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A CONVERSATION WITH JOHN WEEKES • WHY WE CULL BULLS • A PROACTIVE CASH FLOW www.canadiancattlemen.ca

February 2012 $3.00

PREPARE FOR THE

UNPREDICTABLE THE GIBSON

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4:06 P

February 2012

Volume 75, No. 3

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 An unwelcome visitor during calving. ............................8 SafeThink your way to safe farming. ............................ 10 Satisfactory is as good as it gets................................... 12 Prepare for the unpredictable....................................... 16 Why we cull bulls.......................................................... 20 Canadian beef and free trade agreements with asia: a conversation with john weekes. ............................

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COMMENT............................................... 4 NEWSMAKERS......................................... 6 LETTERS.................................................. 6 HOLISTIC RANCHING.............................. 27 NUTRITION............................................ 30 VET ADVICE.......................................... 31 RESEARCH............................................ 32 STRAIGHT FROM THE HIP...................... 34 PRIME CUTS......................................... 35 CCA REPORTS...................................... 36 NEWS ROUNDUP................................... 37 PURELY PUREBRED............................... 44 THE MARKETS...................................... 47 MARKET TALK....................................... 49 SALES & EVENTS.................................. 50

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www.canadiancattlemen.ca The editors and journalists who write, contribute and provide opinions to Canadian Cattlemen and Farm Business Communications attempt to provide accurate and useful opinions, information and analysis. However, the editors, journalists, C anadian C attlemen and Farm Business Communications, cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the editors as well as C anadian C attlemen and Farm Business Communications assume no responsibility for any actions or decisions taken by any reader for this publication based on any and all information provided.

Cattlemen / february 2012 3

c o m m e n t

by Gren Winslow

Life without the CWB

How does that affect the price of barley?

A

s I write this it is the day after new futures contracts for milling wheat, durum and barley opened for business on ICE Futures Canada’s trading platform. Three wheat contracts were put on the books after the markets opened, on Sunday, at 7 p.m.

Those were no doubt symbolic trades to get the juices flowing in this new world of western Canadian grain marketing without a Canadian Wheat Board monopoly. The fact that these trades took place on a Sunday, in the evening, is indicative of this new world. It operates 24 hours a day and anybody can get in.

This is also a couple of days after a Manitoba judge reserved his decision of whether he would suspend Bill C-18, the Marketing Freedom Act for Grain Farmers that will create an open market for Western grains on Aug. 1, 2012. Everyone has followed the trail of charge and counter charge between the Government of Canada and the former CWB directors. There is no need to go into that here.

This legal uncertainly will no doubt delay the speed with which commercial ventures take over this trade. But it appears highly unlikely that it will stop it from happening.

There is no need to ask where cattlemen stand.

In general the cattle industry, and certainly their organizations, have been actively fighting Canadian Wheat Board control of feed grain production for decades.

The only real question for cattlemen is how will this affect the price of barley once the CWB is just like every other grain trader. Every one seems to have a different opinion but a recent analysis

by George Morris Centre analyst Kevin Grier in his weekly Canadian Cattle Buyer newsletter caught my attention last month.

Since the CWB is involved in exporting barley Grier looked at the question of whether barley and corn prices will arbitrage more efficiently with the CWB out of the picture.

“Those that have looked at this over the years have come to the conclusion that the removal of the CWB monopoly will promote arbitrage between Alberta barley and Montana barley. It will not, however, necessarily mean arbitrage between Alberta barley and U.S. corn,” he says.

For one thing it is unlikely that Canadian feed barley can compete in the continental U.S. where corn and soybeans rule the roost. There is the odd

4 Cattlemen / February 2012

situation, like the fear this spring that the U.S. would run out of corn that give barley an edge but normally, says Grier, Canadian barley will end up trading in the same niche market areas where U.S. barley trades, in California and the Pacific Northwest where corn is too expensive to produce.

As well, the U.S. barley market is much smaller than the Canadian market. In 2011 Americans grew only 3.7 million tonnes of barley and 2.7 million of that was for malt. “As such, the effect of Canadian exports on price should be disproportionately on the American side of the border,” says Grier.

The rules for importing U.S. grain into Canada don’t change with the loss of the CWB monopoly, but Grier says it hardly ever works anyway. Aside from the regulatory constraints and paperwork involved he says there is not enough surplus barley in the U.S. these days to make much of a dent in Canadian prices.

“U.S. corn can put a ceiling on Canadian barley prices but it is a very high ceiling,” he adds.

Alberta feedlots brought in a lot of corn during the drought years of 2001 and 2002 but that happened to be a time when surplus corn was available in the Dakotas and Minnesota. The ethanol industry has eaten up those surpluses since then and Albertans would face much higher basis levels if they needed to turn to corn again, and they may have to bid on full train loads rather than 10 car strings as they did before, he says.

“If the industry has to feed U.S. corn in southern Alberta feedlots, they will have among the highest feed costs of any cattle-feeding region in North America. That may be a short-term solution to a local feed shortage but it does not allow for a viable livestock feeding industry on the Prairies.”

In short, the demise of the CWB monopoly may not have much effect on the local price of barley, but there is some hope that it will spark more interest in the crop on this side of the border.

Research and production of the crop have noticeably declined in recent years under the eye of the CWB. In some parts of Western Canada just taking it out from under the board could put it back in more rotations this spring.

An October study by the George Morris Centre found Alberta and Saskatchewan farmers sometimes ignore CWB crops even when they are clearly the economic choice.

A new mindset can sometimes produce a new world. www.canadiancattlemen.ca

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NEWSMAKERS Mark Elford of Wood Mountain is the new chairman of Saskatchewan Cattleman’s Association. Joining him on the executive a r e v i c e - c h airman Mark Elford Ryan Thompson of Cylon, finance chairman Bill Jameson of Moose Jaw, director-at-large Larry Grant of Val Marie and past president Jack Hextall of Grenfall.

Elected to two-year terms on the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association are: Pat Hayes of Val Marie, Reg Schellenberg from Beechy, Brent Griffin of Elbow, Lynn Grant from Val Marie and Kevin Woods from Moosomin.

Dr. Graham Plastow, the CEO of Livestock Gentec and Manitoba

LETTERS Pickers aren’t safe waterers Was just reading Jan. 2012 CATand enjoy the magazine very much. I am a regular reader, and work for MAFRI in Manitoba as a farm production adviser.

I read with shock and horror what Steve Kenyon is using for winter watering in this issue.

He is using a steel stone picker with sharp tines, steel edges and corners, places for animals to get their feet caught and damaged, and not one iota of insulation. His solution to freeze-ups is to pump more water on the ground and make a slip and slide TLEMEN

producer Guy Johnson have been appointed to the board of directors of BIO, the Guelph-based genetic information services organization. Johnson is a longtime client of BIO. Its web-based bioTrack clientelle are now found in eight provinces, eight states and Asia.

Former board member, University of Guleph animal scientist Steve Miller was recently appointed as director of innovation for BIO.

Ron Kostyshyn

Manitoba cow-calf producer and former municipal reeve Ron Kostyshyn has been named the province’s new minister for agriculture, food and rural initiatives. The rookie

for his kids. I am perplexed what is going through his head; we have so much more technology out there that works great in comparison.

Steve’s response to criticism for the stone picker is likely cost advantage, but I challenge him to sell the stone picker to the scrappers and buy a rubber tire trough, safer, insulated, and all-around better idea for the price of his scrap stone picker. (Some ideas shouldn’t be done at any cost.)

For better ideas refer to a fact sheet I wrote a couple of years ago. http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/ crops/forages/pdf/bjb05s08.pdf.

I am glad to work with anyone wanting a safer design. I can be contacted at the number or email below.

RAYMOND BITTNER 204-768-0010

MLA won the Swan River riding last fall to replace retiring ex-deputy premier Rosann Wowchuk. Kostyshyn and his family farm over 2,500 acres and run a 200-head cow herd near Ethelbert, about 65 km northwest of Dauphin. He previously sat as the reeve for the Rural Municipality of Mossey River, north of Dauphin Lake, and served on the boards of Intermountain Conservation District, Ethelbert District Veterinary Board, Manitoba Conservation Commission, Farm Stewardship Association of Manitoba and Association of Manitoba Municipalities. As ag minister, Kostyshyn replaces Dauphin MLA Stan Struthers who has been carrying the Agriculture and Finance portfolios since October.

Hereford breeders Mike and Dianne Oulton of Martock are the latest winners of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture Environmental Farm Stewardship Award. They farm Mike Oulton with their sons Victor and Wayne and their families. In addition to cattle the family raises sheep, free-range poultry, deer, elk, wild boar and operates a farm abattoir Dianne Oulton and specialty meat shop on the farm. Victor is a past president of the Canadian Hereford Association and Wayne and his wife Nicole are past winners of the Atlantic Outstanding Young Farmers award. Other rev-

ray.bittner@gov.mb.ca Continued on page 50

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DISEASE

AN UNWELCOME VISITOR DURING CALVING

C

Cryptosporidiosis can’t be cured but it can be avoided

ryptosporidiosis, the disease caused by the coccidia-like protozoa Cryptosporidia parvum, is an extremely important emerging infection in humans.

While causing self-limiting, diarrhea in humans with functional immune systems, it is a leading cause of lifethreatening, chronic diarrheal disease in patients with compromised immune systems. People undergoing cancer therapy, those on immune-suppressing drugs following organ transplants and with infections like AIDS must be especially careful and should avoid contact with young calves.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the U.S., the first reports of human infection with cryptosporidium on the North American continent were made in 1976. Cryptosporidium is now considered one of the most common parasitic infections in the United States. Cryptosporidiosis infections occur worldwide.

Intestinal cryptosporidiosis due to infection with C. parvum is a well-recognized cause of diarrhea in neonatal ruminants. Of the three species of cryptosporidium found in cattle, C. parvum has been shown to be primarily a parasite of neonatal ruminants, and the only species of the three known to be zoonotic (transmitted between animals and people).

Ruminants, particularly cattle, are often considered reservoirs for outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis in humans.

Transmission of C. parvum is aided by the extremely resistant nature of the oocysts in the environment that remain infectious for months in cool, moist conditions. Cryptosporidium oocysts are also resistant to standard levels of many disinfectants.

Numerous reports of cryptosporidiosis cases in humans have been associated with farm visits and contact with calves. Research into the epidemiology of C. parvum infection, indicates that only young ruminants, primarily new borne calves, pose a risk for the

8 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

zoonotic transmission of cryptosporidium. C. parvum infections are uncommon in beef and dairy calves older than 30 days.

Several points regarding the lifecycle and background of C. parvum are important: • The organism is highly infectious.

Oocysts of C. parvum are so small over 10,000 of them would fit on the period at the end of this sentence. As few as 30 oocysts can cause human infection. Infected calves excrete in excess of 100 cryptosporidium oocysts per gram of feces.

• The oocysts are highly resistant to disinfectants, frost and heat.

• There is no chemical method of inactivating the organism in drinking water.

• There is no routinely successful form of therapy in animals or humans.

• Transmission routes are fecal-oral, person-to-person, animal-to-person, waterborne, and food-borne.

First noted in 1976 cryptosporidium is now considered one of the most common parasistic infections of humans in the U.S. Cryptosporidium infections have been associated with drinking water, lakes and streams, contaminated food (mainly fruits and vegetables), and direct fecal contamination. Cases are reported every year in livestock operations at calving time. Although very young, elderly and immune compromised individuals are most susceptible, anyone handling neonatal calves can acquire infection, especially if good hygiene is not followed.

Handling and treating scouring calves represents the greatest risk.

Person-to-person transmission of C. parvum is important, and numerous outbreaks have been documented in childcare and other institutional settings. The potential of personto-person transmission of C. parvum and other zoonotic pathogens like salmonella, campylobacter species and E. coli O157:H7 adds an element of risk in farm and ranch families through calving season, increasing the importance of common sense biosecurity precautions like hand washing, clean boots and clothes and the thorough cleaning of instruments and equipment used in the calving shed.

Asymptomatic infections in people are common, though the most frequent symptom in humans is diarrhea. Symptoms often wax and wane, but generally end in fewer than 30 days (with an average of one to two weeks) in most healthy, persons.

Symptoms can include profuse or watery diarrhea, dehydration, fever, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramping, and flatulence. Immune compromised persons often cannot clear infections, which significantly contributes to the severity of illness and death.

C. parvum is recognized as one of the most common infectious causes of intestinal disease in neonatal calves, lambs, and kids. Infections have been observed in ruminants as young as three days but are most common in ruminants from one to three weeks of age. Infections are rare in calves older than 30 days.

C. parvum infection is self-limiting in calves, and oocyst excretion lasts from one to two weeks. Once infected cattle are resistant to reinfection.

Although considered a common ailment in the young calf, C. parvum appears more commonly in dairy calves than beef calves. Studies suggest all dairy calves are infected while prevalence in beef calves in Western Canada is about five per cent. It would appear logical that the reduced www.canadiancattlemen.ca

stocking density associated with cowcalf operations typical in ranching areas accounts for the lower prevalence of C. parvum infection.

Clinical signs of cryptosporidiosis are similar in calves, sheep, and kids and include diarrhea, which is often pale yellow with mucus. Animals are lethargic, stop sucking and can quickly become dehydrated. Clinical signs become evident three to five days following infection, and last from four to 18 days. Outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis can be severe in beef calves and may result in mortality as high as 30 per cent. In many outbreaks, the introduction of dairy calves into the herd during calv-

ing season is a contributing factor.

C. parvum is commonly identified along with other infectious agents during outbreaks of neonatal diarrhea. The severity of cryptosporidiosis is influenced by the infectious dose, herd immunity, presence of concurrent infections, nutrition, and husbandry. In most well-managed herds, cryptosporidiosis is typically a mild disease.

Currently, no drugs are licensed in North America for treating cryptosporidiosis. In severe cases, fluid therapy with intravenous sodium bicarbonate solutions may be required.

Management strategies for controlling cryptosporidiosis includes isolation

of animals with diarrhea; clean, dry stalls and calving grounds and ensuring calves receive adequate colostrum.

Good husbandry practices reduce the number of oocysts animals are exposed to and increase resistance of calves to C. parvum and other intestinal pathogens. Producers should avoid introducing dairy calves to beef herds during calving season. Completely preventing exposure of young ruminants to C. parvum oocysts is not possible. C. parvum is a zoonotic parasite, so good hygiene is the single most important barrier. There is safety in having people working with calves doing all the simple things right, all the time.

C — Ron Clarke, DVM

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Cattlemen / february 2012 9

SAFETY

SAFETHINK YOUR WAY TO SAFE FARMING Think before you act

T

he January launch of SafeThink Agriculture with courses offered in four Alberta communities introduces a new concept in safety education that gives farm families tools rather than rules to make safety a priority.

What’s more, once the SafeThink strategy becomes a way of thinking, planning, doing and following up on work activities, it carries over into everyday personal activities, says Ed Masson, manager of program and instructor development for Astec Safety, the delivery agent for the SafeThink Agriculture course.

Masson, a rancher himself who works out of Astec Safety’s Provost location, enrolled in the SafeThink Agriculture coach-the-coach workshop because of his personal interest in agriculture and he felt the course would be a strong addition to Astec Safety’s health and safety training and human development course offerings.

He says the original SafeThink course is the brainchild of Gordon Shand, president of Human Development Consulting (HDC) of Edmonton. It was originally developed through 20 years of experience customizing training programs primarily for the oil and gas industry.

SafeThink Agriculture is an initiative of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) and HDC that began back in 2007 after Shand brought the course to the attention of Laurel Aitken, a farm safety co-ordinator with ARD. She saw merit in the flexibility inherent in the SafeThink program, which she felt made it particularly suitable for agriculture.

“It solves one of the big problems in agriculture,” she says. “People do so many jobs in any given day that involve so many tasks, how can they make sure they are trained for every possibility when there are hundreds of hazards out there?”

The process of retrofitting the SafeThink manual to apply the critical thinking strategy to agriculture involved numerous committee and focus group meetings with farmers and industry organizations, Aitken adds. Growing Forward funding make it possible for ARD to work with HDC to make it a success as a farm project.

Safety on the fly “The emphasis is on learning a thinking strategy rather than ingesting a bunch of information and rules for each task,” Masson explains. “The idea is to learn to think ahead and tick off hazards that could be created as part of doing the work and in terms of changes you could make to avoid the hazard, control it to protect yourself and create a safe environment.”

This could take a matter of minutes or hours depending on the nature of the work to be done and your experience with performing the task.

It’s valuable training for youth and new employees who 10 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

Start by asking the safety questions before ever y task. don’t have the experience to recognize all the hazards because it gives them tools to think their way through the tasks and learn to predict hazardous situations on the fly.

That said, it is up to farm owners and managers to make safety a priority and set an example. Experience counts for a lot when it comes to safety and even though most experienced farmers recognize hazardous situations and the potential for injuries, many mistakenly believe it won’t happen to them.

Regardless of a person’s experience and safety record, making a conscientious effort to think ahead will help to prevent complacency, Masson adds. It may also make you slow down a notch and consider whether your actions could be putting you or others in danger.

Masson works through the process of how the SafeThink strategy would be applied to any task using the example of bringing the cows in to be vaccinated.

Step one is to answer “yes” or “no” to the five major critical-thinking questions. The questions categorize the main causes of hazards that could be associated with a broad range of activities: 1. Does the work involve hazardous materials that could cause harm?

2. Does the work involve objects, motion or a force that could cause harm?

3. Does the work involve non-ambient (heat or cold) hazards that could cause harm?

4. Is current or static electricity a factor in doing the work?

5. Could changes lead to or create a hazardous situation?

You would answer “yes” to the first question because the vaccine is a hazardous material. The cattle create motion Continued on page 11 www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Continued from page 10

SafeThink Agriculture

and force that could cause harm, as do other people and equipment such as gates and squeeze chutes, so the answer to question two would be a definite “yes.” Question five could also have a “yes” response if you’re working outdoors where cold, heat, precipitation or lightning could be issues.

Step two is to ask yourself “whatif” questions in relation to the people, equipment, material and environment involved with carrying out the work.

This will help you to identify specific conditions or actions that could lead to hazardous situations.

Expanding on the “yes” response to the second critical-thinking question, Masson poses the question, “what if someone drives up and spooks the cattle in the alleyway?” That could lead to a chain of events with the worst scenario being the cattle spilling back over top of you or someone else.

Before you start the day, think about how you could control or eliminate the hazard of unexpected noises and activity. A simple solution to improve safety would be to let people know ahead of time that you will be working cattle in that facility on that particular day and ask them to avoid passing through the area.

“What if the latch on the crowding tub fails? The control would be to check the equipment to make sure it is 100 per cent effective,” he continues. “What if you go out to work the cattle and you find that snow has created icy conditions in the alleyway and chute? The control would be to spread sand, sawdust or salt to eliminate the hazard.”

You would continue to work through the critical-thinking questions, asking “what-if” to come up with an overall safety strategy for the task of bringing cattle in for processing. Part of the safety strategy should be to allow time to discuss the working plan and safety strategy with everyone involved beforehand.

That doesn’t negate the need for everyone to be thinking about safety on the fly as the work progresses. If an unexpected challenge does arise, take time to step back and rethink your strategy or fix the equipment to create a safe environment. After the job has been accomplished, review what went well and what didn’t, noting improvements to make the next time you process cattle.

The 16-hour course is being delivered in four weekly classroom sessions by accredited coaches to give participants time to put their new skills into practise between sessions. Participants will receive a certificate upon completing the course requirements.

Astec Safety is able to offer the Safe-

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Think Agriculture course in Alberta at the introductory price of $160 per person because of ARD’s involvement.

So far, courses are slated for Airdrie, Raymond, Provost and Leduc or Vermilion. Masson says it could be offered in other provinces.

For more information, contact Masson at 780-753-2905 or Aitken at 780980-4230.

C — Debbie Furber

29th Annual

Rawes Ranches Ltd.

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Cattlemen / february 2012 11

BREEDING

P

SATISFACTORY IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS

leased to see a check mark beside the “satisfactory” category at the bottom of the page, you go back to read the full bull breeding soundness evaluation from beginning to end. Your bull has passed all of the requirements, yet he is just “satisfactory.” “Why not excellent? What does satisfactory mean?” you ask your vet.

If your vet is Dr. Al Barth at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, he would tell you that based on his findings that day, the outlook for the upcoming breeding season is satisfactory.

“Essentially, the breeding soundness evaluation is a risk assessment. Satisfactory means if things don’t change too drastically in the bull’s life between the test and breeding season, he should be low risk for infertility,” says Barth.

The three cardinal principles of breeding soundness that are sex drive (libido), physical soundness and semen quality.

If the bull is lacking in any one, the risk that the breeding season won’t be satisfactory increases and the check mark will be beside one of the three other categoies on the breeding soundness evaluation: questionable, unsatisfactory” or decision deferred (DD).

Satisfactory A satisfactory rating indicates that the bull is expected to be highly fertile and able to impregnate 40 cows in three heat cycles (63 days). He is physically normal and at least 70 per cent of his sperm are normal.

Research indicates bull fertility is one of the top three factors in cows conceiving on the first service in the breeding season. With highly fertile bulls, conception occurs 95 per cent of the time, however, the actual first-service pregnancy rate is generally about 70 per cent because 25 to 30 per cent of conceptions are lost for any number of reasons. Eighty per cent are lost in the early embryonic stage during the first three weeks and the cows will recycle. About three per cent of females confirmed to be in calf at 30 to 50 days come up open at regular pregnancy-checking time.

The ability of a cow to conceive in the first cycle of the breeding season also depends upon the time she took to calve and whether she is gaining weight at breeding. Even a cow in good body condition generally takes 45 days to cycle after calving. Thin cows and those with uterine problems may take 60 to 90 days. Those calving early because they conceived early the previous year, have more time to clean up and start cycling by the time breeding season arrives.

Never assume that a bull that tests satisfactory one year will test satisfactory the next .

Questionable A bull rated as questionable is subfertile with only 50 to 69 per cent of his sperm being normal. Undesirable heritable traits, such as sperm defects or conformational defects that could be passed to replacement offspring, will also put bulls into this category.

12 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

Dr. Al Barth Poor sperm quality or quantity increases the risk of embryonic losses and repeat breeding, which leads to an increase in open cows at pregnancy-checking, later calving dates and lighter calves at weaning the following year.

Short breeding and calving seasons are important to profitability of a beef operation in Canada, where the growing season is short and the winter feeding period is long and expensive. A survey of 2,713 cow-calf producers in Alberta showed that decreasing the length of the calving season is the best opportunity to increase profit. Approximately 60 pounds of weaning weight is lost for every 21-day period of the breeding season that a cow remains open.

“Many producers are happy when 85 to 90 per cent of the cows are pregnant after a long breeding season, but they don’t really know how much money they lost because of younger, lighter calves,” Barth says. “The bull may have left you a reasonable pregnancy rate, but in essence, you could lose a ‘ton’ of money and not even know it.”

Unsatisfactory An unsatisfactory rating means that less than 50 per cent of the bull’s sperm are normal and, or he has undesirable heritable traits. The prognosis is not good for recovery from whatever the cause of the abnormal sperm in time for the upcoming breeding season.

Decision deferred If a bull’s semen quality is poor, but there is a chance that it could improve in time for the breeding season, he will www.canadiancattlemen.ca

receive a DD rating. This rating is most commonly associated with yearling bulls less than 16 months of age.

“Even though the first sperm can be collected at 10 to 11 months of age, sperm are just starting to be produced and may have poor morphology (form) or the semen may be watery,” Barth explains.

“A yearling bull is considered to be mature if he can produce at least 70 per cent normal sperm, 60 per cent alive and the semen has good concentration. If a bull is 12 to 15 months old and has less than these values, he might be immature, so he receives a DD classification. The majority of bulls are mature by 15 months, so the prognosis is poor if a bull doesn’t have good semen by that time, but we would wait until 16 months to be sure. Regardless of breed, all bulls should be mature by 16 months, so the decision would no longer be deferred.”

Testing immature bulls creates a dilemma for veterinarians because they don’t want to be failing bulls that could potentially mature into excellent breeders. That said, many DD bulls never do go on to make the satisfactory category.

In one case last spring, out of 32 bulls rated as DD at 13.5 months old, only nine bulls (28 per cent) improved to satisfactory by 15 months of age.

Never assume that a DD bull just needs more time — always have him retested.

Poor sperm morphology at the onset of puberty.

Cardinal principles Breeding soundness evaluations are screening tests, Barth says. Assuming the bull is in good general health, evaluating the three principle areas — physical soundness, semen quality and sex drive — will alert you to the majority of the breeding soundness problems.

Evaluating physical soundness involves examining body condition score, eyes, feet, legs, external sexual organs and accessory sex glands.

The scrotal circumference is a prime consideration because it is highly correlated to the onset of puberty in bulls (0.75), onset of puberty in heifers (0.71 to 0.98), paired testes weight (0.95), daily sperm production (0.62-0.75), high semen quality (0.47-0.64), pregnancy rate (0.58- 0.66) and female lifetime productivity (0.66-0.97).

Semen quality tests and guidelines are well established as previously discussed. While it appears to be true that bulls with 70 per cent normal sperm do as well as those with 85 per cent normal sperm, a bull with a higher percentage of normal sperm is more likely to maintain his production of high-quality semen from year to year.

Barth believes that cold temperature in itself isn’t usually a cause of poor semen quality. He attributes it mainly to hunger that may occur during winter storms — very much like bulls that are losing weight when turned out on pasture before the grass is adequate in the spring.

The number of daylight hours (photoperiod) also affects semen quality. Of 1,634 physically normal, mature bulls tested in January, only 66 per cent had satisfactory semen.

The percentage dropped to 58 in February before starting to rise to 76 per cent in March. The percentages of bulls testing satisfactory continued to increase to 82 per cent in April; 87 per cent in May; 88 per cent in June; and 91 per cent in July.

Where the current bull-breeding soundness evaluation falls short is in the evaluation of sex drive and mating ability, says Barth. It is simply based on the producer’s observations and checked off as “unknown” or “recently observed.” www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Normal sperm in the same bull three months later.

A service-capacity test can help assess qualities that can’t be easily seen during a routine evaluation, such as a bull’s desire to breed, social dominance or physical impediments.

The number of services to a restrained cow by a sexually stimulated bull (either by cows in heat or watching another bull mount a cow) during the 40-minute test is recorded as low for none to two services; medium for three to six services, and high for more than seven services.

“It’s surprising how many bulls have low service capacity — about 10 per cent and sometimes higher,” Barth says.

“Even if a bull has adequate sex drive and passes a conventional breeding soundness exam, he may be physically unable to serve cows.” That was the case in one of Barth’s trials where 3.6 per cent of 166 bulls were physically unable to breed although they were rated as satisfactory on a conventional breeding soundness evaluation done one week previously.

Some of the common physical problems include a short penis, corkscrew penis and arthritis in the hocks or other joints that make mounting painful.

A good case in point is the result of a service-capacity test on four bulls in a herd with a 65 per cent pregnancy rate this past year. Two bulls had no desire to breed and one had developed a corkscrew penis — only one was a successful breeder.

The take-home lesson is that you have to be out there to see that the bull is doing the job.

C — Debbie Furber Cattlemen / February 2012 13

Amaglen Limousin :: Darlingford MB Ian & Bonnie Hamilton 204.246.2312 / amaglen@inetlink.ca www.amaglenlimousin.ca

Bar 3R Limousin :: Marengo SK The Rea family 306.463.7950 / 306.968.2923 r3bar@hotmail.com

Campbell Limousin :: Minto MB Bill & Lauren Campbell 204.776.2322 / 204.724.6218 cam.limousin@xplornet.com

Cherway Limousin :: Sanford MB McPherson family 204.736.2878 / info@cherwaylimousin.ca www.cherwaylimousin.ca

Cochrane Stock Farms :: Alexander MB The Cochrane families 204.573.6529 / 204.724.0892 www.cochranestockfarms.com

Diamond C Ranch :: Ponoka AB Neil & Sherry Christiansen 403.783.2799 diamondcranchlimousin.com

Eden Meadow Farms :: Zehner SK Terry & Lynette Hepper and family 306.781.4628 thepper@yourlink.ca

Excel Ranches :: Westlock AB Ron & Barb Miller 780.349.2135 / excelranches@hotmail.com www.excelranches.com

Gutek Farms :: Hendon SK Jeff / Raymond Gutek 306.338.2002

cla_supersize_jan12.indd 1

T M 5 w

Limousin bulls will improve these numbers.

*stats provided by CanFax (Y1 ≥59%, Y2 = 54-58%, Y3 ≤53%)

Hi-Way Limousin :: Bethune SK The Fuchs families 306.638.4422 / 306.789.8863 306.638.4800 / d.fuchs@sasktel.net

Ivy Livestock :: Duchess AB Rick & Mary Hertz and family 403.378.4190 / rhertz@eidnet.org www.ivylivestock.com

Lazy S Limousin :: Rimbey AB Stan and Ty Skeels 403.704.0288 Best West Limo Classic Bull Sale

Murphy Ranch :: Altario AB Frank & Donna Murphy 403.552.2191 / 780.753.1959 murphyranch.ca

Pinnacle View Limousin :: Quesnel BC Swann and Kishkan families 250.747.2618 / kishkan@quesnelbc.com www.pvlimousin.com

Richmond Ranch :: Rumsey AB Jim & Stephanie Richmond 403.368.2103 / bulls@richmondranch.com www.richmondranch.com

Top Meadow Farms :: Clarksburg ON Mike Geddes, manager 519.599.6776 / topmeadow@bmts.com www.topmeadowfarms.com

Windy Gables Limousin :: Warkworth ON Bryce and Nathan Allen 705.924.2583 brycea@alleninsurance.com

Y2K Limousin :: Caledon East ON Robert Nimmo 905.584.4477 / 416.580.5714 farm@robertnimmo.com

12-01-23 11:28 AM

MANAGEMENT

PREPARE FOR THE UNPREDICTABLE Keep it simple, advises Shane Gibson

I

f anyone had predicted 20 years ago that Shane Gibson would someday run cattle as part of his farm operation, he would have said, “wrong.” As circumstances had it, he took over his grandpa’s herd when he was 15 and one thing led to another. Today, his time is split about 50-50 between his 300-head cow herd and 4,000 acres of cropland near the home place east of Carstairs, Alta.

He has learned from other producers and tried various new strategies through the years and feels he has finally hit on the right combination of genetics, feed and health for his operation.

“When we were building the herd, I realized that I needed to make things easier and more organized,” Gibson says. “Once I was set up, then the numbers didn’t matter, that is, I wasn’t creating more work by adding more cattle. The time spent is the same because everything is more efficient.”

Some of the major changes in recent years have included revamping the cattle yard with larger pens, eliminating small pasture parcels, implementing one feeding system across the board, banking at least a half-year feed supply, and building a second calving barn to accommodate the move from spring calving to winter calving.

Part of the reason for moving calving from the traditional time slot in March and April was that it often dragged into May, interfering with seeding operations that can begin in April some years. The deciding factor, though, was the late-spring storms that can take a high toll on newborn calves.

Gibson first tried a January start to calving, but found there just weren’t enough sunlight hours to warm the calves during the day, which he feels makes a big difference in getting them off to a good start after they come out of the calving barn. The increase in weaning weights wasn’t enough to justify the expense put into the extra feed the cows required.

He nudged the start to February 1 and again one last time to the middle of February. Calving season officially gets underway about a week before then when the cows and heifers are 16 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

moved into the large pens back of the calving barn.

The calving barn was designed with cow comfort in mind. It has ample 16-foot square pens and a sand floor.

It’s not insulated, but the temperature is regulated with a thermostatcontrolled infrared heater hung from the ceiling down the centre of the barn that cuts out when the temperature inside the barn hits -5 C. Maintaining the sub-zero temperature discourages the growth of pathogens and eases the adjustment to the outdoor temperature for the calves.

“There’s no question when you are calving in February, you have to be able to get those calves in out of the wind and paired up,” Gibson says.

On days when it is warmer than -15 C with no windchill, he might move new pairs directly to one of the small outdoor pairs pens at the opposite end of the barn as long as they have paired up nicely. It’s really important when calving in corrals to remove the cows with the newborn calves right away, he adds. This eliminates confusion for the calves and the cows, preventing mixups of calving cows trying to steal newborns and newborn calves getting kicked when trying to nurse from the wrong mom.

After about a day together in the barn, the pair is ready to move outside to one of the small pens that holds about eight pairs. With 75 per cent of the cows calving in the first cycle, it’s not long before the next move to a large pen that accommodates approximately 50 pairs. Once that pen is full, the group of pairs is moved to a second pen a little farther out to make way to start a new group of 50 in the first pen. When it fills up again, the first group shuffles down to another pen, the second group follows into the middle pen, leaving the first pen open to start another group.

By March, the oldest group goes into one of the four nearby pastures of stockpiled native grass. These are wideopen pastures with portable windbreak fences, calf shelters and feed bunks that are moved around frequently. If, or more likely when, a late-spring storm hits, the calves on pasture are a month

Shane and Monica Gibson. or two old, know where to go for shelter and come through it with flying colours. If worse comes to worst, the groups can be moved back into pens in the yard to wait out the storm.

Gibson does a bit of sorting into breeding groups as the pairs move through the post-calving pens, but for the most part, each group of 50 pairs stays together right through the summer on pasture. Gibson has found that keeping the age groups together works to his advantage should there be any disease issues.

He is relieved to say that he has made great strides in controlling scours, which has meant a significant savings on medications and labour and decreased the losses associated with reduced weaning weights. He credits this partly to the move to winter caving, but more so to the prescription mineral program his veterinarian developed about 10 years ago to address a scours problem at that time. The calves were getting sick because the ration wasn’t providing all of the minerals and vitamins the cows needed. The custommade mineral mix targets the specific shortfalls in the forage produced on his land and must be fed as prescribed.

Gibson feeds a total mixed ration of silage, hay, straw and barley grain with the mineral and Rumensin added so that each cow gets a balance of everything she needs with every single bite. The ration is delivered daily to 30-foot steel feed bunks with enough head space for all of the cows to eat at the same time to make sure each gets her fair share. Feeding in bunks also Continued on page 18 www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Continued from page 16

eliminates the problem of feed wastage, which he found to be a major drawback with swath grazing in some years.

“If the cow has everything she needs, the calf will, too. It promotes good health for both the cow and the calf,” Gibson says. He also makes sure they stay in good physical condition for calving by placing the feed bunks in the field about half a mile from the water source.

He feels his high calving rate on the first cycle is a direct result of providing grain for additional energy, especially pre- and post-calving. “If you are going to calve in February, the cows need energy to keep warm and carry that big calf through January. I find it’s easier to keep them in good shape right from fall than to try to get it back later,” he explains.

In years when grain is expensive — meaning that it is tempting to sell the barley rather than feed it to the cows — he may cut back to feeding two or three pounds per cow per day. Then when a cold snap hits he can easily bump it up so they don’t lose condition. It’s not instant money in your pocket, but there is a pay off in terms of improved health and growth of the calves.

Gibson has been banking some feed — grain, silage, hay, straw, pasture — every year since the drought in the early 2000s with the goal of carrying over at least half of a winter’s supply each year. He admits it was tough to forego the cash injection during the transition years, but now it is just part of the routine. Even so, he still ponders the economic wisdom of carrying over feed inventory and has considered taking out forage insurance instead. However, when it comes right down to it, cows still need to eat. If he doesn’t have feed, chances are nobody in the area will have feed and that would mean trucking in a lot of expensive hay from another region. He still feels that banking feed is the best management tool to mitigate drought risk. At the time, it might seem expensive to carry the cost of the extra feed, but it could turn out to be the cheapest feed the next year, he adds.

He well-remembers his grandpa’s saying, “grass in the field is worth more than money in the bank.” It wasn’t unusual for ranchers to have two or three times as much land as they actually needed because during a drought, which was an ever-present threat in southwestern Saskatchewan where he ranched, the only option if you didn’t have feed was to sell the cattle.

“So, I learned that it’s okay if I don’t use a pasture or all of the feed,” Gibson says. “I like to manage my grass so there’s some left in the pasture. This way, I find I can start grazing earlier, usually go later in the fall, and leave a quarter or two for spring grazing, which eliminates sickness when I can move the pairs out to big spaces early.”

Since he and his dad, Gary, purchased seven quarters in the Hanna area for summer grazing, he has been able to give up some of the small pastures that each carried around 20 pairs for the summer. This has meant a savings on the labour and expense of maintaining all of the fences, and a dramatic time savings when it comes to checking cattle in the summer and gathering them in the fall.

Gibson adds that he doesn’t go it alone doing all of this.

The farm has one year-round employee and he counts on his dad as well as seasonal and casual help during busy times such as winter calving.

Genetics is the final cornerstone of Gibson’s program.

Over time the breeding herd has moved from predominantly 18 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

They moved from April to Februar y calving in the barn.

Red Limousin to Black Limousin, to today’s Black Angus herd with a side of black baldies.

In 2001, he was able to purchase a herd of 30 registered Black Angus cows that turned out to be excellent cows.

“They have left a huge mark on the herd and also allowed us to raise some of our own bulls as opposed to buying everything,” Gibson says. “Once we realized what we wanted, we found that the best way to get it was to breed for it. You need to be selective on both the bulls and the cows to achieve whatever your goals are.”

Generally, he weans and backgrounds the calves, packaging them up in lots of 40 to 50 calves that go directly to a feedlot. In 2010, he sold the steers directly off the cows at an average weight of 753 pounds.

Sometimes, and especially when calf prices are low, Gibson questions whether the additional work and expense associated with winter calving are worth it. He still has options to do things in more ways than one — calving in a stubble field if it is dry or swath grazing, for example — but if it turns 30 below for 30 days, they are set up to handle it.

If it storms, the cattle are safe, people are safe and they are prepared to get through it.

“If I try not to manage things as much, I end up with more issues and the thing is, they are issues that I know I can fix,” he says. “Overall, right now, this is the program that works for me.”

Now, I find the cattle operation rewarding — not always the best economically, but in terms of its satisfaction and my pride in it. I think you have to figure out what works for your operation, what market you are aiming for, develop your program, then stick to it and make it as strong as you can.”

C — Debbie Furber www.canadiancattlemen.ca

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BREEDING

WHY WE CULL BULLS

Here are the top reasons, according to community pasture patrons

A

griculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Community Pastures system owns and manages the largest bull battery in Canada, with approximately 3,000 breeding bulls each year servicing some 200,000 cows delivered by patrons to 85 community pastures, 62 in Saskatchewan, 24 in Manitoba and one in Alberta.

The government has collected data on these bulls since May 1, 1973, and as of the end of 2011 has a database on 23,335 bulls, listing their date of birth, age at purchase, price paid, registration information, culling date, reason for culling, and salvage price. This is a gold mine for researchers.

Ross Macdonald, a livestock specialist with community pastures has begun a review of the database to identify the main factors that affect bull-breeding efficiency as part of an ongoing evaluation of the community pasture program.

Patrons at each pasture select the breeds they want, then it’s up to AAFC bull buyer Jim Nugent to purchase quality, registered breeding bulls as weaned bull calves, yearlings and two-year-olds to fill that demand. Newly purchased bulls are delivered to one of three bulldevelopment stations at Maple Creek and Outlook in Saskatchewan or St. Lazare in Manitoba. Bulls that pass all the requirements to make the cut are delivered to the pastures in time for breeding season and generally stay at one pasture throughout their lifetimes.

Over the years Macdonald says pasture managers have identified 62 reasons for cull bulls but he is looking for the underlying factors and management practices that may have influenced those decisions. Why the culling rate in some districts has increased in recent years? Did geography and land type makes a difference? What is the impact of a smaller paddock size, and the bull-to-cow ratio.

Other applied research projects currently mining this Agricultural Environmental Services Branch (former Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration) database are evaluating the bull-to-cow ratio, disease prevention, trace minerals and tag retention.

20 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

Top reasons for culling bulls Macdonald’s evaluation will build on the initial review of the bull database from 1983 to 1995 done by Dr. John Campbell of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.

At that time the average age of a bull at culling was 5.2 years and the annual culling rate was 23.6 per cent.

In the 16 years since that review was completed, the mix of breeds has changed, and there are certain to be differences in the culling rate from year to year, it will take time for the differences to be reflected in the statistical averages.

Campbell recalls being amazed at how many bulls left the system because of lameness — 41.2 per cent.

It was easily the biggest reason. Of those 18.1 per cent were lame in the hind end, and six per cent in the front leg, 11.5 per cent had foot problems with 6.2 per cent culled specifically for “bad feet,” 2.3 per cent had foot rot, and one per cent each showed sand cracks or corns. The vague “other” lameness category accounted for another six per cent.

Reproductive faults came in second at 22 per cent of all bulls culled.

Within this category broken penises accounted for 8.4 per cent, 4.5 per cent failed a semen test, 4.4 per cent showed poor libido or weak physical

condition, 3.4 per cent were culled for testicles, and 1.5 per cent for trichomoniasis. Trichomoniasis was first identified in Canada in 1993, so it factored into only the last two years of these statistics.

Medical reasons including death was the third leading reason for culling at 18.8 per cent. Sudden death accounted for 11.7 per cent, with medical conditions such as hardware disease, pneumonia, weight loss and cancer eye responsible for 3.6 per cent of the culls in this category.

Voluntary culling accounted for 16.3 per cent of all culls, putting it fourth in importance. This includes all the things you want to cull for. Old age, at 12.3 per cent, was by far the leading reason in this category. Behaviour problems, such as aggressiveness or fence crawling, and undesirable conformation each accounted for approximately two per cent.

Fighting accounted for another 1.5 per cent of bulls culled for the fifth reason, miscellaneous injuries, most notably broken jaws, noses and ribs.

Macdonald’s review of the database so far reveals similar culling trends since 1993, however failure to pass the pre-turnout breeding soundness evaluation tops the list now that the exam has been mandatory for all bulls (regardless of age and past performance) for approximately five years. www.canadiancattlemen.ca

3289-1

Dealing with lameness “If lameness is the number one killer of bulls, preventing lameness should be a high priority,” Campbell stresses.

Lameness in bulls as well as cows and calves costs you in terms of treatment, culling and salvage losses, weight loss and production loss in the affected animals. The reproductive losses if a bull is lame can be considerable.

Causes of lameness can be broken down into four categories: infectious diseases (foot rot, polyarthritis); hereditary (corkscrew claw, corns), traumatic (stifle injuries and fractures, toe abscesses, nerve injuries); and laminitis complex (laminitis or founder, sole ulcers, sand cracks).

Ways to prevent lameness are not so readily identified.

Selecting bulls for proper conformation, especially of the feet and legs, is a good start. “We always talk about good feet and legs and we think we know what it means, but there has never been any research to define it,” Campbell says.

Dealing with hoof problems in a

timely manner is crucial. This includes hoof trimming as needed and treating foot root right away.

It appears vaccinating an entire cow herd against foot rot may not be the most cost-effective method of preventing foot rot, however, in a bull, foot rot can be catastrophic in terms of his ability to breed cows and its effect on semen quality. And vaccination can reduce the number of bulls that get foot rot and improve the response rate to treatment for those that do get foot rot.

Considering that many lameness cases probably arose from injuries, you have to wonder if there is any way of grouping bulls that would prevent more of these injuries. If there is, Campbell can’t say for sure because researchers have never looked into ways to group and manage bulls to prevent injuries.

He does note, however, that the average culling age for young bulls is 3.8 years compared to 5.6 years in the community pasture system, and that an important reason for culling young bulls is penile injuries. This is a dominance issue and happens when an older

bull knocks a young bull off of a cow in the midst of breeding. Whether it is unavoidable could be questioned, but housing bulls of differing ages together before breeding season to give them time to sort out the pecking order before turnout could help.

There is also a theory that running too many bulls in a breeding field will lead to an increase in injuries due to increased in fighting. Running more cows per bull could result in more breeding and less fighting, especially in smaller breeding pastures.

One could suggest that overfeeding during development leads to early culling. While there has been some evidence to support this, we don’t know the full impact of over-conditioning on a bull’s useful lifespan, Campbell says.

The ultimate goal when it comes to culling bulls and cows is to maximize reproductive efficiency and to be able to increase the amount of voluntary culling for reasons above and beyond lameness, reproductive issues, medical reasons and injuries.

C — Debbie Furber

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Pneumonia is difficult to detect. Breathing difficulties, runny nose and eyes, fever, soft cough and depression are not easy to spot in large groups of cow-calf pairs.

If the pneumonia is severe, there may not be time to treat the calf before it is critically ill or dead.

There are many viruses and bacteria that can cause pneumonia in calves, and these pathogens often work in combination. Common viral causes include BRSV and IBR. Common bacterial causes include Mannheimia haemolytica and Histophilus somni. Lack of colostrum, dusty and crowded environments, and wide swings in temperature and humidity can weaken a calf’s immune

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11-02-09 10:26 AM

TRADE

CANADIAN BEEF AND FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS WITH ASIA: A CONVERSATION WITH JOHN WEEKES John Weekes is a director of the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency and senior business advisor at Bennett Jones LLP. He was Canada’s ambassador to the WTO and chief negotiator for the NAFTA want to ask about free trade Q. Iagreements with the Asia-Pacific

region, and how these ambitious new agreements might affect beef exports to Asia-Pacific markets. What is a “bilateral” or “regional” free trade agreement and why should we sit up and take notice?

For most of the time since the Second World War, trade liberalization took place through the GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Since 1995, it has happened through the World Trade Organization.

The exception was Europe where the creation of the European Community and European Union gave rise to negotiations between neighbouring European countries.

Subsequently countries beyond Europe started negotiating bilateral and regional trade agreements — the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement and the subsequent NAFTA were early examples. Now many of these agreements are between countries geographically distant from each other.

With these bilateral and regional FTAs we now find ourselves in a situation of “competitive trade liberalization,” a concept coined by Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Countries are now competing with each other in their efforts to liberalize trade. Getting there first is important, and catching up if you get behind is critical. Take the case of Chile.

Canada negotiated a free trade agreement with Chile shortly after NAFTA and we did it ahead of the United States.

Canadian exports were going duty free into Chile while American exporters were paying tariffs, until the American negotiated their own FTA. I am interested in the KORUS FTA, the landmark agreement that was passed by Congress and the

A.

Q.

22 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

South Korean Parliament at the end of November. In your view, how seriously will the KORUS FTA affect our competitiveness in South Korea?

The Canadian situation with South Korea is pretty much opposite what I described with Chile. Both the European Union and the United States have negotiated free trade agreements. The EU agreement has come into force, and the agreement with

A.

will not go away when Korea removes its residual restrictions resulting from the occurrence of BSE in Canada.

How stable are these agreements? It seems that President Lee really rammed this U.S. agreement through the South Korean parliament in November 2011 by using speed and a bare 169/299 seat majority. The vocal South Korean ag sector remains bitterly opposed to the agreement.

What happens when you get a new South Korean government orientated a little more toward China?

It is unlikely these agreements will be reversed. Look at the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement.

The agreement was the central issue in the 1988 election; the country was very divided. You could have asked the same question at that time: Will this agreement really survive given the divisions in the country and the passions felt on both sides of the debate? But the agreement was not only implemented but enlarged to become NAFTA. Polling shows that free trade is much more popular now than it was when it was originally negotiated. Two things happen. People realize the negative consequences are not as great as they feared.

And businesses and the economy as a whole adapt to take advantage of the opportunities under the agreement.

Such agreements are desirable in political terms as well. Korea’s FTA with the U.S. acts as a counterbalance to South Korea’s growing relationship with China, and South Koreans will want strong and growing trading relationships with both China and the United States.

As soon as the Koreans signed this agreement, they announced bean, corn, and other crops allocated by the government would be subsidized for billions of won. Same goes for fishing

Q.

A.

JOHN WEEKES the United States will be coming into force in the coming months. From the perspective of beef producers this is a bad situation. The 40 per cent Korean tariff on beef will be phased out for American producers but will remain in place for Canadian beef producers.

This will remain the case until Canada concludes an agreement with South Korea, or until we see a reduction of the Korean tariffs in the WTO. Such a multilateral agreement is unlikely in the near future, so Canada has to be as active as possible, or our beef producers will be left out of this valuable market. I should add that this problem

Q.

Continued on page 24 www.canadiancattlemen.ca

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Continued from page 22

on islands more than eight km from the mainland. Perhaps you could talk about agricultural subsidies and pork barrel politics in the context of free trade.

One of the limitations with regional and bilateral free trade agreements is that they cannot effectively address certain issues. Some issues can only be addressed in a global negotiation where all the principal parties are present. Export and trade distorting subsidies are an example. As long as any major producers continue to subsidize, other producing countries are not going to be able to back away from their own support programs.

So in a free trade agreement between South Korea and the U.S., it was not practical to try to put limitations on subsidies without having the European Union at the table. Canada had the objective of eliminating export subsidies and substantially reducing trade distorting domestic subsidies in the WTO’s Doha Round. Unfortunately those negotiations have broken down for the time being.

Could you talk about the significance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership? The orginal “P4” agreement was between Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore. Now Australia, Malaysia, Peru, Vietnam, and the U.S. are joining negotiations, and Canada is interested. You have mentioned in comments to the media that this agreement has the potential to be as important as the Canada-U.S. agreement which preceded NAFTA. I made my comments partly based on what the Americans are saying about the agreement. They regard this agreement as a prototype, or “gold standard,” for trade agreements in the 21st century. They also see it as a building block for an agreement that might encompass the entire Asia-Pacific region. Tim Groser, New Zealand trade minister, is also talking about the strategic significance of the agreement. So we have to take it seriously.

This agreement also has the potential to go beyond the provisions in the North American Free Trade Agreement. We negotiated NAFTA 20 years ago and a lot of things have happened since then. It would be damaging to find ourselves in a situation where countries like Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and maybe Japan, would have provisions in a trade agreement with

A.

Q.

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24 Cattlemen / February 2012

the U.S. that are more favourable than those in the NAFTA. So, if this agreement is the one through which trade liberalization and rulemaking is going to take place in the Asia Pacific region, we need to be at that table.

Gossip has it that U.S. officials have privately told Japan that they do not want Japan in on the TPP negotiations until the negotiations are at a later stage, or until they are completed.

Would Canada be better off entering the TPP negotiation at a later stage as well?

We should be at the table when the negotiation is taking place in its initial phase, not signing on through an accession negotiation to provisions that are already carved in stone. It is only by being in the negotiations that we can properly advance and defend Canadian interests. Particularly for Mr. Harper’s government where trade is such a central part of their jobs and growth strategy, it is important to identify trade opportunities and develop provisions in these agreements that will allow Canadian producers to harvest the potential that these markets offer.

Cargill and other farm interests have stated that Japan should address bilateral trade issues before entering TPP negotiations. Is this not also true of us? The Harper government has made it very clear that it is interested in the TPP negotiations. But it has also categorically stated it has no intention of changing the supplymanagement regime.

This is an important point. New Zealand put forward a similar viewpoint when they said Canada should only be admitted to the TPP negotiations if it was serious about liberalizing its dairy and poultry import regime.

Obviously the barriers protecting our supply management system in the dairy and poultry sectors are very high.

The more trade liberalization negotiations Canada participates in, the more prominent these barriers appear. In most big trade negotiations we enter into, our partners are going to want to see us lower our import barriers on these products. This is an ongoing problem that will intensify over time. We need to think about how we are going to address this situation in the longer term.

We need to recognize that putting these supply-managed industries in a more internationally competitive position through the removal or major reduction of duties would involve mas-

Q. A.

Q.

A.

sive change. Such change would take time, a lot of thought, and a lot of discussion. Politically it is going to be very delicate. We will not see a definitive solution to these issues before we get into the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.

The Cairns Group, a coalition of 19 agriculture-producing countries, has been aggressively promoting the dismantling of protectionism in agriculture. One of their achievements during the Uruguay Round of negotiations (1986-1994), for example, was quantifying protectionist measures into tariffs which could then be negotiated down. How effective is this coalition now and how could Canada better make use of relationships with likeminded countries?

The last meeting of the Cairns Group at the ministerial level was held in Canada so we are certainly engaged. The organization remains important because it includes significant countries both developed and developing which share common interests for reform of world trade in agriculture. As a group these countries have more clout in a multilateral negotiating context. But I must note that some of our partners in the Cairns group regard Canada with a degree of suspicion. While Canada is solidly in favour of the elimination or reduction of trade-distorting subsidies, and for freer trade, we have a big question mark attached to us because we are not in favour of any liberalization of trade in supply-managed products.

What kinds of opportunities await us through free trade agreements in Asia?

As people become wealthier in developing countries, they are consuming more meat, and they can’t produce enough domestically to satisfy demand. The markets will be there but we have to ensure that we have a trade framework that allows Canadian producers to sell into these markets. We have got to make sure that the trade agreements that we negotiate put Canadians on the same footing as our major competitors, such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Chile.

Things look promising. We have a government which has put trade negotiations at the center of its jobs and growth strategy. The Prime Minister has said himself in a yearend interview that the government is going to have to be taking some

Q.

A.

Q. A.

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

BEEF illustrated 7

NOTICE Canada Post Corporation continues to change postal decisions in the coming months about the trade-offs that codes and addresses of rural Canadians. might be necessary to bring the Canada-EU negotiation to Unfortunately we are not informed of some of these a successful conclusion.

Perhapsaddress you could talk about traceability the to conon-going changes and therefore askinyou text our of free trade. notify office if your address has been changed.

Canada’s traceability programs are paying dividends Either our toll freemarketplace. number 1-800-387-2333 in thecallinternational The demandorfor attach label found on the front cover with In foodsimply products is the becoming increasingly sophisticated. your new address and postal Asian markets consumers attachcode. a lot of importance to the quality the you product, and we provide assurance about Weof thank for helping uscan correct this situation. the quality of Canadian beef through our system of traceability. We have made a lot of progress and we continue to improvePlace thelabel system. here Interestingly enough, this system which was originally developed for the management of disease issues, is also going to be used for other purposes in the context of trade agreements. For example, when we complete our trade agreement with Europe, traceability will be needed to certify that that Canadian beef meets the requirement for NEW ADDRESS access set out in the agreement. We can demonstrate, for NAME: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ instance, that the animal from which the product came has not been treated hormones.

ADDRESS: _________with _______________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________C _________ — Paul Sinclair

Q. A.

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Cattlemen / February 2012 25

GRAZING

KEEP A PROACTIVE CASH FLOW

M

y busy season is officially over. We had a great year here at Greener Pastures.

The main herd is still on dormant-season grass and will be switching over to bale grazing soon.

The second herd is doing fine bale grazing and licking snow. I love winter.

My bales are all set up and twines were pulled in the fall. All in all, it takes me about six hours a week right now to get all my chores done for just over 400 head. What on earth do I do with all the rest of my time? The first thing, of course, is to spend extra time with my family. I like to do crafts and read with my six-year-old daughter, I play games and build Lego Ninjago with my 10-year-old son, and I seem to be spending a lot of time helping my pre-teen daughter practice her attitude! Seriously! Like OMG! LOL! And tonight my sweetie and I are off to the dinner theatre.

But, when it is time for work, I spend my time working on my business. Office work: income tax, economics, promotion, advertising and cash flow. I now have time to calculate out my grazing charts and figure out my actual profit. I need to make a business plan for next year, run a gross margin analysis and set up a new cash flow for 2012. This is also when I plan and advertise my grazing schools for this winter and spring.

Yikes! Did I say my busy season was over? I better get a move on. April is almost here!

Today, let’s talk cash flow. My cash flow is a financial tool. It helps me plan ahead and predict what my bank account will look like. It does not show me the profitability of my business.

That is what my gross margin analysis does. Profitability is economics. Cash flow is finances. Economics tells me if I am making money, finance tells me if I can afford to do it!

It is possible to have a profitable venture that you cannot cash flow, or you can have a very unprofitable undertaking that you can finance. Yes, both situations happen all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I like my banker, but in many cases, a banker will be happy to finance you on something that you can cash flow that is totally unsound

26 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

economically. It is up to you, not your banker, to manage your business.

I feel it is very important for a business to be proactive on its cash flow.

What I mean by this is to make sure you have a good understanding of monthly cash inflow and outflow to be able to accurately predict what your bank account will look like 10 to 12 months in advance. If you can plan ahead month to month and see when the bank account looks “a little red,” you have plenty of time to reset the plan and figure out a way to make your cash flow work.

My cash flow is a financial tool. It helps me plan ahead and predict what my bank account will look like If I get into a situation where there is a pinch on my cash flow that I can’t deal with on my own, I go in and talk with my banker six months in advance to explain the situation to him. I provide him with a cash flow and a possible solution. This sure makes him easier to deal with when the pinch hits.

The alternative is to be reactive on your cash flow when a cheque bounces or the debit card is declined. Your banker probably won’t be quite so understanding of your situation with this type of cash flow planning.

I have a very simple cash flow that helps me plan my year. As a customgrazing operation, I rely heavily on my cash flow as I receive my income monthly, but it varies. Most of my cash inflow comes during the summer and fall. Winter and spring tend to have lower inflows. Fortunately, outflow is similar. I do know that for my business, if I have a month of the year that might be tight, it is usually April. Just before the grazing season kicks into gear. If I find a new piece of land to rent, I can look at my cash flow to determine the best month to have rent come due and then negotiate that with the landowner.

It might be profitable to rent the land, but if they have to have all the rent paid up in April, it may not cash flow.

If I can plan my cash flow to make sure every month has a positive balance, I am happy. If not, I might need to find some type of financing to make sure I can get through that pinch.

Remember, we only want to finance things that are profitable! Just because you can cash flow something does not make it profitable. I prefer to stay away from the need to use an operating loan or credit, but I understand, sometimes to make money, you need money. Just make sure it is for a profitable venture.

My spreadsheet is very simple to use as long as you have a minimal understanding of Excel. It actually runs a business cash flow as well as a personal cash flow at the same time. I also have a few different sheets linked together to help calculate out different parts of my business separately but include them all as one spreadsheet. My grazing revenue, my land rent, hay purchases and sales, are all calculated out on different sheets that link back to the main cash flow. This makes it very easy to adjust if need be.

If I am going to maintain my cash flow on a monthly basis, it needs to be easy. My spreadsheet takes a couple of hours to set up and then takes a few minutes each month to adjust and replan throughout the year. Each month I compare my actual cash flow to the predicted, correct and adjust. In some cases it might need a complete overhaul but generally it does not take that much time to monitor.

I manage a farm business; the operative word being business. Take the time to understand your finances and be proactive on your cash flow. It not only makes a lot of sense for the health of your business, but for the health of you and your family as well. Life is too short to be stressed over finances all the time. Be in control of your finances; be in control of your business. It is well worth the time invested.

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

HOLISTIC RANCHING

I

A good cow

know this could be a controwide variation in calving ease. We can develop herds versial topic but that’s not how that calve largely unassisted or herds where a large I mean it to be. I want to prespercentage of the cows need assistance. The best way ent some ideas on what I think to develop easy-calving cows is to let them calve largely a good cow might be. I hope you unassisted. Any open cow or any cow requiring assiswill think about these ideas, see if tance is culled. Calving ease is inheritable. By following they have value and then use these or this guideline you will develop an easy-calving herd. other ideas to improve your herd. The Easy keeping: Feed is usually the highest expense in goal might be for all of us to have keeping a cow. Cows that can meet their nutritional more good cows. The best definition requirements on low-quality feed tend to be more of a good cow might be “a cow that makes a profit.” profitable as they can be maintained at a lower cost.

With this in mind let’s look at the traits required.

Fertility and ease of keeping are related. Easy-keeping Traits for a profitable cow: 1. Fertility 2. Calving cows will tend to be more fertile especially when feed ease 3. Easy keeping 4. Longevity. is short or in times of drought. The easiest way to Fertility: This is the single most important trait for select for easy-keeping cows is to set a ration that you having a profitable cow. A cow must get bred to make a think is adequate. Treat the cows of similar age the profit. Fertility is largely dependent on two factors. The same. The ones that get bred are easy keeping. Those first is genetics. Some cows are more fertile than others. that don’t get bred are hard keeping and should be If we want high fertility in our herds we must put more eliminated. pressure on our breeding bulls and replacement heifLongevity: For most of us the second-highest cost of ers than we do on our cows. Using bulls that are born keeping a cow is depreciation. Depreciation is the difin the first cycle and come from cows that consistently ference in value between a bred heifer and/or a young calve in the first cycle will increase herd fertility. Breedcow and the value of a cull cow. The longer a cow stays ing replacement heifers for a in the herd (raising a calf each shorter period than your cows year) the lower her depreciawill increase the fertility of tion will be. Longevity results your herd. For example if you in higher profits. Selecting bulls If we want high fertility are breeding your cows for 60 from older cows that consisin our herds we must put days having a breeding season tently calve in the first cycle will of 21 or 42 days for your heifincrease longevity. more pressure on our ers will increase the fertility of I think that the four traits your herd. Culling a cow that we have touched on are the breeding bulls and doesn’t get bred in 60 days is a most important to developing replacement heifers than good idea. However replacing profitable cows. Fortunately I her with a heifer that had 60 think they are all linked and we do on our cows days to get bred doesn’t really can be selected for. It’s pretty increase the fertility of the herd. simple. Select bulls and replaceHaving a short breeding season and culling all open ment heifers that are more fertile than your cows. This cows is an excellent idea. Doing this will improve profitwill increase fertility. Feed your herd adequately, have a ability but it will only maintain, not increase fertility. short breeding season, cull all the open cows each year What would happen to the fertility of our national (no excuses). This will maintain the increased fertility of herd if all the breeding bulls turned out for the next your herd. The result over time will be a highly fertile, 10 years were born in the first cycle? Tom Lasater who easy-calving, easy-keeping herd with natural longevity. developed the Beefmaster breed had a saying, “every To me that sounds like a formula for profit. What do cow brings a check every year. If she doesn’t have a live you think? Are there steps you can take to make your calf she’s the check.” I think this is sound advice. If we herd more profitable? I hope you consider these ideas followed this as individuals and an industry we would and make positive changes. have a much more fertile and profitable herd.

I am sure many of you are wondering why I haven’t The second major factor contributing to fertility mentioned production (weaning weight) as an imporis nutrition. Cows need adequate nutrition including tant trait. It is important but only after you have these vitamins and minerals. Feed is expensive. We can breed four traits developed. Next month’s article will address our cows so that their nutritional requirements can vary production. Stay tuned. from top-quality second-cut alfalfa to slough hay and/ Happy trails. or crop by products. Cows that do well on low-quality — Don Campbell feed are the most likely to be profitable.

Calving ease: This is the second most important trait Don Campbell ranches with his family at Meadow Lake, related to profit. If the calf dies at birth, the fact that Sask., and teaches Holistic Management courses. He can be the cow got bred is meaningless. Here again there is a reached at 306-236-6088 or doncampbell@sasktel.net.

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012 27

SEEDSTOCK

TIPS FROM THE SHOW ALLEY

O

f all the continents on which Robert Ballantyne has judged cattle shows, North America is the only place where judges give their placings orally. It’s a rare honour for a judge to be handed the microphone in other countries, says this Livelong, Sask., cattle producer who has judged shows across Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. Length and depth of individual animals and uniformity of the group are frequently mentioned as deciding factors in his final placings of heifers during the replacement cattle and futurity classes at Canadian Western Agribition’s commercial cattle show.

However, those weren’t the only considerations running through his mind as each group made its way down show alley. Conformation also ranks particularly high when looking at replacement heifers for commercial operations.

“My primary concern when judging breeding stock is the feet and legs because the animals need to have mobility along with femininity, which is correlated with fertility. Ideally, you’d like these females to be productive for a minimum of 15 years, considering the cost to raise replacement heifers,” he explains. “Anytime you are judging a show, the animals have to have eye appeal and some character, though that’s not as important as mobility and fertility.”

Look for a decent-sized, sturdy foot with good depth of heel. A shallow heel leads to long, grownout toes because the front end of the hoof isn’t touching the ground and, therefore, won’t wear as it should to keep the toes trimmed. To determine whether an animal has good depth of heel, look at the hairline at the top of the hoof. If you place a ruler on that line it should touch the ground a ways back of the hoof, not right at the hoof.

The set of the hind legs is important. Legs that are too straight from the top bone through the hock joint 28 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

down to the hoof often end up with arthritic stifles or breaking down. You don’t want to see crooked legs either.

Crooked legs angling outward or inward from the hock aren’t as much at risk of breaking down, but it’s not very appealing, he adds. The shape of the leg bones is an indication of bone quality. It has been proven that flattershaped bones are of higher quality than rounder-shaped bones.

Then, move on to look at the body.

Depth of rib, or a natural thickness through the middle, is a good indication of fleshing ability and an easykeeping animal.

Length is important because the most economical way to get extra pounds on a calf is with extra length.

At Agribition, there were many redribbon heifers within the groups, Ballantyne says. However, selecting five or 10 red-ribbon animals that measure up equally to bring to town is much more difficult than showing an individual animal in a class. The final placings often come down to uniformity within the group. Uniformity in a commercial herd is an advantage when it comes to marketing the calves because they will have more uniformity as a group and buyers may be willing to up the bid a notch for that uniformity in feeder cattle.

He looks for heifers with thick hair coats. Animals with a smooth hair coat need more feed to keep their condition through Canada’s long, cold winters.

Ideally you’d like cows that don’t need grain because the minute you have to start feeding grain you’re cutting into your profit, Ballantyne adds.

He also evaluates the udders on females and testicles on bulls. The udder should have space between the teats and they shouldn’t be too large at a young age if they are to be functional throughout her lifetime.

Scrotal size and shape are indicators of fertility. Abnormalities, such as a slight twist in the neck where the scrotum attaches to the underbelly, could restrict blood flow to the testicles and affect the internal temperature, which is important in maintaining viable sperm.

Robert Ballantyne Ballantyne came up through the 4-H program as a youngster and started judging cattle on his own when he was 20 years old. He has shown cattle for 41 years at Agribition — that’s every year since it first began!

Chores were much easier this year having only a half interest in a bull at the show after dispersing his 200head Black Angus and black Galloway purebred herd last December. His son has now taken over the operation, running 300 commercial cows.

Ballantyne considers Agribition to be the premier livestock show in Canada if not the largest show in North America where all of the cattle are housed indoors and on the grounds at the same time. Regardless of the size or location of the show, the best part of the cattle business is the people you get to meet, he says.

His best words of advice for aspiring judges is to pick the type of cattle you like and would want to buy for your own herd. “If you are trying to please other people, you will get thoroughly mixed up,” he adds. “At the end of the day, you have to live with your placings so you the only person you have to please is yourself.”

C — Debbie Furber www.canadiancattlemen.ca

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Cattlemen / february 2012 29

N u t r i t i o n

by John McKinnon John.mckinnon@usask.ca

How much grain can I feed?

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

F

or those backgrounding cattle, this is a critical time of year as calf performance will dictate whether or not you reach your target weight. By now, your calves should be healthy and gaining well. In terms of intake, they should be on full feed, which will be anywhere from 2.3 to 2.6 per cent of body weight on a dry matter (DM) basis. Your target daily gain will depend on the frame/genetics of calves and will likely range from 1.75 to 2.5 pounds per day. The lower gains are typically seen with calves backgrounded for grass while the higher rates are typical with heavier calves with some continental breeding.

Some of the questions I get from producers on this subject include “how do I to target a specific weight gain for a pen of calves?” and “how much grain can I feed to put on as much weight as possible?” These questions while related are addressing two different issues involving feeding program design and management.

To control weight gain, we can do one of two things. We can regulate what cattle eat or we can control how much they eat. Controlling feed intake is the practice of limit feeding cattle, usually with high energy diets. While effective, it takes a high degree of management to limit feed to obtain a defined weight gain. Not only do you need to know how much to feed of a given diet, you need to continually adjust the amount fed as the animals get bigger. The more common approach to controlling weight gain is to regulate what cattle eat, specifically to control the energy content of the diet through the amount of grain fed. Knowledge of the energy content of your total mixed ration, specifically the net energy for maintenance (NEm) and net energy for gain (NEg) values will allow you to predict how much of that energy is used for maintenance and how much is left over for weight gain.

If we look at a pen of 550-pound calves, their maintenance energy requirement can be predicted using equations published by the National Research Council (1996) and Alberta Agriculture’s Cowbytes program. For example, at -10 C, these calves require approximately six megacalories (Mcal) of NEm daily. If they are consuming 13.5 pounds of DM in a diet formulated to 0.71 Mcal of NEm and 0.44 Mcal of NEg (per pound of DM), they would require 8.5 pounds of the feed DM for maintenance. The remainder of the feed (five pounds DM) is available for gain and based on its NEg content, the cattle would be

30 Cattlemen / February 2012

predicted to gain two pounds per day. An example diet formulated to these energy levels would consist of 60 per cent barley silage, 13 per cent grass hay, five per cent supplement and 22 per cent barley grain (as fed). On a DM basis, this diet would contain 35 per cent barley grain.

If I increase the barley by 10 per cent on a DM basis and decrease the grass hay by the same amount, the NEm and NEg content of the diet would increase to 0.75 and 0.47 Mcal per pound DM, respectively and the projected gain would increase to 2.3 pounds per day. Increasing the barley to 55 per cent of the diet DM would allow these calves to gain 2.5 pounds per day or slightly better.

It should be noted that these are projected gains and the actual gain may differ due to environment, management, etc. Nevertheless, it is clear that manipulating the energy content of the diet through the amount of grain fed is an easy and efficient method of targeting specific gains on your calves. This is precisely the approach nutritionists use when developing step-up feeding programs. A step-up feeding program for backgrounding might involve five steps, each with a defined energy level. Moving cattle through the program allows producers to grow out calves appropriately and ensure they are selling calves at the desired weight and quality.

As to the second question, how much grain can I feed to maximize weight gain? There is no easy answer! If we look at the above example of calves consuming 13.5 pounds of dry matter, at 35 per cent grain, we would be feeding almost five pounds per head per day. At 55 per cent grain, we are feeding 7.5 pounds per head (DM basis). If we properly adapt these calves to this level of grain, they will handle it with no problem! However, can your 550-pound calves handle gaining at 2.5 or perhaps 3.0 pounds per day, if you increase the grain even more, without showing evidence of fat deposition? That is the question. If they are stretchy, late maturing calves with continental breeding, there should be no problem! However, smallerframed calves gaining at this rate are going to start laying down fat that can be discounted at the market.

How much grain can I feed? The answer comes down to the type of cattle fed, a well-designed feeding program and proper management. As with most things in life, there are no shortcuts to a successful backgrounding program. www.canadiancattlemen.ca

VET ADVICE

I

Animals front and centre on emerging human diseases

n less than two decades, perspectives on the relationship of disease emergence in humans and domestic animals has changed dramatically. Toward the end of the 20th century, the underlying causes of emerging infectious disease were primarily attributed to aberrations in human behaviour. Methods of control and prevention were all too often centred on changing human behaviour, those things characterized by human carelessness, human excesses, human ignorance or human habits of conquest or leisure. Humans were looked at as the engines of microbial opportunism. The conquest of disease was based on control of the human factors that contribute to emergence.

Little attention was paid to the pivotal role animals play as zoonotic agents in the origin and transmission of emerging diseases and the biological niches that microorganisms are all too capable of exploiting. That was a mistake.

A comprehensive literature review conducted by the centre of Tropical Veterinary medicine, University of Edinburgh identified 1,415 species of infectious organisms known to be pathogenic to humans. Sixty-one per cent of them are zoonotic or capable of being transmitted between human and animals. One hundred seventy-five human pathogens fit the definition as causes of new or emerging disease. Of those, 75 per cent are zoonotic.

Nearly one-half are viruses and vectors such as mosquitos, ticks and midges are often involved in transmission.

Overall, emerging diseases are twice as likely to be associated with zoonotic pathogens.

The importance of the zoonotic nature of disease is often found in how diseases are initially established in human hosts rather than the severity of the disease that follows. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), for instance, originated in monkeys, jumped the species barrier and was then transmitted person to person, eventually infecting over 30 million people. With HIV-AIDS fully engaged as a human problem its origin as zoonosis is often forgotten. The role of swine and birds as mixing vessels for influenza viruses like influenza A H5N1 is well known, but it’s the potential of spread from human to human that incites fear of pandemics. Dengue fever initially a viral disease of nonhuman primates in Africa and its mosquito vector are now established in over 100 countries, and put three billion people at risk every year.

Emerging disease in free-living wild animals that in turn hold zoonotic risk for humans have often had origins in the spillover of disease from domestic herds. Brucellosis and tuberculosis in Wood Buffalo National Park bison, and brucellosis in Yellowstone National Park elk and bison started in cattle. The “spill-back” potential into domestic herds now free of disease and the difficulty posed in trying to eliminate these stubborn diseases from free-roaming populations highlight human intervention gone astray.

It’s customary for humans to analyze the phenomenon of emerging disease as a means of rationalizing investment in control and prevention. Today, the rigmarole is called “risk assessment,” and risks there are plenty. Understanding

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both animal and human factors is essential in comprehending disease risk. The role of animals in the transmission of emerging diseases is unequivocal, but human behaviour can also be a decisive determinant. Changes in human behaviour can either be a powerful defence against disease, or a catalyst for the evolution of new pathogens.

Human behaviour contributes to disease emergence, first and foremost, by enhancing the opportunity for microbes to encounter humans and animals. In 2011, world population surpassed seven billion; upwards of 100 billion animals served their need for protein. As the population density of any species increases, so do the chances that a successful and often devastating pathogen will appear. Add things like armed conflict, natural disasters, substandard education and poor sanitation and the human capacity to respond is overwhelmed. The cycle of underdevelopment and indescribable poverty of many nations are sustained. As an example, the indiscriminate disposal of human and animal waste has probably been the greatest single contributor to emergence and re-emergence of diseases.

The helter-skelter movement of people, animals, and animal products across the globe at warp speed only increases the risk of encounters with disease microbes.

West Nile virus infected crow rookeries in lower Manhattan and ultimately migratory waterfowl of North America. HIV/AIDS spread along trucking routes out of central Africa. Cholera jumped by ship from Bangladesh to Peru. Influenza constantly changed and played global hopscotch. And BSE wreaked havoc in Canada.

The mix of new technology and a burgeoning population pushes humans into new habitats. Climate change adds to the mix. The invasion increases opportunities for inadvertent exposure to disease and the likelihood for cross-species adaptation of organisms. Technology also permits distribution of fresh and processed foods over vast geographic areas. Animal- and human-derived organisms like salmonella, E. coli, and listeria can now affect people far from the source of production.

Modern communication, another product of technology, provides an unparalleled opportunity to influence human behaviour. For instance, communication is the engine for mass markets. Communication generates fashions and fads, plus the desire to travel. Many close encounters between humans, animals and microbes are motivated by modern communications.

The management of zoonotic pathogens poses challenges outside the scope of traditional medical system and demands much closer collaboration between medical and veterinary scientists. Disease control in the future must consider both animals and people. The concept of “One Health” is no longer just academic fodder.

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 at info@WCABP.com.

CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012 31

RESEARCH

Residual feed intake

A

few months ago this colvery little water. Young animals are generally more effiumn discussed how feedcient earlier in the feeding period when they are mainly lot feed:gain had improved growing muscle. Feed efficiency declines later in the over the years. An individfinishing phase, when most of the new weight gain is ual animal’s average daily gain is reladeposited as fat. So selecting for a low feed:gain may tively easy to measure, but feed intake favour animals that are very lean and slow to finish. is not. This means that feedlots track It makes sense that cattle that are growing faster or feed:gain ratio for the whole pen (pen putting on a lot of fat will also be eating more, but average daily feed intake:pen average some animals burn more energy doing nothing; they daily gain). So even though cow-calf simply have a faster “idling rate.” This “idling rate” or producers who retain ownership of their calves might “maintenance energy requirement” refers to the energy get individual health, growth and carcass data, they still needed to maintain the function of the muscles, bones, won’t know how feed efficient each calf was. They will lungs, heart, brain, digestive organs and hormonal only learn the pen’s average feed:gain ratio, which may systems. If an animal devotes a lot of its dietary energy represent several hundred calves. This pen average will to maintain these systems, it won’t be able to devote be made up of some efficient (low feed:gain) individuas much energy towards growth, fattening, and other als, some inefficient (high feed:gain) individuals, and a productive activities. lot of individuals of average efficiency.

Residual (or net) feed intake is intended to identify This poses major challenges for genetic improvement. which animals are eating more because they are growing If a commercial producer can’t identify which indior fattening more rapidly, and which animals are eating vidual calves are the most feed efficient in the feedlot, more because they have higher maintenance requirethey can’t work backwards to ments. Residual feed intake identify which bull sired the has been adjusted for differefficient calves, and the seedences in growth rate (average stock breeder has no way of daily gain) and body composiResidual feed intake in knowing whether they have tion (ultrasound backfat), so yearling bulls is moderately superior genetics for one of animals with different RFI’s the beef industry’s most ecoare believed to differ in their heritable, meaning that it is nomically important traits. As maintenance energy requirea result, feed efficiency hasn’t The average RFI is partly controlled by genetics ments. been the direct focus of very zero. An animal with a negaand will respond to selection tive RFI is more efficient than many breeding programs.

Systems that measure feed average. It needs less energy intake for individual animals to maintain itself, so it can (e.g. GrowSafe) may allow feed efficiency to be comdevote more feed energy to growth and fattening. An pared in yearling beef bulls as part of a routine postanimal with a positive RFI is less efficient than average. weaning performance test. This may allow seedstock It needs more energy to maintain itself, so it devotes breeders to identify superior feed efficiency genetics less feed energy to growth and fattening. Residual feed without progeny feed:gain data in commercial feedlots. intake is similar to feed:gain ratio, in that a negative Now the challenge is to summarize several months RFI (low feed:gain) is more efficient than a positive RFI of individual daily intake data into a useful number. (large feed:gain) number.

Feed:gain ratio is useful for feedlots, but it’s not ideal Residual feed intake in yearling bulls is moderately for genetic selection because it places equal emphasis heritable, meaning that it is partly controlled by geneton feed intake and average daily gain. Consider two ics and will respond to selection. Residual feed intake bull calves from the same herd and breed, similar ages in yearling bulls also has a positive genetic correlation and fed the same diet. One eats 32 pounds of dry matwith feed:gain ratio in feedlot cattle. This means that ter per day and gains four pounds per day. The other selecting for low RFI in yearling bulls should result in eats 16 pounds and gains two pounds. They have the lower (more efficient) feed:gain in commercial feedlot same feed:gain ratio, but for very different reasons. One progeny. The relationship between RFI in yearling bulls is growing fast; the other isn’t eating very much. Using and efficiency and fertility in cows is not as well defined. feed intake on its own isn’t ideal, either. Feed intake will Dr. John Basarab’s work in this area will be the subject be higher in animals that are growing more rapidly. So of next month’s column. selecting for low feed intake may accidentally select for — Reynold Bergen animals with less growth potential.

Feed efficiency also varies with the growth phase of Reynold Bergen is the science director of Beef Cattle Research the animal. Muscle is mostly water, while fat contains Council.

32 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

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BUILDING TRUST IN CANADIAN BEEF

Better communicator, better manager The keys to better on-farm communications and how VBP can help It’s important that people know what to do and why in a beef operation today. Whether you have a crew of volunteers helping out at processing time or employees working full or part time, people need clear instructions. In on-farm food safety terms, our beef customers are depending on it.

Canada’s Verified Beef Production (VBP) program provides beef producers with the tools for clear, effective business communications. VBP best management practices are designed to be customized to each individual beef operation. This helps people recognize the right thing to do and then do it, which does amazing things for family and team harmony.

Here are some comments, suggestions and tips on how to be a better communications manager from beef producers who have attended VBP workshops across Canada.

Write it down. “I like the word team, but our team doesn’t always have its game face on,” says one veteran producer.

“Sometimes things don’t work like they should. That’s why we write it down and why VBP helps. If we have a written document then everyone is in charge because everyone can

Will they understand?

read it. When things are rushed and someone is having a bad day, people are more likely to keep a cool head if they clearly understand their job.”

Will they understand? As one producer wrote: “When I was a kid, my dad would leave a note on the fridge on which animals needed to be treated. We couldn’t always read his writing. Now, with VBP, we simply post our farm’s Standard Operating Procedures and our kids have the records to back up their decision.”

Create leadership. A producer wrote: “If people know what to do, they will handle it. But if they know why they are doing it, they will find ways to continually improve. Some of the best ideas come from people understanding and thinking on their own.”

Think training. At least one person in the beef operation should be trained with VBP requirements. Family members and staff should know their responsibilities regarding Standard Operating Procedures and the “Must dos” for your operation.

Make people comfortable. Communications isn’t about nagging. It’s about building a cornerstone of your business success. If people are comfortable asking questions, that’s key.

You will create exchange of ideas, better observations and more dynamic feedback.

Post key information. One theme from many successful operations is that they post key information such as drug withdrawal times or SOPs at chuteside or in barns. That’s particularly important if the primary person who does that task is not there that day.

Communicate off-farm. Good communications includes off farm contacts such as vets, truckers and nutritionists. “Truckers really respect shipping manifests,” says one producer.

“And if you communicate with your vet before processing, then they’ll have supplies when you need them.”

Rush times provide the best test. When things are busy, communications often suffers. If it doesn’t work well, make a commitment to fix it for next time.

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STRAIGHT FROM THE HIP

Investing in ourselves

A

s our global population continues to grow, the systems that we currently use to produce food will become burdened. Without future investment in agriculture, the industry will be hard pressed to keep up with the demands that are placed at the table. As beef producers, we are not isolated from this challenge.

Although cattlemen are currently thrilled with the prospect of increased beef demand, the story has another subplot. At a point in the near future, competition for land and water may grind the industry to the bone.

The world population grows at a pace of 242,000 persons every day. At this rate the projected global population of nine billion by 2050 will be easy to achieve.

Cities will continue to multiply, and as every civilization has historically located near water and arable land, both land and water will be taxed. The mobility of our world continues to pressure energy resources and today farming is more dependent on oil than at any time in history.

The supply of nutrients is finite and we need creative solutions to continue to be competitive for the land and water against a hungry population that is inadvertently eating up the very resources that are needed to feed them. Until society recognizes the true value of food, it will be difficult to broach the subject of city design and the protection of land and water for food production.

There is little appreciation for the farmer and the production of food is grossly undervalued. Perhaps it is because there is not a lack of food in the world.

Statistically, 40 per cent of Canadian food is wasted for an annual value of $27 billion and nearly 40 per cent of international food does not make it to its final destination or is trashed after storage because of pests and spoilage. The world may be primarily populated by the poor but the wealthy, those who can grow and distribute food, do not understand its value.

Our often-gluttonous and always-disposable society has fostered a taste for waste and diets that are sugar based. A full 95 per cent of the world’s food is grown in just 45 crops, the largest of which is sugar. By creating this sweet dependency, the food industry has woven the world’s highest and least nutritious calories into the diets in every corner of the Earth. It’s an easy sell with truly sad consequences. Demographically, 75 per cent of the population on this earth are poor and undernourished. The majority of the poor reside in large cities, many of which will house over 20 million people.

Today, nearly 80 per cent of the entire population on earth lives within 60 km. of the shore, close to the largest protein source, fish. For every pound of fish taken from the ocean, three pounds of garbage are put back.

At some point, this giant pond will be sludge, creating further demand for protein sources from outside the

34 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

city walls. This sounds good for beef but one question remains — who will pay? Only six per cent of the world population carries the wealth, much of that in America.

Those investment dollars need to find homes in other parts of the world as the North American population accounts for only 14 per cent of the head count. The global village is dominated by Asians which make up a full 57 per cent of the people on earth. Some Asian countries are seen as economically progressive and that is good news for beef, and the reason why beef exporters concentrate on trading with Asian countries that have a growing middle class.

The economic success of a country can be measured by the strength of its middle class. This is eroding in Canada and around the world. The civil crisis that we are watching on the world stage is the eruption of the middle class, who see themselves facing political instability, food insecurity and depleting opportunities for education. At the heart of the matter is food security.

In a knee-jerk reaction, many challenged countries with large populations have responded by going outside of their borders to secure food by buying large tracks of land in Africa, Eastern Europe and Canada. They do this because of the erosion of food-production systems from within themselves. They have not invested in agriculture.

Food-production systems are moving targets and need continuous support. There is a blind expectation that food is as infinite as the land it is grown on.

In truth, from a global perspective, we have reached peak oil, peak water, peak fertility and peak waste. The wiggle room is tight as oil and food production are so closely tied yet there has been little investigation to discover alternative production systems for crop and food animals. It is difficult to comprehend the water use or the waste of nine billion people and the impact on policy.

There is hard-core proof that countries with surging populations have a clear distaste for investing in internal food-production systems. It is cheaper, easier and faster to do it somewhere else. Canada is one of the future bread baskets of the world and the pressure for agricultural land, water, fertilizer and energy will dramatically increase. At this historical time we need a committed investment in agriculture: its operations, policies, regulations, technology, science, processing, production systems, leaders, communities and its sovereignty. In doing so we make the greatest long term contribution of all — we invest in ourselves.

— 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. All rights reserved. 2012.

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P R I M E

C U T S

N

A North American view of the meat industry.

Steve Kay is publisher and editor of CATTLE BUYERS WEEKLY

by Steve Kay

ow that we’re a month into 2012, the key issues facing the U.S. beef industry are in bare sight. Not surprisingly, top of the list remains beef demand. As all wealth to the industry comes from consumers, one can only hope that they continue to support beef as much as they did last year. Cattle supplies continue to get tighter and this will guarantee recordhigh prices for all classes of cattle again. But demand, not supply, will determine how high those prices will go.

2011 was a year of extraordinary records for cattle and beef. 2012 will see a repeat performance but with caveats, all relating to how much more consumers at home and abroad are prepared to pay for beef. Export prices were 20 per cent higher last year and U.S. retail prices set new record-highs throughout the year. USDA’s All Beef price was $4.57 per pound in December while the Choice price averaged just over $5. But as high as these prices were, they only reflected $115 per cwt fed cattle prices. Retailers will have to keep raising their prices this year if they are to restore their beef margins.

The key question is how consumers will respond. USDA forecasts that per-capita beef supplies will decline by 3.3 pounds this year to 54.1 pounds, the smallest number in 63 years. I hope consumers will keep paying higher prices for beef because they won’t be consuming so much. In particular, I hope they keep paying more for a great steak rather than spending more on ground beef.

Another of my hopes for the year is that Texas and other drought-stricken states receive soaking but not flooding rains for the next several months. The pictures last year of parched pastures in the region were heart-rending.

Ranchers need lots of rain to start them on the road to recovery. The industry overall also needs this to occur if the national herd is going to start

expanding to take advantage of the growing global demand for beef.

I also hope that the U.S. produces a recordlarge corn crop after two disappointing crop years. Corn futures prices, as I write this, are hovering around $5.78 to $6.16 per bushel. It will be a relief, especially to cattle feeders, if the 2012-2013 crop returns to producing trend yields. Such yields would be about 163.5 bushels per acre, versus 147.2 bpa last year. These would produce a 14-billion bushel crop, which would be 15 per cent larger than the 20112012 crop. This in turn, according to analysts at Informa Economics, would push the average price down to $4.50 per bushel from $6.10 in 2011-2012.

Also on my wish list is that restrictions on U.S. and Canadian beef in key Asian markets disappear. Latest reports indicate that South Korea has reopened its markets to the latter.

This is welcome news, especially as Korean consumers genuinely love beef. This means that Korea will keep importing more beef to satisfy the growing consumption.

Finally, I hope the U.S. government works with Congress over amending the country-oforigin labelling (COOL) law to bring the U.S. into compliance with a WTO ruling against it last November. I’m told the government wants to do this rather than appeal the ruling (it has until March 23 to decide). The U.S. House of Representatives is apparently set to put forward an amendment. But there’s still considerable support for an appeal in the U.S. Senate. I began writing about COOL in the 1990s so I hope this issue is finally laid to rest this year. But I’m not going to hold my breath.

CATTLE BUYERS WEEKLY covers the North American meat and livestock industry. For subscription information, contact Steve Kay at P.O. Box 2533, Petaluma, CA 94953, or at 707-765-1725, or go to www. cattlebuyersweekly.com.

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C C A

r e p o r t s

by Travis Toews

T Travis Toews is president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association

To that end, trade issues continue to dominate he latest estimates show that over the the agenda at the CCA. I am heartened by the next 40 years food production will have progress that is being made as a result of our lobto increase by 70 per cent to feed a growbying efforts on important trade files. ing world population. In order to meet At the time of this writing, the focus was on this challenge in a sustainable fashion, the agriculKorea moving through its final steps and proture industry will have to employ every production cesses in order to allow imports of Canadian technology available today. Continued research and beef. By the time you read this report, we will development will also be critical to discover new either have resumed exporting beef to Korea, or technologies and methods required to feed a growthe CCA will have sought the resumption of the ing population. While it is not widely proclaimed, WTO dispute panel. the North American cattle industry has been very Our lobbying efforts on the U.S. country-ofsuccessful in creating more high-quality protein origin labelling (COOL) file continue. In January with fewer resources.

I attended the American Farm Bureau Federation Over the last 30 years, the cattle industry has (AFBF) annual meeting and made the most of made great strides in production methods and several opportunities to update delegates on the practices that have lessened the environmental World Trade Organization (WTO) Panel report impact of beef production. It is important that we on U.S. COOL. get this message out to our end-users. Consumers The discussions focused on the essential comare concerned about beef and the environment. At ponents of a resolution and the merits for both the same time they are increasingly removed from the Canadian and U.S. industries, in eliminating farming and ranching and have little understandthe discrimination that COOL has created. After ing of the industry or its production practices. much discussion, the AFBF concluded that it is in Given the abundance of anti-animal agriculture the best interest of U.S. farmers and ranchers to discourse in social media and elsewhere, it’s more resolve the COOL dispute as soon as possible and important than ever to make sure consumers are not delay a resolution through an appeal. The getting the facts about our industry.

AFBF passed a policy to, “support country-of-oriFor instance, many of the claims reported in gin labelling that conforms the 2006 Livestock’s Long with COOL parameters Shadow have since been and meets WTO requirefound to be untrue. The Canada will soon become ments.” report claimed that liveAFBF also directed its stock production accounted one of very few nations staff to “Encourage the for 18 per cent of global USTR not to appeal the greenhouse gas (GHG) in the world that is a net WTO ruling on COOL, emissions. A more recent exporter of food products but to go straight to a legreport found that methane islative resolution.” emissions per pound of The stance taken by AFBF is consistent with beef have in fact been reduced over the years and the position taken by the NCBA at their sumtoday account for less than five per cent of Canamer meeting last August, and consistent with a dian GHG emissions. resolution passed recently at the annual meetOther improvements of note achieved between ing of the State Agriculture and Rural Leaders 1977 and 2007 include that modern beef produc(SARL) in Washington, D.C. This group passed tion uses 33 per cent less land, 12 per cent less a resolution, “that SARL encourages the U.S. water, 19 per cent less feed and nine per cent less to waive an appeal of the WTO Dispute Panel’s fossil fuel energy than equivalent beef production ruling on COOL and further encourages the in 1977 (U.S. data).

United States Congress to make a legislative In short, today’s production practices allow us amendment that would bring COOL into conto produce more beef from fewer animals which formity with the U.S. WTO obligations, withmaximizes resources like land and water while out hindering the ability of the United States providing essential nutrients for the human diet. to continue to implement COOL for informed The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) consumer decisions.” continues to work with forward-thinking groups Canada will soon become one of very few like the Five Nations Beef Alliance and the nations in the world that is a net exporter of food National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) products. As such we must continue to ensure that to continually improve environmental, social and we are using the most efficient production metheconomic sustainability. ods and tools available and advocate for an enviA critical contributor to the efficient use of ronment which is conducive for trade. We must global resources is trade. The ability to trade also ensure consumers and trade partners know of goods and services with other countries ensures the strides we are making in the sustainable prothat for any product, production takes place in duction of nutritious and healthy food. those regions where production is most efficient.

36 Cattlemen / February 2012

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NEWS ROUNDUP TRADE SOUTH KOREA OPENS TO UTM BEEF Canadian beef and veal processed by approved plants from cattle under 30 months of age have the green light for immediate exports to South Korea.

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and International Trade Minister Ed Fast announced on January 20 that Korea, which over a decade ago was the fourth-biggest foreign buyer of Canadian beef, has published its approval of import health requirements for the product.

On that date Seoul officially notified Ottawa that all certification conditions are in place, meaning exports can commence from the listed Canadian beef plants approved for export.

“With re-entry, we believe the Canadian industry is positioned to

benefit from exports of 6,500 tonnes, worth about $30 million by 2015, with potential to grow to 14,000 tonnes worth $65 million by 2020,” said Brad Wildeman, a Lanigan, Sask. feedlot operator and chairman of Canada Beef Inc. “While these are relatively modest figures compared to Canadian beef and veal trade with some other countries, it does provide additional sales opportunities for our high-quality beef and veal and helps diversify our export customer base.”

Korean media broke the news the week before, noting the government had been pressing for changes to its policies on food imports after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, starting in late 2010, led to culls of about five per cent of Korea’s cattle herd and a third of its hog herd.

“Because we have maintained our marketing expertise in South Korea over these absent years, we are well positioned to implement our re-entry

and growth strategy,” said Canada Beef president Rob Meijer. “This allows us to quickly take advantage when the border is officially open for trade.”

South Korea, whose national assembly passed the import requirements late last month, is the final significant Asian market to lift its ban on Canadian beef, the government said.

Korea shut its ports to Canadian beef and cattle in May 2003 after Canada confirmed its first domestic case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in an Alberta cow.

Many of those markets, including the U.S., have long since reopened.

A draft framework to restore access was reached last June, after which Canada said it would suspend its 2009 challenge of Korea’s beef ban at the World Trade Organization, once the Korean domestic process was underway.

Continued on page 38

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The case was originally expected to lead to a ruling from the WTO Dispute Settlement Body by April last year, but the DSB said in April it would need until the end of August at the latest to issue its report.

Vital status The resumption of trade in beef products may also be encouraging for commodity groups pressing for resumption of free trade talks between Canada and South Korea, stalled since 2008.

Given that the U.S., European Union and Chile have all already negotiated bilateral trade deals with Korea, there could be “serious impacts” on Canadian competitiveness in the Korean meat market, which also includes a $300-million market for Canadian pork, the Canadian Meat Council said in a separate release.

“The longer that Canada lags behind the U.S., the EU and Chile in the implementation of progressive tariff reductions, the greater the negative

effect will be on Canadian exports to this important market,” CMC president Scott Entz said.

“Not only will Canada lose very quickly its vital status as a competitive supplier to South Korea, the Canadian disadvantage could endure throughout and even beyond the entire 15-year tariff reduction implementation period,” he said. “Now that the beef access technical issues have been resolved, we should move forward swiftly with the free trade agreement negotiations.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested as much in a separate statement, saying the government “remains confident that this decision will also help create a favourable climate which will lead to a deeper trade relationship with South Korea.”

environment Alberta’s carbon offset system revised Starting January 1, Alberta farmers wanting to generate and sell carbon credits in the Alberta Offset System face stiffer verification requirements.

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38 Cattlemen / February 2012

Bull Test has moved to Thorlakson Feedyards 5 miles east of Airdrie, AB

Box 1299 Brooks, AB T1R 1C2

403.362.5521 www.bowslope.com

Manager/Order Buyer: Rod MacLean 403-793-3060 Field Reps: Lachie McKinnon 403-362-1825 Lowell Johnston 403-820-0516

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 22 12:00 Noon Complete Dispersal for Adams Ranch Ltd. 1100 Bred to Angus Cows 550 Cows Originated from O H Ranch Bred Black Angus August 1

GATHER 2012 Special Yearling Sales March 6, 7, 8 - 10:00 AM

SERVING ALBERTA’S LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY SINCE 1940 At Bow Slope You Can Expect and Rely on Consistent Service!

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the tillage protocol and the addition of a summerfallow reduction credit for the dry Prairie area.

Currently Alberta has 31 approved protocols, 11 agricultural of which three are specific to beef production.

However, the tillage protocol is the only agricultural one used by Alberta farmers to date. It accounted for 44 of the 78 offset projects registered between 2007 and 2010, covering 5.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) valued at $61 million. Offset credits, equivalent to the reduction or removal of one tonne of CO2e, have traded for $10 to $14 in Alberta over the past two years.

Under the new conservation cropping protocol farmers must annually provide proof of ownership for the acres claimed as well as the size and location of the field, crop type, soil

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

disturbance (equipment used) and other management practices, such as irrigation or reseeding.

Only credits that meet the new evidence requirements will be eligible from now on but credits registered under the old tillage protocol will still be honoured.

The new summerfallow reduction credit requires proof of the three-year average decline in fallow acres with the switch to continuous cropping.

Credits for no till may be reduced by 30 per cent in the Parkland area and 15 per cent in the dry Prairie area due to the high rate of adoption of conservation tillage in those areas.

To be eligible for a new nitrous oxide emission reduction protocol farmers must produce annual crops and three years of records showing a 4-R Nitrogen Stewardship Plan has

been implemented. The plan must take manure nitrogen sources into account.

One Beef Protocol Withdrawn The protocol for feeding edible oils has been withdrawn for revisions because it includes the use of dried distillers grains, which can contribute to increased nitrous oxide emissions in manure. Revisions to the remaining reduced-age-at-harvest and reduced-days-on-feed beef protocols allow more flexibility in measuring and monitoring changes to verify CO2 reductions.

The reduced-age-at-harvest and reduced-days-on-feed protocols allow producers the flexibility to use effective measures of their choice. The important element is to be able to measure Continued on page 40

Cattlemen / February 2012 39

Available Bachelorettes Energy to boot, this single parent is 47, 5'6, 150 lbs. with a pretty smile, long hair and the energy of girl half her age. I have a catering business. I have employees, customers and I have three teenage daughters. I also live on my family farm and have the rest of the land leased. I am busy. I don’t have time to find a MAN. I want a man in my life.

With all this estrogen around me I need a man to balance everything. I am always on the go except when I relax on my front porch in the summertime.

Our house is almost 100 years old and I have completely remodelled, refurbished and redecorated. I have a wonderful place by the sea in Mexico that me and the girls like to go to.

I want a man who is a farmer, has kids, is a big kid himself, and wants to have a fun and interesting companion in his life. Boring I am not – that’s for sure.

Widow, 52, toned, slim, fit. This lady has abs that would put many gym bunnies to shame. She is 5’6, 131 lbs., not an inch of fat, a farmer and a government worker.

Her family farm is profitable, stable and earns a considerable amount but it wasn’t always that way. Anyone who farms knows the bad time and what needs to be done to get through on a day to day basis. I come from a large family so I know how to get along. I love to garden, work out, cook, visit friends and family.

News Roundup Continued from page 39

and monitor changes in order to demonstrate and verify the improvement.

New interpretive guides will soon be available on Alberta Agriculture’s website.

I would love to take a road trip across Canada. I have never tried white water rafting. That looks like fun. I would like to do something different on the weekends.

There is always something to do on the farm but my boys handle all the work, so I am free to go to dinner, plan a weekend away or cook a romantic meal for two.

I have not done that in a while.

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I enjoy farming and animals, have cattle & grain, non smoker/non drinker/Christian, live a clean healthy lifestyle, clean cut. Believe in family unity, honesty and loyalty. I’m kindhearted, appreciate friends and neighbors. Enjoy picking wild flowers for that special lady.

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Please phone 843-2917 early mornings late evenings or write Donald, Box 387 Amaranth, MB, R0H 0B0

Trade U.S. gets more time to appeal WTO’s COOL ruling The U.S. government now has until well into March to file any appeal of a World Trade Organization panel’s ruling against its controversial countryof-origin labelling (COOL) law.

Responding to complaints filed in 2008 by Canada and Mexico, a panel of the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body on Nov. 18 found COOL to be inconsistent with the U.S. government’s WTO obligations.

The release of the DSB panel’s report started a 60-day period in which the DSB is obliged to formally adopt a panel report that isn’t appealed. That period was to end Jan. 18.

The deadline for either the DSB

Winnipeg Livestock saLes Ltd. Friday Feeder/Butcher Sale 8 AM Inquire About Special Monday Sales Scott Anderson 204-782-6222 Darren Tully 204-461-1434 Mike Nernberg 204-841-0747 Box 13, Group 220, RR#2, Winnipeg, MB. R3C 2E6 Ph. 204-694-8328 • Ship/Rec. 204-694-6784

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40 Cattlemen / February 2012

to adopt or the U.S. government to appeal the panel’s ruling is now extended to March 23.

The WTO said the extension came at the requests of the Canadian, Mexican and U.S. governments, “to take into account the current workload” of the WTO Appellate Body which would hear a U.S. appeal.

COOL, launched in September 2008, requires U.S. retailers to notify their customers, by way of labelling, on the sources of foods such as beef, veal, pork, lamb, goat, fish, fruits, vegetables, peanuts, pecans and macadamia nuts.

Both Canada and Mexico have long contended that COOL violates international trade laws, restricts market access and is a technical trade barrier.

Canadian livestock groups add that the law has forced unnecessary costs on U.S. meat processors, who currently must either segregate Canadian animals and meat for labelling purposes, or limit their imports from Canada.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association said it would use the extra time to advocate that it is in the interest of U.S. meat-processing jobs to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. The tight supply of cattle has resulted in overcapacity in the U.S. meat-processing sector, putting jobs there at risk.

The extra costs that COOL imposes on U.S. meat processors exacerbates the situation. According to Dr. Daniel Sumner, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture chief economist and current professor of agricultural economics at the University of California-Davis, an estimated 9,000 U.S. meat-processing jobs are at risk if COOL is left unresolved.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association released figures showing a significant drop in U.S. imports of Canadian fed and feeder cattle fol-

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lowing COOL’s implementation, and a widening in the negative price basis for Canadian fed cattle compared to U.S. animals.

U.S. laws on mandatory country-oforigin labelling (COOL) have not only led to a substantial drop in U.S.-bound Canadian cattle exports, but helped widen the price gap between Canadian and U.S. marketings, Canadian research shows.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, in the wake of the November 2011 ruling against COOL by a dispute settlement panel at the World Trade Organization (WTO), says its research shows COOL held far more “substantial influence” than just a

requirement for stickers at the meat counter.

The CCA resisted going public with any dollar-value assessment of COOL’s impact, as such costs may well become a point of arbitration if Washington refuses to bring COOL in line with the WTO panel’s ruling.

Specific data on costs would then help form the basis of any new or higher tariffs the WTO would allow Canada to slap on exports from the U.S., equal to the negative impact of COOL, the CCA said in a newsletter this week.

However, the CCA said, it can show the “change in proportion” of Canadian feeder cattle in U.S. cattleon-feed placements.

Overall, the CCA logged a loss of U.S. imports of Canadian feeder cattle of about 480,000 head in the first 80 weeks after the COOL measure came into effect at the end of September 2008.

That works out to an estimated reduction of 6,000 head per week, which the CCA said is “substantial” compared to Canada’s average weekly feeder cattle exports to the U.S. before COOL came in: specifically, 10,494 head per week in 2007 and 8,372 head in 2006.

Looking at the ratio of imports of fed cattle to U.S. slaughter, the CCA’s Continued on page 42

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Cattlemen / February 2012 41

LLB Angus

26th AnnuAl

Spring Spectacular

Bull & FEMAlE SAlE MARCh 10, 2012

at the farm Erskine Alberta

Offering over 700 head of Quality Angus Cattle Canada’s largest Angus Production Sale

• 150 yearling bulls

• 100 two year old bulls

• 30 fall born yearling bulls

• 120 yearling heifers

• 300 commercial heifers

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Lee, Laura & Jackie Brown

Trish & Tim henderson

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catalogue online www.llbangus.com

llbangus@xplornet.com

Phone: 403-742-4226

NEWS ROUNDUP Continued from page 41

“econometric estimates” show COOL cut into U.S. imports relative to slaughter by 30 per cent, or about 400,000 head, during the same period.

That works out to an estimated reduction in slaughter cattle exports of 5,000 head per week, the CCA said, compared to pre-COOL average weekly fed cattle exports to the U.S. of 16,333 head in 2007 and 13,534 in 2006.

WIDER BASIS The CCA has also looked at the fed cattle basis, which measures the difference between Canadian and U.S. fed cattle cash prices, to show the price differential between the two markets following COOL’s implementation.

Analysis of weekly fed cattle prices from 2005 through 2010 and full years through September 2009 found that in both cases, COOL widened the negative price basis for fed cattle by about 30 per cent of the initial basis, or about US$4 per hundredweight.

Based on a typical per-head live weight of about 1,200 pounds, this works out to a price difference of about US$48 per head for Canadian fed cattle, the CCA said.

“For feeder cattle, the strong impact of the COOL measure on U.S. import quantity dominates any potential price impact,” the association said.

Moreover, the CCA said, the effect of the basis difference caused by COOL “is felt on every fed animal sold,

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42 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

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regardless of whether it is exported or not.”

Any quantification of the impact of COOL would have to include total Canadian marketings, not just exports to the U.S., the association said.

COOL requires U.S. retailers to notify their customers, by way of labelling, on the sources of foods such as beef, veal, pork, lamb, goat, fish, fruits, vegetables, peanuts, pecans and macadamia nuts.

The WTO Dispute Settlement Body’s panel ruled in November that COOL — which the U.S. government has touted as a way of educating and informing U.S. consumers — “does not fulfil its legitimate objective of providing consumers with information on origin” and was thus in breach of the WTO’s Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).

The panel also found COOL breaks the TBT Agreement by “according less favourable treatment to imported Canadian cattle and hogs than to like domestic products.”

The office of U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in November it would be “considering all options, including appealing the (DSB) panel’s decision,” but hasn’t yet announced such move.Ad_Layout 1 1/10/12 3:24 C Cwft aCttlemn PM Page 1

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Talk to your veterinarian about biosecurity measures and how they can be applied to your farm. They’re the best investment you can make to help keep your animals and your business healthy.

For more information call 1-800-442-2342 visit www.inspection.gc.ca/biosecurity follow us on Twitter: @CFIA_Animals

RED & BLACK ANGUS BULL & COMMERCIAL FEMALE SALE 4.56" x 5.04" the

at Thursday A• proof APRIL Standard, AB IMPORTANT: must be5 faxed Communications fartomCompass

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Lunch: 12:00 noon • SALe: 1:00 pm p Sharp p Attn: Robert Barriault: 902-455-1158 Phone: 902-455-3307 Ext.66 32 Years breeding Reputation angus Cattle backed by a “No b.s.” guarantee!!

125

This is NOT a Media Insertion Order. All insertions for this campaign MUST be booked by Cossette Media.

Beefy Red & Black Angus Two Year old & Yearling Bulls

bulls on high roughage ration - ready to go to work!

Sale will be broadcast live via

140+ Commercial females

• 60 open Heifers • 40 Bred Heifers • 40 Young Cows

For more information, log in to: www.teamauctionsales.com

Young cows will have calves at foot or will be calving april/May

Catalogue & Video Clips of all sale bulls online at www.crowfootcattle.com SSale Sa le Co C Consultant: nsultant: Douglas J. Henderson & Assoc. Ltd. Cell: 403-350-8541 Ph: 403-782-3888 djhenderson@platinum.ca Website: www.hendersoncattle.com www.canadiancattlemen.ca

CRoWfooT CATTLe CAT A TLe Co. AT

DALLAS & SAnDRA JenSen 403-644-2165 / Cell 403-934-7597 crowfoot@myipplus.net

CRoWfooT VALLeY V LLeY RAnCH VA R nCH RA CHRiS & JennifeR JenSen 403-644-3840 / Cell 403-901-5045 cjjensen@myipplus.net

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CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012 43

purely purebred Suggestions are always welcome.

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

Deborah WILSON ◆ The two

pictures that appeared in our January issues were Jim Leachman in the Jim Leachman Doug Howe regular size issue and Doug Howe in the Supersize issue. Both are well know individuals in the cattle industry. In fact Doug is still very much involved and attended Agribition last fall.

◆ This year’s tattoo letter is “Z.” You

know you have been around a while when you are on your second or even third round of the alphabet for tattoo letters!!

◆ Grant Moffat of Forrest, Man., an active Charolais breeder, photographer, newsletter editor, youth supporter and agricultural journalist has been missing since August 18, 2006. Funds generously donated by cattlemen, friends and relatives across the country were offered as a reward for tips leading to his whereabouts. After a year, a committee handling the funds made a decision to channel the money to Man-

itoba youth for the purpose of starting their own purebred herd. The Annual Grant Moffat Herdbuilder award is presented to three Manitoba Juniors with a voucher of $2,000 to purchase a purebred female to establish their cattle program.

At the fall, 2011, Manitoba Beef Producers annual meeting funds were raised to continue the Herd Builder Award. Special thanks to producers who donated $500 gift certificates: Moose Creek Red Angus, Stewart Cattle Co, Mar Mac Farms, Manitoba Simmental Association, Forsyth Bros, High Bluff Stock Farm, Steppler Charolais, Winn Man Farms, ABH and Rock’n “H” Herefords, Leveldale Polled Herefords, Brent Carey and Ward Cutler. This year’s supporters of the Grant Moffat Fund were: Dane Guigion, Westwood Land and Cattle, Joe Bouchard, Darren Keown, Cliff Gradydon, Winn Man Farms, Todd Clayton, Bob Beleski, Doug Allison, Rodney Pearn, Major Jay Fox, Scale Solutions, Jodie Griffin, Art Petkau, Stewart Cattle Co. and High Bluff Stock Farm. Over 20 applicants submitted essays, making the selection exceptionally difficult. The participants were evaluated on desire, need and previous expression of interest in the industry. To date 12 Juniors from across Manitoba have benefited from the program.

Kayla Zamrykut (top photo), a 20-year-old producer from Rorketon; Braden Calvert (middle photo), a 16-year-old producer from Carberry; and Raina Syrnyk (bottom photo), a 16-year-old producer from Ethelbert were the 2011 recipients of the Grant

7th Annual Family Day Sale February 20, 2012 1:00 p.m. at the farm at Athabasca, AB

SELLING:

140 MODERATE AND EASY FLESHING RED & BLACK ANGUS BULLS 2 YEAR OLDS

50 REGISTERED PUREBRED

BLACK & RED ANGUS FEMALES

100 COMMERCIAL BRED HEIFERS

www.olefarms.com 44 Cattlemen / February 2012

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Moffat Herd builder Award. Kayla purchased a Charolais heifer, Braden purchased a Polled Hereford heifer and Raina purchased a Black Angus Female to enhance or start their purebred herd of cattle. Thanks to the generous support of producers at the Fund Raising Auction at the ManitobaBeef Producers annual meetings, the Grant Moffat Herd builder Awards will be presented again in 2012 with the application deadline being September 1st. For application and donation information, visit www.grantmoffat.com.

◆ The Canadian Limousin Association is producing its annual Members Directory in the next few months. As they did last year, they are including all paid active members as of April 1, 2012. If you wish to receive a copy of the 2012 directory and/or make some modifications to the contact information that is have on file for your account, please contact the Canadian Limousin Association. ◆ Tina Zakowsky with the Canadian Angus Association is

on maternity leave now and Cassie Bacon is filling in for her.

Cassie is originally from south of the border and is engaged to Ryan Dorran.

◆ Marty Seymour, general manager and CEO of Canadian

Western Agribition, says the 2011 edition was one of the most successful shows in recent historoy. After a slow start the show drew 126,000 visitors with the average per-day gate attendance topping 2010. Rodeo attendance was up 15 Continued on page 46

Specializing in Light Birthweights with Great Performance, plus remarkable Cows!

ULRICH Bull Sale 6th Annual

MONDAY

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February 20, 2012

Balog Auction, Lethbridge, AB

Featuring 2-yr-old and long yearlings from 114L & 2U and: AGA 20J STANMORE 21M C02805799 (AGA 121G Stanmore 20J x XTC 15Z Enerlad Stan 5C) AGA 53A STANDARD ET 4R C02865134 (SGC 14X Standard Lad 53A x CTY Brigader 22B) AGA 13G GENERAL 114L C02795506

(Gem General 13G x Standrd Lad 656 4ET) Highly predictable progeny - EPD Leader in 4 traits -10 years old and going strong - proof of longevity for generations: his mother (17H & still active), grandmother (13 years old here before going to Texas) & great grandmother (worked 14 years) -Daughters provide plentiful rich milk for maximum growth

LCI 68R RED STANDARD 109U C02911590 (JNHR Red Standard 68R x K 64H Ribstone Lad 157K)

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BW 87 lbs. Terrific eye appeal and thickness – a top quality combination of 114L sire x 36L dam which has consistently worked so well for years

CC 77J JARROD 26T C02900019 (CC 129D Superman 77J x Silver 23K Neon 14N) AGA 26R STANMORE 5T C02903226 (grandson of 21M) (AGA 21M Stanmore 26R x AGA 22B Brigader 53L)

AGA 35J SILVER PRIDE 207N C02827862 (SFL 38E Silver Pride 35J x AGA 656U Standard 33G) ALNK 5X

ALNK 102X

BW 88 lbs. Built like a brick.

A complete bull from an awesome mother.

BW 92 lbs. Loads of mossy hair and comes from a very sound line with exceptionally great disposition.

AGA 46E BRITISHER ET 2U C02925141

(DP Britisher AGA 46E x CTY Brigader 22B) CE: +7.0 BW: 0.0 (trait leader) 46E (popular genetics from almost 40 years ago) produced this 2008 weaning/yearling performance leader who delivers Calving Ease and very impressive progeny with excellent top & thickness...

ULRICH HEREFORD RANCH INC

Basking bulls on Dec 30, 2011 ALNK 6X

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Peter Ulrich - cell(403) 625-1036 hm: (403) 625-2434 Hans Ulrich Ph(403) 625-2237 Box 843, Claresholm, Alberta T0L 0T0 peter@ulrichherefords.com • www.ulrichherefords.com From Claresholm: 8 mi (12.8 km)E, 4 mi (6.4 km) N & 1/4 mile E

Cattlemen / February 2012 45

◆ The Canadian Simmental Associa-

Continued from page 45

per cent. On the sale side the top bull calf was sold for $67,000 and the top bred heifer went for a record $2,200.

◆CSA Scott Harvie, son of Ian and MarBus. Card Jan04 12/9/03 11:21 lene Harvie of Harvie Ranching, Olds, Alta. and Kerrie, daughter of Barry and

AM

Page 1

Unbeatable Maternal Performance Canadian Simmental Association

403-250-7979

13 - 4101 19 Street, N.E. Calgary, AB www.simmental.com

✷

D ON’T MI SS

✷

“THE WELSH BLACK ADVANTAGE” Canadian Welsh Black Cattle Society

Myrna Bennett, Calgary were joined in marriage December 10, 2011 at Olds, Alta. Scott will continue to farm at Harvie Ranching with Ian and Cole.

Kerrie is employed by Nufarm Canada.

tion 2012 Sire Summary is now online at the CSA website but printed versions are available for $10 from the CSA office. The summary provides background information on the CSA genetic evaluation, as well as up to date EPD information on sires currently in use in the breed that meet the publication criteria. It is available at www.simmental. com/siresummary.htm.

The spring 2012 EPDs are also available on the CSA site along with breed averages and percentiles at http://www. simmental.com/epd2.htm.

Young Canadian Simmental Association members are being asked to mark their calendars for the 2012 YCSA Classic to be held in conjunction with the 2012 CSA annual meeting and the Maritime Classic and the Salt Water Classic Elite Sale in Truro, Nova Scotia August 23 to 25.

C

Box 546 Trochu, AB T0M 2C0 Ph/Fax: (403) 442-4372

✷

www.canadianwelshblackcattle.com

✷

CANADIAN HEREFORD ASSOCIATION

5160 Skyline Way NE Calgary, Alberta T2E 6V1 Phone: (403) 275-2662 Toll Free (888) 836-7242 Fax: (403) 295-1333 Toll Free: (888) 824-2329 www.hereford.ca

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The Man-Sask Gelbvieh Association held their annual meeting at Temple Gardens in Moose Jaw, Sask. on December 9, 2011. Their new president is Lee Wirgau and secretar y is Cynthia Wirgua. Back row (l-r): Trevor Burks, Acme, Alta., Lee Wirgau, Narcisse, Man., Vernon Davidson, Ponteix, Sask., James Jasper, Hartney, Man. Front row (l-r): Amy Bonchuck, Birtle, Man., Darcy Hrebeniuk, Hudson Bay, Sask. and Wayne Selin, Stockholm, Sask., (missing Cynthia Wirgau).

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The markets year much higher, at 857 pounds, up seven pounds from the 2010 average. The first week of 2012 steer carcasses averaged 881 pounds, 20 pounds more than last year at this time.

Market Summary debbie mcmillin Fed Cattle Fed cattle prices softened to start 2012 as consumers worked off holiday expenses and the market worked through larger front-end supplies. The extra numbers trace back to those U.S. feeders forced off drought-dry pastures last summer. Thanks to some exceptional winter feeding conditions they were pulled ahead of schedule creating a bulge in beef inventories at the start of the year. As a result fed steers slipped back to an average $113.75 in the second week of January, the lowest weekly average in over two months, but still more than $13.50 per cwt above 2011. The fed cash to cash basis widened at mid-month to -12.36, more than double the basis seen in the same week last year.

The Alberta and Saskatchewan cattle-on-feed report found 998,791 or two per cent more cattle in the pens on January 1, 2012 than a year ago. Feedlots went into December with six per cent more cattle at the end of last year, but an 18 per cent drop in placements and a six per cent rise in marketings through the month brought the numbers down closer to last year levels at the start of the new year. The December placements were the lowest on record going back to 1999.

Preliminary data puts fed cattle exports to the end of 2011 at 413,345 head, down 32 per cent from 2010. At home domestic steer slaughter was down seven per cent in 2011, heifer slaughter was down 13 per cent. Carcass weights started 2011 well under a year ago but ended the

Deb’s Outlook Fed Cattle First quarter fed prices were poised to strengthen once we work through this new year bulge in supplies and seasonally sluggish demand. Tightening supplies later in the first and second quarter, improved demand looking ahead to the start of BBQ season, an improving economy and strong deferred live cattle futures will all lend support to the fed market.

Feeder Cattle Seasonality and limited numbers point to a strong market for 550-pound feeder calves. Typically 850 feeders come under pressure in the first quarter as heavy calves placed now generally hit a sluggish sum-

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Feeder Cattle Feeder cattle prices steamed through the holidays posting increases in almost all classes on light volumes. By the middle of January 550-pound steers in central Alberta were averaging $161.75, up from $159 at the end of 2011, while 850-pound steers gained $3 to average $134.50.

The 850 feeder basis by mid-January averaged -17.50 per cwt, considerably wider than the -10 posted at the same point in 2011. Feeder cattle exports in 2011 totalled just 76,021 head, 61 per cent fewer than 2010, and minuscule compared to the 608,600 we exported just three years ago in 2008.

Non-Fed Cattle D1,2 cows averaged $70.31 per cwt in 2011, up 29 per cent from 2010, breaking the previous record set in 2001.

Years of herd reduction across North America has limited supplies of non-fed beef forcing buyers to reach further to satisfy the growing demand from consumers for grinding and trim meats. D1,2 cows ended the year just a shade below the annual average at $69.83 and held there into the new year at $69.56 by mid-January, $9 better than they traded for at the start of 2011. Butcher bull prices remained strong to start 2012, averaging just over $75. We slaughtered 50,121 cows in 2011, 13 per cent fewer than 2010 and 14 per cent fewer bulls at 25,235 head. Exports of cows for slaughter totalled 143,027 head, down 27 per cent from 2010. Bull exports were up 16 per cent at 40,162 head.

— Debbie McMillin

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

More markets➤ mer market. However, momentum is gathering in all classes, fed by the need for cattle to fill empty feedlot pens, grasser cattle to hit the grass yearling market and replacement females for growing herds. That should trump any seasonal dip in this market. Lower corn prices south of the border, limited supplies and a premium on the live cattle and feeder boards will help fuel feeder prices as we move through the first quarter.

Non-Fed Cattle Seasonally cull cattle experience a rally through the first quarter of the year, when many cow-calf producers are heading into calving season. Limited slaughter cow and bull numbers will provide support to the non-fed market. On average the increase from the fall low through to March each year is 33 per cent.

Cattlemen / february 2012 47

Break-even Prices on A-Grade Steers 130

ALBERTA

150

110

90 80

Steer Calves (500-600 lb.)

160

120

100

Market Prices

170

140

western Market Summary

130 120

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

110

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

95

145

ONTARIO

135

D1,2 Cows

85

125

75

115

65

105

55

95 85 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

2012

Canfax weighted average price on A-Grade steers

45

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

Ontario 2011 Market Ontario prices based on a 50/50 east/west mix Summary O ntario

2012

2011

A lberta

Break-even price

2012

for steers on date sold

2012

2011

Kevin Grier2011

Market Summary (to January 14)

January 2012 prices* Alber ta Yearling steers (850 lb.)............... $127.36/cwt Barley................................................. 4.68/bu.

Barley silage..................................... 58.50/ton Cost of gain (feed)........................... 62.93/cwt Cost of gain (all costs)..................... 87.48/cwt Fed steers...................................... 115.15/cwt Break-even (May 2012)................. 115.40/cwt Ontario Yearling steers (850 lb.)............... $133.47/cwt Corn silage....................................... 52.32/ton Grain corn........................................... 6.29/bu.

Cost of gain (feed)........................... 94.68/cwt Cost of gain (all costs)................... 119.93/cwt Fed steers...................................... 119.37/cwt Break-even (July 2012).................. 127.87/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 / february 2012

2012 Total Canadian federally inspected slaughter.................. 98,477 Average steer carcass weight............................................ 883 lb.

Total U.S. slaughter.......................................................1,842,000

2011 111,968 861 lb.

1,910,000

Trade Summary EXPORTS 2011-12 Fed cattle to U.S. (to Jan. 7).............................................. 1,997 Feeder cattle and calves to U.S. (to Jan. 7)....................... 3,247 Dressed beef to U.S. (to November)..................... 508.75 mil.lbs Total dressed beef (to November)......................... 685.41 mil.lbs

2010-11 1,886 8,135 638.40 mil.lbs 835.91 mil.lbs

IMPORTS 2011 Slaughter cattle from U.S. (to November) ................................. 0 *Dressed beef from U.S. (to November)............... 327.34 mil.lbs *Dressed beef from Australia (to November)........... 19.16 mil.lbs *Dressed beef from New Zealand (to November)...... 51.33 mil.lbs *Dressed beef from Uruguay (to November).......... 10.57 mil.lbs

2010 0 258.37 mil.lbs 17.57 mil.lbs 45.96 mil.lbs 24.63 mil.lbs

Canadian Grades (to January 14, 2012) % of A grades AAA AA A Prime Total

EAST WEST

+59% 15.9 32.5 1.4 0.1 49.9 Total graded 20,652 71,913

Yield –53% Total 10.0 46.9 3.3 49.3 0.0 1.5 0.5 0.9 13.8 Total A grade 98.6% Total ungraded % carcass basis 5,912 61.5% 0 84.8%

54-58% 21.0 13.5 0.1 0.3 34.9

Only federally inspected plants

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

market talk with Gerald Klassen

Feeder cattle update Feeder cattle prices in Canada and the U.S. continue to trend higher as the market factors in tighter supplies and lower feed grain prices in the latter half of 2012. Feeder cattle under 400 pounds were trading at historical high prices last fall. We are now seeing this price strength move into the 500to 600-pound categories. I’ve had many inquiries from cowcalf producers and feedlot operators questioning how high can this market go. Therefore, I thought this would be a good time to revisit the feeder cattle outlook and discuss how the fundamentals have changed over the past couple of months.

Feeder cattle prices seasonally jump the first couple weeks of January and this year was no exception. For next year, producers should remember if you have to sell feeder cattle in early December, you are probably better off to wait a month. It is difficult to explain but there is a psychological tendency of buyers to be more active after a holiday. Similar to a marathon runner after a seven-day rest. Canadian feeder cattle were $3 to $5 higher and the U.S. market was $8 to $10 per cwt and in some regions as much as $15 in comparison to 30 days earlier.

Looking longer term, it is important to remember that feeder cattle outside U.S. feedlots as of October 1, 2011 were down almost 900,000 head in comparison to October 1 of 2010. Placements into U.S. feedlots from July through November 2011 totaled 11.4 million head compared to 10.9 million head for the same period of 2010. Larger placements during the fall along with the lower calf crop has contributed to the smaller feeder cattle pool.

The 2011 U.S. beef cow slaughter will finish higher than earlier projections. Many analysts have lowered their projections for the 2011 and 2012 calf crop. It now looks like the feeder cattle pool for 2012 could be down sharply in comparison to 2011 and feedlot operators are starting to bid up the heavier-weight feeders.

Those producers that have been reading my analysis for a couple years know that U.S. producers need one to 1.5 years

of historical high prices before they move into major expansion. During the first half of 2012, I am expecting major expansionary activity across all major cattle regions of the U.S. The calf crop in 2011 was one of the lowest since the early 1950s so there is considerable room to expand. During 2012, it would not surprise me to see the largest heifer retention rate in history. This is new historical territory given the lower cow numbers and high feeder prices.

Pasture and winter wheat conditions in Texas and Kansas started to improve during October and November. Keep in mind that during December, the U.S. Southern Plains experienced 150 per cent of normal precipitation. Producers that liquidated herds during the summer of 2011 are now aggressively purchasing cows, bred heifers and stocker cattle. For example, a healthy group of heifers weighing 618 pounds sold for $195 per cwt in Nebraska in early January and these cattle are likely for breeding purposes. Feedlot operators have experienced optimal conditions with no major weather stress over the winter.

I mentioned the larger placements during the fall period which will translate into lower placements during February through May. While production in the first half of 2012 may be larger than earlier projections, there is potential that beef production will drop below expectations during the latter half of 2012. Feedlot operators want to have cattle to sell during the fourth quarter of 2012.

The corn market will likely stay under pressure over the next three months and traders are comfortable that U.S. acreage will reach over 94 million this spring. South American conditions have significantly improved with the January rains. The January USDA report was also bearish with larger-than-expected December 1 corn stocks. The wheat market looks extremely bearish and there will be widespread wheat feeding in all regions of the world over the next 12 months. Lower feed grain prices will continue to support the feeder cattle complex in Canada and the U.S. In conclusion, feeder cattle supplies are tighter than I expected in December. CatU.S. feeder cattle outside feedlots as of October 1 tle producers in the U.S. Southern Plains are (000’s of head) trying to rebuild their herds after last summer’s liquidation. Across Canada and the U.S. producers are holding back heifers as the market encourages one of the largest expansionary phases in history. Corn fundamentals are weakening and wheat is extremely bearish which will lower the cost per pound gain.

I’m expecting the feeder market to percolate higher over the next couple months. The market could then experience a seasonal downtrend from April to June similar to last year.

Gerald Klassen analyzes 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.

www.canadiancattlemen.ca

Cattlemen / February 2012 49

SALES AND EVENTS EVENTS February

15-17—Alberta Beef Industry Conference, Capri Conference Center, Red Deer, Alta.

29-Mar. 1—112th Calgary Bull Show and Sale — includes Commercial Replacement Heifer Pen Show and Sale, Ranch Horse Sale, Stampede Park, Calgary, Alta.

March

4-5—93rd Pride of the Prairies Bull Show and Sale, Lloydminster Exhibition, Lloydminster, Sask.

10-11—107th Annual Regina Bull Show and Sale, Evraz Place, Regina, Sask.

April

14-15—Lloydminster 4-H Grooming and Showmanship Clinic, Lloydminster Exhibition, Lloydminster, Sask.

May

31-June 3—Livestock Markets Association of Canada Convention, Deerfoot Inn and Casino, Calgary, Alta.

31-June 3—LMAC Annual Auctioneers Competition, VJV Foothills Livestock Auction, Stavely, Alta.

June

5-7—2012 3rd International Beef Welfare Symposium, Delta Bessborough, Saskatoon, Sask., www.beefwelfare2012.ca

AD INDEX Allflex Kane Veterinary Supply Beef Improvement Ontario Best West Limo Classic Bow Slope Shipping Assoc.

Braun Ranch Canadian Agri-Blend Canadian Angus Assoc.

Canadian Charolais Assoc.

Canadian Food Inspection Canadian Hereford Assoc.

Canadian Limousin Assoc.

Canadian Red Angus Assoc.

Canadian Shorthorn Assoc.

Canadian Simmental Assoc.

Canadian Welsh Black Society Crowfoot Cattle Company Davidson Gelbvieh Direct Livestock Marketing Donald Farm Credit Canada Greener Pastures Harvie Ranching International Stock Foods John Deere Ag Marketing Center LLB Angus Lakeland Group/Northstar Matchmaker Select Merck Animal Health Murphy Ranch Northwest Consolidated Beef Novartis Animal Health Canada Ole Farms R Plus Simmentals Rawes Ranches Ltd. Red Brand Fence Rivercrest Angus Ranch Arlin Strohschein Spiritview Ranch Spring Creek Ulrich Hereford Ranch Viterra Wildrose Alliance Party Winnipeg Livestock Sales Ltd.

Page 17 46 25 38 40 25 IFC OBC 43 46 14, 15 IBC 39 46 46 43 23 45 40 7 38 5 46 19 42 10 a-p 40 33 29 46 21 44 42 11 29 35 38 9 42 45 6 37 40

50 CATTLEMEN / FEBRUARY 2012

5-7—Canadian Animal Health Institute Annual Meeting, Westin Trillium House, Collingwood, Ont. 13-17—Canadian Angus Association Annual Meeting, Lethbridge Lodge, Lethbridge, Alta.

July

8-25—2012 World Hereford Conference, Olds Ag Society, Olds, Alta.

11-13—National Junior Limousin Conference, Olds Ag Society, Olds, Alta.

11-13—Canadian Limousin Annual General Meeting, Olds Ag Society, Olds, Alta.

August

14-17—Canadian Cattlemen’s Association Semi-annual Meeting, Deerfoot Inn and Casino, Calgary, Alta.

15—Beef 2012 — International Livestock Congress, Deerfoot Inn and Casino, Calgary, Alta.

SALES February

16—Chapman Cattle Company 6th Annual 100% “Forage Developed” 2-year-old bull and female sale – 1:00 p.m., Stettler Auction Mart, Stettler, Alta.

20—Ole Farms 7th Annual “Family Day Bull Sale at the farm, Athabasca, Alta., www. olefarms.com 21—Rawes Ranching — Canada’s Largest One Iron Charolais Bull Sales at the ranch, Strome, Alta.

21—Floyd Anderson Family Herefords 40th Annual Production Sale, Balog Cow Palace, Lethbridge, Alta.

22—Adams Ranch Complete Dispersal Sale, Bow Slope Shipping, Brooks, Alta.

23—Stewart Cattle Co. and Guests-Annual Black Angus Bull Sale, Neepawa Ag-plex, Neepawa, Man. 24—Early Sunset Ranch “Only the Good Ones Sell” Angus and Simmental, at the ranch, Edam, Sask.

25—Lewis Farms Annual Bull Sale at the farm, Spruce Grove, Alta., www.lewisfarms.ca

March

3—Davidson Gelbvieh and Lonesome Dove 23rd Annual Bull Sale, Heartland Livestock, Swift Current, Sask., www.davidsongelbvieh. com 3—McMillen Ranching Ltd. 18th Annual Bull Sale — Black and Red Simmental, Red Angus, Simm/Angus, at the ranch, Carievale, Sask.

4—R Plus Simmentals 12th Annual Bull Sale at the ranch, 5-1/2 miles SE of Estevan, Sask.

6-8—Bow Slope Shipping Assoc. Special Yearling Sales, Brooks, Alta.

7—Murphy Ranch Limousin and Peterson Livestock Angus Bull Sale, Provost Livestock Exchange, Provost, Alta.

9—A. Sparrow Farms Ltd. Charolais Bull Sale at the farm, Vanscoy, Sask.

9—Grass Country Limousin Bull Sale — Richmond Ranch, at the ranch, Rumsey, Alta.

10—LLB Angus 26th Annual Sping Spectacular Bull and Female Sale at the farm, Erskine, Alta.

11—107th Annual Regina Bull Sale, Evraz Place, Regina, Sask.

23—12th Annual Saskatoon Gelbvieh Bull

and Female Sale, Saskatoon Auction Mart, Saskatoon, Sask.

26—Harvie Ranching Charolais and Polled Hereford Bull Sale at the ranch, Olds, Alta., www.harvieranching.com 28—Best West Limo Classic Bull Sale — Diamond C Ranch and Lazy S Limousin, Rimbey Agriplex, Rimbey, Alta.

April

2—Hamilton Farms 17th Annual Bull Sale at the ranch, Cochrane, Alta., www.hamiltonfarms.ca 5—Holloway Farms Ltd. Hereford Production Sale, Dryland Trading Corp., Veteran, Alta.

11—9th Annual Spady Bull Sale — RivercrestValleymere Angus, at the Rivercrest Ranch, Alliance, Alta.  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

NEWSMAKERS Continued from page 6

enue streams are provided by a 40-acre apple orchard and 80-acre woodlot.

UFA Co-operatives Ltd. has become the latest foundation partner of the Catttlemen’s Young Leaders Development program with a donation of $70,000 over the next three years. The program provides mentoring to young producers interested in taking a leadership position within the Canadian beef industry.

Bison rancher Mark Silzer has been elected to a second term as chairman of the Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan. Joe Kleinssasser representing SPI Marketing Inc. is vicechairman. The remaining directors include: Dr. Andrew Acton of the Saskatchewan Veterinary Medical Association; Dr. Betty Althouse from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency; Bob Brickley of the Saskatchewan Equine Ranching Association; provincial veterinarian Dr. Greg Douglas; Larry Grant representing the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association; David Entz from SaskMilk; Tim Keet with Chicken Farmers of Saskatchewan; Neil Ketilson of the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board; Dr. Katharina Lohmann from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine; Dr. Grant Royan of Merck Animal Health representing the pharmaceutical industry and Saskatchewan Egg Producers representative, Regan Sloboshan.

C www.canadiancattlemen.ca

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