field work feeder numbers will remain low with prices tied heavily to quality.

Feeder prices usually trend up through summer, peaking in the third quarter, but the high prices earlier this year coupled with rising break-evens raise the possibility of a contra-seasonal trend. More likely the smaller calf crop and the relatively higher 2011

— Debbie McMillin

Debbie McMillin is a market analyst who ranches at Hanna, Alta.

More markets➤ fed market will keep feedlots eager which will lend support to near-term feeder markets. Look for mostly steady prices on limited volumes at auctions over the next few months.

Non-Fed Cattle Cull prices generally peak towards the end of the second quarter however the $80.45 high for April D1,2 cows will be tough to top. Softening fed prices, the dollar and rising ground beef prices are negative factors pushing against a still strong demand for trim and grinding products and limited cow supply. Current seedstock prices will likely pull cows away from the slaughter market adding some support to cull prices.

Cattlemen / june/july 2011 47

Break-even Prices on A-Grade Steers 115

ALBERTA

150

105 95 85 75

Market Prices

160

140 130

western Market Summary

120 110

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

125

100

115

75

105

65

95

55

85

45

75

35

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

2011

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

85

ONTARIO

Canfax weighted average price on A-Grade steers

Steer Calves (500-600 lb.)

D1,2 Cows Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Ontario 2010 Market Ontario prices based on a 50/50 east/west mix Summary O ntario

2011

2010

A lberta

Break-even price

2011

for steers on date sold

2011

2010

Kevin Grier2010

Market Summary (to May 7)

May 2011 prices* Alber ta Yearling steers (850 lb.)............... $117.25/cwt Barley................................................. 4.56/bu.

Barley silage..................................... 57.00/ton Cost of gain (feed)........................... 61.07/cwt Cost of gain (all costs)..................... 84.62/cwt Fed steers...................................... 106.16/cwt Break-even (September 2011)........ 105.55/cwt Ontario Yearling steers (850 lb.)............... $120.63/cwt Corn silage....................................... 57.76/ton Grain corn........................................... 6.97/bu.

Cost of gain (feed)......................... 103.10/cwt Cost of gain (all costs)................... 127.97/cwt Fed steers...................................... 108.12/cwt Break-even (November 2011)......... 123.67/cwt *Mid-month to mid-month prices Breakevens East: end wt 1,450, 183 days West end wt 1,325 lb., 125 days

48 Cattlemen / june/july 2011

2011 Total Canadian federally inspected slaughter................ 978,962 Average steer carcass weight............................................ 848 lb.

Total U.S. slaughter.................................................... 12,167,000

2010 1,096,438 862 lb.

12,203,000

Trade Summary EXPORTS 2011 Fed cattle to U.S. (to April 30)....................................... 160,065 Feeder cattle and calves to U.S. (to April 30).................. 39,614 Dressed beef to U.S. (to March)........................... 125.41 mil.lbs Total dressed beef (to March)............................... 170.77 mil.lbs

2010 242,794 92,124 171.86 mil.lbs 225.25 mil.lbs

IMPORTS 2011 Slaughter cattle from U.S. (to March) ....................................... 0 *Dressed beef from U.S. (to March)....................... 73.20 mil.lbs *Dressed beef from Australia (to March)................... 2.63 mil.lbs *Dressed beef from New Zealand (to March)............. 15.80 mil.lbs *Dressed beef from Uruguay (to March).................. 4.61 mil.lbs

2010 0 63.43 mil.lbs 7.02 mil.lbs 14.06 mil.lbs 17.41 mil.lbs

Canadian Grades (to May 14) % of A grades AAA AA A Prime Total

EAST WEST

+59% 21.2 27.0 2.2 0.4 50.8 Total graded 208,329 712,992

Yield –53% Total 11.3 56.0 2.4 39.6 0.0 2.3 0.6 1.5 14.3 Total A grade 99.4% Total ungraded % carcass basis 66,332 74.7% 49,226 61.6%

54-58% 23.5 10.2 0.1 0.5 34.3

Only federally inspected plants

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

market talk with Gerald Klassen

Understanding risk management and price insurance

P

Another factor to consider is the long-term risk reward ratio. If a feedlot in southern Alberta was to buy 800-pound feeders every week and sell them at 1,250 pounds feeding silage and barley, the average return would be in the range of plus $10 to minus $10 per head. Looking at different studies and also conducting this exercise myself, the potential long-run margin in a feedlot buying and selling cattle every week is likely near $0 per head. The Canadian feedlot industry is extremely efficient and unless producers have some edge or are the most efficient, it is difficult to compete long term. Keep in mind it is a pure competitive market. The fluctuation in financial returns or “risk” can be plus or minus $150 per head and on the outset, there are instances where the returns are plus or minus $250 per head. We saw some severe losses during the recessionary meltdown and the feedlot industry experienced some better times this last fall.

If a producer was to buy price insurance on all animals, the long-term average return would be lower. For example, if a producer endures another $15 per head cost on every animal and the long-term average return is $0 per

roducers in Alberta have access to the Cattle Price Insurance Program and it appears that Saskatchewan and Manitoba will likely implement a similar program in the future. Government price insurance programs are just another way to minimize risk similar to futures and options markets. The mechanics of the program are fairly simple but I’ve received many calls and emails from cattle producers looking for recommendations. In my discussion, I’ve found that producers have very little understanding about risk management and the potential risk reward of their operation. In this article, I’m going to discuss risk management and how this relates to an individual’s operation or risk profile.

Over the past two years, the price of fed cattle in Alberta has gone from lows of $78 during December of 2009 to highs of $116 this past April, as you can see on the chart. There have been some severe price swings within a short period of time. Prior to the rally last winter, the highs of fed cattle were near $100 and the lows were around $80.

For a producer, this represents a fluctuation in value of $250 on a 1,250pound steer. Notice that the price highs are usually quite short lived.

Southern Alberta fed cattle prices Monthly average Jan. 2005 to May 2011

120 115 110 $$/cwt

105 100 95 90 85

head, this automatically makes your long-term average negative $15 per head. Producers also have to remember that they can only insure the cattle for the potential value in a certain time frame. Put simply, you can’t insure a house that is worth $250,000 for $1 million and the same principle goes for price insurance on fed cattle or feeder cattle. Additional coverage increases the cost of the insurance package.

There are two main questions I ask producers when purchasing price insurance or put options on a futures market. Where is the current cattle price relative to history and how much risk can the individual endure on their own accord. For example, if prices are at historical highs and the producer has a low-risk tolerance due to expensive barley and higher-priced feeder cattle, then the feedlot operator should be looking at insuring a larger portion of the production at current market prices.

On the contrary, if the feedlot operator has purchased feeder cattle near 10-year lows and the fed market has been hovering near five-year lows, there is not a significant reason to spend a lot of money on insurance. Producers who are highly leveraged should also increase their insurance coverage.

In conclusion, buying price insurance on every animal can significantly increase costs and lower long-term financial returns. Producers have to be cognizant of where feeder and fed cattle have been trading relative to the long-term average to determine the risk reward of the current price structure. Do producers really need insurance when the markets are at historical lows?

Looking at this chart, where do producers need insurance?

80

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

May ’11

Jan. ’11

Sep. ’10

May ’10

Jan. ’10

Sep. ’09

Jan. ’09

May ’09

Sep. ’08

May ’08

Jan. ’08

Sep. ’07

May ’07

Jan. ’07

Sep. ’06

Jan. ’06

May ’06

Sep. ’05

Jan. 05

70

May ’05

75

Gerald Klassen analyses markets in Winnipeg and also maintains an interest in the family feedlot in southern Alberta.

He can be reached at jkci@mymts.net or 204-287-8268.

Cattlemen / June/july 2011 49

SALES AND EVENTS EVENTS June

15-16—Saskatchewan Pasture School, Best Western Harvest Inn, Saskatoon, Sask.

18—Junior Cattlemen’s Day, Dave Milsap Farm, Creemore, Ont., Andy McNiven 705330-5425 or Elaine Simpson 705-728-3028 21—Western Beef Development Centre’s Annual Field Day, Termuende Research Ranch, Lanigan, Sask., www.wbdc.sk.ca 21-22—T Bar C Invitational Golf Tournament, Dakota Dunes, Saskatoon, Sask.

23-25— Canadian Shorthorn Assoc. Annual General Meeting, Regina, Sask.

July

7-11—Prairieland Junior Ag Showcase, Prairieland Park, Saskatoon, Sask.

8-17—Calgary Stampede, Stampede Park, Calgary, Alta.

9-12—Alberta Summer Synergy, Olds Ag Society, Olds, Alta.

10—Roundup of Memories-Cowboy Poetry, Music and Storytelling, Bar U Ranch, Longview, Alta.

11-16—International Youth Livestock Show, Olds Ag Society, Olds, Alta., www.oldsagsociety.com 14-17—Canadian Junior Shorthorn Show, Fairgrounds, Weyburn, Sask.  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

Sign-up for daily e-news and have the top stories delivered.

We do our best to keep you up to date on farm news with our family of print publications, but if you’d like to know what’s happening more often, it’s just a few clicks away at www.agcanada.com.

It features the latest farm news, updated through the day, as well as three-times daily futures market commentary.

AGCanada.com also links you to our publication websites, where, if you’re a subscriber, you can read online, or search back issues. You can also sign up to have news highlights delivered by email daily.

So, if it’s in print or online you’ll find it at AGCanada.com

www.agcanada.com | Life and Livelihood.

50 CATTLEMEN / JUNE/JULY 2011

16—UFA Steer Classic-Stampede, Stampede Park, Calgary, Alta.

17—International Youth Livestock Show Supreme Championship, Stampede Park, Calgary, Alta.

20—40th Annual Bruce County Cattlemen’s Beef BBQ, Chesley Community Center, Chesley, Ont., www.eatbigbrucebeef.ca 20-23—Canadian Charolais Youth Association Conference and Show, Saskatoon, Sask.

21-23 —Canadian Junior Angus Association Showdown 2011, Fairgrounds, Weyburn, Sask.

22—AB/SK Junior Limousin Show, Lloydminster, Sask.

27-30—Canadian Hereford Association AGM and Bonanza Jr. Show, Saskatoon, Sask.

28-29—Saskatchewan Angus Gold and Junior Show, Saskatoon, Sask.

29-31—Canadian Red Angus Promotion Society Tour, Saskatoon, Sask.

29-31—Manitoba Youth Beef Roundup, Neepawa, Man. 29-31 —YCSA National Classic 2011, Neepawa, Man.

August 3-6—Tiger Lily Classic, Prince Albert, Sask.

7-9—Alberta Angus Junior Association Junior Show, Bashaw, Alta.

9-12—Canadian Cattlemen’s Association Semi-Annual Meeting, Deerfoot Inn and Casino, Calgary, Alta.

10—Beef 2011 International Livestock Congress, Deerfoot Inn and Casino, Calgary, Alta.

10—Canadian Charolais Youth Association Conference and Show, Saskatoon, Sask.

14—Old Time Ranch Rodeo, Bar U, Longview, Alta.

AD INDEX Page Agrowplow Canada 28 Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development 46 Beef Information Centre 11 Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show 23 Canadian Angus Assoc.

IFC Canadian Charolais Assoc.

OBC Canadian Gelbvieh Assoc.

46 Canadian Hereford Assoc.

46 Canadian Limousin Assoc.

46 Canadian Red Angus Promotion Society 46 Canadian Shorthorn Assoc.

46 Canadian Simmental Assoc.

46 Canadian Welsh Black Society 46 Canadian Wheat Board 21 Direct Livestock Marketing 41 Gallagher USA 21 General Motors 5 International Livestock Congress 15 International Stock Foods 46 Intervet Canada Corp.

17, 33, IBC Jaylor Fabricating Inc. 29 Lakeland Group/Northstar 10 a-p Merial Canada 19 Northwest Consolidated Beef 46 Novartis Animal Health 7 Pfizer Animal Health 13 Real Industries Ltd. 29 Red Brand Fence 31 Ridge Road Welding 29 Southern Scale Company Inc. 30 Tru-Test Inc. 25 Western Canada Farm Progress Show 37

18—Canadian Junior Limousin Conference, Orangeville, Ont. 20—Canadian Limousin Association Annual General Meeting, Orangeville, Ont. 20—Canadian Maine Anjou Association Annual General Meeting, Regina, Sask.

26—Maritime Classic, Truro, Nova Scotia 27-28—Ontario Trillium, Cobden, Ont.

September

24—Canadian Blonde D’aquitaine 37th Annual General Meeting, Lindsay, Ont. 30—Olds Classic Fall Beef Show, Olds Ag Society, Olds, Alta.

October

7-9—National Shorthorn Show, Victoriaville, Que. 8—Quebec Classic, Victoriaville, Que. 21-22—Red Roundup Show and Sale, Westerner Grounds, Red Deer, Alta.

30-Nov. 2—Antimicrobial Stewardship in Canadian Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Marriott Hotel, Toronto, Ont.

November

3-6—Canadian Limousin National Show and Sale, Royal Winter Fair, Toronto, Ont. 3-6—Manitoba Livestock Expo, Keystone Center, Brandon, Man. 4-13—Royal Winter Fair, Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ont. 4-13—Farmfair International, Northlands, Edmonton, Alta.

5—Canadian National Red and Black Angus Shows, Manitoba Livestock Expo, Brandon, Man. 9-12—Agri-Trade 2011, Westerner Park, Red Deer, Alta.

9-12—Saskatoon Fall Fair, Prairieland Park, Saskatoon, Sask.

9-13—Canadian Finals Rodeo, Rexall Place, Edmonton, Alta.

21-26—Canadian Western Agribition, Evraz Place, Regina, Sask.

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