LOCKING IN THE TRAITS · RESIDUAL FEED INTAKE EPDS THE BEEF MAGAZINE
March 2015 $3.00
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Year-round grazing systems 10 Looking for ways to manage pain 38 Kyle Primrose,
Primrose Livestock, Outlook, Sask.
.ca The Breed You Can Trust Canadian Hereford Association • 5160 Skyline Way NE, Calgary, AB T2E 6V1 • 1-888-836-7242 • herefords@hereford.ca
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Contents canadian cattlemen · march 2015 · Volume 78, No. 3
M A NAG E M E N T
Field Editor: Debbie Furber Box 1168, Tisdale, SK S0E 1T0 (306) 873-4360 Fax (306) 873-4360 Email: debbie.furber@fbcpublishing.com Advertising Sales Donna Berting Three Lakes Road, Middle Lake, SK S0K 2X0 (306) 367-2013 Email: donna.berting@fbcpublishing.com Crystal McPeak (403) 646-6211 / (403) 360-3210 Email: crystal@fbcpublishing.com Head Office 1666 Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1 (204) 944-5765 Fax (204) 944-5562 Advertising Services Co-ordinator: Arlene Bomback (204) 944-5765 Fax (204) 944-5562 Email: ads@fbcpublishing.com Publisher: Lynda Tityk Email: lynda.tityk@fbcpublishing.com Associate Publisher/Editorial Director: John Morriss Email: john.morriss@fbcpublishing.com Production Director: Shawna Gibson Email: shawna@fbcpublishing.com Circulation Manager: Heather Anderson Email: heather@fbcpublishing.com
Primrose Livestock sets up a heifer station in Saskatchewan.
heifers by the hundreds S E E DSTO C K
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FEATURES
President: Bob Willcox Glacier FarmMedia Email: bwillcox@farmmedia.com
Year-round grazing systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Heifers by the hundreds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
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Locking in the traits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Cattlemen and Canadian Cattlemen are Trade Marks of Farm Business Communications. Cattlemen is published monthly by Farm Business Communications. Head office: Winnipeg, Manitoba. Printed by Transcontinental LGMC. Cattlemen is printed with linseed oil-based inks.
The Bar U Ranch has a special place in Canadian history. . . . . 28
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Looking for ways to manage the pain. . . 38
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Locking in the traits Planned matings and linebreeding were used to build this herd.
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Canada’s first look at residual feed intake EPDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
H I STO RY
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Newsmakers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Our History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Member
Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Holistic Ranching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 9
LIVESTOCK PUBLICATIONS COUNCIL
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, Canadian Cattlemen and Farm Business Communications, cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the editors as well as Canadian Cattlemen 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. Our commitment to your privacy: At Farm Business Communications we have a firm commitment to protecting your privacy and security as our customer. Farm Business Communications will only collect personal information if it is required for the proper functioning of our business. As part of our commitment to enhance customer service, we may share this personal information with other strategic business partners. For more information regarding our Customer Information Privacy Policy, write to: Information Protection Officer, Farm Business Communications, 1666 Dublin Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3H 0H1. Occasionally we make our list of subscribers available to other reputable firms whose products and services might be of interest to you. If you would prefer not to receive such offers, please contact us at the address in the preceding paragraph, or call 1-800-665-1362.
Verified Beef Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
The Bar U Ranch has a special place in Canadian history
28
Vet Advice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Research on the Record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Straight from the Hip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 CCA Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Prime Cuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Congratulations!
News Roundup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
To our March survey winner, Russell Crockatt, Argyle, Man. This month’s survey is on page 62.
The Markets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Cover Photo: Debbie Furber
Purely Purebred. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Market Talk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Sales and Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 C at t l e m e n · m a r c h 2 0 1 5
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COMMENT
By Gren Winslow
The system works
Our BSE protective curtain is on show with Case 19
J
ust when we thought we were slipping out from under the weight of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) it pulls us back in. I’m pretty sure every cattle producer and anyone connected with the beef industry clinched when they heard another positive cow had turned up in Alberta last month. After four years of negative tests BSE was starting to slip into the history books in people’s minds. Now it’s back, front and centre in headlines sent round the world. It’s easy to get discouraged with this disease, so it’s important to remember that we are winning the fight. It’s just going to take longer than we hoped. As every statement from every government and industry organization took pains to point out after the news first broke, this is not a food safety issue. No part of this animal entered the human food chain or animal feed supply. In fact, the cow never left the farm until it was hauled away for disposal. The same could be said for the 27,604 dead, diseased and distressed high-risk animals over 30 months of age that were screened for BSE last year. None moved anywhere until they tested negative for BSE. The system works. It was expensive and painful to assemble but it does work. A lot has been learned in the last 12 years and much of it was on display after the first test was taken Feb. 7 on a farm northwest of Edmonton. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) confirmed the result Feb. 11, notified our trading partners Feb. 12, and announced the news Feb. 13. If the cow had had a CCIA ID tag her herd of origin could probably have been announced the same day. As it was, the farm was located and quarantined Feb. 17 and her birth date released Feb. 18. What once took weeks, now takes days to accomplish. This 19th case does present some additional wrinkles since she was born in March 2009, 21 months after the enhanced feed ban went into effect in July 2007. With the network of restrictions on the removal and disposal of specified risk material that came in with the enhanced ban it’s hard to imagine how this animal ever got near an infected prion as a calf back in 2009. Ruminant tissues were banned from ruminant rations in 1997, and by the time this cow was infected specified risk materials from cattle carcasses were banned from all livestock feeds, pet food and fertilizers to avoid any cross-contamination. In a statement the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association said it’s not unprecedented to find a small number of additional cases of BSE following the implementation of enhanced feeding measures. The U.K. ran into several of them after its reinforced feed ban was introduced. On-
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farm investigations later concluded that a small amount of residual feed produced prior to the implementation of enhanced control measures was the most likely reason for these cases. Spain ran into cases up to four years after their feed ban. Paul Mayers, CFIA vice-president for policy and programs seems confident that they will determine the source of the feed used at the birth farm in 2009 and says they’ll also assess any potential risk from other surviving animals on the birth farm that could have been exposed to the same feed. If any are found, they will be culled and tested for BSE. CFIA inspectors will review the records of the feed mills involved to verify their compliance with the enhanced feed ban.
uch has been learned in the M last 12 years and much of it was on display after the first test was taken Feb. 7 Mayers says Bill C-18, the omnibus Agricultural Growth Act before Parliament includes provisions that enhance the power of the Feeds Act and Health of Animals Act that will provide CFIA with even more regulatory “tools” in these type of situations. Regulation and restrictions seem to go hand in hand with any attempt to extinguish BSE from our national herd, or at least get it down to the point where we can apply to upgrade Canada’s status to one of negligible risk for BSE. Sadly, that is one of the first casualties of Case 19. A country cannot even apply to upgrade its status from “controlled risk” to “negligible risk” until 11 years after the birth of its youngest case of BSE. Our previous case was born in 2004 so CFIA was preparing to start the process this fall. Following the same rules we won’t be eligible again until 2020, but some sources believe that date could be up for discussion. This one case won’t affect Canada’s controlled risk status but as this issue is going to press we were still waiting to see how it would impact export shipments. By press time we’d heard from South Korea and Indonesia but hopefully they will reopen their borders as soon as CFIA provides full details on Case 19. At the speed CFIA is moving that might already have happened by the time this issue hits your mailbox. c
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THE INDUST RY
NewsMakers Heinz Reimer of Steinbach was re-elected to serve a second year as Manitoba Beef Producers president following the organization’s February annual general meeting in Heinz Reimer Brandon. Ramona Blyth of MacGregor, moves from secretary to vice-president, while Dave Koslowsky of Killarney becomes secretary. Ben Fox of Dauphin is second vice and Theresa Zuk of Arborg stays on as treasurer. Gord Adams of Deloraine replaces Ted Artz of Pierson as director in District 1 and Peter Penner of Winkler replaces Cheryl McPherson of Sanford in District 3. The remaining directors include those on the executive along with Larry Wegner of Virden, Larry Gerelus of Shoal Lake, Tom Teichroeb of Langruth, Dianne Riding of Lake Francis, Caron Clarke of Ashern, Bill Murray of Makinak, and Stan Foster of Benito. Beef Farmers of Ontario returned Bob Gordanier as president for 2015-16 and Matt Bowman as vice-president at the association’s annual meeting last month in Toronto. Bob Gordanier Also elected to the executive were: cow-calf director, Jason Reid, Thunder Bay; eastern director, Garnet Toms, Peterborough; at-large director, Tim Fugard, Lambton; feedlot director, Jack Chaffe, Perth; northern director, Matt Bowman, Temiskaming. Kristine Blair and Graham Tapley of Langruth were presented with the Manitoba Environmental Stewardship Award (TESA) at the annual meeting of the Manitoba Beef
Caron Clarke (l), Kristine Blair and Graham Tapley, and Tere Stykalo (r).
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Producers by MBP representative Caron Clarke and MNP representative Tere Stykalo. The couple started out three years ago with environmental sustainability front and centre as they worked at conserving wetlands and transforming continuously grazed land on an old gravel mine site into productive pasture. The national TESA award will be presented at the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association semi-annual meeting Aug. 12-15 in Winnipeg. Bill Jameson of JGL in Moose Jaw returns to the board of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association as chair for 2015. Paula Larson of D’Arcy stays on as past chair with vice-chair Bill Jameson Ryan Beierbach of Whitewood, finance-chair Rick Toney of Gull Lake, and member-at-large Levi Hull of Willowbrook. Newly elected directors installed at the January 22 AGM in Regina are Ryan Beierbach Arnold Balicki of Shellbrook, replacing outgoing director Ryan Sommerfeld of Medstead, and Phil Lynn of Marquis, replacing outgoing director Ken Demyen of Qu’Appelle. Retiring from the board are past-chair Mark Elford of Wood Mountain, and Saskatchewan Cattle Feeders Association (SCFA) rep Greg Thompson of Moose Jaw, replaced by Bill Jameson. Rounding out the board are returning directors Laurie Disney, Rockglen; Larry Grant, Val Marie; Garret Hill, Duval; Michael Spratt, Melfort; Dean Moore, Paradise Hill; SCFA rep Brad Welter, Viscount, and Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association reps Lloyd Thompson of Estevan, and Harold Martens of Swift Current. Ryan Thompson of Ceylon was returned by acclamation as the SCA’s representative to the National Cattle Feeders Association. Perry Rasmuson of Moosomin, was returned for a two-year term as one of the SCA’s four reps to the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) board of directors. Chad and Debbie Anderson, of Mooregrove Farms in Mooretown are the 2015 winners of Ontario’s Environmental Stew-
ardship Award (TESAward), sponsored by RBC Royal Bank. A fifth-generation operation, Mooregrove Farms consists of 350 acres of which 200 are in permanent hay and pasture that is rotationally grazed to support 125 cows and 20 replacement heifers each year. In the past decade they’ve set aside more acres in permanent pasture, established a designated wetland, installed structures and fencing to prevent the contamination of surface water, added grass buffer strips along cropland, and planted trees as windbreaks. It is with some sadness that we say goodbye to our marketing manager Deborah Wilson, who resigned last month to take a similar position with ViewTrak, the Edmonton-base d Deborah Wilson technology company that partnered with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association to develop the Beef InfoXchange System (BIXS) in December. Deborah joined Canadian Cattlemen in July of 2007. No replacement has been named at press time. Many in the industry were mourning the passing of Bill Hartall last month. He was 83. Hartall was born in Craven, Sask., and pretty much spent his whole life in the cattle industry. Bill Hartall After graduating from the University of Saskatchewan he worked as beef cattle herdsman and foreman of the U of S Beef Cattle Research Project and ROP Bull Test Station. In 1971 he moved his wife Wanda and family to Calgary. He was the first market analyst hired by Canfax and worked with them for two years before he was offered a position as cattle marketing manager at Western Feedlots where he spent the next 20-plus years. Prior to his retirement in 1996 he was responsible for marketing close to one million head of cattle. He was well known for the time he put into judging 4-H beef club shows as well as the open steer shows at the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver, the Western Canadian Agribition in Regina, the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto and the P.E.I. Easter Show in Charlottetown. c
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our histo ry
By Herbert Wiebe, president Western Section
National Council of Canadian Beef Producers (Western Section) Reprinted from the September 1947 Canadian Cattlemen
B
eef is an essential food and the producers of beef form not only an essential part of the Canadian economy but also an integral part of the international economy. With this as the controlling factor the Council of Canadian Beef Producers was initiated, being composed of two sections: Eastern section — comprising representation from the provinces of Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes; Western section — with representation from the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan (and it is hoped Manitoba will soon affiliate). The western section deals primarily with problems affecting the industry in the western provinces and refers national matters to the top council. Some of the matters which have received the attention of the Western section are: 1. Revision of condemnation deductions in western provinces; 2. Income and excess profit taxes; 3. Establishing the basic herd principle and moving average; 4. Operation of Floor and Ceiling Policy under present market conditions; 5. Tariff matters; 6. Beef grades and standards; 7. Railways’ application for increased freight rates; 8. Beef promotion — advertising and publicity for the beef industry;
9. Purebred cattle problems, disease control; 10. Markets and removal of Canadian embargo of cattle shipments to United States; 11. Labour shortages. There are many others, but the above will indicate some of the problems in the industry which are too large for provincial organizations and require the assistance of interprovincial and national organizations. Considerable progress has been made in the alleviation of some of the problems enumerated but a continuing effort is necessary. The council’s objective is not only to represent the beef industry in a protective capacity but to work constantly to deal with problems as they arise to improve the whole industry and the producer in the industry. In this organization all who are concerned with the production of good beef have a vital interest. The producers (whether rancher, feeder or purebred breeder), the sales agencies (commission men, etc.) the processor (packing plants or local butcher and retailer) are all concerned with the production of a commodity and delivery of a product in a manner which will be acceptable to the consuming public and pay them a reasonable profit for their effort. The Council of Canadian Beef Producers is the medium acting primarily for the producer and will at all times work with any other branch of
the industry for general improvement of the industry. It has been said that one of the beautiful compensations in life is that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself. The co-ordination of all agencies engaged in the production of good beef is a desired objective. Once we all realize that all those engaged in the industry are entitled to fair compensations for their effort and all are willing to recognize that fact as fundamental, the proper relationship from producer to consumer will have been established. When things are moving along smoothly and everyone is making a living, it may be thought that there is little need for a beef council but that is when it should function so that it will be able to work in troubled times because it is a continuing organization and its members have acquired the art of working together. With this objective I urge all member organizations to continue their support of the western section and of the National Council of Canadian Beef Producers. I further solicit membership from any beef organization not affiliated. Kenneth Coppock of 28 Michael Building, Calgary, Alta., will be pleased to give particulars to any inquiring organization. c For more of the past from the pages of our magazine see the History section at www.canadiancattlemen.ca.
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CRAPSmar14.indd 1
2/17/2014 11:46:26 AM
grazing
By Steve Kenyon
Year-Round Grazing Systems
I
have referred to a Year-Round Grazing System quite often in my articles but never actually defined it. That’s because the definition is different for everyone. We all live in different environments and have different advantages and disadvantages. What works for one farm might not always work for another. The most important part of year-round grazing is to make sure it is profitable. The acts of grazing or feeding are production practices. What you need to determine is the profitability of each production practice on your farm. That’s where a Gross Margin Analysis comes into play. You can have a production practice that looks the same from the outside but, if done wrong, can be unprofitable. You need to run some numbers to make sure you have a positive margin on each profit centre. Aiming for a provincial average is not such a good plan when the average farmer is losing money. Learn how to do a Gross Margin Analysis. It was the biggest breakthrough my business ever had. So what are some of these production practices (PP) that I speak of? Let’s quickly look at some of the possible practices that might make up a Year-Round Grazing System (YRGS). The biggest and most important PP is
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Intensive Rotational Grazing of your summer pastures. Yes, the summer is the most important part, even though it is not as sexy as some of the winter practices. Winter grazing is an easy sell. It saves you time and money right away. On the other hand, improving your summer grazing management costs you time and money to implement setting up fences and water systems. You also have to develop a grazing plan and put it into action all summer long. I will tell you right up front that summer grazing is 80 per cent of my business. It is well worth the time and money spent on it, if it’s done right. I have seen a lot of farms that spend time and money on fencing and now rotationally abuse their land because they do not understand the concepts of graze period, rest period, stock density and animal impact. Understanding why you move animals will tell you when to move them. As a bonus to good summer management, you now add in another PP: Dormant Season Grazing. This is really just an extension of your summer management that allows you to graze pastures into the late fall and winter. At our place in Busby, Alta., we have eight months of dormant season. That means we only have four months of growing season to supply 12 months of feed. You might see this as a disadvantage
but I like to turn things into an advantage whenever I can. If we manage our grass during the summer and have good-quality “stage two” grasses when a killing frost hits in September, we end up with good-quality standing hay in our pastures. If the snow comes early it covers the grass and helps protect the quality. In a sense, the killing frost is my haybine and the snow is my hay shed. I’ve had green grass under the snow in January with 13 per cent protein — a great ration for almost any type of livestock. In some environments, dormancy is caused by a dry season which allows the grass to “burn off.” This grass is very low quality and needs supplementation. So is our cold weather really a disadvantage? I also like to save my lowland grasses for the winter if I can. Most of these water-loving plants are not very nutritious in summer due to their high water content. Save them. They dry out in the winter and are much easier to get at on the frozen ground: another dormant season grazing benefit. The latest I have ever grazed dormant season pastures is the middle of February. An extra five months of pasture can’t hurt the bottom line now can it? If you are a mixed farmer or have grain producers that are willing to work with you, Continued on page 12
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because you are always on the job
BON
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g r a z i ng
Continued from page 10
residue grazing is a great way to reduce feed costs in your YRGS. This PP is simply utilizing the chaff and straw that comes out the back of a combine. You just turn off the spreader on the combine and leave the residue in a swath or add on a chaff buncher and leave the residue in small piles all across the field. I believe strongly that every grain field should use livestock on their land to help recycle the nutrients back into the land. (Refer to “The cow combine” article, May 2011.) With residue grazing it is important to ration off the feed with an electric fence. This stops them from picking through all of the feed to get the best at the start and ending up with a very low-quality feed at the end of the graze. A mineral package and some supplements are quite often required to complete the ration but supplementation is much cheaper than full feeding. Especially with the chaff bunches, you will be able to graze through quite a bit of snow. Two to three feet of snow is not impossible to graze through. Swath grazing is another PP that is just
another step up from Residue Grazing. This is where a row crop is grazed by the animals. It may be a salvaged crop that is not worth combining or a crop planted specifically to graze. The type of crop can vary from barley, oats or corn to beets or peas, but whatever the crop, you will still need to feed test it, and possibly make up any shortfalls in the diet. One thing I have learned is that a monoculture crop is not the best thing for our animals. Nutrient imbalances can cause issues. Always feed test. Poly culture crops are much better for swath grazing (and for our environment). Again, we need to ration off the swaths in order to get the most out of them and to keep a balanced diet. We have grazed right through the winter on swath grazing in the past. Is bale grazing really grazing? Some would argue this point with me but I think bale grazing is a great way to lower traditional feeding costs in environments with lots of snow or harsh climates. It is the act of importing harvested feed to a pasture and grazing it out on the land. We are bringing in feed but instead of feeding it, we are grazing it. If done right, this can lower your
winter labour and equipment cost substantially. Picture a pasture with a few months’ worth of hay bales spread across it in rows. To ration off this feed, we move an electric fence every few days to provide another row of bales. Or maybe we have a few days’ worth of feed in different paddocks and we simply open a gate for another graze period. The key to bale grazing is to lower the labour and equipment costs. Try not to handle the bales more than once. A variation of this could also be silage grazing where the cattle have access to silage that is rationed off with a wire instead of being fed to the cattle. Again the key is to lower the costs. Your Year-Round Grazing System will be different than mine. These are a few of the Production Practices that I have used and have found to work. But remember, it is all about the margin! Make sure your farm is making a profit. Can you graze 365 days of the year? c Steve Kenyon runs Greener Pastures Ranching Ltd. in Busby, Alta., www. greenerpasturesranching.com, 780-307-6500, email skenyon@greenerpasturesranching.com or find them on Facebook.
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COVER STO RY · m a nag e m e n t
By Debbie Furber
With their setup Kyle Primrose, health technician Vicki Foresberg and three others can comfortably handle 900 bred heifers.
Heifers by the hundreds Primrose Livestock has set up a heifer station in Saskatchewan
This year they will start calving 450 Angus heifers at the feedlot in March and 800 secondcalvers on adjacent pasture in April
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C
alving out 900 heifers is demanding work at the best of times. Factor in a nasty Saskatchewan winter without so much as a hint of a southern Alberta chinook to melt the mountains of snow in 2014, and it’s a remarkable feat for an operation in its first production cycle. Kyle Primrose, who hails from the company’s home base at Lethbridge, Alta., hopes he’s seen the worst of Saskatchewan winters since moving to Outlook two years ago to manage Primrose Livestock’s bred heifer operation. A small feedlot near irrigated land they farm near Outlook was redesigned and expanded to become a dedicated facility for wintering and calving out first- and second-calf heifers. It’s the first of its kind for the family business that runs cow herds, feeder and finishing feedlots, pastures and cropping operations at several locations in Saskatchewan and Alberta alongside
its established order-buying services with assembly yards in both provinces. Having a feedlot facility with lots of shelter and a well-equipped calving barn is an advantage when calving large groups of heifers in the middle of winter. However, keeping 900 young calves healthy from February to turnout proved more challenging than calving them out, says Primrose, who recently hosted groups from the Western Canadian Feedlot Management School and the University of Saskatchewan. This year, they will start calving 450 Angus heifers at the feedlot in mid-March and 800 Angus second-calvers on adjacent pasture in April. After weaning, the older group will graduate to mature herds at other locations to make way for a new group of incoming bred heifers this fall. Replacement heifers selected from their own herd along with the best black heifers
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management
purchased from Angus herds in southern Saskatchewan are developed, bred and pastured at another location. Primrose Livestock runs a strict culling program. Heifers go through three cuts just to make it into the replacement heifer group and another after breeding. After that, they cull through the whole herd after calving and again after preg-checking. Last year they switched things up a bit by breeding about 40 per cent of their mature Angus cows to Charolais bulls to produce the silver calves some buyers favour. Traditionally, they used Angus bulls exclusively, until the Angus-Charolais crossbreeding program was proven out in one of their Alberta herds. They’ve pushed the calving start date for the Saskatchewan cows bred Charolais into May in hopes of hitting better weather should extra assistance be needed. Primrose figures 900 bred heifers is a manageable maximum at any one time for a crew of five which includes health technician Vicki Foresberg, feed man and farming expert Jake Wall, himself and his parents. This winter he’s been taking calls daily from laid-off oil patch workers looking for jobs, but he figures it would be a mistake to expand their numbers based on this new labour pool as most of them will be gone in a flash as soon as the oil industry turns around. So they are looking to other sources for their labour needs as they continue with their slow expansion. Calving time
About a month before calving, they switch the feeding time from morning to mid-afternoon because they’ve learned from experience that cows are more likely to calve during daytime hours when fed later in the day. The bred heifers receive a ration of barley grain, protein supplement, corn silage, barley silage and hay fed out at 45 to 55 pounds per head per day. The second-calvers receive 60 to 65 pounds per head per day of the same ration with straw added and are let out into the adjacent field for daily exercise as weather permits. They breed and feed to target 80- to 90-pound calves from the cows and 70- to 85-pound calves from the heifers. Birthweight doesn’t matter as much as the shape of the calf, which goes back to the conformation of the bulls. Taking care to select smooth-shouldered heifer bulls saves a lot of grief dealing with calving problems. They check and assist heifers that don’t calve on their own within about two hours of the water bag appearing so that the flow www.canadiancattlemen.ca
“ It’s all about efficiency and speed.” Kyle Primrose , Outlook, Sask.
through the 21-pen calving barn doesn’t get backed up. They’re equipped to deal with most calving difficulties, but know their limitations and have established a good working relationship with an independent local veterinarian who shows up quickly when needed. Primrose is proud to say they didn’t need a single caesarian last year although they had some strange deliveries, including conjoined twins. Calving lubricant; the injectable tranquilizer, Atravet; and their Pneu-Dart system for administering it saved the day more than once. They slather the lubricant around the calf ’s head as usual and mix some with water to pump around the body. Atravet does wonders to calm cantankerous heifers that won’t have anything to do with people or headgates, and for those that go into attack mode after the calf is born. By the time the sedative wears off, the pair has mothered up nicely. There’s no evidence they can see that the medication causes grogginess in the calves. Calves that haven’t nursed on their own within two hours are fed a half dose of commercial colostrum. They’ve found a full bag is too filling and reduces a calf’s motivation to try to suck on its own for the next few hours. After 12 hours to mother up, and oftentimes sooner if the space is needed, each calf is tagged with a numbered dangle tag the same colour as the dam’s and a radio frequency identification (RFID) button. Bull calves are castrated by banding, and all calves receive a dose of the intranasal vaccine Inforce 3 to protect against pneumonia. Pairs are moved to a nursery pen beside the barn, which on the busiest calving days can empty and refill two or three times. The most born in a day was 48 with about 20 being run of the mill. From there it’s on to new pens that haven’t been used for winter feeding. Thirty-five lightweight metal calving shelters were built so that they can be easily moved around as needed. To avoid disease buildup the shel-
ters and bedding are removed as each group of calves reaches the one-month mark. It’s not a big deal to set shelters out again if a storm or cold weather is expected. Scours was the biggest health problem in the heifer group. Primrose’s protocol is to treat calves at the first sign of scours or pneumonia with scour boluses, and an injectable long-acting antimicrobial. There’s no sense waiting to see if the calf can fight it off on its own when timely treatment can make the difference between a dead calf and a calf on the mend at the next check. Last year, the early treatment protocol resulted in about 90 per cent of the feedlotborn calves being treated before all was said and done. Calf death loss was 10 per cent, which was disheartening, but has to be kept in perspective considering death losses experienced when late-spring storms hit cows calving on pasture. Scours wasn’t an issue in the older group that calved on pasture, but that’s not an option for their heifer program. Supervising so many first-calvers in a pasture setting simply isn’t feasible. Calving the heifers early also gives them the time they need to return to estrus and rebreed on schedule with the older group. Only three per cent of the 900 heifers were open last fall. The technician who did the preg checking by ultrasound told them that, on average, 10 to 18 per cent of first-calf heifers come up open. Another reason for the exceptional pregnancy rate is that they don’t scrimp on bull power. They aim for a ratio of one bull for 20 females in all of their herds. Health is a priority
Primrose, a graduate from the agriculture sciences course majoring in animal science at Lethbridge College, has been working full time in the family business for seven years and takes pride in setting the bar high for the health program regardless of market prices. Continued on page 16
C at t l e m e n · M a r c h 2 0 1 5
15
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m anagement
Continued from page 15
In addition to annual vaccinations with BoviShield Gold and boosters as required for the heifers to protect against breeding diseases, the bred heifer group receives Scour Bos 9 and a MU-SE booster about a month before calving. MU-SE is a vitamin E-selenium injectable given annually to the breeding herd. A loose mineral supplement with Rumensin (to prevent coccidiosis) is provided at salting stations throughout their pastures. Calves born on pasture are tagged, castrated and vaccinated with an eight-way and Bovi-Shield One Shot at roundup in mid- to late June. Those born in the feedlot are on the same vaccination program given before turnout. Branding is done after roundup in the processing barn chute where they’ve rigged up a vacuum system attached to the branding iron that exhausts smoke directly out of the building. Health problems on pasture are mainly footrot and eye conditions, for which the Pneu-Dart has been indispensable. It causes less stress on the animal and is easier on the budget than hiring riders to rope and treat cattle on so many pastures. With the Pneu-Dart, any one of them can treat cattle on the spot quickly and effectively up to 30 yards away. Their death loss on pasture has
dropped from around five per cent to 2.5 per cent since they started using the Pneu-Dart. They use the medium-range air-pump Pneu-Dart set to treat animals from two to 30 yards away. The kit costs about $500 and includes practice darts to get started. The single-use darts that cost US$12 to $20 per pack of five depending on the size, can be filled with the medication of your choice. The gel collar that holds the dart in the neck muscle slowly melts until the empty dart falls to the ground. It and the needle are made from a refined biodegradable plastic so there’s no need to run around picking them up. The only time it’s used in the feedlot is for giving Atravet to ornery heifers at calving. For everything else, they run the animals through the chute where there are RFID scanning bars on each side of the headgate and a computerized chute-side system to record treatments given to each animal. “It’s all about efficiency and speed. It’s not always big changes that make the most difference. Small, quick changes can add up to make a big difference,” says Primrose. Topping his list of concerns for their operation, and the Canadian industry, are drought, a major disease outbreak and the Americans buying up the Canadian cattle herd at a 25 per cent discount given the way the Canadian dollar is moving. c
So f twa r e
Their software tracks feed inventory One of the greatest assets for keeping all of Primrose Livestock’s cattle organized is a computer program they’ve developed that tracks and monitors feed consumption and feed supplies. Rations for each pen are entered into the program and manually updated each time the ration is changed. Total feed inventories are then automatically adjusted as the ingredients are fed out each day. If the commodity-check column in the feed sheet displays as “incorrect” for any ingredient, the feed man knows there’s a problem and corrects it right away. The errors are generally due to more or less of an ingredient being doled out than the program calls for, either in error or because there are fewer or more animals in the pen than were expected.
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C at t l e m e n · M a r c h 2 0 1 5
Sometimes it’s just a number that was entered in error. At the Outlook, Sask. office daily feed and inventory records are backed up and sent to the company server in Lethbridge where they are backed up again. Feed summaries and inventory records are closed out at the end of every month and reviewed by the accountant so glitches can be ironed out right away. Primrose Livestock is offering this program to producers and postsecondary schools at no cost. “Everyone is in this industry together and we want everyone to do well,” says Kyle Primrose, manager of the Outlook yard. For more information about the program contact him at 306-867-3012 — after calving season!
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Nutritio n
By John McKinnon
Marketing versus Production Risk
L
ast month, the 17th Western Canadian Feedlot Management School was held in Saskatoon and covered a wide range of topics from health and nutrition to issues like labour shortages. The school finished off with a session on economic conditions facing the industry. While nobody was complaining about current prices, there was an underlying feeling of caution, as the steam in fat cattle markets seemed to have disappeared and coupled with the recent drop in the Canadian dollar, attendees were reminded that markets are both cyclical and volatile and that one cannot always count on prices staying at record highs. The last speaker was Joe Jackson with JGL Livestock of Moose Jaw, Sask. Mr. Jackson is a cattle buyer and risk management specialist with many years of experience in North American cattle markets. His message focused on market versus production risk and struck a chord with me. While not downplaying market risk, he essentially indicated that other than taking a position in the market (i.e. price insurance, hedging, forward contracting) to minimize your risk, markets are markets and that as an individual you don’t have a great deal of influence on current or future prices. On the other hand, he stressed that you do have a great deal of influence on production risk and whether you are a cattle feeder or cow-calf operator, beating the average will increase the economic return to the operation. In thinking about his message, it seems to me that it carries more weight today with current economic conditions than ever before. Take for example the cow-calf sector. If we look at even the best operations we are hard pressed to find one with a weaning percentage greater than 90 per cent. Now I know that many of you reading this will argue that you can’t afford the extra costs associated with maximizing your calf crop and that you would rather be a profitable low-cost producer than accept the costs associated with a higher weaning percentage. I understand this argument, particularly when returns are low, but does it hold water at today’s prices? Consider the case of adopting a mineral feeding program. Too often I encounter producers who are reluctant to feed mineral due to cost. Never mind that by not feeding a mineral they are inviting a major wreck. Let’s consider the cost argument by looking at a 300-head cow herd that weans 255 calves (85 per cent) at 475 pounds ver-
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sus the same herd weaning 270 calves (90 per cent) at the same weight. A six-month mineral feeding program covering the last trimester of pregnancy and the breeding season would run approximately $6,750 with the mineral at $1,500 per tonne. If we run two scenarios, one at a calf sale weight of $1.50 per pound and the second at $2.50 per pound, the extra five per cent calf crop, if achieved, would return approximately $11,000 above the cost of the mineral at the higher sale price and $4,000 at the lower value. In both situations the mineral program pays for itself, however, the returns are that much greater under today’s market conditions. Now mineral feeding or lack of it may not be an issue in your herd but I am sure there are numerous areas where you could look to determine if you are operating at full efficiency including your calving, vaccination and feeding programs, your haying operation, pregnancy checking, culling, breeding soundness exams for bulls, etc. The list can go on and on; suffice it to say that now is as good a time as any to review your herd management practices and look for areas to make improvements as the value of both the 2015 and 2016 calf crop are at stake. Similar logic applies in the feedlot. Cattle feeders are well aware of the importance of feed conversion in determining the cost of gain, however, to emphasize Joe’s point, consider a pen of 300 steers that weigh 1,000 pounds and are consuming 23.5 pounds of dry matter (DM) and gaining 3.5 pounds per day. At $200 per tonne for a finishing ration (DM basis), feed costs are approximately $2.15 per day. In this situation, the feed conversion ratio is 6.7:1 and the feed cost per pound of gain is approximately $0.61. If we can drop the feed-togain ratio by 10 per cent to 6:1, either by decreasing DM intake or increasing daily gain or a combination of the two, we drop the cost of gain to $0.55, a difference of $0.06 per pound of gain. Now, you do the math over 100 days for 300 or 3,000 or 30,000 steers and it quickly becomes evident that focusing on production risk pays big dividends. How realistic is it to improve feed conversions by 10 per cent? As with the cow-calf operator, there is a long list of management practices ranging from ration formulation, silage quality, bunk management, grain processing, implants, feed additives and pen conditions (crowding, mud, etc.) all of which individually or combined can add to or rob you of production efficiency. As per the speaker’s message, the ball is in your court when it comes to managing production risk! c
John McKinnon is a beef cattle nutritionist at the University of Saskatchewan
www.canadiancattlemen.ca
Holistic R a nc hi ng
By Don Campbell
profit versus production part 3
T
his month I would like to look at a cow-calf operation versus a cow-yearling or a cow-long-yearling operation. Which one of these three options would be the most profitable in your unique situation? How long has it been since you compared the three options using your numbers to see if what you are currently doing is most likely to be profitable in your current situation? Times change; it is important to review our businesses and adapt to changing times if we want to remain profitable. I think that the highest cost of producing a pound of beef is at the cow-calf level. This cost can be reduced by our management decisions, but it will always be the highest cost segment. Despite this, the cow-calf producer is essential to the industry. If there are no cows, there is no industry. The choices that are left to us as primary producers are when and how do we market our product to make our businesses profitable? The second-highest cost of producing a pound of beef is in the backgrounding stage. This will vary each year largely depending on feed costs. The lowest cost of producing a pound of beef is at the long-yearling stage. This is not a new idea. If you look at market prices, light cattle have brought more per pound than heavier cattle for the last 50 or 60 years. This basically confirms the above statements. My question is: “If you want to be profitable should some of your resources be utilized in the lower-cost segments of the industry? My observation is that the cow-calf segment is also the least businesslike segment of the industry. Many producers don’t know their costs. There are a variety of reasons for keeping cows. Profit is not always one of them. There is nothing wrong with this but “if you want to be profitable would it not be wise to compete in the more businesslike segments of the industry? Once a calf is weaned the industry becomes much more businesslike. Backgrounders and those who run long yearlings know their costs down to the penny. Did you ever ask yourself why the large players in the cattle business tend to be involved after the cow segment? They are in the industry to make money. There is nothing wrong with this. Would it make sense for you to be involved in this same segment? The cattle market functions so that the cow-calf producer is basically a price taker. When you sell your calf and there is no profit you can’t adjust the price of your calf. You may go home and try to address your cost of production but there is nothing you can do on the price side. Once the calf is weaned and sold the market changes. Now all costs are added in plus a profit. This is how the price of next year’s calves is determined. If the calf was bought at a low price and the profit was high the price of next year’s calf will increase. If the calf was bought at a high price and the profit was low the price of next year’s calf will decrease. By being in the yearling business you benefit from this changing price structure. Trading cattle has a large cost associated with it. I won’t put dollar numbers on this, but will list some of the costs for your consideration. Every time cattle are traded some or all of the following
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costs are incurred: trucking, marketing, buying commission, shrink, death loss, sickness, chronic sickness, vaccination, antibiotics. It isn’t hard to have these mount to $100 per head, money deducted directly from the price of the calf. When you keep your calves the money stays with you. Table 1 shows some average prices over the last few years from Canfax. The calf price is the average for 450-lb. steers in Alberta in Oct. from 2007 to 2011. The yearling price is the average price for 650-lb. steers in Alberta in April from 2008 to 2012. The long-yearling price is the average price for 850-lb. steers in Alberta in September from 2008 to 2012. This allows us to compare a calf sold in Oct. or backgrounded and sold in Apr. the following year or run as a long yearling and sold in Sept. of the same year. table 1. Price
$/head $585
Slide
Increased $
$/lb./ gain
Oct.
450 lb.
$1.30
Apr.
650 lb.
$1.26
$819
$2
$234
$1.17
Sept.
850 lb.
$1.14
$969
$6
$150
$.75
Table 2 shows calves marketed in 2013 and 2014. table 2. Price
$/head
Slide
Increased $
$/lb./ gain
Oct./13
450 lb.
$1.82
$819
Apr./14
650 lb.
$2.07
$1,346
$12.5 up
$527
$2.64
Sept./14
850 lb.
$2.27
$1,930
$10 up
$584
$2.92
Oct./14
450 lb.
$3.22
$1,449
Apr./15
650 lb.
N/A
Sept./15
850 lb.
$2.24 estimated from WLPIP
$1,904
Most of the people who own cows sell calves. I realize that is not likely to change in the near future. When I sit back and look at the cattle business it is easy for me to see that the cow-calf producer would be more profitable if every calf remained where it was born until it weighed 800 or 900 lbs. We would also have a more efficient industry under this scenario. The industry is not going to change. However, individual producers can change and become more profitable. What are your thoughts? I wish you success at building a profitable business. Happy trails. c Don Campbell ranches with his family at Meadow Lake, Sask., and teaches Holistic Management courses. He can be reached at 306-236-6088 or doncampbell@sasktel.net.
C a t t l e m e n · m a r c h 2 0 1 5 19
seedsto c k
By Debbie Furber
Locking in the traits The Lafrentz family relied on planned matings and linebreeding to lock in their genetic package
D
enise and Vern Lafrentz started out on their own 20 years ago with a goal of raising commercial-style purebred Simmental and Simmental-Angus breeding stock to meet the needs of commercial cattlemen. Along the way, their foresight and commitment to their breeding plan has put their ranch, Wheatland Cattle Co. of Bienfait, Sask., in the limelight at Canadian Western Agribition as multiple winners of the Simmental premier breeder and premier exhibitor awards since 2006. Agribition is the one and only stop on the winter show trail for Wheatland Cattle Co., not only because of its value in marketing their program to commercial cattlemen, but as a learning opportunity for themselves. Comparing their cattle to others in the same field on the same day helps them make decisions about their own breeding program. The couple established their ranch with seven purebred Simmental and 25 Simmental-Angus cows. Their breeding program based on planned matings, the use of linebreeding, and retaining their own replacement females and bulls has underpinned their expansion to the current 170-head herd they envisioned — solid black or red with
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good hair coats, structurally sound of moderate frame with thickness across the back, easy calving with moderate birthweight, and females with exceptional udders. They feel this combination packages the convenience that commercial cattlemen are after with traits of economic importance. Convenience traits are those that help take some of the work and guesswork out of raising cattle, such as calving ease, moderate birthweight and great udders so that cows will calve and get calves started on their own. Planned mating involves visual heat detection and artificial insemination or hand breeding to capture the full advantage of complementary breeding. “Each cow is paired with a bull that could strengthen certain traits to make a better ideal calf,” Denise explains. They initially started hand breeding as a way to carry out planned matings because they didn’t have a lot of small breeding pastures to run specific bulls with select groups of cows. As cows cycle naturally, they are penned individually with the selected bull until a successful mating is observed. A bull might breed as many as five cows in turn during a day at the height of breeding season. “The conception rate is very good and we
might be getting more mileage out of our bulls than if they had to spend energy finding cows in heat spread across big pastures,” Vern says. Linebreeding was introduced because it was difficult to find genetics to complement what they were aiming to accomplish. People they spoke with told them it’s a great thing if it works — and it did. “It locks in some of those traits we strive for. We might have up to three generations of a line in some cattle, then veer away from that line and maybe go back to it in the future,” he explains. “It’s a way to build predictability and consistency into a herd as long as you have good genetics to start with.” The theory behind linebreeding is pairing animals with common ancestors to concentrate genes for desired traits in their offspring. The offspring are more likely to have more homozygous gene pairs than offspring from mating unrelated animals; therefore, more likely to consistently pass the genetics for desired characteristics to the next generation. One cow, Wheatland Lady 902J, and one bull, Wheatland Bull 131L (Teddy) in particular have significantly influenced their program. Pairing them essentially lined up the traits they were after and then mat-
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seedstock
ing their offspring with animals that have one or both of the lines in their pedigrees stacked the traits and locked them into the next generation. Cow families that surface time and time again for maternal traits and offspring with the targeted traits are the building blocks of the Lafrentz breeding program. They pay attention to the numbers, such as birth and weaning weights, but phenotype is really important when making selections for their herd and sale bulls. “Our deal is we want to see consistency and we want people to be able to see the things we believe in and have worked hard to get,” Vern says. “I think our herd is somewhat unique because the cattle are so similar and we can see the phenotype even in calves from our bull customers’ herds.” They’re not about to stray off in other directions with their breeding program because commercial cattlemen are still telling them that convenience is a big deal. Performance is important but not at the sacrifice of other traits. Cows have to calve and they have to have good udders. “The future will be even more about
convenience because commercial herds are getting bigger. The future is also crossbreeding in commercial herds because hybrid vigour is a freebie,” he says. They’ve seen it firsthand in their Synergy (first-cross Simmental-Angus) cattle and the acceptance of the Synergy bulls by their customers. Easy-keeping, hardy cows are important in commercial herds as well, so they winter their cow herd on baled hay without a grain supplement. After calving and breeding, the cows with bull calves are separated from cows with heifer calves and turned out to summer pastures with cleanup bulls. The replacement heifer calves and bull calves receive screening pellets after weaning in early September when the pairs are separated and the calves are brought home from summer pastures about six miles away. The calves are turned into grass runs enclosed with four high-tensile hot wires, which works well even if some of the cows are just across the fence because the calves are exposed to electric fencing as babies and in some pastures. They winter on a ration of baled hay and screening pellets until January or February when it’s time to start preparing
for the annual bull sale and breeding season. They’ll bump up the energy a bit on the heifer ration and switch the bulls over to rolled grain. This year ushers in a change of venue from the Alameda sale barn to the ranch for their annual Focus on the Future bull sale featuring their purebred Simmental and Synergy bulls as well as some purebred Angus bulls for the first time this year, along with replacement heifers consigned by some of their bull customers. It takes place the last Thursday of March. A notable change in their operation occurred with their sons, Riley and Cody-Ray leaving home. Riley is attending Hutchinson Community College in Kansas on a judging scholarship. Cody-Ray took an opportunity to gain experience with Rainbow Cattle Services but will be starting to work his way into the family business. “We feel blessed to have been able to raise the boys in the great cattle industry,” Denise says. “It has given them so many experiences and opened up these opportunities for them.” For more information, visit www.wheatlandcattle.com or call 306-634-7765. c
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C at t l e m e n · M a r c h 2 0 1 5
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Taking stock of your vaccines
F
or some, calving season has already started. Others find themselves on final approach to one of the busiest times of year: calving, preparation for breeding season and spring processing of calves and cows before going to pasture. This is an important time to plan herd health programs for the year, make final adjustments to nutrition programs prior to calving and take stock of what’s in the medicine fridge and instrument cabinet. Keeping livestock healthy and ensuring proper care to individual sick animals is a commitment the industry takes very seriously. It requires the warranted use of vaccines to prevent infections and the judicious use of drugs to treat animals that are sick. Consideration needs to be given to drugs and vaccines at each stage of production. When are they needed? How are they to be used and stored? How will new products fit in with existing vaccine and treatment protocols? Then there are expiry dates to think about, as well as how these products will be transported and protected in the field. Proper disposal of unused product is another issue of growing concern. Frugality often gets in the way of good antimicrobial stewardship (right drug for the right reason) and managing the vaccines kept on farms and ranches. There is the quandary about what should be done with partial bottles of high-priced antimicrobials and vaccines, or bottles with rubber tops that look like dart boards. Handling and managing modern vaccines is particularly important because the efficacy of these products is easily jeopardized. Vaccines typically used in veterinary medicine include modifiedlive virus (MLV) vaccines, killed vaccines containing adjuvants to stimulate immunity and recombinant products. The stability and susceptibility of individual vaccines to fluctuations in storage conditions varies considerably. Killed vaccines, for instance, are generally more robust, while MLV vaccines can be very fragile. MLV vaccines need to be maintained at a fairly uniform cold temperature during transport, storage, and administration. Adjuvanted vaccines are sensitive to freezing temperatures because the adjuvant may separate from other components to form an irritating precipitate. Exposure to direct sunlight can also render vaccines ineffective. Based on studies, three-quarters of the fridges used to store biologics on farms and ranches do not maintain temperatures at the minimum range of 35 F (2C) and 45 F (7 C). It’s not unusual for the refrigerator entrusted with the storage of thousands of dollars of animal health products to be an old model relegated to the job when a new kitchen fridge is purchased. As a result few veterinary vaccines are held at a stable and ideal temperature of 35 F (2 C). Freezing can be an even bigger concern. Vaccines consistently stored at an incorrect temperature are often ineffective and should be discarded whether they are outdated or not. Inexpensive digital thermometers that record high and low temperatures are readily available. Placing a thermometer in the vaccine refrigerator is cheap insurance and a way to monitor storage temperatures. In the view of many veterinarians, finding the right refrigerator for vaccine storage removes one potentially disastrous complication to a farm’s herd health program. Taking a critical look at your vaccine storage should be an annual chore.
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A few other important pointers: • Discard containers if rubber seals appear to be compromised, or labels can’t be read or are outdated. • Avoid soaps and disinfectants when cleaning syringes. Boiling water and sunlight are the most effective options. • Virtually all vaccines used in large-animal veterinary medicine should be stored out of sunlight and maintained at between 35 F (2 C) and 45 F (7 C). • Vaccines should be stored in a designated refrigerator. Storing jugs of water in the refrigerator can help prevent temperature fluctuations. • Vaccines should be kept in original packaging, and the boxes rotated so newer product with the latest expiration date are used last. • Food and beverages should not be stored in the vaccine refrigerator. • Maintain the cold chain during transport. Vaccines should be kept in an insulated cooler. Frozen ice packs or refrigerated packs should be used as needed to maintain the correct temperature range. Monitor the temperature in the cooler and note it immediately before and after transport. A layer of insulation should be tucked between the vaccine boxes and ice packs to prevent freezing. And the cooler should be kept in the passenger cab of the vehicle. • For lyophilized vaccines (vaccines with a freeze-dried puck), only use the diluent provided with the vaccine. Generally, diluents do not need to be refrigerated, but it is usually more convenient to keep them in the refrigerator with their corresponding vaccine. • Use a new, sterile syringe and needle or transfer needle to mix vaccines. Do not reconstitute vaccines until they are needed. • Mark vaccine syringes to prevent “mistaken identity” because many vaccines look similar in the syringe. It’s critical that you avoid using the same syringe to administer MLV and killed vaccines, as the adjuvant in killed vaccines can reduce or eliminate the efficacy of many MLV vaccines. • Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) recommends using disposable equipment such as single-use needles where possible. Reusable syringes should be heat-sterilized by boiling prior to use. • Consult your veterinarian about proper sanitation techniques before sterilizing equipment. Improper sterilization can reduce the effectiveness of future injections and result in infection at the injection site. Dr. Dee Griffin, Great Plains Veterinary Center, Clay Center, Nebraska, has a great instructional video on how to clean and sterilize reusable syringes. (Goggle: BQA Tip: How to Clean Syringes | WI Beef Information Center). • Research has proven microwaves are an effective way to sterilize needles and plastic syringes. Metal vaccine transfer needles can be heat sterilized in the microwave if they are fully submerged in water or well wrapped in wet paper towels. • Veterinarians deal with the issues of syringe maintenance, equipment and product choices every day. Seek their advice. c Dr. Ron Clarke prepares this column on behalf of the Western Canadian Association of Bovine Practitioners. Suggestions for future articles can be sent to Canadian Cattlemen (gren@fbcpublishing.com) or WCABP (info@wcabp.com).
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Age_Verification_CCM_Mar-15.pdf 1 07/02/2015 9:02:51 PM
EXPECTING CALVES? COST-FREE Age Verification Support AGE VERIFICATION associates an individual animal’s birth date with its approved Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) radio frequency identification (RFID) tag number in the Canadian Livestock Tracking System (CLTS) database at www.clia.livestockid.ca. To create or activate a CLTS account, please contact a CCIA Client Services Representative toll-free at 1-877-909-2333 or email at info@canadaid.ca. To age verify, producers may enter exact birth dates with corresponding tag numbers, or a calving start date associated with a tag range that allows for all calves born within a 90-day time period to be age verified using the same calving start date. NOTE: A producer should only age verify an animal if the birth date is known for certain. A producer should age verify an animal only after applying an approved CCIA RFID tag. A producer should not age verify a package of tags before applying the tags to animals. Whether a producer age verifies animals to meet breed standards, comply with provincial/territorial regulations or maintain herd management records, CCIA has prepared this reference as a support tool during calving season 2015.
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CCIA recommends AGE VERIFYING your animals using the FILE UPLOAD method when you: • Have a slow Internet connection that often disconnects; • Do not have enough time to finish age verifying the animals in one session; OR • Have more than 10 approved CCIA RFID tags with non-consecutive/non-sequential numbers. In order to use the FILE UPLOAD method of entering events, you must have Microsoft Office, OpenOffice or NeoOffice installed on your computer. If needed, you can download the latest free versions of OpenOffice at http://www.openoffice.org/ OR NeoOffice at http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php. There are three steps to submitting information using the FILE UPLOAD method:
STEP ONE: Downloading the Birth Date Template to enter animal birth date data
Go to http://support.canadaid.ca and select the Events heading at the top of the page. Under Operation Type, select the Producers link. Scroll down to Events and select the option to download a template from the Templates column featured in the Birth Date row. A box will appear with three options: 1. Open – To open the spreadsheet template (NOTE: CCIA recommends saving the template file on your computer, since your computer will not save the template automatically); 2. Save – To save the template in your computer’s Downloads folder; and 3. Save as – To save the template in a location of your choice in your computer. Select a location on your computer to save and rename the template (e.g., “2015 Calf Birth Dates”), then click Save.
STEP TWO: Filling out the Birth Date Template Open the template you renamed and saved in Step One. Enter information into the columns with red headings, which are mandatory fields (i.e., event type, source account, date of birth, date of birth method, and tag start). NOTE: Though the columns with black headings are optional to complete, CCIA recommends providing as much information as possible. The data entered into the template must match the specific format displayed within each heading’s comment field, which is shown by hovering the mouse cursor over these comment fields. NOTE: The cells for Event_Type, DOB_Method, Tag_Type, Sex, Species and Colour have drop-down menus to assist completing the spreadsheet. Go to the cell under the heading and click on the arrow to view the options and select the option you want, which will appear in the cell. Continue this process for all rows used. Fill out all of the required cells and enter as much information as possible in the optional cells. Once completed, you are ready to upload the file to the CLTS database. Remember to save the file regularly as you work and when your work is complete.
STEP THREE: Uploading the completed file to the CLTS database
Go to www.clia.livestockid.ca. Enter your CLTS account username and password, then click Login. There are two ways to access the File Upload option within the home page. 1. Go to the heading Events and select Submit Events – File Upload from the drop down menu. 2. Under the Submit Tag/Animal Event Information heading, select Option 2: File Upload. On the Submit a Data File screen, select Browse. When the pop-up window appears, find and select the file that you created (so that it shows in the File name text box) and select Open. The file information will appear in the text box. Select Upload File. NOTE: If you receive an error message, open your original file to correct the information and resubmit the file. On the Confirmation screen, review the sentence that appears to ensure it displays the correct account name and account ID. If the information is incorrect, select Cancel, re-open the file and correct the information before submitting it. If the information is correct, select Submit. At this point, a transaction identification number in alphanumeric format (i.e., letters A to Z and numbers 1 to 9) will be assigned to your submission. Please make note of this number in your calving records, and check your transaction status to ensure the information processed successfully. After an animal is age verified in the CLTS database, a BIRTH DATE CERTIFICATE may be printed from the site identifying that the animal has been age verified.
Creating a birth date certificate: Go to www.clia.livestockid.ca. Enter your CLTS account username and password, then click Login. On the home page, select the Birth Date Certificate option featured in the Certificates/Permit heading at the top of the page. There are six options to add tags to your list. Any of these options may be repeated as many times as necessary. NOTE: Do not use spaces, dashes or slashes between the numbers. If you select: 1. Single Tag: Enter the last nine digits of the animal’s approved CCIA RFID tag number in the field provided and click Add Tags to List. 2. Tag Range: Enter the lowest number of the tag range in the field beside Range Start. Enter the highest number of the tag range in the field beside Range End and select Add Tags to List. 3. Tag Range with Quantity: Enter the lowest number of the tag range in the field beside Range Start. Enter the quantity of tags used in the with Quantity field and select Add Tags to List. 4. Transaction ID: Enter a transaction ID in the field provided and select Add Tags to List. 5. Birth Certificate ID: Enter a birth certificate ID from a previously created birth certificate in the field provided and select Add Tags to List. NOTE: You may only use IDs from birth certificates you have created using your CLTS account. 6. Spreadsheet File: To use this option, you must create a spreadsheet using Microsoft Office, OpenOffice or NeoOffice. Open a new spreadsheet; enter the heading Tag_Start in column A, row 1. Enter your tag list in the cells below the heading. Save the worksheet and change the file name to something familiar using alphanumeric characters only (e.g., Tag List 2015). Return to the Create Birth Date Certificate: Data Entry page and click Browse to find the file you created. When the pop-up window appears, find and select the file that you created so that it shows in the File name text box, then select Open. Once the file appears in the text box, select Add Tags to List. The tag number(s) will now appear at the bottom of the screen under List of Tags to include in the Birth Date Certificate. Continue to add tags until your list is complete, then click Next. On the Confirmation page, ensure all the tags entered in the previous step appear in the tag list, then click Create Certificate. NOTE: Tags will be listed in sequential order and grouped into ranges.
Photo by Lee Gunderson
The Birth Date Certificate will now appear in PDF format in a new window. Alternatively, you may view the certificate by selecting one of the View Options from the details page. NOTE: You must have your browser’s pop-up blocker disabled for the certificate to appear automatically. Confirm the birth date appears in the Birth Date column. Sign and date the lower part of the certificate before providing it to a purchaser. Congratulations! You have finished age verifying your animals.
NEED TAGS QUICKLY & EASILY? ACTIVATE your web store account in fewer than 5 minutes, select and order from the full array of approved tags and applicators, and receive your supplies at an address of your choice in 3-5 business days. Go to tags.canadaid.ca and select Place an Order. When the login page is displayed, select Register – Create your Access Codes and follow the prompts. When ready, place your order OR call us and WE WILL DO IT FOR YOU !
history
By Duane McCartney
The Bar U Ranch has a special place in Canadian History
N
estled in the foothills of southern Alberta with the majestic Rocky Mountains in the background, the Bar U Ranch National Historic Site of Parks Canada just south of Longview commemorates the history of the Canadian ranching industry. Established in 1882, the Bar U Ranch was one of a small group of large corporate ranches in Western Canada. At its peak, the ranch encompassed almost seven townships of deeded and leased land covering 157,960 acres. Over the years, different owners included Fred Stimson, George Lane and Patrick Burns. Fred Stimson set out the foundation and infrastructure for the Bar U Ranch, which under George Lane achieved international repute as a centre of breeding excellence for cattle and purebred Percheron horses. Patrick Burns and his company modernized the ranch by replacing horses with tractors. Artists, princes and outlaws have all called the Bar U Ranch home at various times in its colourful history. Famed western artist Charley Russell; H.R.H. Edward, Prince of Wales; and Harry Longabaugh (better known as the Sundance Kid) were among the famous and infamous characters who graced the ranch’s vast expanse at various times. So let us start at the beginning of this story of the famous Bar U Ranch. In the
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early 1880s government leases on huge tracts of land in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan became available to interested investors. The North West Cattle Company, formed by the wealthy Allan family of Montreal, and Fred Stimson, a cattleman from Quebec, were able to obtain two leases covering 147,000 acres of prime grassland in southern Alberta. The 21-year leases cost a penny an acre. Stimson bought 3,000 Durham-Shorthorn stocker cattle, 21 purebred Shorthorn bulls and 75 saddle horses in the northern United States and trailed them up to their newly acquired leases. With the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the North West Cattle Company was able to sell 1,000 steers for $75 each to the railway. The cattle company was also able to sell large quantities of beef to the Canadian government to supply the NorthWest Mounted Police and local Native people. From 1882 to 1886 almost $300,000 worth of beef was sold annually by the ranch to the government for distribution to the Native people. In 1885 the largest roundup in Canadian history occurred in the area of the Bar U Ranch. It involved 100 men, 500 saddle horses, and 15 supply wagons. They rounded up some 60,000 cattle spread over 10,000 square miles of open grasslands. That must
have been some roundup! The following winter of 1886-87 saw thousands of cattle die during the very severe winter. The cowboys at the Bar U ranch had put up winter feed and didn’t suffer the severe losses that occurred on the neighbouring ranches. The Bar U was one of the first ranches to ship cattle to Great Britain. By 1890 the Bar U Ranch had some 10,400 head of cattle, 832 horses and 157,960 acres of leased grazing land. At the time, one of their horse breakers was the infamous Sundance Kid from the Wild Bunch gang. The Canadian Government in 1891 made changes to the land lease policy and allowed ranches to purchase up to 10 per cent of their lease for $1.25 an acre. The North West Cattle Company purchased 15,000 acres and continued to lease the rest of the land for grazing. Fred Stimson always welcomed the Stoney and Blackfoot people when they wished to camp at the Bar U Ranch. He learned to speak the Blackfoot language and had Native range riders on his cattle crew. In 1902 George Lane and financial partners purchased the North West Cattle Company for a quarter of a million dollars. The sale included 3,000 cattle and 500 horses. Continued on page 32
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h i sto ry
Continued from page 28
Lane had originally come to Alberta to work for the Bar U for the princely sum of $100 a month. He became one of the largest cattle ranch owners in Western Canada, and later, one of the “Big Four” that helped create the first Calgary Stampede in 1912. The harsh winter of 1906-07 killed thousands of cattle in Western Canada forcing many large corporate ranches to foreclose. Again, the Bar U was able to survive despite the losses of some 16,000 head of recently imported Mexican cattle. Thus began the necessity to put up hay for winter feed and end the use of year-round open range. George Lane was interested in producing excellent draft horses for the increasing number of farmers in the neighbourhood. He purchased three purebred Percheron studs and 72 mares from Le Perche, France, at a cost of $75,000. At the 1909 World’s Fair in Seattle the Bar U Percheron’s won most of the awards. Lane eventually became the largest purebred Percheron breeder in the world. It was not all work and no play at the ranch. At the turn of the 20th century, Bar U cowboys and the neighbouring ranchers formed a very active polo club and they won the international Earl of Winterton’s Cup in 1909. With the advent of the First World War most of the skilled ranch hands joined the armed forces. George Lane hired Stoney families at the Bar U as year round employees. After the end of the war, the ranch also hired back any returning men and Lane also kept the Stoney employees on his crews.
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In 1919, Edward, Prince of Whales bought the neighbouring ranch to the Bar U as he was extremely impressed with the cowboy’s way of life and the landscape of the surrounding area. The Prince relied heavily on the advice of George Lane in the operation of his new ranch.
I t began with the Allan family and cattleman Fred Stimson of Quebec leasing 147,000 acres of Prairie grass for 1¢/acre Then came the post-war recession, several dry years and the downturn in the cattle and grain industry. In 1921 the prices of wheat and steers dropped to half of the previous year. Despite major economic problems, the Bar U ranch continued until George Lane’s death in 1925 at which time the Dominion Bank took over the heavily mortgaged ranch.
In steps, Pat Burns, owner of the Burns food empire, took over. In 1927 he purchased the Bar U ranch for approximately $500,000. At the time, the land was valued at $11 an acre but dipped to $6.78 an acre during the Depression and Dirty Thirties. But by 1947 it had jumped to $20 an acre. It is interesting to note that Burns’ cattle empire was so vast that Burns could ride from Calgary south to the U.S. border entirely on his own land. During this period he owned many other famous Alberta ranches including: Bow Valley, Circle, Imperial, Walrond, BarS, the Q, the 76, the Two Dot, Glengarry and the Flying E. The Bar U remained Pat Burns’ pride and joy. In the late 1920s cattle prices were exceptionally high; however, during the depression the cattle prices were so low that it cost more to ship the cattle to market than they were worth. Pat Burns cut expenses in order to keep the Bar U operational. The winter of 1936 was so severe in the region that the ranch hands had to feed 5,000 head of cattle 38 tons of hay a day. With the passing of Pat Burns in 1937 it was the end of another era at the Bar U. Pat’s nephew John Burns, with the help of many long-term employees, took over the management of the ranch. Modern technologies and improvements were adopted. The Shorthorn cattle were replaced with Herefords, and grain farming was increased. The Second World War saw many of the Bar U cowboys enlist and the Stoney people once again became the dominant workers Continued on page 34
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h i sto ry
Continued from page 32
on the ranch. The Bar U successfully survived these years due to this long-term historical connection with the Native people. After the war, trucks and tractors were common on ranches and farms in the West so the Percheron work horses were no longer in demand. The Burns Ranches head office decided to sell off non-productive stock so most of the Percherons at the Bar U were sold. Shortly thereafter, 11 riders moved 1,820 head of Bar U cattle along the road allowances to the Burns feedlot in Calgary, 67 miles away. The Burns’ era at the Bar U came to an end in 1950 with the sale of the ranch to J. Allen Baker. The sale included the remaining Bar U horses, 500 cows and the major part of the original ranch. Baker ran a traditional cow-calf operation and the Bar U continued to be one of the few remaining large ranches in the Alberta Foothills. It covered 30 sections of deeded and leased land. Allen Baker successfully managed the Bar U ranch for 27 years, longer than anyone else in its history.
In 1975 the Wambekes, a local agricultural-based family bought the Bar U headquarters and some additional grazing land as a means of expanding their existing cowcalf, feedlot and farming operation. Later in 1984, Melvin Nelson and family purchased the ranch and eventually sold 367 acres of the original ranch headquarters to Parks Canada as a national historic site to commemorate the importance and history of the ranching industry in Western Canada and the part that the Bar U Ranch played in the story. Today the Friends of the Bar U Historic Ranch Association along with Parks Canada, operate the Bar U Ranch as a national historic site. The Percheron stud horse barn from the George Lane 1909-19 period, when he operated the largest and most famous breeding program in the world, is still there and examples of these fine horses are nearby. The ranch office and post office, the harness repair shop complete with a harness maker from southern Saskatchewan and the blacksmith shop, originally built in 1910, are highlights to be seen by the visitors. The cookhouse has the largest “lazy susan” kitchen table server that I have ever seen. Apparently
Flying K Ranch
the Chinese cook ruled the roost. She had a separate sleeping room just off the main kitchen and the kitchen was the meeting place where the orders of the day were given to the cowboys of the Bar U. The very neat sleeping accommodation for the cowboys is upstairs in one big open bedroom. Their musical instruments and precious keepsakes can still be seen by their beds. The Bar U has a very fine interpretive centre with lots of historical pictures and a country-style dining facility. The park offers special events on various weekends throughout the summer and further information can be found on their website within the Parks Canada National Historical website. Go to www.pc.gc.ca then go to activities at the Bar U Ranch or go to www.friendsofthebaru.ca. It is well worth spending time to walk through this living history of the Canadian ranching industry when hopefully you will be able to have a coffee and taste the freshly made bannock at the chuck wagon roundup campfire down by the river. c Duane McCartney is a retired forage beef systems research scientist from Lacombe, Alta.
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Canadian Forage and Grassland Association
Welcome to the second annual Forage & Grassland Guide, produced in partnership by the Canadian Forage & Grassland Association (CFGA) and Farm Business Communications and distributed through Country Guide, Canadian Cattlemen and Le Bulletin des agriculteurs. It focuses on issues of importance of forage and grassland to crop and livestock producers across Canada. For more information on forage and grassland management in your area, we encourage you to contact and participate in the activities of your regional or provincial association. Canadian Forage & Grassland Association C/o Corie Arbuckle 63 Clearwater Road Winnipeg, Man. R2J 2T4 Phone: (204) 254-4192 info.cfga@gmail.com www.canadianfga.ca BC Forage Council Fran Teitge Phone: (250) 267-6522 Email: bcfc@bcforagecouncil.com Alberta Forage Industry Network Lyndon Mansell Phone: (780) 592-2262 Email: basicman@telusplanet.net www.albertaforages.ca
Saskatchewan Forage Council Phone: (306) 969-2666 Email: office@saskforage.ca Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association Wanda McFadyen Phone: (204) 475-2241 Email: info@mfga.net Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association Andrew Graham Phone: 1-800-265-9751 Email: agraham@ontariosoilcrop.org www.ontariosoilcrop.org
Ontario Forage Council Ray Robertson Phone: 1-877-892-8663 Email: ray@greyagservices.ca Soil & Crop Improvement Association of Nova Scotia Carol Versteeg Phone: (902) 758-3530 Email: carol.versteeg@scians.org www.scians.org Quebec Forage Council / Conseil québécois des plantes fourragères
Helene Brassard Téléphone : (418) 719-9972 Courriel: info@cqpf.ca
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2015
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Forage & Grassland Guide
3
Forage Guide 2015 Trends in the Canadian forage industry Regional groups across Canada agree in the need for more recognition and research for forage and grassland By Doug Wray, Chair, Canadian Forage and Grasslands Association
T
he Canadian forage industry is impacted by dynamics at home and around the globe, as is all of agriculture. In a changing world, producers continually evaluate and build strategies that will support successful business plans. Identifying trends is one way to clarify the picture and provide direction. The following is a look at several trends at play in the forage industry.
Demand
Beef and milk consumption are increasing in many developing countries as their economies grow and their citizens have more disposable income. This is having an impact on our forage industry in a couple of ways. First, Canadian beef is being successfully marketed in many of those countries, helping create the record-high prices for cattle and beef here at home. Those record prices are widely expected to drive herd expansion. The cow herd diet is almost exclusively forage, and more acres and higher-yielding varieties will be needed to fill the gap. The second impact of improving diets in developing countries stems from their desire to produce more meat and milk at home, despite the lack of all the resources necessary. For some, importing high-quality forages is a successful strategy to increase production. Japan, Korea and China are importing Canadian forages. Some Middle Eastern countries have decided to concentrate their available irrigation water on the highest-value crops and are now major importers of for-
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Forage & Grassland Guide
ages for their dairy and camel herds. Canada, with our fertile soils, rainfall, infrastructure and skilled producers, is well placed to export to these markets.
Supply
Forages are Canada’s largest crop by area, with 32 million acres of tame perennials and annuals. These are the pasture, hay, greenfeed and silage acres. Another 37 million acres of native pasture rounds out the forage supply for Canada’s ruminant herds. Approximately 80 per cent of the beef diet is forages. For dairy, the portion is 60 per cent. Competition for land with cash crops and other uses will limit the increase in acres to feed a larger herd. Producers will look to improved varieties, better management, more use of legumes, and production systems that optimize their resources to create the most value. Most of the increased acres will come on mixed farming operations as they adjust rotations to grow more feed. Some cash crop producers have successfully included high-quality hay acres in their rotations. These acres are intensely managed to produce specific products for the dairy and equine markets in North America as well as primarily dairy markets overseas. While these acres are relatively small in the big picture, they bring important diversity to monoculture rotations and farming enterprises.
Environment
While there is increasing recognition of the environmental goods and services provided by forages, progress has been slowed by the science to sup-
port it. The wide variability of growing conditions and huge complexity of interacting cause-and-effect factors make it extremely challenging and costly to quantify dynamics such as greenhouse gases, carbon sequestration, nutrient flows, water infiltration and runoff. Fortunately management practices that enhance forage productivity and longevity are also positive for the environment. When producers adopt better management practices, along with more production, they get environmental benefits they intuitively know are there, but rarely can quantify. Support may be coming from multinational retailers wanting a “sustainable production” stamp on the food they sell. This will play out through organizations like the Canadian Round Table for Sustainable Beef.
Research
Forage research has been declining in Canada for the last 30 years. The tide is turning. Since forming five years ago, the CFGA has effectively promoted the need for, and value of, forage research. Great work by the provincial forage and livestock associations and strong leadership from the BCRC and its staff, particularly Andrea Brocklebank and Reynold Bergen, have greatly increased the investment in ways that will help retain capacity and encourage succession plans for retiring scientists. Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have collaborative research programs to deliver more productive forages, and management systems which have an energized focus on realizing the full potential of the sector. n
2015
Dryland grass breeding in the Canadian Prairies
By Duncan Morrison, Freelance writer
Bruce Coulman is a professor at the plant sciences department in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan. He has helped develop and register 22 forage cultivars through research programs at the University of Saskatchewan and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Highlights include the development of AC Grazeland, a bloat-reduced alfalfa, and the development of several hybrid bromegrass cultivars. We recently contacted professor Coulman for his thoughts on perennial forage breeding, research, climate change and the advantages of forages as a crop.
Q: Why is forage breeding important?
A: In all crop types, it is important to have breeding programs to consistently improve the varieties grown by farmers. In the case of forages, they have a larger acreage of land in Canada than other crops. Our forage-breeding programs allow us to improve production, and develop varieties resistant to diseases.
Q: Is some of the forage breeding you are working on in response to our changing world, in particular climate change on the Prairies?
A: As long as plant breeders are testing their breeding populations in the field, varieties adapted to a gradually changing climate will be selected, since we select the most productive lines each year, whatever the climatic conditions. In addition, as part of our program, we are evaluating species which are presently marginally adapted to our climate but which may become better adapted under climate change.
Q: Where do you feel the most potential is in breeding new varieties — native vs. tame?
A: Most of the focus is with tame grasses and legumes as producers are
most often growing these. With native species, there are challenges with producing seed, which drives up seed cost to the producer. A collaborative program over the last 20 years involving Ducks Unlimited Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Universities of Manitoba and Saskatchewan has resulted in seed of “ecological varieties” of a number of native species being available to producers.
Q: What traits do producers demand? Is it primarily yield?
A: It is primarily yield; however, there is demand for improved varieties for grazing purposes that grow early in the spring and stay green later in the fall. There are numerous other traits that interest individual producers, such as alfalfa varieties that retain their leaves when dried or when frosted in the fall.
Q: Why did the hybrid bromegrass produce the highest beef gains as compared to the meadow and smooth bromegrass?
A: That is likely due to a slightly better forage quality of hybrid bromegrass, especially at the late vegetative stage of growth when grazing is often done. The fibre content of hybrid brome is somewhat lower than smooth and meadow brome at this stage.
Q: What is the reality for the potential of grasses for biomass production? Is ethanol really viable on the Canadian Prairies?
The University of Saskatchewan has evaluated biomass production of adapted cool-season grasses and found intermediate wheatgrass to be the highest yielding. Photo: Dehaan/Creative Commons
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A: There is still work to do on the methodology for economically producing ethanol from cellulosic materials. If this was to become a reality in Western Canada, cereal crop straw would provide a high-volume reliable source of material for ethanol production. There are also certain grasses that can
be grown on marginal land that could be used for ethanol production, but yields on these areas would be lower. There has been a tremendous amount of money and time put into developing switchgrass and miscanthus grass as biomass sources south of the border. But these species are not as well adapted to Western Canada. We have evaluated biomass production of adapted coolseason grasses and found intermediate wheatgrass to be the highest yielding. Rather than for ethanol, grasses may have more potential as energy sources through direct combustion of pelleted materials. Pelleted switchgrass is already being used as a fuel source in Eastern Canada and the U.S.
Q: What would you tell the world about Western Canada’s forages?
A: Forages have a lot of advantages as a crop. They provide large amounts of quality feed for ruminant animals. In addition, perennial forages provide numerous benefits to the environment, such as soil conservation and wildlife habitat. It is important we continue to improve these kinds of crops. n F o r a g e & G r a ss l a n d Gu i d e
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The Normandins have modified a small square baler to turn big squares into small squares. While Norfoin Inc. puts up all its hay in large square bales, half the hay is sold as small squares. The conversion is made after the hay is harvested and dried.
Photo: Allan Dawson
Quebec haymakers use homemade dryer to improve quality The Normandins also modified a small hay baler to convert big square bales into small ones By Allan Dawson, manitoba co-operator
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avid Normandin and his brother Mathieu preferred driving tractors to milking cows and that’s why they make hay and not milk. The brothers, along with their father Luc and Luc’s partner’s daughter, Audrey Mailloux, operate Norfoin Inc., 57 km southeast of Montreal in the Montérégie region of la belle province. The operation had been a dairy farm started by David Normandin’s grandfather in 1958, but switched to haymaking in 2000, Normandin told
“We dry about 90 per cent of our hay with a custommade bale hay dryer.” David Normandin
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a tour group attending the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association annual meeting in nearby Bromont on November 17. The company also provides snow removal services during the winter. The family operation puts up around 6,000 large square bales from its own 618 acres of land, plus bales from another 198 acres under contract. It also buys 6,000 large square hay bales. The Normandins dry almost all their hay, have almost an acre of inside hay storage, including a new 50x110-foot building, which will eventually be heated, and they can convert large bales to small square ones as required. About half of Norfoin’s hay is sold in Quebec and the rest is exported to the United States through hay brokers, Normandin said. The company puts up various hay
mixes, including alfalfa, timothy, orchard grass, fescue and clover. And the hay goes to a wide variety of livestock, including milk cows, dry cows, calves, horses and even zoo animals. Hay buyers demand top quality so the Normandins strive to get their hay up in good condition and keep it that way. After the hay is crimped and cut, it’s ‘tedded’ or fluffed up to speed drying. Then it’s raked and baled. The bales are picked up the same day to prevent sucking up moisture from the field. They can pick up bales as quickly as they are made, Normandin said. The hay is baled at about 25 per cent moisture. “We dry about 90 per cent of our hay (to 10 to 12 per cent) with a custom-made bale hay dryer,” Normandin said. “We saw a dryer in Europe but it was really expensive so we thought about building it. We began the first year with
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some prototypes, then we built a dryer to meet our needs. Now we dry 100 (big square) bales at a time.” The dryer is wood fired. Wood is plentiful and cheaper than other forms of energy, he said. Hay and fire don’t mix. A wood fire heats water, which feeds a radiator used to warm air blown through the bales. It takes six to 15 hours to dry a bale depending on its moisture content. They can dry about 300 bales a day. The dried bales are stacked 11 high in sheds. All of Norfoin’s hay is put up in large square bales because it’s faster, Normandin said. “We can do the work of 10 people with a small square baler with only four people with one big square baler,” he said. However, five years ago, after sales of large squares slowed, the company built its own system to turn large square bales into small ones. Now half of Norfoin’s hay is sold as small squares. The family brought a small square baler into one of its sheds, powered it
A World of Knowledge in Every Bag…
David Normandin of Norfoin Inc., a family-owned haymaking operation in Saint-Césaire, Que., explains the operation, including their homemade wood-fired hay dryer, which can dry 100 large square bales at a time.
Photo: Allan Dawson
with an electric motor and modified it so it turns a big bale into small ones. Normandin said they cut their hayfields two to four times a season. Nitrogen is applied after each cut and manure is spread every spring. n allan@fbcpublishing.com
See the Manitoba Co-operator’s website for a video about Norfoin Inc.
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2015-01-29 11:20 AM
Research has shown that forages, like cereals in the rotation, can provide an added boost to subsequent corn crops.
Getting back to the basics the fundamentals of good forages New market opportunities may beckon, but quality remains the key By Ralph Pearce, production editor, country guide
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very time commodity prices start to cycle lower, questions are asked and pencils are put to paper: “Should I start thinking of a cropping alternative?” In Eastern Canada the considerations are often edible beans, identity-preserved soybeans, oats… maybe even barley or flax. But what about forages? The answer can be less than straightforward, depending on whom you ask. Today’s challenges to produce quality and quantity are different than 15 years ago. Some are based on demographics, or the availability of land and dairy quota. In the past three years, there also has been considerable speculation on the potential for export opportunities through the construction of an alfalfa compaction facility somewhere in Eastern Canada. Despite the potential for marketing forages to New York State or the Middle East, reality always comes back to the fundamentals. Forage growers tend to adhere to the notion of “the more you know, the better you grow.” Joel Bagg, forage adviser with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), says growing forages for compaction or export requires strict quality standards. Stepping into a relatively new crop often requires new equipment purchases or the adoption of a new production regimen, not to mention a level of familiarity that takes several years of experience.
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Planting considerations
Still, there is room for a quick refresher on the basics of forage production. For instance, is spring or fall better for establishing a good hay crop? Aric Bos and Martina Pfister, agronomists for DuPont Pioneer, say spring is becoming the easier choice for establishment. It depends on the individual producer’s situation, and there are some who simply default to the fall because there’s a wider window. But spring planting can offer several advantages.
“Moisture is the biggest challenge (and) the longterm trend would say that moisture is a lot more dependable in the spring.” Aric BoS, DuPont Pioneer
“Moisture is the biggest challenge,” says Bos, who is based in Exeter, Ont. “This past year (2014) there was no problem: I saw a lot of good, established forage crops planted mid- to late-August after wheat, but there was plenty of moisture throughout the year. The long-term trend would say that moisture is a lot more dependable in the spring, so that would be my first choice. Get it in between the end of March and most of April is a
good window — even until mid-May, depending on where you live.” But that may not be convenient from a logistics standpoint, as it conflicts with the other seeding and spraying operations. On the other hand, late summer to early fall provides a wider window following wheat harvest, with the midsummer dry spell usually done by the time a forage crop should be planted. But finding the balance between sufficient moisture late in the season and a narrowing window before first frost may be expecting too much. By the same token, heavy driving rains in May, June or October can make things difficult for early stage forage stands. That’s also why Pfister also prefers spring, and the earlier the better. “Alfalfa only needs 3 C to germinate, so it can go in earlier in the spring,” says Pfister, who is based near Baltimore, Ont., just north of Cobourg. “But what we need in the summer is about six weeks of growth before the first frost, so if the alfalfa can’t get established enough — whether it’s due to dry weather or planted too late — the risk of winterkill is higher.”
Other influences
Pfister notes a pair of trends taking place in forage production. One is more young farmers are entering the family operation, so it’s important in helping them understand why
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their fathers or grandfathers grew forages as feed for their cows. And Bos notes some recent management challenges such as herbicide resistance provide an opportunity to put forage into the rotation. “Just by geography, there might be some weed resistance problems, like some of the counties of southwestern Ontario where there’s dairy but also pressure with glyphosate resistance. A lot of those guys would be growing Roundup Ready corn and soys in the other parts of the rotation, and that can make things more complicated in terms of keeping glyphosate resistance at bay.” Bos says that even in times of higher commodity prices, the renewed interest in forages has been positive. Farmers generally have a good grasp of their cost of production, he notes, and many are “pencilling out” the numbers for forages, even if they’re not involved in livestock. In the 1990s, Ridgetown College provided a comprehensive study that found that wheat in the rotation provides a yield boost to subsequent corn and soybean crops. Bos says forages can do the same thing. “From what I’ve seen, OMAFRA and the industry and also the University (of Guelph) have done a good job of showing the benefits of alfalfa in the rotation,” says Bos, citing the potential for a seven to 10 per cent benefit to the corn crop that follows alfalfa. “Even though growers are making margins in their cash crop ventures, they’ve started looking at forages with more interest. And there’s a pretty well-established hay market that’s always been there, and that always has a need for good-quality forage. Hay making — at least dry hay — has always been something of an art form.” Pfister adds that farmers do realize the importance of good-quality forages. “When you have high commodity prices it means that any supplementary feed coming in will be more expensive, too. So the better quality forage is, the cheaper the feed bill may be at the end of the month.” n Moisture is the limiting factor in establishing a good forage crop, which is why spring planting is favoured over the fall.
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The forage challenge — higher yield and higher quality One goal is to break the inverse link between yield and digestibility
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orage production is a vital component of Canadian agriculture, since it covers nearly half of our cultivated land. Moreover, forages make up around 60 per cent of dairy rations and 80 per cent for beef cattle. Innovations in forage production will be essential for these sectors. The challenges and opportunities will mainly hinge on four major issues: economic and environmental sustainability, social acceptability of farming activities, climate change and world population growth. What are the “forage solutions” to these issues? They will have to involve the improvement of both yield and nutritive value, which represent the two mainstays of successful forage production. A consistent higher yield will improve profitability and competitiveness of dairy and beef farms, while reinforcing our capacity to feed a growing world population. At the same time, forages that are more digestible and show higher sugar content will allow us to increase their share in the ration. They also allow us to decrease our use of grain, sta-
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By Gilles Bélanger
bilizing production costs, reducing nitrogen release to the environment and making those same grains available for human consumption.
Potential versus actual yield
Yield of perennial forage crops has not increased as fast as for many annual crops like corn and wheat. A recent study showed that U.S. alfalfa yield increased by 0.25 per cent per year, compared to 1.4 per cent per year for silage corn. The authors attribute this low yield increase to the complexity and large number of forage species, to the fact that all their above-ground biomass is harvested and to a lack of investment in breeding. Potential yield at any location depends on conditions like solar radiation, temperature, CO2 concentration in the atmosphere as well as on the characteristics of the species. However, this yield potential is rarely achieved due to stress — cold, drought, pests, poor drainage and other reasons. Hence, we sometimes observe a big difference between the potential yield and what is actually achieved. This difference could fur-
ther increase if we intensify our use of marginal land for growing forages. Improving the yield potential of our forage crops is perhaps possible, but will require major and well-targeted research. Avenues for research include improving photosynthetic efficiency, or modifying biomass distribution between above- and belowground parts of the plant. In the short and medium terms, reducing the difference between potential and actual yield seems a more promising approach. Very little research has been carried out to quantify this difference. A recent
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U.S. study suggests that the average yield of alfalfa in the field is only around 30 per cent of its potential yield. In order to decrease this difference, one must better understand the effects of different stresses on our forage species, so that we can develop cultivars and agronomic practices that will enable them to better tolerate these stresses.
Cold tolerance and digestibility
Our winter conditions are a good example of stress conditions that can cause significant yield losses of perennial forage crops, particularly in winter-sensitive species like alfalfa. Since the introduction of alfalfa in Quebec, breeder selection and sound agronomic practices have improved winter survival. One only has to think about the “Apica� alfalfa cultivar or the recommendations on harvest management in the fall. However, these improvements are not sufficient to eliminate the risk of winter damage.
the expense of the yield. Also, alfalfa cultivars expressing better digestibility have been developed in recent years but, in most cases, these have showed lower yields or a lower persistence. Therefore, the challenge is to increase digestibility of forages while maintaining or even increasing their yield. It is quite a task, since it requires dissociating yield and digestibility. Our research studies on timothy have shown this to be feasible if we decrease the ratio between lignin and cellulose. Similar results on
alfalfa have recently been obtained by an American research team. Thus, there is hope. Producing more forages of higher quality is vital to Canadian farmers and to our planet. However, to achieve this goal, sustained multidisciplinary research efforts are necessary. n Gilles BĂŠlanger is a researcher for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and recipient of the 2013 Canadian Forage and Grassland CFGA Leadership Award. This article is based on his presentation to the CFGA annual meeting in October 2014.
A recent study showed that U.S. alfalfa yield increased by 0.25 per cent per year, compared to 1.4 per cent per year for silage corn Other recent studies show more promise. Using a new selection approach, Canadian breeders have shown it is possible to improve cold tolerance of alfalfa and red clover by more than 5 C. These innovations are especially valuable in the context of climate change in which we foresee an increasing risk of winter damage for alfalfa. Is it possible to improve the nutritive value without decreasing the yield? Digestibility of forages is one of the crucial aspects of their nutritive value. Improving digestibility is possible but is often associated with a decrease in yield or persistence. For example, shortening the interval between cuts, and harvesting at a younger stage allow improving the digestibility of forages, although at Photo: Tessa Nybo
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Nuffield scholar focuses on energy-dense forages Study will explore using energy-dense perennial forages as annuals
By Duncan Morrison, freelance writer
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ne learns fairly quickly upon first meeting him that Clayton Robins is a bundle-of-energy person. So it comes as no surprise that the 2013 Nuffield Scholar has actually travelled the world to learn more about energy. Energy-dense forages, that is. “Every other country I visited looks at sugars in forages except here in North America,” says Robins, who now spends his post-Nuffield Scholar travelling days as executive director of the Manitoba 4-H Council. “We are fibre-focused. My report will provide a big-picture perspective as to how we can adapt the beef production model we currently are using, which will require a shift in thinking. I feel very privileged for a guy from Rivers to present my report and knowledge on beef production gleaned from the top experts in the world. There was no other way for me to do that without doing so as a Nuffield Scholar.” Robins still operates a mixed farm in Rivers, Man., with wife Rebecca and son Quinn, who Clayton says stepped up bigtime during his Nuffield travels to keep the farm in good stead with the help of Clayton’s parents, Brian and Arlene, who live on the property as well. “I travelled to Argentina, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Finland, U.S.A., Australia, and New Zealand for my study,” says Robins. “I met with some of the top scientists in their field, in their respective countries and, in some cases, globally, with top producers in each country, as well as leading extension experts and consultants.” Robins expects his much-anticipated energetics-themed study to be ready for peer review and distribution soon. He mentions two themes: energy-dense perennial forages used as annuals and early development of marbling cells in calves.
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“The report will focus on several key areas as to the impact of incorporating energy-dense forages into key points in Canadian and, in particular, Prairie beef production systems,” Robins says. “Utilizing specific species of short-term perennial forages capable of high levels of metabolizable energy that are currently not often considered due to overwintering ability, is the core of the strategy being recommended in the report.” He says focusing on sugar and digestible fibre to evaluate their potential is key, and that data collected from experts around the world will demonstrate that the grazing of these forages has the potential to: • Provide several positive benefits to rumen digestive efficiency. • Decrease greenhouse gas emissions versus traditional grazing. • Lower the beef carbon footprint. • Improve soil structure and biology, in addition to sequestering carbon. • Induce programming of intra-muscular fat cells in suckling calves.
Clayton Robins (r), with son Quinn and father Brian, travelled to 11 countries as part of the Nuffield Scholarship program.
• Improve the healthiness and eating quality of forage-fed beef. Robins says his report will also address the potential for improved energetic efficiencies and the role of genomics in the strategy. The Canadian Prairies, he says, have an advantage over other regions regarding the potential for plants to accumulate high levels of water-soluble carbohydrates (sugars). “Longer days, cool evenings, and degree of solar intensity provide the basis for this opportunity,” says Robins. “High-sugar forages elicit beneficial shifts in rumen fatty acid profiles and microbial communities that mimic grain-feeding, without the same risk for acidosis. All I hope is that the report will motivate the right people to ask the right questions. And then, eventually, we will get the right answers.” n
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Get in line and move on “I call it my ‘big red swather,’” Brian Harper told a group of cattle producers visiting his farm near Brandon, Man., last August. Harper smiled when, as if on cue, 63,550 lbs. of his herd of Shaver Beefblend/Lincoln Red cattle started munching their way down one of his field’s narrow one-acre grazing paddocks. “Up to 2013, we had 16 plots that we moved the cattle around on. This allowed 45 to 60 days of rest for each of the plots to recover from the grazing until next rotation,” said Harper, who runs his forage-only, purebred operation Circle H Farms with his wife Sonja. “This year, we switched to the high-stock density system for grazing and are moving our herd among 128 one-acre plots within the old 16-paddock system, allowing 127 days rest for each plot.” Harper moves his herd from paddock to paddock using an automatic gate opener called a Batt latch, a solarpowered, self-contained unit that is set to open at a time and date that he chooses.
“The benefits to our herd, the grass, the soil and the environment have been substantially noticeable,” Harper said. “On the business side, we doubled the carrying capacity as we were only half done the pasture at the time of year when in past years we were generally through it already once. This would be the big factor for most producers as there is more return per acre.” Harper was joined by Neil Dennis, an experienced mob grazier from Wawota, Sask., who was brought in by organizers to help showcase the high-stock density grazing systems as a viable economic and environmental option for cattle producers. The tour of Harper’s mob-grazing system was funded by the federal government’s Commission of Environmental Cooperation (CEC) as part of an 18-month agreement with the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA). The aim is to implement and promote ranch-level beneficial management practices (BMPs) that improve environmental and economic sustainability of live-
Brian Harper says he’s doubled the carrying capacity of his pastures by using a high-stock density system.
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Switching to a high-stock density system with 128 paddocks instead of 16 By Duncan Morrison, Freelance writer
stock production. “The CEC have collaborated in protecting North America’s environment in the United States, Canada and Mexico through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation,” said MFGA executive director Wanda McFadyen. She quarterbacked the larger agreement with CEC that has similar events planned in Saskatchewan and Alberta. “When CEC connected with us about Prairie forages and grasslands and the beef industry, we felt it was an excellent fit to showcase the environmental stewardship that producers such as the Harpers provide to Manitobans as well as their economic savvy as businesspeople in the cattle industry.”
Local partner
With the CEC agreement in place, MFGA turned to Manitoba Grazing Clubs, a long-time partner, to organize the event. Grazing club co-ordinator Michael Thiele suggested the Harpers Continued on page 16 Photo: Duncan Morrison
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Continued from page 15 — with Dennis in support — as excellent candidates to anchor the half-day tour. “These two producers are strong advocates for grazing systems and they are extremely well respected by other producers,” said Thiele, a contracted employee of Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC). “The narrow width of the paddocks mean the cattle work it hard back and forth. What they don’t graze they stomp down, which enables the regeneration of forages during rest.” Thiele refers to the highstock density grazing system as “biological agriculture,” as he says the principles of biology are being applied to healthy, high-quality food production. He quickly lists off benefits such as soil health, range health, biodiversity, carbon capture and critical wildlife habitat that the narrow paddocks provide within the scheduled rotation. In addition to the paddock with Harper’s “big red swather,” the tour made three other stops to highlight the benefits of areas that were currently being rested or had been established with cicer milk vetch. Harper pointed out the excellent vegetation health, the high sugar content in the forage, and lack of bare ground spots above the soil. “Most pastures are high nutrients and low sugar,” said Dennis. “The healthier the soil and the healthier the plant, the higher the sugar content in the plant will be, and the more nutritious it will be for the cattle. Also, with the more nutrientdense plants, they are better able to withstand frost as they get started earlier and last longer.” The action below the sur face drew just as much of the tour’s attention as the visible action above. “Look at the soil armour,” Dennis said as he and Harper hovered over a fresh spade full of soil and grass. “A deep healthy root system like this really benefits soil erosion and is excellent for increasing the water-holding capacity of the soil so the water is not running off and increasing erosion or adding to floods.”
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Each plot now gets 127 days of rest, leading to more soil cover and a healthier root system.
Photo: Duncan Morrison
To see the video of Brian Harper’s system, visit www.manitobacooperator.ca/livestock/video-highdensity-grazing-for-cattle-at-circle-h/ The soil is where the Harpers have focused their attention as they pursue healthy, high-quality, nutrient-dense food. “We believe that ever ything we are and everything we eat has come from the soil either directly or indirectly,” said Brian Harper. “With this system, there is also the
benefit of improved soil health which may not seem an economic return in the short term. However, I believe that in the future as the soil health improves, there will be even more grass. As stock density goes up everything keeps getting better, but only if the proper rest period is allowed. Rest is the key!” n
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Sainfoin
a new legume for Ontario livestock producers Its non-bloating qualities make it a perfect companion to long-standing favourites, or it works well on its own By Ralph Pearce, production editor, Country Guide
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ention the term “forage legume” in Eastern Canada, and just about any producer will mention alfalfa or clover. Livestock producers can likely name off another 10 or 12 species, like birdsfoot trefoil, alsike, timothy, orchardgrass or meadow bromegrass. But few will mention sainfoin, well-known in Western Canada but a relative newcomer to Ontario and Quebec. It’s a perennial forage legume, typically taller than alfalfa up to a height of three feet. The plant has hollow stems with leaves that are divided and look similar to vetch leaves. It also has a deep and branched taproot. Sainfoin’s origin is unclear, although it’s known to have been cultivated in parts of Europe and Asia for several centuries. It was introduced to North America in the early 1900s, with early varieties from Europe displaying poor winter hardiness and low yields. It wasn’t until varieties were developed in Russia and Turkey that improved winter hardiness became part of the plant’s genetic makeup. Despite a 90 per cent yield index relative to alfalfa, tests at Winnipeg, Man., and Lacombe, Alta., have showed yields comparable or better than alfalfa. Growers in Western Canada have
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been the benefactors of breeding efforts by Surya Acharya at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, Alta. His varieties include Mountainview, Nova, LRC 3900, LRC 3519 and LRC 3432. Acharya’s colleague, Tim McAllister, who specializes in ruminant nutrition and microbiology at the Lethbridge station, has also worked with sainfoin.
Moving east?
One of sainfoin’s vocal supporters in Eastern Canada is Tarlok Singh Sahota, director of research and business at Ontario’s Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station (TBARS). Sahota planted his first trials in 2014, and says he will have a better handle on its particular attributes in the year to come. Yet he sees no reason why the legume can’t work as well in Eastern Canada as it does in the West, regardless of concerns over heat or humidity or soil types. “It should do well,” says Sahota. “I’ve seen it do well here at the research station, and I was happy with what growth I saw.” Some of the other positive attributes of sainfoin include its adaptability, digestibility and health/ nutrient benefits. There are also some reported agronomic advantages that make it a compelling supplement or
replacement for alfalfa. To start, sainfoin can be grown on its own or as a blend, and is suitable for hay, ensiling or for pasturing. “The one key difference between alfalfa and sainfoin is the hollow stem similar to clover,” says Sahota, noting that the plant retains its leaves longer than alfalfa. “When it’s hollow, you can harvest it at any stage and you get consistent levels of protein. That’s why we like the hollow stem — because it remains soft; it will not gather much fibre as compared to alfalfa, which has a solid stem.”
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According to the research, the condensed tannins in sainfoin protect the protein and enable it to pass through the rumen and into the lower gut, where more of the protein is digested and retained. Research has also shown sainfoin has lower acid detergent fibre (ADF) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) levels compared to alfalfa. If there’s a drawback to its palatability, it’s that sainfoin is also preferred by wildlife as much as by cattle, horses, sheep or goats.
Weeds, pests and diseases
As a relative newcomer, there hasn’t been a herbicide registered for sainfoin yet. It does, however, show a natural resistance to glyphosate, and its growth is competitive enough in its establishment year that it can easily provide a weed-free stand the following year. It’s also immune to alfalfa weevil and, to date, there are no mentions of disease issues in the crop. Sahota says the field trial at TBARS will be closely monitored in 2015.
“You can harvest (sainfoin) at any stage and you get consistent levels of protein.” Tarlok Singh Sahota, Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station
Cutting and grazing
Mountainview, is a newer high-yielding, low-bloat variety, but seed will not be widely available until 2016. Photo:AAFC
It’s tasty
Sainfoin has a higher “voluntary intake level,” which means it’s preferred by ruminants. Some research puts it as much as 25 per cent higher than other forage sources. Tests have shown weight gain at more than 400 grams per day in sheep. In cattle, feeding alfalfa plus sainfoin (without a specific percentage mentioned) resulted in weight gain of 1.2 kilograms per day.
2015
The general accepted practice is that sainfoin can only be cut once, as it doesn’t regrow as vigorously after a first cut as alfalfa. On the other hand, it also starts growing earlier and faster in the spring than other legumes, often blooming up to two weeks ahead of alfalfa. If it’s to be cut for hay, the literature recommends it be done at 50 to 100 per cent bloom or it can be grazed at bud or early bloom to encourage the best regrowth. In spite of what the earlier research indicates, Sahota plans to test those “standards” in 2015. “They say you can take two cuts, but sometimes it won’t give a good yield on the second cut,” he says. “But when we are growing it here, we’ll be planning on two cuts, just like with alfalfa.” One of the more attractive benefits of sainfoin, adds Sahota, is its nonbloating property. In blends of just 15 to 25 per cent with alfalfa, sainfoin can overcome most bloat in livestock.
Sainfoin is gaining popularity, not just with livestock and their producers but with bees as well, with sainfoin honey considered to be of the finest quality.
Photo: rgbstock
Based on work done in Western Canada, it’s advised that seeding be done early in the spring, at eight to 10 seeds per foot-row at 1/4- to 3/4-inch depth in soils that are firm and moist. In the fall, the plants have a rosette appearance and will remain green under a snow cover in winter, exhibiting a high tolerance to frost in either fall or spring. Although it’s said to do well on deep, well-drained soils (pH 6.2 and up), sainfoin also performs adequately in shallow or gravelly soils, which is another property that sets it apart from other forage legumes. Foundation seed was lost in 2014 for Mountainview, the highest-yielding of the four varieties bred at AAFC Lethbridge. It’s projected that it won’t be available in large commercial supply until 2016. Sahota says that Nova and the three other Lethbridge varieties are well suited and available for 2015 and beyond. n Forage & Grassland Guide
19
Sliverbend Ranch in western Manitoba had been subject to severe erosion before Brian and Karen Greaves took it over in 1993.
Silverbend Ranch shines again Forages and livestock restore health to a badly eroded farm in Manitoba
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he moon shines on the bend in the meandering Assiniboine River and reflects a shimmering silver glimmer that illuminates the lush riverside and well up the gently sloped hill toward the farmhouse. Thus the name Silverbend Ranch, or so the story goes. But while the moon may glisten at night, things weren’t always so shiny during the day on the long-time family farm operation located north of Miniota, Man. In fact, had it not been for urgent stop-gap measures, the sandy soil of Silverbend Ranch might have blown away to the point of no return. “The ranch was being run by Karen’s two uncles who had run the operations for some time,” says Brian Greaves, who came to Canada in 1993 with Karen Hill, a Canadian he met while she was teaching near his home in New Zealand. “The land was so burnt out. They were advancing in their years and were struggling to make things work. They were going to sell it but it was so burnt out and degraded from the years of traditional agricultural practices and cropping that didn’t work on this soil. Good topsoil was being blown away. It was the poorest land in the municipality.”
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Greaves credits Dave Hill, Karen’s father and a former provincial ag rep in Dauphin, for taking the largest step toward saving the ranch in 1988 by putting large portions of it into alfalfa and hay and halting the worst soil erosion. He and Karen were offered the opportunity of running Silverbend Ranch in 1993. They jumped at the chance. “When we arrived, there were windblown ridgelines that we needed to use the rural municipality’s grader to move. Still, some ridges were impossible; they were pretty much gravel,” he recalls. “But after Karen’s dad started the alfalfa stand, things turned around. I was coming from a system in New Zealand where we pastured year-round. We took that concept and we saved the land via a rotational grazing system that we designed for the ranch. In order to have healthy livestock, we needed to have healthy pasture.”
Sheep/cattle mix
Besides his understanding of healthy pastures, Greaves also brought a businessman’s grasp of the value of sheep to both the farm operations and the bank account.
By Duncan Morrison, freelance writer
Brian Greaves takes a break during a hard day of shearing, a skill he learned in his native New Zealand.
Photo: Daniel Winters
Fast-forward to 2015, and the mix of sheep, cattle and a dedication to conservation practices over the past two plus decades are showing their worth. “We currently run 120 cows and 400 ewes,” says Greaves. “When we came over, I was used to sheep. Sheep are cheaper and easier and when it
2015
comes to multi-species grazing, sheep clean up the lower-quality grass species and they are not competing. This allows the plant species that the cattle like to graze to get stronger which improves production.” Sheep are browsers and cattle are grazers and therefore sheep need an effective rotational grazing system as they are more prone to bloat. Coyotes, bears and eagles have prompted Greaves to implement a guard dog system to deter the predation. But sheep have helped the bottom line. “Before the cattle industry boomed over the last two or three years, sheep were bringing more annual income to our operations,” he says. “There’s a ratio I use of five sheep to one cow. They eat the same amount of food and cost the same amount of money.” Greaves and Hill were awarded the 2008-09 Farm Family of the Year by the Manitoba Conservation Districts Association. Since then, Greaves has intensified the conservation aspects of Silverbend Ranch’s operations. “Our pasture rotation is good for the soil,” Greaves says, noting his system’s success with crested wheatgrass. “We have replanted tree lines for shade, our dugouts are fenced and we use watering systems away from them to maintain water quality for the livestock. We’ve donated a conservation easement on our property that includes sloughs and restored wetlands and walking trails with public access.” During the day, besides her work on the ranch, Hill works for Agriculture in the Classroom. The willingness to mentor and use Silverbend Ranch as an example to others is something Greaves obviously takes pride in. Ryan Canart is the manager for the Upper Assiniboine Conservation District that nominated Silverbend Ranch for the conservation honour in 2008 and continues to work closely with Hill and Greaves. They’re basically doing everything from a conservation perspective,” says Canart. “Shelterbelts, restoring wetlands, watering systems, donating land for an easement, native grasses, managing soil and pasture and on and on. They are a farm family that go above and beyond.” n
2015
A ‘living library’ for forage and beef producers Foragebeef.ca has had 200 research papers added in the past year
F
Alberta Agriculture Agri-News
oragebeef.ca contains the latest information on forage and beef research for producers in Canada and the northern United States. “The site summarizes research for farmers and ranchers,” says Ken Ziegler, beef/forage specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development. “It’s a unique approach to developing and organizing North American research information for the Canadian forage and beef cattle industry.” As an example, extending the grazing season is a popular topic, and foragebeef.ca is well equipped to provide visitors with various folders on the subject. “The grazing season can be extended in different ways at different times of the feeding season either at the beginning of the season using well-established forage regrowth that is grazed into the Christmas season, during the winter months using swath grazing of annuals like barley, oats, or triticale, by saving carryover forage over from the previous summer as fine youthful regrowth that the nursing cows or backgrounded yearlings can use as soon as the snow has melted off. Foragebeef.ca also offers folders on other strategies such as using brassicas or using corn,” he said. Foragebeef.ca is updated regularly as fact sheets and research papers are added to the folders on the website. Approximately 200 research papers have been added to the website over the past year. “The site is a living library for research and extension information that is useful to Canadian beef and forage producers,” Ziegler said. The website provides three levels of information. The top level is “cut to the core” information on a particular topic. Called “Knowledge Nuggets” this level provides the most important pieces of understanding on that topic. The next level is for the reader who wants more information about that topic. Links are provided to the best related information, usually in fact-sheet format. The objective is to select the most comprehensive and applicable information for Canadian and northern U.S. agriculture. The third level is for people who want research-related information. This level focuses on relevant scientific review papers, research abstracts, research papers, major publications and links to research communities throughout Canada and the world. The site features in-depth information on forage production, silage management, forage seed production, beef cow-calf management, animal health issues, grazing management, and range management in addition to many other topics. “This is a living website and news items, research results and summaries will continually be added to the site,” added Ziegler. “With these knowledge summaries, fact sheets, and research reviews, Foragebeef.ca is the gateway to the future for forage and beef information for the forage and cow-calf industry.” n
Forage & Grassland Guide
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Is your pasture ready to graze? Start counting leaves Grazing a pasture for six weeks costs about half of the annual production potential for your forages By Jennifer Blair
D
eciding when to graze a pasture has nothing to do with plant height, says an Idahobased grazing expert. “Height doesn’t tell us ver y much,” Jim Gerrish said at a Foothills Forage and Grazing tour near Acme, Alta., last summer. “What we really want to know is, physiologically, is a plant ready to be grazed?” And leaf stage is the best indicator of that, he said. “What really determines if a plant is ready to be grazed is the carbohydrate balance in that plant,” he said. “We know if we have a lot of leaves, we’re capturing solar energy and converting it to sugar. “The question becomes at what point is energy flowing more from the top of the plant to the bottom, or from the bottom to the top? Leaf stage is a good clue for that.” Grass growth happens in three phases, he said. In Phase 1, there’s limited solar energy capture, so growth is slow. As leaf area expands and more solar energy is captured, the growth rate accelerates, and the plant enters Phase 2. In Phase 3, the plants mature, and growth slows down. The two- to three-leaf stage is “the high side of Phase 1,” while the three- to four-leaf stage is the “low side of Phase 2,” said Gerrish. “Ideally, we would like to be grazing at four or five leaves, but is it OK to graze at 2-1/2 to 3-1/2? It depends on what you’re going to do tomorrow,” he said. In a study conducted in Idaho, researchers found that when they removed the cattle from the pasture after one week, the total production for
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the year was not reduced. Grazing for two weeks resulted in a 10 to 20 per cent loss in annual production potential, while grazing for four weeks cost 20 to 40 per cent in production potential and six weeks cost 40 to 60 per cent. “Going out on high Phase 1 or low Phase 2 grass and parking for six weeks costs you half the production potential of the year,” said Gerrish. “But you can go out early in a rotational system, take a bite, and leave it, and it’s going to be OK. If you allow it next time to recover to four or five leaves, you haven’t hurt a thing.” If a random sampling of 10 tillers is at the two-leaf stage, Gerrish recommends waiting to graze until they hit the three-leaf stage. “If they’re at a three-leaf average, you can go out there and get started, but take that bite, get off, and next time allow it to get to four-, five-, or six-leaf recovered stage,” he said. But waiting until every pasture is at the four- or five-leaf stage isn’t feasible for most operations, he said. “We do have to get started earlier than the optimum to create the type of pasture that we want later in the season.”
Recovery period
The length of the recovery periods depends, again, on leaf stage. “For recovery, we’re really looking at growing more leaves,” said Gerrish. Early in the grazing cycle, plants might be at the two-leaf stage, but optimally, plants should be at the five-leaf stage before they’re grazed again. And how long it takes to grow the necessary number of leaves — in this case, three more leaves — will dictate how long the recovery period needs to last. “In very good growing condi-
Grazing consultant Jim Gerrish says that leaf stage, not plant height, is the best indicator of when a pasture is ready to graze. Photo: Jennifer Blair
“Ideally, we would like to be grazing at four or five leaves, but is it OK to graze at 2-1/2 to 3-1/2? It depends on what you’re going to do tomorrow.” Jim Gerrish
tions… it takes about five to seven days to grow a leaf,” he said. “In those perfect growing conditions, how long does the recovery period need to be? Fifteen to 21 days, if you multiply five and seven by three.” In poorer growing conditions, however, it may take the plant 10 to 15 days — or even longer — to grow a new leaf, and the recovery period needs to lengthen accordingly. “That is what is determining how long your recovery period needs to be — how long does it take it to put out a single new leaf? Once again, we’re back to counting leaves.” Gerrish admitted it “almost sounds nerdy” to pick tillers and count leaves. “But if you’re at the point where you’re ready to take your grazing management up to the next level of fine-tuning management, I think that becomes an essential part of the program.” n jennifer.blair@fbcpublishing.com
2015
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Our experts are grown locally
researc h o n t h e r eco r d
By Reynold Bergen
Hot Water Treatment of Beef Trim
C
ombating bacteria would be simple if they stayed on the surface of beef. In that case, nearly any spray or wash could contact and kill the bacteria or wash them off. But beef isn’t smooth. Shallow cuts and cracks crisscrossing the meat surface can hide and protect bacteria. Killing these hidden bacteria is not simple. Irradiation would work, but isn’t approved for use in Canada yet. Organic acid washes and sprays may not reach the bacteria hidden in these cracks, or the acids may be neutralized by the meat proteins before bacteria can be killed. To kill these bacteria, food safety interventions need to penetrate a short distance into the meat surface. This is particularly important for beef trim (the small pieces of fat and meat that are removed as the carcass is processed into smaller cuts) that is used for hamburger. The late Dr. Colin Gill of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Lacombe showed that exposing beef trim to extremely hot water essentially “cooks” the top few millimetres, and kills up to 90 per cent of bacteria. This raises an interesting dilemma. Consumers want safe beef, but they also value price, appearance and taste. As part of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association’s E. coli O157 Research and Education Strategy, Zeb Pietrasik and Nicole Gaudette of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development’s Food Processing Development Center in Leduc worked with Mark Klassen of the CCA to identify whether hot water treatment can improve the safety of beef trim without compromising consumer acceptance. This research was funded by the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency. The first phase of the research compared bacterial counts on untreated beef trim (65 per cent or 85 per cent lean) to trim sprayed with 85 C water for 20, 40 or 60 seconds. They also compared the colour and processing characteristics of ground beef made from treated or untreated trim. The second phase examined consumer acceptability of ground beef made from hot water-treated trim. In Phase 1, treating trim for 20 seconds did not reduce aerobic bacteria compared to untreated trim, but treating trim for 40 seconds reduced bacterial counts by 90 per cent. Treating trim for 60 seconds provided no further improvement. The 40-second treatment also had negligible effects on the colour, cooking characteristics or texture of cooked ground beef. Based on the results from Phase 1, Phase 2 compared untreated trim to trim treated with 85 C water for 40 seconds. The trim was refrigerated for one, seven, 10 or 14 days before being ground into 70 (regular) and 85 per cent (lean) ground beef. Some ground beef was packed in chubs and refrigerated for two or four weeks
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before being assessed for colour and spoilage. The remaining ground beef was formed into ground beef patties and assessed for microbiology, colour, odour, appearance and shelf life over a three-day period in a simulated retail meat case. Some patties were frozen for six to eight weeks then assessed for oxidation and cooking characteristics. Trim: Regardless of lean content (65 per cent versus 85 per cent), treating trim with 85 C water for 40 seconds did not cause the trim to gain or lose weight. Treated trim had lower bacterial counts than untreated trim throughout the storage period. Treated and untreated trim smelled similar early in the storage period, but spoilage odours were less noticeable in the treated than in the untreated trim after 10 to 14 days. Refrigerated ground beef: Chubs of ground beef made from treated trim spoiled much slower (four weeks) than chubs made from untreated trim (two weeks). No colour differences were detected between ground beef made from hot water-treated trim versus untreated trim. Fresh patties: Bacterial numbers stayed lower for a longer period of time in patties made from treated trim than those made from untreated trim. As a result, hot water treatment extended the retail shelf life of burger patties by four days. Patty colour varied with how long the trim was stored before grinding, fat level of the burger, and how long the patties were in the simulated retail case, but these colour changes were similar regardless of whether patties were made from treated or untreated trim. Cooked patties: Hot water treatment did not affect the cooking characteristics (weight loss, shrink) or texture (e.g. hardness, chewiness) of ground beef patties. A panel of 300 consumers did not report any differences in the appearance, colour, flavour, juiciness, texture or aftertaste of beef patties made from treated versus untreated trim. Treating trim with 85 C water for 40 seconds reduces bacterial counts and extends the shelf life of ground beef, with no negative impacts on consumer acceptability of the retail product. Subsequent focus group testing found that consumers viewed hot water treatment of trim in a positive light. The Beef Research Cluster is funded by the National Checkoff and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada with additional contributions from provincial beef industry groups and governments to advance research and technology transfer supporting the Canadian beef industry’s vision to be recognized as a preferred supplier of healthy, high-quality beef, cattle and genetics. c Dr. Reynold Bergen is the science director of the Beef Cattle Research Council.
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straigh t f ro m t h e h i p
By Brenda Schoepp
Next Please
T
he disappointment in the financial performance of China is almost palatable in the West. With Chinese banks badly indebted and infrastructure in disarray, the nearly religious adoration that Canada unabashedly displayed in every public and policy corner has somewhat quieted. Volatility in the world markets driven by the widespread underlying dissolving of currency value and stock markets plunges has everyone from the poverty stricken to the politician in a state of worry. If Canada cannot break into the vast retail empire of China, then where do we go next? The beef industry firmly believes that product can and will go that direction. Surely there is hope even as China remains on a somewhat slower growth trajectory and is now considered one of the most contaminated nations on earth. As a friend of mine who spends one-third of his working hours in China said, “they are trying to get it done yesterday, and without reservation, completely destroying their country.” Long story short, the Chinese would rather eat our food than theirs. But, doing business in China isn’t easy. From a global perspective it is much easier to do business in Canada, which the Economist magazine rates as the sixth-best business-friendly nation in the world. China was rated at 50th with its centralized control, lack of infrastructure, indebted financial sector and history of hoarding. Some countries are getting bored with the waiting and are on to the next best thing. So attractive is Canadian soil and the business of food, tax incentives and guarantees that investors now include such precious unknowns in agriculture as pension funds along with newly minted foreign investment from the Chinese and many others. While the Chinese were busy buying land and businesses in Canada, we looked further afield to sell beef or cattle to places like Russia. For a long time the beef industry held high hopes for Russia and in many ways were successful. The current political aggression has slammed the ruble and in truth, farming really did not grow in Russia even though the demand for food did. In the last two decades more than one million acres of arable land have been abandoned and the cattle herd has been reduced by two-thirds. What once was a destination for beef and other products is now a vast steppe of wary souls and a collapsing economy (oil is one-half of Russia’s export activity and 40 per cent of the federal budget). Globalism is a moving target and our focus, like much of the first world, is moving to India. Both China and India have vast populations, an emerging middle class and a nearly identical growth rate in GDP
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in 2014 with China at seven per cent and India at 6.7 per cent. India is rated as the 48th best place in which to do business. For specific technologies India excels. We have many businesses in Canada, such as in grain handling, that manufacture their products in India and the folks whom I visited there were happy with their dealings. While in India, I saw numerous Canadian companies, especially ones that dealt in metals. But food is another story. India is the world’s largest exporter of beef. They are a force when it comes to meat and dairy products so I see vast potential to sell dairy genetics and other goods, but it is the access to a huge working demographic that is of interest to Canadian companies. The Economist rating for business environment evaluates a country’s economy, the political environment, the spirit of free enterprise, attraction for investment, trade, low taxes and an infrastructure that works. (Unfortunately, it has no evaluation of human rights.) What I know for sure from my travels is that the critical missing piece when it comes to trading partners is infrastructure. The Shanghai Wholesale Wet Market with its massive trade in beef, pork and lamb will not be replaced any time soon by an out-of-culture eating experience that involves intensive food safety and massive refrigeration, nor will the thousands of wet markets in India. More concerning is the fact that we seem to be looking in a mirror. Just as we depend on wheat exports yet we deal with the largest wheat-producing nations in the world which are China and India. In filling the queue and cheerfully calling out “next please” what will our parameters of trade look like in a more liberalized trade environment? There most certainly will not be stability when it comes to commodities. We have only to look at what has happened in corn for proof of that. Recently we have seen that without a value-based system beef remains a victim of market volatility. Yet there remain many potential routes available with new value-added products, hand-to-hand deals and a shift from the status quo. That may mean accepting new dance partners and with Canada’s GDP growth at 2.8 per cent — that is exactly what we need. c Brenda Schoepp is an inspiring speaker, consultant and mentor who works with young entrepreneurs across Canada and around the world. She can be contacted through her website www.brendaschoepp.com. All rights reserved. Brenda Schoepp 2015
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managem e n t
By Heather Smith Thomas
Looking for ways to manage the pain
T
he cattle industry is moving toward low stress handling, better ways to manage cattle, etc., but one issue that still needs to be addressed is pain management for routine procedures such as branding, castrating and dehorning. Dr. Eugene Janzen at the University of Calgary says the veterinary profession is rapidly changing its attitude to pain management in food animal production. “If a veterinarian in Alberta castrates a cat or horse without using anaesthetic and pain mitigation, that veterinarian would be at risk of losing his/ her license. Yet if we are castrating a calf or bull, no one notices,” he says. The cattle industry has a long tradition of having to do routine surgical tasks without the means for pain suppression. We’ve streamlined and adjusted some of the ways we handle cattle so it’s easier on them, but are still not addressing pain. “As veterinarians we have not sufficiently investigated pain mitigation methods for food animals. When ranchers ask me what to do, there’s not much I can tell them. This forces a sense of urgency to keep looking for ways to address this.” There will be increasing pressure on the livestock industry to use more humane methods because some surgical procedures are a necessary part of animal husbandry.
STUDIES ON PAIN MANAGEMENT
Janzen was involved with several studies on pain, comparing castration with and without pain suppression. He and a group of
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colleagues began these studies several years ago because of the disparity between practices for food animals and other animals. “We recognize that we will be scrutinized by society if we don’t manage pain, but also our farm animals deserve to have their pain mitigated, just like companion animals. If we solve that problem, we should be able to withstand some of the animal welfare scrutiny that we will undoubtedly be under in the coming years,” he says. “One of the things that concerned me some years back was having to castrate mature bulls in a feed yard. This is why we did one of our first studies, using an epidural anaesthesia when castrating bulls, and it worked very well. The main drawback was that it had to be given 20 minutes before the surgery. The animal has to have it on board before you initiate a painful procedure.” When the dentist blocks your jaw, for instance, he does not immediately began to drill. “There are many injectable products and we looked at three — ketoprofen, flunixen, and eloxicam. We do have some of them available in Canada for use in food animals,” says Janzen. “These injectable drugs work well and are simple to administer. They can be given subcutaneously, but you need to inject them 20 to 30 minutes before you do anything painful to that animal. They will not eliminate pain completely. To do that, you’d need anaesthesia, like you would get with an epidural. For dehorning, you could use a cornual nerve block for pain elimination.
I have been at brandings and blocked the horns for pain elimination, and asked the cowboys to leave the animals lying there for three minutes before we burn the horns off — to give it time to be effective,” says Janzen. “For a couple of years I’ve used meloxicam for pain on a certain ranch, and last year we medicated a subset of calves three hours ahead of time. Even the ropers who dragged the calves to the fire could tell there was a big difference. The calves did not vocalize and didn’t struggle as much. They were almost sedated. This demonstrated that a person could mitigate pain on a ranch if you just changed the production practices a little bit.” In another experiment during the summer of 2014 he divided a group of 150 cow-calf pairs to try to determine the best time to castrate bull calves. “We did some at birth, some at two months, some at four months, and some at seven to eight months. If we didn’t medicate them, it didn’t matter which age; we could easily measure a significant difference between the medicated ones and non-medicated ones,” he explains. “We used a number of behavioural measurements, including stride length. We walked them through a narrow chute and focused a camera on them as they walked away from the calf table or chute. Stride length becomes measurably stilted, and hence a reasonably good indicator of pain. This is a complicated measurement, however, because someone has to sit at a computer and look at all those videos and measure stride length.”
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management
Cortisol is another good measure of pain and stress. “We took saliva samples and measured salivary cortisol levels. You can block that cortisol response with an analgesic like meloxicam if you are castrating them. There is good evidence that pain medication helps,” he says. “We also looked for a product in the bloodstream, a biomarker for pain called substance P. Some of the preliminary results are very encouraging. They mimic the salivary cortisol results,” he explains. CASTRATION PAIN
The research group compared surgical versus band castration. “I have done both methods all my life, but never had
the opportunity to examine the castrated animals on a weekly basis afterward. We had cameras on the pens, and put big numbers on the calves — something the camera could readily see. The calves went into the pen with their mothers after being castrated, and the camera picked up their behaviour. If you banded them, they were colicky the first 24 hours.” They stagger around, kick at their belly, get up and down, or lie flat for long periods of time, occasionally kicking. “It didn’t matter whether you did that to a baby calf (a day old) or to a post-pubertal bull. It was painful at first at any age — and we could easily measure that,” Janzen says. “If we did them surgically, all we could
tell, within the first 36 hours, was that they lay around more. After that, their appetite began to increase and they moved around. Within a week it was difficult to tell anything from their behaviour, except if we palpated the surgical sites. When I ran them through the chute on a weekly basis, I could tell that the healing was varied; some didn’t heal as quickly as others. This was in contrast to the ones that were banded. The banded calves, once they got past the first 24 to 36 hours, did pretty well for the next two weeks — until about day 17 to 21. By then the band breaks through the skin,” says Janzen. That’s when the area becomes inflamed/ Continued on page 40
CANADIAN SHORTHORN ASSOCIATION Box 3771, Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 3N8 • p: 306-757-2212 • f: 306-525-5852 office@canadianshorthorn.com • www.canadianshorthorn.com
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infected above the band. “Day 28 is the worst time. We can measure the inflammation with an infrared camera or by doing a simple complete blood count.” The calves’ feed intake was significantly reduced during that time. They were uncomfortable, and not eating as much. “Average daily gain goes down, but what was very interesting is that the average daily gain goes down more than the intake goes down. That tells me there is a metabolic cost; the calf is using up energy trying to fight the inflammation and pain,” he explains. “Twenty-five years ago, when we started using the Callicrate bands, I was an advocate for this method. It was easier on the feedlot cowboys and the complications were less than with surgical castration. But if we are looking exclusively at pain, to do it surgically it is probably more painful for the first three days and then the calves gradually do better (unless there are complications),” he says. They don’t suddenly become more painful three weeks later as they do when banded. “We still are not sure about the best time to castrate, looking at the four times we did it. Should we concentrate our efforts on baby calves or two-month-old calves? When can we scientifically say this is the best time to castrate a calf, and then spend our efforts on pain mitigation on that class of animal?” “The weaned post-pubertal calves that come into a feed yard at eight to 10 months of age can be castrated using the xylazine epidural for pain management. I’ve seen feed yards run 10 of them through the chute and a veterinarian gives them the epidural ahead of time. The first three go into one pen, the second three into another pen, etc., and then they run them through again and castrate them, and get excellent pain control,” says Janzen. “I’d like to find an oral medication. If you need to castrate a group of weaned calves, you could top-dress their feed bunk with medication. If a feed yard received a load of calves and there are 15 bulls in the group, they could be sorted off, put in a separate pen, and you could manage their castration according to a pain mitigation protocol,” he suggests. The oral medication might work nicely, if they are accustomed to eating from a bunk, and they all eat the medicated feed. “If a person is going to band calves rather than cut them, the banded calves probably need pain management between days 17 and 30. You are not going to run them through the chute for this on a daily basis and inject them. If there was a way to do it
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Effective Injectable products need to be given up to 30 minutes before processing the calf.
orally, with their feed, it would preferable. This might work well for feedlot cattle, but would not for baby calves at pasture with their mothers.” CASTRATION BY VACCINATION
“We are trying to convince some of the pharmaceutical companies to give us a goahead for the use of an anti-GNRH vaccine for castration. The gonadotropin hormone is what triggers the reproductive tract to develop as these animals reach puberty,” says Dr. Eugene Janzen of the University of Calgary. This was used experimentally some years ago, but the project was dropped because it was considered too dangerous to humans. “If you accidentally injected yourself or the cowboy next to you, it would not be good!” “We did a trial in which we vaccinated post-pubertal weaned bull calves in January and again in March. We harvested that group the end of July when they were ready for slaughter. From the time of their first injections we bled them every two weeks to check hormone levels. The vaccination obliterated serum testosterone for 60 days. Thus if you wanted to effectively castrate them, you’d have to revaccinate them every two months — a series of vaccinations until they were nearing the time of harvest.” The volume/size of testicles in vaccinated bulls was only 30 to 50 per cent of the size of the intact bulls of their age. The testicles didn’t develop; they stayed the same size they were at a younger age.
Janzen wants to do an experiment vaccinating calves at branding, again at weaning, and again upon arrival at the feed yard. “The calves could be revaccinated in the feed yard when we reimplant them or rehandle them for whatever purpose,” he says. We already give calves various vaccines and boosters, and it would be feasible to revaccinate male calves with the anti-hormone product at those times. “I found two ranches that retain ownership of their calves and would be willing to try this, and not have to worry about the discount that might accrue if they went through an auction yard. The testicles would still be there (inactive, smaller than normal, but still there) and buyers might not believe that they were not bulls,” he says. “I am not sure if this anti-development vaccine will work on a baby calf that doesn’t have much male development yet, not being triggered by hormones at that stage of life. They have to reach puberty before much development begins. But if this would work, we could diffuse a lot of the negative connotations about castration,” he says. PAIN MITIGATION CAN BE A PLUS
Janzen tells about a rancher called Grandpa Watson, years ago in the sandhills of Saskatchewan who was very unhappy when ChemCast was taken off the market in Canada. It was a concentrated solution of lactic acid, injected into the testicle. Then the Continued on page 42
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testicle would disappear. But a person had to be very careful in how it was injected, and it was more complicated to use it than doing a surgical castration. It created so many problems that the company producing it took it off the market. “So I asked Grandpa Watson why he liked it,” recalls Janzen. “He told me that through all the years of traditional castration, he noticed that the day after branding, cows that had heifer calves would be two miles away from the branding corral, and cows with bull calves would be within half a mile because their calves were lying around, uncomfortable, and didn’t want to travel. Then the years that he used ChemCast, the cows with bull calves and heifer calves were evenly distributed on the range. It was not as painful for bull calves as traditional castration.” “One of the things we’ve done for several years is give half the bull calves meloxicam and nothing to the other half. We painted these two groups different colours. I had the students go out on horseback to see where those calves were. Grandpa Watson’s
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observations were accurate. The calves we gave pain medication were out with their mothers travelling and grazing, like the heifer calves,” he says. “One of our large ranchers in Western Canada tried this. I asked him later if he could tell whether it controlled the pain. He said his crew of 10 people got home for lunch an hour and a half sooner. The way they brand and castrate calves is to go out in the morning and select about 200 pairs from the mountain and bring them to the branding trap. After the procedure they turn the calves out and let them mother up, and then move them out of that field, along a threemile trail. The calves with pain medication mothered up quicker and travelled better.” Even if the meloxicam was given at the time of branding and castration (rather than ahead of it), the calves mothered up afterward more quickly, the calves nursed their mothers quicker, and trailed easier. They weren’t trying to flop down somewhere along the way getting left behind. “He told me that traditionally after they took cattle back to the mountain, they’d go out the next day and there would be several
cows coming back through the fence to look for their calves that got left along the way. Or there might be a calf fall in the creek. After they started controlling pain, these problems didn’t happen and the ranch crew had an easier day.” CHANGE FROM WITHIN
“Some ranchers tell me that if we can come up with a better way to castrate calves, to let them know. I think the desire to change will be much more effective than relying on codes of practice, or the SPCA or someone looking over our shoulder,” says Janzen. “I think the kids will help facilitate change. They wonder why calves have to experience so much pain, and if they know there’s a way to mitigate the pain they will probably say, ‘Gee Grandpa, why aren’t you doing that?’ This could have a huge effect.” Our industry will come a lot further, faster, if people want to change something for the better, rather than being forced to do it because of a requirement. “We keep doing some things because it’s the way we always did it, or because we had to do it that way, but then the kids come along and say ‘why?’ It makes people think.” c
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BUILDING TRUST IN CANADIAN BEEF
The hidden profit in beef biosecurity Why it pays to keep disease off the farm Biosecurity. It’s a term beef producers hear a lot more of these days, but not associated with more profit. Saskatchewan producer Les Johnston has a lifetime of experience in the beef industry. He is also a trained presenter, with many hours of experience running producer workshops across his province, some on biosecurity. Ask cow-calf producers about biosecurity and you get familiar responses, he says. They’ll tell you biosecurity is important in intensive livestock production such as poultry or pork. They may say it’s expensive or cumbersome to implement. Or they’ll ask how they get paid for their efforts. Johnston understands and respects all of those questions. His answer is essentially the same. Biosecurity is one of the simplest ways to boost the profitability of any cattle operation. What is biosecurity?
“We are sort of spoiled in Canada because we market our wide-open spaces, clean air and water and that gets ingrained in our thinking,” says Johnston. Canada’s beef health status isn’t something to be taken for granted. It is earned and the first step in that process is to have an understanding of what is meant by biosecurity. “I have a layman’s interpretation,” he says. “Biosecurity is a process or procedure that does three things. It keeps disease or
be the cause of all those little management things that drive you nuts. Scours, unthrifty calves, poor rate of gain.” Healthy cattle pay big dividends in rate of gain, feed efficiency and especially in carcass quality. A sick steer may not eat for several days and feeders tell us it may take up to 30 days for them to fully get back on track. “We have tracked our steers through to carcass quality since the mid-’90s and we know that sick animals often won’t grade as well as their healthy penmates. That’s a huge endorsement for herd health and proper vaccinations. I believe as ability to track animals increases, buyers will start looking for these healthy cattle.” Les Johnston of Fillmore, Sask. says producers need to think about potential disease transfer before letting visitors into cattle pens.
other health problems out of your herd. It prevents disease from cross-contaminating your herd if it’s introduced. And, if disease does get into your herd, it prevents infection of other herds and potentially destroying your industry.” What it means for profits
Producers understand the role of biosecurity with major disease outbreaks such as hoof-and-mouth or BSE. What they don’t understand is that often the things that are costing are diseases such as scours, IBR BVD, PI3 or cryptosporidia. “Low levels of disease in your herd can
Find the risk
Many producers feel if they aren’t getting foreign visitors they don’t need to worry. But the biggest problems come from trusted sources — cattle buyer, veterinarian, trucker, brand inspector or neighbour. “You can walk through any high-traffic livestock area or places such as community pastures where cattle commingle and bring back on your boots diseases such as scours or IBR BVD that could decimate your herd.” Biosecurity can be as simple as cutting the side out of a couple of plastic jugs, and filling with a bleach solution as a footwear scrub. Or being diligent about farm traffic. “When I have people come to my place at calving, I meet them at the gate. When I go to the vet clinic, I wear different boots than what I wear to the barn.”
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CCA repo rts
By Dave Solverson
WASHINGTON TRIP ENCOURAGING
I
n February, I travelled to Washington, D.C. along with Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) staff and Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Gerry Ritz, Alberta Premier Jim Prentice and Alberta Agriculture Minister Verlyn Olson. The purpose of the February 2-4 trip was to meet with key leaders in the new U.S. Congress and to encourage them to seek a legislative resolution to the ongoing country-oforigin labelling (COOL) dispute. I have to say that this was the most encouraging trip to Washington, D.C. that I’ve had with respect to the COOL issue. The awareness of COOL is very high, although there is still much work to do, especially to educate the newly elected members of Congress. I was particularly glad to see them understand the need for resolution by bringing the legislation into compliance with the U.S.’s international trade obligations under the World Trade Organization (WTO). CCA met with the chairs of the House and the Senate agriculture committees, Senator Pat Roberts and Michael Conaway, respectively, and they understand that COOL has been a burden to both Canadian and American cattle producers. There is a strong desire to repeal the red meat portions of the COOL legislation. Senator Roberts and I had a good dialogue and even took time out of a busy day to discuss cowboy hats and take a few photos. Cowboy hats are hard to travel with (they take a beating during air travel) but they are great icebreakers in places like Washington, D.C. Of course, there are some new members of Congress who have no knowledge of the COOL issue and CCA took the opportunity to educate them. Several freshman congressmen attended an event at the Canadian Embassy and the CCA was pleased to provide them with some background and explain the potential consequences. Still, there remain some U.S. lobbyists and legislators who want to continue to discriminate against Canadian and Mexican livestock. For those audiences, it is vital that Minister Ritz and other Canadian politicians continue to tell their U.S. counterparts that Canada will place prohibitively high tariffs on U.S. products, likely as early as this summer, if COOL is not repealed. The minister delivered that message everywhere he went in Washington. In my view the potential for retaliation is what has representatives from all states, even those with an insignificant livestock sector, keenly aware of the COOL issue and the need to get it resolved. CCA also met with members of the COOL Reform Coalition, which is a collection of companies and organizations representing exporters of the products on Canada’s potential retaliation list. Coalition members understood that the objective is to repeal COOL, but were curious about “Plan B” if the U.S. Congress will not
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repeal. The CCA’s view is that Plan B is Canada must put tariffs on U.S. exports and keep them in place until Congress eliminates the discrimination against Canadian livestock. Plenty of discussion ensued. CCA stressed that it is important for U.S. decision makers to understand that once the WTO issues its final ruling this spring that the U.S. has failed to comply with the earlier dispute panel report and authorizes Canada and Mexico to retaliate, the onus will shift to the U.S. to demonstrate that any further changes to COOL are sufficient. In other words, if the U.S. makes a further disingenuous amendment to COOL, Canada and Mexico will not be deterred from retaliating and the U.S. will have to go to the WTO and seek its own ruling while tariffs remain in place. CCA feels that a more logical approach would be for the U.S. to simply repeal the red meat portions of COOL so that Canada and Mexico will voluntarily decide they have no need to impose tariffs on U.S. products. On February 4, CCA travelled from Washington to San Antonio, Texas, to attend the annual National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Convention. COOL was definitely a topic of conversation as U.S. cattle producers start to appreciate the possibility of a tariff on U.S. beef exports to Canada and Mexico. Leadership from CCA, NCBA and Mexico’s Confederación Nacional de Organizaciones Ganaderas (CNOG) also met to discuss mutual issues such as COOL. CCA’s relationship with these partners is very strong. CCA staff Dennis Laycraft went on from San Antonio to join International Trade Minister Ed Fast on a trade mission to Korea where Canada’s newly implemented free trade agreement has improved our competitiveness in that important market. I arrived home just as Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a cabinet shuffle which sees new ministers in some important files for the CCA. Minister Jason Kenney was moved to Defence from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), with Pierre Poilievre taking over the reins at ESDC and the labour file. The CCA will ensure Minister Poilievre is aware how critical an input labour is to Canadian agriculture and beef processing. CCA will continue lobbying for a reliable labour strategy that has several elements including an immigration component. I will be attending the federal-provincial-territorial ministers’ meeting on the Environment in Ottawa, and intend to discuss issues including the Species at Risk Act, payment for Ecosystem Service Programs and concerns with conservation easements. At the Alberta Beef Industry Conference, I will take part in a panel discussion on the National Beef Strategy launched last month. The strategy has what I believe to be the roadmap for a successful long-term industry and I encourage you to read more about it at www.beefstrategy.com. c
Dave Solverson is president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association
www.canadiancattlemen.ca
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researc h
By Debbie Furber
Canada’s First Look at Residual Feed Intake EPDs
The current summary includes RFI EPDs for 920 animals, including tested bulls.
C
anadian Hereford breeders have long believed in the breed’s feed efficiency and now they’re collecting the numbers to back up that claim. Exceptional breeder participation in the Canadian Hereford Association’s (CHA) residual feed intake (RFI) research project has led to Canada’s first-ever expected progeny differences (EPD) for RFI and a related trait called residual intake and gain (RIG) being published a year earlier than anticipated. CHA executive director Stephen Scott is calling the results preliminary insofar as the list doesn’t include RFI and RIG EPDs for animals in the final two trials which wrap up this month. Those results will change the ranking, but EPDs for animals already listed won’t change. The current summary includes EPDs for 920 animals, including tested bulls as well as close relatives as long as the accuracies of the relatives’ EPDs are above 10 per cent. By the end of the trials, actual RFI values will have been collected for more than 1,000 horned and polled Hereford bulls tested on the GrowSafe system at Olds College and Cattleland Feedyards in Alberta. About a year from now, the RFI EPDs for all tested animals and qualifying relatives will change to genomically enhanced EPDs. Researchers at the University of Alberta will
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be correlating phenotypes (raw RFI results for tested animals) with genotypes (from those animals’ DNA) to do the conversion and ultimately develop a genomic test for RFI. Reinforcing EPDs with genomic information immediately increases the accuracy of EPDs by adding data equivalent to the actual performance of 10 to 30 offspring (depending on the trait and total number of animals tested in the breed) before a young bull or heifer has even one calf on the ground. A breed-specific genomic test for RFI will further improve the RFI EPD accuracies without having to put as many offspring from tested animals through the 77-day feeding trial on the GrowSafe system. However, there will always be a need to collect phenotypic data even with genomics to validate that the genomic predictions hold true over time, says Scott, who previously worked with ALTA Genetics when genomics was launched in the dairy industry. Looking through the summary on the CHA website (www.hereford.ca), keep in mind that low RFI EPDs indicate efficient animals that require less feed than a breedaverage animal to put on a pound of gain and that the values are EPDs, not raw RFI data. EPDs predict the genetic potential of the tested bulls’ progeny; therefore, EPDs for all traits take into account that progeny receive
only half their genes from the sire and the heritability of the trait. RFI is considered moderately heritable at about 35 per cent. For example, a bull with an actual RFI of -1.77 had an RFI EPD of -0.714, while a herdmate with an actual RFI of +0.72 had an RFI EPD of +0.134. The advantage of EPDs is that they remove environmental influence so that Hereford EPDs can be compared across the country, continents and time, Scott explains. Raw RFI values can only be compared for animals fed in the same pen at the same time. The goal of this part of the RFI project is to find the range of RFI values within the Hereford breed. So far it is -0.830 to +0.997 pounds of dry matter per day (lbs. DM/ day) and, because it’s a new EPD, the breed average is 0.0. “What’s exciting about RFI is that it can be turned into dollars and cents and it’s almost a new trait because it’s independent of other traits,” Scott says. Studies by Dr. John Basarb, research scientist with Alberta Agriculture, and those from the U.S., Ireland and Australia, show that by selecting for RFI, you won’t be selecting for or against other traits such as growth, carcass yield, quality grade, meat traits, cow productivity, hardiness and temperament.
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research
Putting RFI economics into context, Scott refers to the Hereford bulls with the lowest and highest RFI EPDs. Progeny of the bull with the RFI EPD of -0.83 lbs. DM/ day should consume that much less than the average animal in the breed to gain the same amount of weight. Progeny from the bull with the RFI EPD of +0.997 lbs. DM/ day could be expected to consume almost a pound of dry matter per day more than the average Hereford to gain the same amount of weight. Therefore, calves sired by the efficient bull could be expected to consume 1.83 lbs. DM/day less than calves sired by the inefficient bull, assuming both were mated with average cows. If the cost of a backgrounding ration is $0.065/lb. DM/day, the difference in feed cost between progeny of the two bulls would be $23.79 per head over a 200-day feeding period. “Any EPDs added to the many that breed associations already make available need to have economic merit if they are to be embraced by seedstock and commercial cattlemen. As far as commercial application goes, RFI hits the mark,” Scott says.
RIG
RIG rolls RFI and residual gain (RG) into one value. RG is an indicator of an animal’s growth with body weight, body composition and feed intake being equal. Positive RGs indicate superior growth. Likewise, animals with positive RIG EPDs can be expected to gain well, but eat less than the breed average. RIG EPDs are given as standard deviations from the average for the breed. A RIG EPD with a standard deviation (SD) of 0.0, for example, means the animal is in the top 50 per cent; an SD of 1.0 puts the animal in the top 16 per cent, a 2.0 is in the top 2.3 per cent and a 3.0 is in the top 1.0 per cent for RIG. Conversely, standard deviations of -1.0, -2.0 and -3.0 equate to the 84th, 98th and 100th percentile at the bottom of the rating for the breed. Scott agrees standard deviations aren’t the most user-friendly way to express RIG and he says this may revert to an index as Hereford associations in Canada, the U.S., Uruguay, and Argentina work toward developing a PACE (Pan American Cattle Evaluation) format for intake-based EPDs.
PACE is the program that calculates EPDs for Hereford cattle in all four countries, making it possible to compare Hereford EPDs across these countries. U.S. breeders have already tested approximately 4,000 animals for RFI, while the project is just getting underway in Uruguay and Argentina. However, RIG is a convenient measure in that a single value can be used to select for animals with higher gains that eat less. On the downside it’s not easily converted into a dollar value and, because it is related to growth traits, there is a possibility that by selecting for RIG a producer could end up double selecting certain growth traits. RFI selects only for animals that eat less and producers would need to balance that out by selecting for weaning and yearling weight EPDs that fit their breeding program goals. Breeders weigh in
Don Richardson of Tlell Herefords on Haida Gwaii (former Queen Charlotte Islands) off the north coast of British Columbia, has followed this project closely as a member of the Continued on page 48
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CHA’s herd breed improvement committee, and he feels the time is right for a breed specific EPD that selects for RFI. After a decade of promising research, he says, “This is the first chance for commercial cattlemen to use RFI EPDs to put selection pressure on the trait. That’s never been possible before.” “It’s a trait that is economically beneficial to all cattlemen — seedstock, commercial cow-calf and feeders — because at the end of the day it’s about producing cattle that will feed better.” The RFI feeding trials offered a unique chance to go head-to-head with breeders from other parts of Canada. He knew from 16 years of putting bulls on test at the Fort Fraser all-breed bull development centre that Tlell bulls grew well, but had no idea about their feed intake to produce those high gains. No surprise to him, the 20 calves for which he has RFI results to date follow a typical bell curve, with most in the middle, a couple of really good ones and a couple of really poor. Albert Rimke of AM Ranching shipped bulls to the project from the other side of the Western provinces near Oak Lake, Man. He agrees that finding the RFI range of Hereford cattle is a good project for the breed and and believed it would be important to evaluate bloodlines across the country and within his own herd. In his own herd, he says, the older bloodlines seem to do a bit better. With RFI results in hand, Doug Mann of Phantom Creek Livestock near Swift Current, Sask., went out to look at calves off their tested bulls and found a few surprises.
“ What’s exciting about RFI is that it can be turned into dollars and cents.” Stephen Scott CHA executive director
Some of the most unlikely calves actually had more genetic potential for feed efficiency than he would have guessed. “That’s the point of testing for RFI, because there’s no way to tell just by looking at the animals, Mann says. “You can gather anecdotal information like easy fleshing or easy keeping, but you need scientific, hard data to really know. The best part of RFI is that it’s unrelated to other traits so you can still select for traits you feel are important to your program and this is an additional tool on top of that.”
Richardson says selecting for RFI could also potentially help turn around traits negatively affected by years of selecting for gain, without hurting growth. Daniel Doerksen of Gemstone Cattle, at Gem, Alta., believes RFI will end up being a very important tool as far as profitability of herds goes and, in the long view, a valuable piece of the sustainability picture. Basarab’s research shows selecting for RFI can reduce methane emissions by 25 per cent and manure production by 15 per cent. “This does give us reassurance that what we are doing is working and confidence in RFI as a good management tool,” he says. Mann plans to use these EPDs to build feed efficiency into his cow herd because that’s where their true savings will be. At the same time he will be mindful that RFI has to be part of a salable genetic mixture because the most feed-efficient bull may not have the eye appeal a buyer wants. The Rimkes kept a couple of the low-RFI bulls to use in their breeding program and may send sons of those bulls to test for RFI because it will increase the accuracy of their herd sires’ RFI EPDs. Doerksen says their job now will be to figure out the line where RFI gets too high for an animal to be profitable. They see potential for RFI as a marketing tool and will continue to test new herd sires with the prospect of selling groups of bulls from low-RFI herd sires. Long term, he suspects the development of a cost-effective test for RFI, such as a DNA test, may be the deciding factor in how much it will be used in the future. c
- Jen C., Ontario, 2014 AWC Delegate
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p r i m e c uts
By Steve Kay
What’s with the numbers?
T
his was one of the main questions people were asking after USDA published its annual U.S. cattle inventory report at the end of January. Perhaps it was analysts’ way of trying to explain why they so underestimated by how much U.S. beef cow and heifer replacement numbers increased last year compared to 2013. If the numbers prove to be accurate, U.S. cow-calf producers will be shown to have been more aggressive than expected last year in rebuilding their beef cow herds. This helped arrest eight years of declining national cattle numbers. USDA’s report also confirmed that beef herd rebuilding has begun in earnest. It also means however, that there will be fewer cattle available to be fed and harvested in 2015, and that those numbers won’t start increasing until midto late-2016. USDA reported that the January 1 number of beef cows that had calved was 29.693 million head, up 2.1 per cent or 546,000 head from a year earlier. More important, the number of beef replacement heifers at 5.777 million head increased 4.5 per cent or 226,000 head. These are still intentions but it confirms that net heifer retention took place in 2014. Furthermore, the number of beef replacement heifers expected to calve in 2015 was 3.546 million head, up 7.3 per cent or 241,000 head on a year ago. The beef cow increase means the 2014 calf crop was 0.5 per cent larger than in 2013 and might be another 2.0 per cent larger in 2015. The report also revealed that the number of feeder cattle and calves outside feed yards was 25.2 million head, up 0.5 per cent or 34,000 head from the prior year. This though does not suggest larger feeder cattle supplies throughout the year. Northwest feedlots this year will still be on the hunt for young cattle from Western Canada. The report revealed that beef cow numbers increased last year in Texas, Missouri,
Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado. So the first four states enjoyed a big recovery from their severe drought conditions of 2010-12. Perhaps analysts underestimated the improvement in pasture conditions and producers’ ability to restock as quickly as they did. These five states accounted for 534,000 of the total 607,700 head increase in beef cows. The same five states combined for a 165,000-head increase in replacement heifers out of the total increase. The U.S. beef industry has responded to the resounding market signals of 2014 and better pasture conditions with robust growth, say analysts Steve Meyer and Len Steiner. But the growth will not be seen in larger beef supplies for some time to come, partly because heifer retention is not likely over. That process has been a big factor in tighter supplies thus far and, to the extent it continues, will continue to be so. Meanwhile, most of those heifers’ calves will not arrive until spring and those calves will not reach market weights until late next year or early 2017. The last time the beef sector saw anything like this expansion was 1994, they say. Another interesting part of USDA’s report is that it estimates the total number of cattle on feed in all U.S. feedlots. It also does this in its mid-year report in July. The number on January 1 was 13.093 million head, up 0.6 per cent or 75,000 head on a year ago. Conversely, the latest monthly COF report (which covers only feedlots 1,000 head and over) showed 0.9 per cent or 100,000 more cattle on feed January 1 than last year. This suggests that larger feedlots placed slightly more cattle on feed than feedlots under 1,000 head. But there’s still the feeling that more cattle are being fed in those feedlots, notably in the Midwest. c A North American view of the meat industry. Steve Kay is publisher and editor of Cattle Buyers Weekly.
Catalogues available online a month prior to sale at
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NewsRoundup associations
SCA supports mandatory premises ID
Discussions during the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association’s (SCA’s) annual general meeting January 22 in Regina gave the board direction on important initiatives for the upcoming year. “Having just come through one of the most profitable years in the cattle industry that really did encompass all segments from the primary producer to the packer it will be nice to not have to manage by crisis,” says chair Bill Jameson. “Now is the time to put in place our goals for the future to make sure we are able to continue to produce beef for a world protein demand that will continue to grow.” Members gave a unanimous show of support for mandatory premises identification (PID) in the province. Speaking to the resolution, Rick Toney, SCA’s traceability working group chair and member of the national cattle implementation plan working group, said it’s extremely important for producers to populate the new provincial database by getting their PID numbers in as quickly as possible. This will allow the industry to prove that an animal can be traced with a PID number on the manifest for intermediate sites (auction marts, buying stations, community pastures) when tags are read at the feedlot, packing plant, vet clinic, livestock shows or when there’s a special reason for doing it. This type of group movement is what industry and government agreed to at the
R
traceability summit in 2011, but traceability has moved forward only marginally since then. The cattle industry still supports this approach, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is once again pushing for the power to read individual animal tags at all sites. In short, if producers in Saskatchewan and other provinces without mandatory PID don’t step up to the plate now, the industry may end up with something producers don’t really want (Canadian Cattlemen, August 25, 2014). SCA members also favour working with the RCMP and the province to establish cattle-theft reporting protocols when cattle are stolen. The appointment of at least one RCMP officer dedicated to working with local detachments on cattle thefts would be of great assistance. The Canada Beef Strategy circulated in early January aligns industry priorities to stretch limited dollars as far as possible. Saskatchewan was the last province to sign on and the members agreed to join the discussion regarding the cost of funding the strategy. As Canada’s cattle herd declines, so do marketings and revenues from the national and provincial checkoff that pay for research and promotion. Some provincial organizations, including the SCA, have increased their provincial levies in recent years and negotiations around increasing the $1 non-refundable national checkoff are expected this year. The SCA was involved in developing a
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beef, feed and forage research strategy at the national level. Now, the SCA is looking to the provincial and federal agriculture ministries to finalize their commitments to construct a new Beef Cattle Research and Teaching Unit (BCRTU) for the University of Saskatchewan (U of S). The SCA has allocated $1 million over five years to help give the project some traction and will make its third payment this year. An industry-government committee has recommended the new BCRTU serve as the nucleus of a proposed Livestock STAMPEDE
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N EWS ROUNDUP
and Forage Centre of Excellence (Canadian Cattlemen, February 2015). The SCA and Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSCA) recently endorsed the committee’s proposal for the centre. These recommendations have implications for the Western Beef Development Centre which would be moved from the Termuende Research Farm in Lanigan. A resolution that carried commits the SCA to lobby for revenues from the sale of U of S lands bequeathed for agriculture be directed to agricultural research. The aim of this motion was to honour the wishes of those who donated this land and assure future donors that their contributions will be used for agriculture. Other resolutions dealt with support for producers dealing with flooded lands, understanding the trespass act, and allowing the hunting of wolves by licensed big-game hunters on agricultural land. One of the highlights for the SCA in 2014 was its strong show of support for producers facing significant challenges in fullfiling species-at-risk policies on behalf of the beef industry and society in general. As part of the industry-wide effort to educate consumers about food and agriculture, SCA’s communications committee continues to support Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan (former Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan). The SCA also increased funding to Agriculture in the Classroom to Continued on page 54
SELLING 90 YEARLING
BLACK & RED BULLS
APRIL 15 , 2015 TH
LOT 7 BW: 96lb 205D: 802lb 365D: 1312 lbs
LOT 87 BW: 83lb 205D: 663lb 365D: 1250 lbs
• More Sires Used with top 10% RFI Ranking than anyone in Canada • Cattle with a better RFI ranking means less feed and more gain • Bulls that will produce superior beef and do it more efficiently • Raising better cows to make better beef
SALE AT THE RANCH 1:00 PM LUNCH AT NOON Mike Munton • 403-394-4903 • Warner, AB
www.benchmarkangus.com
Come early to view the bulls and enjoy the pre-sale lunch. Come early to view the bulls and enjoy the pre-sale lunch.
www.facebook.com/ Come early to view the bulls and enjoy the preLING 43 PUREBRED LIMOUSIN BULLS www.facebook.com/PrimeLimousinClub PrimeLimousinClub www.facebook.com/ SELLING 43 PUREBRED LIMOUSIN BULLS Red & Black • Polled • Yearlings & Two Year Olds Come early to view the bulls and enjoy the pre-sale PrimeLimousinClub lunch.
Red & Black • Polled • Yearlings & Two Year Olds SELLING 43 PUREBRED LIMOUSIN BULLS SELLING 43 PUREBRED LIMOUSIN BULLS
Red& & Black • Polled • Yearlings & Two Red Black • Polled • Yearlings & Two Year Olds
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SEH 8A HANSEN’S AUZZY DAK 15B RICHMOND XPECTED X SEH POLLED UNDERCOVER FL PLD 15B BRUTUS
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WULFS EXTRACTOR X EXCEL POLLED VERY SPECIAL IVY’S ZODIAC X HILLVIEW ONLINE POLL PATRICIA GREENWOOD PLD ZAMBUKA X FL PLD LADY LARIAT RICHMOND XPECTED X SEH POLLED UNDERCOVER THE SALE WILL BE BROADCAST THROUGH DLMS. XLR 40B RGK 409B DAK 15B SEH 8A Visit www.dlms.ca toTHE view the bull videos and to bid online. SALE WILL BE register BROADCAST ONLINE THROUGH EXCEL POLLED BALFOUR HILLVIEW THE BOSS FL PLD 15B BRUTUS HANSEN’SDLMS. AUZZY EL RANCHES HILLVIEW FARMS FOUILLARD LIMOUSIN HANSEN’S WULFS EXTRACTOR X EXCEL POLLED VERY SPECIAL IVY’S ZODIAC X HILLVIEW POLL PATRICIA GREENWOOD PLD ZAMBUKA X FLLIMOUSIN PLD LADY LARIAT RICHMOND XPECTED X SEH POLLED UNDERCOVER Visit www.dlms.ca to view the bull videos and register to bid online. XLR &40B DAK 15B er Cody & Amy Miller Raymond Corine Verbeek Ed & Debbie Fouillard RGK Dan &409B Pam Fouillard Scott & Lesley Hansen EXCEL RANCHES HILLVIEW FARMS FOUILLARD LIMOUSIN HANSEN’S LIMOUSIN 5 (780)349-0644 (780)939-2173 (780)996-0970 Cell (587)987-8734 (780)727-4557 THECellSALE WILL BE BROADCAST ONLINE DLMS. EXCEL POLLED BALFOUR HILLVIEW THE BOSS FL THROUGH PLD 15B BRUTUS
Ron & Barb Miller
Cody & Amy Miller
Raymond & Corine Verbeek
Ed & Debbie Fouillard
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Scott & Lesley Hansen
Visit www.dlms.ca viewPOLL the(780)996-0970 bull videos and register to bid Xonline. WULFS EXTRACTOR X EXCEL(780)349-0644 POLLED VERY SPECIAL IVY’S ZODIAC Xto HILLVIEW GREENWOOD PLD ZAMBUKA FL (780)727-4557 PLD LADY LARIAT (780)349-2135 (780)939-2173 Cell PATRICIA Cell (587)987-8734 EXCEL RANCHES HILLVIEW FARMS FOUILLARD LIMOUSIN HANSEN’S LIMOUSIN Ron & Barb Miller (780)349-2135
Cody & Amy Miller (780)349-0644
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Raymond SALE & Corine Verbeek WILL Ed & Debbie Fouillard Dan & Pam Fouillard Scott & Lesley Hansen THROUGH THE BE BROADCAST ONLINE (780)939-2173 Cell (780)996-0970 Cell (587)987-8734 (780)727-4557
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Visit www.dlms.ca to view the bull videos and register to bid on HILLVIEW FARMS Raymond & Corine Verbeek (780)939-2173
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Dan & Pam Fouillard Cell (587)987-8734
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develop resources for teachers such as new high school science programs. The SCA closed out the year ending July 31, 2014, with a surplus of slightly over $1 million and net assets of $6.3 million. The annual report and resolutions are available at www.saskbeef.com.
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News Roundup
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NOW here! “Buy the BEEF Bull Sale” The Future is
Associations
Research, flooding and predators dominate Manitoba meeting
The announcement of $3.1 million over three years from Ottawa and the province for new beef and forage research and demonstration farms was a highlight of the Manitoba Beef Producers annual meeting in early February. “This is a project we have been working on for years with the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association and others,” said MBP president Heinz Reimer in a followup interview after the meeting. “We recognize the value of research done at the universities here and through the national Beef Cattle Research Council and see the value in applied research to extend the knowledge to producers.”
WELSH BLACK
COME ON DOWN TO THE 11TH ANNUAL
Bulls for Sale
April 7, 2015
1:00 p.m., Neepawa Ag Complex Neepawa, MB • 31st Consecutive Year Testing Bulls • 20 Select Bulls On Test Chosen From Over 250 Brood Cows • 10 Different Sires • 100% Polled or Scurred Bulls • 80 lbs. Average Birth Weight SELLING FORTY FIVE YEARLINGS, TWELVE TWO YEAR OLDS AND SIX OPEN HEIFERS
FEMALES FOR SALE AT ALL TIMES.
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54
Immediate Sales Available
C at t l e m e n · M a r c h 2 0 1 5
For test stats and sale information contact: SCOTT FARMS
SHYANN WELSH BLACK
Randy Scott Hanna, AB (403) 854-2135 rascott@netago.com
Arlin & Anita Strohschein Trochu, AB (403) 442-4372 shyann@xplornet.ca
Bull Test is at Thorlakson Feedyards 5 miles east of Airdrie, AB on Hwy # 567
www.canadiancattlemen.ca
N EWS ROUNDUP
MBP has committed nearly $100,000 a year in money and inkind support to this project and Ducks Unlimited has donated the use of a demonstration farm near Brandon. Projects will focus on beef and grassland management, feed efficiency and herd health as directed by an industry-led committee. “The increase in the provincial checkoff effective July 1 last year has certainly made it easier to manage our budget as cattle numbers continue to drop,” says Reimer. In the past year the MBP has hired general manager Melinda German, communications specialist Chad Saxon and project co-ordinator Carrolyne Kehler and appears to be firing on all cylinders. Lobbying for assistance to offset the damage to pastures and feed supplies from flooding dominated the association’s agenda in 2014 so it isn’t a stretch to say the MBP was pleased with the joint provincial/federal announcement in early November that offset some of the cost of shipping cattle to feed or feed to cattle plus a forage shortfall assistance for producers around Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis. Reimer says they are still seeking support for producers outside these designated areas and that effort was backed by a resolution at the meeting calling for a needs-based forage feed assistance program for all Manitoba producers affected by excess moisture in 2014. Another resolution calls on MBP to assist the various organizations involved in long-term water management strategies that support agriculture. Flooding damage still generates plenty of calls from producers. Continued on page 56
Royal Manitoba Winter Fair MARCH 30 - APRIL 4, 2015 KEYSTONE CENTRE, BRANDON, MB Cattle Show Features:
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News Roundup MARCH 9 Severtson Land & Cattle Bull Sale, at the ranch, Red Deer County, AB
MARCH 10 Gelbvieh Stock Exchange Sale, Medicine Hat Feeding Company, Medicine Hat, AB
MARCH 14 Foursquare 8th Annual Bull Sale, Olds Cow Palace, Olds, AB
MARCH 16 Twin Bridge Farms & Guests Bull Sale, Silver Sage Community Corral, Brooks, AB
Continued from page 55
Two major provincial roads in the Shoal Lakes area remain closed. Several other resolutions dealt with predator control and compensation. Reimer says predators have long been a concern in some areas, but the losses today are pretty much province-wide. Reimer has personal experience with this issue having reported six confirmed kills plus another 11 calves missing during his own roundup last fall. Resolutions carried at the annual meeting call for the removal of a 10 per cent deductible on predation claims, increased compensation for slashed calves to reflect the true cost of treatment, including labour, implementation of a $300-per-head payment to trappers and hunters to thin the wolf population in problem areas, extending the timeline for trappers to deal with problem wolves in defined areas, putting a stop to relocating
problem animals from one place to another, and providing agricultural landowners whose primary income is from farming with annual hunting licences to harvest elk or moose on their own property. Members also indicated MBP should continue to investigate a dealer assurance program for the province that compensates producers when dealers default. At fall meetings, Reimer says some districts fully supported the formation of a dealer assurance fund while others showed no interest in this protection. The board plans to survey cattle producers to gain a better understanding of what they want before it takes any further action on this file. Other 2014 highlights for the MBP include the introduction of the Western Livestock Insurance Program and the smooth transfer of the PFRA community pastures to the Manitoba Association of Community Pastures. Looking ahead, Reimer says MBP will raise awareness among its members about the new beef cattle code of practice, work with national organizations to advance market access and trade initiatives such as the Cannada-EU trade agreement and country-of-
MARCH 21 Gelbvieh Advantage Bull Sale, Innisfail, AB
calving ease grass-based strong maternal longevity moderate frame
MARCH 21 Saskatoon Gelbvieh Bull & Female Sale, Saskatoon, SK
MARCH 29 Best of the Breeds Bull Sale, Yorkton, SK
BULLS LIKE THIS
APRIL 4 Prairie Gelbvieh Alliance Bull Sale, Johnstone Auction Mart, Moose Jaw, SK
CANADIAN GELBVIEH ASSOCIATION 403.250.8640 gelbvieh@gelbvieh.ca www.gelbvieh.ca
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C at t l e m e n · M a r c h 2 0 1 5
FROM COWS LIKE THIS
Shellmouth, MB 204-564-2540
2 yr old bulls sold private treaty off the ranch!
Our 2014 heifer promotion has been continued into 2015, check website for details!
www.nerbasbrosangus.com www.canadiancattlemen.ca
NEWS ROUN DU P
origin labelling, and press Ottawa to fix the Temporary Foreign Worker program. The MBP annual report is available at www.mbbeef.ca.
drugs
Zilmax cleared for component feeding
Health Canada’s Veterinary Drugs Directorate (VDD) has granted the makers of cattle feed additive Zilmax an expanded product label that allows for component feeding at the lower end of its dosage range — and draws the line for a maximum rate in complete feed. The updated label allows for a lower targeted dose of 60 milligrams of the drug’s active ingredient, zilpaterol hydrochloride, per head per day through “one of multiple daily feedings,” such as in a morning or evening feeding, Merck said. The new method, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved for Zilmax last fall, gives Canadian cattle feeders “an alternative option to deliver the appropriate dose of Zilmax to cattle every day,” the company said. Merck said the VDD has also approved a
revision to the “complete feed” information on the Zilmax label. The complete feed label dose for zilpaterol is 8.3 grams per tonne (100 per cent dry matter basis) to provide 60 to 90 mg of active ingredient per head per day. But the label will now include an updated caution statement that emphasizes cattle shouldn’t be fed Zilmax beyond a 90-mg dose per head per day. If pen consumption of complete feed exceeds 10.8 kilograms per head per day (100 per cent dry matter basis), Zilmax “should not be fed in complete feed,” the company said. Zilpaterol, a beta-agonist drug, is prescribed to increase carcass leanness, increase dressing per cent, improve rate of body weight gain and improve feed efficiency in feedlot cattle during the animal’s last 20-40 days on feed. The drug’s label specifies it should be used only in feedlots and only in cattle weighing at least 450 kg (992 pounds). The label requires it to be thoroughly mixed into manufactured feeds, and
Affordable financing for Canadian cattle feeders • Non-Pooled Security Deposit • Apply for the loan amount your operation requires • Feed Advances (equity draws) • Cattle can be tracked on a pen by pen basis, allowing for proceeds to be returned sooner upon the sale of livestock
“Our staff works hard to offer and maintain a cattle financing service that is flexible and competitive.” Call us to discuss details, or visit our website:
www.cattlefinance.com Phone: 780-448-0033 Suite 306, 13220 St. Albert Trail Edmonton, AB T5L 4W1
Continued on page 58
SIMMENTAL BULLS FOR SALE - PRIVATE TREATY -
28 Yearling Bulls For Sale Semen Tested
Garrett Biggelaar
(403) 877-7661
RR4 Lacombe, Alberta T4L 2N4 www.canadiancattlemen.ca
GBFARMS C at t l e m e n · M a r c h 2 0 1 5
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News Roundup Continued from page 57
Forage Additive For alfalfa silage, corn silage and baled hay
never used undiluted or as top dressing on feed. Merck in 2013 suspended sales of the drug in some feedlots, in both Canada and the U.S. after packers Tyson Foods and Cargill stopped accepting Zilmax-treated cattle. Tyson said at the time its decision followed observations that some animals arriving at its packing plants were having trouble walking or moving. Merck said at the time it would retrain and certify beef producers in administering the drug to cattle, and run a “scientific audit,” following Zilmax-fed cattle from feed yards to packing plants, to determine potential causes of lameness and other mobility issues. “The totality of the comprehensive review supported that (Zilmax) is safe when used according to the product label
Dry granular or ready-to-use liquid
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NEWS ROU NDUP
and in conjunction with sound animal husbandry practices,” the company said. Merck said in November its research results and industry data showed “cattle weights, and thus feed consumption rates, have been steadily increasing over time.” That fact, “created the possibility that certain cattle could consume feed quantities that result in ingestion of Zilmax in an amount that exceeds the approved dose.” Under the certification rules, every feedlot worker, distributor, feed mill, nutritionist and veterinarian using Zilmax or consulting on its use must complete the Zilmax training program and yearly retraining on its use.
Drugs
Intranasal vaccine released
Merck Animal Health has announced ONCE PMH IN, the first intranasal vaccine for bacterial pneumonia in cattle has been approved for use in Canada. ONCE PMH IN is the only intranasal vaccine with two bacterial antigens that is indicated for use in healthy beef and dairy
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cattle, including calves as young as one week of age. It aids in the control of respiratory disease caused by Mannheimia haemolytica and in the prevention of disease caused by Pasteurella multocida. M. haemolytica and P. multocida, are the leading causes of early-onset bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Presenting antigens to mucosal surfaces induces an immune response that is both mucosal and systemic, and independent of humoral and acquired immunity such as colostral antibodies. It also provides immune memory. The intranasal administration of ONCE PMH IN delivers a dose of both P. multocida and M. haemolytica antigens directly to mucosal surfaces in the nose. Merck technical services veterinarian, Janice Berg, says young calves given an intranasal administration of this product had lower respiratory rates and significantly fewer lung lesions than control calves in studies. ONCE PMH IN is a non-adjuvanted, nonvirulent live vaccine with two dosing options: one-ml applied in each nostril of the animal or a two-ml dose delivered in one nostril.
Annual revaccination is recommended but it can be administered more frequently when farms are at risk for the disease or facing epidemic outbreaks. c STAMPEDE
By Jerry Palen
“Lucky for the dog, he managed to jump in the pickup after the cow caught you!”
HF GAME CHANGER 123B
HF DEFENDER 146B
HF G-MAN 29B
HF GANGSTER 6B
HF FIRST SHIFT 5B
HF RISING SON 13B
HF TIBBIE 316B
HF ANNIE K 16B
C at t l e m e n · M a r c h 2 0 1 5
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NEWS ABOUT YOU
PurelyPurebred The Canadian Charolais Association (CCA) will welcome the International Charolais community for the 2015 World Charolais Technical Conference, June 22 through June 30. The CCA is expecting up to 10 countries to be represented, all focused on the betterment of the Charolais herd. The conference begins in Regina and works its way to Alberta with a promising mix of seed stock, research and feedlot visits. As an added bonus the foreign visitors will have a glimpse of traditional Western heritage at the Ponoka Stampede. Meeting topics throughout the conference will focus on genomics, agricultural advocacy and sustainability.
the Elite Dam Program at CLA. Progeny must be registered in order to count in the production profile. After creating a stir in Denver at the National Western Stock Show the bull Cottage Lake Border Agent exhibited by Cottage Lake Livestock, Stony Plain, Alta., went on to take the Grand Champion bull banner at the Fort Worth Stock Show for Cottage Lake and new partners Wies Limousin Ranch and Marjon Farms. National Classic Announcement The 2015 National YCSA Classic will be held in conjunction with the 2015 Canadian Simmental Association Convention and will take place from July 30-August 2 in Lindsay, Ont. Please stay tuned for the latest information, as this will be one of the highlights of the 2015 Simmental events.
The Canadian Limousin Association (CLA) signed a one-year agreement with Quantum Genetix of Saskatoon as its official lab for parentage verification and Proto testing. There has been a small change to
y d d a D r u o Y s Who’
12th Annual
Bull Sale
Thursday April 2, 2015 – 1:00 PM Saskatoon Livestock Sales, 306-382-8088
— Scheduled 2015 Provincial Classics • Saskatchewan YCSA Classic – July 29-31, Prince Albert, Sask. • Maritime YCSA Classic – August 27-28, Truro, Nova Scotia • Alberta YCSA Classic – July 23-26, Lacombe, Alta. • Quebec Junior Beef Show – July 2-5, Brome, Que. Congratulations to Jeanette Gallant of the Evangeline 4-H club in P.E.I. for being named the 2014 National Volunteer Leader of the Year competition sponsored by 4-H Canada and The Co-operators. The other provincial winners for 2014 selected by 4-H members were: British Columbia — Lorna Kotz (Vernon Young Riders); Alberta — Corine Verbeek (RQB Rancheros); Saskatchewan — Christine Trombley (Carrot River Light Horse 4-H); Manitoba — Fleurette Geirnaert
WE KNOW OUR BULLS HAVE TO BE BETTER JUST TO GET YOUR ATTENTION!
That’s why we cull hard and only sell 50 bulls a year. These are the top cut from over 400 purebred Shorthorn cows. Thick, rugged, BEEF BULLS that are bred to handle the harsh conditions of Western Canada. Also on offer a select group of open replacement heifers. For more information or a catalogue contact:
Saskvalley Stock Farm Carl Lehmann 306-232-3511 www.saskvalleyshorthorns.com
Bell M Farms
Richard Moellenbeck 306-287-7904 www.bellmfarms.com
Muridale Shorthorn Scot Muri 306-741-6833 www.muridale.com
Sale is broadcast by Cattle In Motion at
www.cattleinmotion.com Catalogue online at all three websites 60
C at t l e m e n · m a r c h 2 0 1 5
Sale bull videos at www.youtube.com/whosyourdaddybull www.canadiancattlemen.ca
PURELY PUREBRED
(Mariapolis-Baldur 4-H Club); Ontario — Karen Baker (Beeton/Bradford Dairy Club); Quebec — Marlene Burns (Sawyerville 4-H Club); Association des Jeunes Ruraux du Québec (AJRQ) — Nadine Lalande (Basses-Laurentides AJRQ); New Brunswick — Sharon Lutwick (Northampton 4-H Club); Nova Scotia — Sharlene Carter-Earle (Double “D” 4-H Club); Newfoundland — Suzanne McCormack (4-H Challenging Pioneers). Cayley Brown, a young Hereford breeder in Princeton, British Columbia was presented with the “Hereford Miss World” title for her bred and owned twoyear-old cow CB 122L Lady Cayley Brown B 222Z, in a ceremony in Fort Worth Texas on February 3. The cow she bred and currently owns with Shar-Lo Farms in New Brunswick, was named Supreme Champion Female across all breeds at the 2014 Armstrong Interior Provincial Exhibition (IPE) and Canadian National Champion Hereford Female late last year at Regina’s
Canadian Western Agribition. Shortly afterwards, Herefordbreeder.net named the female “Miss North America” after evaluation by four online judges, an anonymous judge on site at the national show and Facebook voters. The female competed against a U.S. National Champion and other world national champions. Cayley started showing cattle at age three. Ooops! In our January Newsmaker page (pg. 6) we wrote about Copper Creek Ranch
of Princeton, B.C. winning the lottery for the 3,000,000 registration by the Canadian Hereford Association (CHA). At the bottom of the item we stated the millionth mark passed without fanfare. But Brad Dubeau, the communications manager of the CHA tells us that isn’t so. As he explains: “In 1967, internationally known Hereford judge, R.L. McEachern from Australia, named Square D Gay Victor 29W Continued on page 62
Sales results
M.C. Quantock “Canada’s Bulls” Bull Sale Jan.31, 2015, Lloydminster, Alta.
Red Angus fall born bulls, av. $6,786 Red Angus summer two-year-olds, av. $6,906 Super Baldie summer two-year-olds, av. $7,930 Super Guppie (Red AngusX Gelbvieh) two-year-olds, av. $6,420 H2 (Horned Hereford X Fleckvieh Simmental, two-year-olds, av. $7,552 Dehorned Hereford two-year-old bulls, av. $4,865 Black Angus two-year-old bulls, av. $6,847 Black Super Baldie (Black Angus X Fleckvieh Simmental, two-year-old bulls, av. $7,922 Black Super Baldie yearling bulls av. $5,136 Charolais two-year-old bulls, av. $7,875 361 Bulls, av. $6,877
Hill 70 Quantock “Barn Burnin” Bull Sale Feb. 7, 2015, Lloydminster, Alta. 24 44 50 35 3 1 52 30 1 8 11 24 61 30 9 351
Open heifers, av. $2,550 Bred Heifers, av. $3,320 Horned Hereford bulls, av. $6,325 Charolais two-year-olds, av. $7,470 Charolais yearlings, av. $5,960 Black Angus two-year-olds, av. $6,826 Black Angus yearlings, av. $5,167 Red and Black Simmentals, av. $6,200 Red Angus X Simmentals, av. $6,986 Black Angus X Simmentals, av. $4,350 Red Angus two-year-olds, av. $7,332 Red Angus yearlings, av. $5,550 Red Angus X Gelbvieh, av. $6,711 Bulls, av. $6340
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PU R E LY PU R E B R E D
Continued from page 61
(OND 29W) Grand Champion Bull at the Regina International Centennial Show. “He was a thick, stylish, good haired, polled son of Circle T Victor 97S and out of Domestic Gay Lady 2J. With the Grand Champion title this bull was given the one millionth registration number. Square D Gay Victor 29W was bred by the late Murray Duke of Langbank, Saskatchewan. At the Regina International Centennial Show & Sale there were 73 exhibitors that partook in this event from the British Isles, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. OND 29W was included in the Centennial Sale and sold to Jack Elfenbaum, from Lipton, Saskatchewan for $5,400. The overall average of the sale was $1,733 for the 42 lots on offer.” The Canadian Angus Foundation has established a Junior Angus Stockman of the Year Award that will offer a $3,500 bursary to cover the cost of genetics, cattle supplies/ equipment, training along with travel assistance to attend Showdown each year. The nomination deadline is April 15. Nominations must be submitted by Canadian Angus Association members in good stand-
ing. Finalists will be evaluated based on the written nomination and an interview. The award winner will be announced at Showdown, the Canadian Junior Angus National Show in July. The office of the Canadian Luing Cattle Association is moving from Rimbey, Alta., to Manitoba along with secretary Iain Aitken who starting July 1, can be reached at Box 130 Belmont, Man. R0K 0K0. The breed’s website remains unchanged (www.luingcattle. com) as does Iain’s email address (iaineaitken@gmail.com). A new phone number will be published in the breed’s next newsletter. Shawn Airey, Rivers was re-elected president of the Manitoba Charolais Association for 2015 at its annual general meeting held January 3 in Brandon. Hans Myhre, Dauphin moves to first vice-president, Jeff Cavers, LaRiviere to second vice-president and Rae Trimble-Olson remains as secretary/treasurer. Stewart Stone of Heartland Livestock was elected president of Livestock Marketers of Saskatchewan at the group’s annual meeting in late January. Newly elected to the board are Tyler Cronkhite, Cowtown Livestock
Exchange, Pat Tellier, Saskatoon Livestock Services and Ryan Rutledge, Assiniboia Livestock Auction. This month two members of the association will give students enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan a glimpse into what it’s like to be involved in the livestock industry, according to LMS executive director Adele Buettner. Well-known U.S. Angus breeder Henry C. Gardiner of Ashland, Kansas, passed away in late January at the age of 83. Over the years Gardiner Angus Ranch served as a research partner with many land grant universities developing and improving technology such as artificial insemination, embryo transfer, expected progeny differences, carcass ultrasound, feed efficiency and DNA marker assisted genomic information, which Gardiner invariably introduced into his family’s operation plus partner herds in nine states and one foreign country. Gardiner received many awards during his career including Outstanding Commercial Producer of the Year (1981), Outstanding Seedstock Producer of the Year (1987) and the Pioneer Award (1997) from the Beef Improvement Federation (BIF). c
Answer our survey — and have a go at winning one of our caps
We have a goal to be the best beef cattle magazine in the business. But we need your help. If you could just fill in this survey and return it to me, you would be helping us set the future editorial direction for Canadian Cattlemen. All you have to do is tell me what you like about the magazine, and what you
We’d appreciate it if you could tell us a little about yourself. It makes it easier for us to keep your main interests in focus I’m ranching or farming Enterprise Total beef cattle Yearlings on feed/pasture Registered cows Fed cattle (sold yearly) Commercial cows Horses Calves on feed/pasture Other livestock
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don’t like. There’s also some space for you to tell us what you would like to see in future issues. ClIp And enClose your mAIlIng lABel. each month, we will draw one name from all the surveys sent in and send that person a Cattlemen cap. It could be you!
What do you think of: On a scale of 1 to 5, how do you and your family like these features? 5 – I always watch for it; let’s see more of it 4 – I regularly read it and like it 3 – I usually read it 2 – There are things I’d rather read 1 – I don’t want it; get rid of it Regular Columns 5 4 3
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2 1 Nutrition Comment Research Special features 5 4 3 2 1 Newsmakers Letters Calving Issue (Jan.) CCA Reports Custom Feedlot Guide (Sep.) Prime Cuts Stock Buyers’ Guide (Aug.) Straight From The Hip Animal Health Special (Sep.) Holistic Ranching Beef Watch (May & Nov.) What would you like to see? __________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ How much time do you and your family spend reading 1666 Dublin Avenue Canadian Cattlemen? Under 2 hours Over 2 hours Winnipeg, Man. R3H 0H1
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Market Su mma ry
By Debbie McMillin
TheMarkets Fed Cattle Beef movement is typically slow in January and February and this was the case in the U.S. where the fed market is less current than optimal so cash prices have slipped since our last report in response to declining cut-out values. Prices held up better in Canada thanks to our tight supply situation and weak dollar, slipping slightly from the low $190s set in early January to average $187.06/cwt at the start of February. The mid-month cash trade was too thin to call. The February 1 average was $47/cwt better than the last year and beat the five-year average for that date by $87.50/cwt. The cash-to-cash basis is in line with historic levels, widening at the start of February to -16.97/cwt but is still narrower than last year by 5.84/cwt. Cattle-on-feed numbers in Alberta and Saskatchewan dropped again February 1 for the sixth month in a row at 868,867 head, down 11 per cent from a year ago. Placements were significantly lower, down 33 per cent with 90,564 head placed in lots through January. Exports of slaughter cattle during the first month of 2015 were down 52 per cent from 2014, at just 30,827 head. Domestic fed steer slaughter was also down two per cent through the first five weeks of the year at 124,143 head. Heifer slaughter is up five per cent at 67,288 head.
Feeder Cattle Lightweight feeder cattle remain a hot commodity with competition from feedlots on both sides of the border and grass cattle buyers. Meanwhile heavy feeder cattle numbers are slowing and those that do come to town are more varied in type and quality. As a result, while average prices for heavier feeders slipped, top-quality groups could still attract a premium. The Alberta 550-lb. feeder steer average
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in mid-February was $308/cwt, $108.70 above last year. Since the start of the year the 550-lb. steer price has increased $9.25/ cwt. On the other hand, the 850-lb. steer price has decreased by $4.20/cwt since the start of 2015 to a weighted average of $237.80/cwt which is still $73.42/ cwt ahead of the price the same week in 2014. The 850-lb. feeder basis is more narrow than in recent years, currently at -12.32/cwt. That’s 9.93/cwt tighter than a year ago but just 0.83/cwt tighter than the five-year average. Demand from U.S. buyers is strong due to tight supplies south of the border as well as our lower Canadian dollar. In January feeder cattle exports were 26 per cent larger than last year at 30,827 head.
Non-Fed Cattle A reduced supply of cull-type cattle plus milder winter weather has limited the supply of grinding beef coming to market. The milder weather allowed producers to stretch out their winter feed supplies so fewer cows are heading to town. The result is stronger cow prices with D1,2 cows fetching an average $135.50 in mid-February, a little over $52 more than last year and nearly double the five-year average of $68.50/cwt. Cow slaughter was down 10 per cent at 48,333 head in the first five weeks of this year while exports in January were off by 30 per cent at 23,189 head. Butcher bull prices continue to break new highs, posting a mid-February average of $150.75/cwt, nearly $60/cwt higher than the same week in 2014. Bull slaughter in Canada is up 46 per cent at 493 head while exports remain unchanged from a year ago at 5,306 head. c Debbie McMillin is a market analyst who ranches at Hanna, Alta.
DE B ’S OUTLOOK Fed Cattle Moving forward the Canadian dollar and a strong export market will lend support to the fed cattle market. Supplies are tight in Canada however, with negative packer margins kill speeds have slowed and packers are choosing dark days instead of reaching further to buy cattle. One important ratio to watch is the price spread between the beef, pork and poultry in the coming months. In the very near term, slower chain speed, reduced cut-out values and a sluggish U.S. market will weigh on local trade. Further out, tight supplies, a low Canadian dollar, and a seasonal increase in beef demand in the second quarter should support the fed market. Feeder Cattle Heavy feeder cattle generally see a flat market through the first quarter as buyers look to avoid the sluggish summer fed cattle market. This market, however, should retain a solid floor thanks to U.S. interest and historically strong fed prices. Lightweight calves will remain in high demand fuelled by an oncoming need for grass cattle and feedlots looking for inventory against the later part of the year. While the fundamentals are favourable it’s important to keep in mind that these feeder cattle are being placed at record-high break-evens so any pressure on the fed market will quickly be passed back to the feeder trade. That said, a strong export market spurred on by our lower dollar, deferred cattle pricing, and a favourable cost of gain will help drive the Canadian feeder market into the second quarter. Non-Fed Cattle The USDA says expansion has started in the U.S., however, the North American supply of cows and bulls will remain tight for the foreseeable future while the demand for grinding cuts and trim remains strong. Prices will be well supported by buyers on both sides of the border and the lower Canadian dollar will give Canadian cattle a decided edge. Seasonally cow prices tend to show upward strength towards the second quarter of the year as BBQ season beckons.
More markets
C a t t l e m e n · MA R C H 2 0 1 5 63
MARKETS
Break-even Prices on A-Grade Steers
Market Prices
190 180 ALBERTA 170 160 150 140 130 120 110 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
305
200
140
Steer Calves (500-600 lb.)
270 235 200 165
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
D1,2 Cows
ONTARIO 180
120
160
100
140
80
120
60
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Canfax weighted average price on A-Grade steers
Break-even price for steers on date sold
2015 2014
2015 2014
Februay 2015 prices* Alberta Yearling steers (850 lb.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $236.88/cwt Barley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.45/bu. Barley silage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55.63/ton Cost of gain (feed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68.31/cwt Cost of gain (all costs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103.79/cwt Fed steers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187.43/cwt Break-even (July 2015) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184.59/cwt Ontario Yearling steers (850 lb.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $233.24/cwt Corn silage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.72/ton Grain corn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.84/bu. Cost of gain (feed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75.81/cwt Cost of gain (all costs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104.70/cwt Fed steers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187.30/cwt Break-even (August 2015) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180.05/cwt *Mid-month to mid-month prices Breakevens East: end wt 1,450, 183 days West end wt 1,325 lb., 125 days
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Ontario
Alberta
2015 2014
2015 2014
Ontario prices based on a 50/50 east/west mix
Market Summary (to February 7) 2015
2014
Total Canadian federally inspected slaughter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240,143. . . . . . . . . . . 244,689 Average steer carcass weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876 lb.. . . . . . . . . . . . 848 lb. Total U.S. slaughter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,460,000. . . . . . . . . 3,737,000
Trade Summary Exports 2014-15 2013-14 Fed cattle to U.S. (to January 31). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,913.. . . . . . . . . . . 30,948 Feeder cattle and calves to U.S. (to January 31). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,827.. . . . . . . . . . . .24,378 Dressed beef to U.S. (to December). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489.39 mil.lbs.. . . . 435.46 mil.lbs Total dressed beef (to December) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700.46 mil.lbs.. . . . . 613.68 mil.lbs 2014 IMPORTS 2013 Slaughter cattle from U.S. (to December) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 *Dressed beef from U.S. (to December) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286.63 mil.lbs. . . . . 362.30 mil.lbs *Dressed beef from Australia (to December) . . . . . . . . . . . 60.77 mil.lbs. . . . . . . 38.92 mil.lbs *Dressed beef from New Zealand (to December) . . . . . . 23.85 mil.lbs. . . . . . . 33.75 mil.lbs *Dressed beef from Uruguay (to December) . . . . . . . . . . 24.53 mil.lbs. . . . . . . 27.43 mil.lbs Canadian Grades (to February 14, 2015) % of A grades +59% 54-58% AAA 20.9 23.5 AA 22.8 10.3 A 0.9 0.1 Prime 0.3 0.7 Total 34.6 44.9 EAST WEST
Total graded 65,952 223,001
Yield – 53% Total 14.7 59.1 3.0 36.1 0.0 1.0 1.3 2.3 19.0 Total A grade 98.5%
Total ungraded 3,035 327
% carcass basis 79.2% 86.2% Only federally inspected plants
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C at t l e m e n ¡ m a r c h 2 0 1 5
www.canadiancattlemen.ca
market ta l k
By Gerald Klassen
A Canadian Dollar Overview
I
’ve received many inquiries over the past couple of weeks in regards to the outlook for the Canadian dollar. Fed and feeder cattle prices have held up near historical highs largely due to the weaker exchange rate with the U.S. dollar. Cattle producers are wondering when this currency market could eventually turn around or will it continue to deteriorate. I thought this may be a good time to revisit the overall economic environment influencing the Canadian dollar with a special focus on the crude oil market. The value of the Canadian dollar and crude oil prices are highly correlated and a basic knowledge of the crude oil market will help forecast the exchange rate. I’ve attached a chart showing the weekly supplies of U.S. crude oil and petroleum products. The solid black line is the stocks for 2014 and you can see that stocks were under the five-year average (2008 to 2012) until April and then started to climb. By the end of 2014, stocks were sharply above the five-year average and also above 2013. Moving into 2015, supply levels have moved counterseasonal and risen during the first six weeks of the calendar year. This simply explains why prices of crude oil have dropped so sharply. However, it is important to note that most of this news is factored into the market. The crude oil market is functioning to encourage demand and discourage production. Earlier in January we started to see drilling activity subside in Canada and the U.S. with lower rig counts in service and this will likely continue over the next month. The demand equation usually takes about six months to improve with growth in manufacturing industries and personal consumption levels. We are now starting to see how dependent the federal and provincial governments are on the tax base from oil revenues. The fiscal policy of all governments will be to rein in spending over the next year. Lower revenue from the oil sector will result in smaller transfer payments to “have-not provinces” and the federal surplus will be smaller than anticipated. This will be a negative factor for the Canadian economy moving forward because the manufacturing sectors will likely take a couple of years to counterbalance the decline in the energy sector. Another factor to consider is the interest rate spreads between Canada and the U.S. Earlier in January, the Bank of Canada cut the benchmark overnight rate to 0.75 per cent. All major analysts forecasted the rate would remain unchanged at 1.0 per cent so this was a shock to the financial markets. Given recent comments by Canada’s central bank, it appears that analysts and traders are factoring in another rate cut. South of the border, the U.S. Federal Reserve is poised to increase its overnight rate later in June. Stronger-thanexpected U.S. jobs data along with growth in wages has spurred on confidence in the U.S. economy. The diverging monetary policies of the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve are also negative for the Canadian dollar longer term. In conclusion, the Canadian dollar has been deteriorating since July of 2014 when U.S. crude oil stocks rose to burdensome levels. However, we have only seen production start to decline late in 2014 while stocks continue to rise. The fiscal policy of Canadian www.canadiancattlemen.ca
U. S. w e e k ly stoc ks Of crude oil and petroleum products (000s of barrels) 5-year av. 08-12
2013
2014
2015
1880000 1860000 1840000 1820000 1800000 1780000 1760000 1740000 1720000 1700000
1
3
5
7
9
11
13
15
17
19
23 25 27 29
31 33 35
37 39 41 43 45
47 49
51
Week
Chart Courtesy of DTN ProphetX
w e e k ly ca na d i a n d o l la r Look for range-bound trade from lows of 0.7750 to 0.83 over the next couple of months
1.10000 1.07500
1.05000 1.02500 1.00000 0.97500 0.92500 0.90000 0.87500 0.85000 0.83002 0.82500 0.80650 0.80000 0.77509 0.75000 2008
0.2 0.3 0.4 2009 0.2 0.3 0.4 2010 0.2 0.3
0.4 2011
0.2
0.3
0.4 2012 0.2
0.3 0.4 2013
0.2 0.3 0.4 2014
0.2 0.3 0.4 2015
1 Wx
federal and provincial governments is negative for the Canadian dollar. Lower interest rates in Canada compared to the U.S. due to a weakening monetary policy by the Central Bank is also contributing to a weaker Canadian dollar. I’ve attached a chart of the Canadian dollar. Notice the exchange rate is nearing the lows of 2009 when there was a full all-out recession. If we use this as the example, the Canadian dollar does not like to spend too much time below US0.80/Cdn. It is important to realize that markets are efficient and I would say that most of the negative news is factored into the market. I’m projecting range-bound trade over the next three to four months as the Canadian dollar and energy sectors adjust to the current environment. I believe that further weakness in the Canadian dollar is limited unless we experience another significant fundamental change in the economy. c Gerald Klassen analyzes markets in Winnipeg and also maintains an interest in the family feedlot in southern Alberta. He can be reached at gklassen7@hotmail.com.
C at t l e m e n · M a r c h 2 0 1 5
65
GOINGS ON
A DV E RT IS E R IN DEX
Sales&Events Events March
Skills for Leadership, Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto, Ont.
10-12 C anadian Cattlemen’s Association AGM, Ottawa, Ont. 11-12 Beef Value Chain Round Table Meetings, Ottawa, Ont. 26 Canadian Beef Breeds Council AGM, Best Western Port-O-Call, Calgary, Alta. 26-28 Northlands Farm & Ranch Show, EXPO Centre, Edmonton, Alta. 30-Apr. 4 Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, Keystone Centre, Brandon, Man.
November
April
14
dvancing Women in Agriculture-Life A Skills for Leadership, Hyatt Regency, Calgary, Alta. 14-15 Farm & Food Care Ontario Annual Meeting, Teatro Conference and Event Centre, Milton, Ont.
6-15 Royal Winter Fair, Toronto, Ont.
Sales march 10
13
6-7
May
14 16 16 17
21-23 B .C. Cattlemen’s Association Annual Meeting, Merritt, B.C. 28-30 Livestock Markets Association Convention and AGM, Airport Hilton, Winnipeg, Man., Host Mart — Winnipeg Livestock Sales
June 3-6
anadian Angus National Convention, C Calgary, Alta. 4-6 Canadian Shorthorn Annual General Meeting, Brantford, Ont. 9-11 Canadian Animal Health Institute Meetings, Esterel Resort, Esterel, Que. 9-12 Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) Meeting, Biloxi, Mississippi 11-13 Canadian Charolais Association Annual Meeting, Brandon, Man. 15 Canadian Beef Breeds Council Golf Tournament, Calgary, Alta. 16 ALMA Future Fare Conference, BMO Centre, Stampede Park, Calgary, Alta. 24 Western Beef Development Centre’s Annual Field Day, Termuende Research Ranch, Lanigan, Sask.
July 21-23 A g in Motion — Western Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, Langham, Sask.
August
17 17 18 19
20 21 21 21 23 28 28 30 31
arvie Ranching Bull Sale — Polled H Hereford, Charolais, Simmental, at the ranch, Olds, Alta. Grass Country Bull & Female Sale/ Richmond Ranch, at the ranch, Rumsey, Alta. LLB Angus 29th Annual Bull & Female Sale, on the farm, Athabasca, Alta. Four Square 8th Annual Gelbvieh Bull Sale, Olds Cow Palace, Olds, Alta. Remitall Farms Bull Sale, at the ranch, Olds, Alta. Blades Angus Ranch, Foothills Auction, Stavely, Alta. 17th Annual Grass Country Limousin & Angus Bull Sales, at the ranch, Rumsey, Alta. Leeuwenburgh Angus, Balog Auction Lethbridge, Alta. Western Progress Bull Sale, Innisfail Auction Market, Innisfail, Alta. Triple S 42nd Annual Bull Sale, Red & Black Angus, Highwood Auction, High River, Alta. Braun Ranch & Bar CR Angus — Ranch Ready Bull Sale, Heartland Livestock, Swift Current, Sask. Reese Cattle Company Charolais Bull Sale, Innisfail Auction Mart, Innisfail, Alta. Saskatoon Gelbvieh Bull & Female Sale, Saskatoon Livestock Sales, Saskatoon, Sask. Hwy 16 West Multi Breed Bull Sale, Mayerthorpe, Alta. 30th Annual Prime Limousin Club Bull Sale, Westlock Ag Barn, Westlock, Alta. 11th Annual Butts, Gutts & Nuts Bull Sale, Heartland Livestock, Lloydminster, Sask. Northern Alliance Angus Bull Sale, Vanderhoof, B.C. Pride of the Prairies Red Angus, Thorlakson Feedyards, Airdrie, Alta. Everblack Angus Common Sense Bull Sale, Nilsson Bros., Vermilion, Alta. Count Ridge Red Angus 41st Annual Bull Sale, Bow Slope Shipping Market, Brooks, Alta.
anadian Limousin Association Annual C Meeting, Stratford, Ont. 12-15 Canadian Cattlemen’s Association Semi-Annual Meeting, Winnipeg, Man.
April
October
3
8
5-6
Advancing Women in Agriculture-Life
66
C at t l e m e n · m a r c h 2 0 1 5
Page Advancing Women 48 Airdrie Trailer Sales 58 Arlin Strohschein 54 Bayer HealthCare 7 Beefbooster 12 Benchmark Farms 53 Boehringer Ingelheim 43 By Livestock 25, 50 54 Canadian Agri-Blend Canadian Angus Assoc. 58 Canadian Cattle Identification 26, 27 Canadian Charolais Assoc. OBC 56 Canadian Gelbvieh Assoc. Canadian Hereford Assoc. IFC Canadian Limousin Assoc. 30, 31 Canadian Red Angus Promotion Society 9 Canadian Shorthorn Assoc. 39 Canadian Simmental Assoc. 37 Case-IH 5 Cattlemen Financial Corp. 57 Cattlesoft-Cattlemax 16 Cows in Control Marketing Group 58 Elanco Animal Health IBC 34 Flying K Ranch Garrett Biggelaar 57 Gilbrea Consulting Ltd. 58 Greener Pastures 16 Hamilton Farms 59 Hi-Hog Farm & Ranch Equipment 58 International Stock Foods 58 JAS Red Angus 54 John Deere Financial 22, 23 18 a-p Lakeland Group/Northstar Nerbas Brothers Inc. 56 New Holland 13 North American Lincoln Red 58 Northlands Farmfair International 49 Peak Dot Ranch 45 Prime Limousin Club 53 Real Industries 52 Right Cross 61 Royal Bank of Canada 17 Royal Manitoba Winter Fair 55 Salers Assoc. of Canada 58 Saskatoon Gelbvieh Bull & Female Sale 32 Short Grass Sales 33 Six Mile Ranch 55 Triple S Cattle Co. Ltd. 42 Tru-Test Inc. 47 Vermeer Corporation 41 Vetoquinol N.A. Inc. 11 Who’s Your Daddy Bull Sale 60
1 2
eak Dot Ranch Bull and Female Sale, P at the ranch, Wood Mountain, Sask. Who’s Your Daddy Bull Sale, Saskatoon Livestock Sales, Saskatoon, Sask. Summit 3 Speckle Park Sale, Codiak Acres, Ardrossan, Alta.
3 6
7
8 11 13 15 18
orthern Progress Bull Sale, N Saskatoon Livestock Sales, Saskatoon, Sask. 12 Annual North of the 49th, Wilgenbusch Charolais Bull Sale, at the home farm, Halbrite, Sask. 11th Annual JAS Red Angus “Buy the Beef Bull Sale,” Neepawa Ag Complex, Neepawa, Man. Flying K Ranch Bull Sale, Swift Current, Sask. 40th Annual Six Mile Angus Bull Sale, at the ranch, Fir Mountain, Sask. Moose Creek Red Angus 21st Annual Bull Sale, at the ranch, Kisbey, Sask. Benchmark Angus Bull Sale, Lethbridge, Alta. 37th Annual Short Grass Bull & Female Sale, at Sandy Bar Ranch, Aneroid, Sask. c
Event listings are a free service to industry. Sale listings are for our advertisers. Your contact is Crystal McPeak at 403-646-6211 or crystal@fbcpublishing.com
www.canadiancattlemen.ca
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