BCRC Producer Council Profiles

Lyle Adams

Lyle and his family own and operate 6A Cattle Company, which includes an 8,500 head finishing yard along with a 150 head cow herd near Picture Butte, Alberta.  The Adams family purchased the feedlot nine years ago after it had been sitting empty for two years. Both Lyle and his wife Roxanne had previously worked in the feedlot industry, so the purchase seemed like a natural fit for their family. Lyle and Roxanne have four children with two involved in the day-to-day operations of the feedlot. Having family involved helps with labour but Lyle points out they also have a great crew working for them.  

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While they do feed some of their own calves, most of the feedlot is filled with custom cattle. Lyle takes a very hands-on approach as a manager, doing everything from pen riding to scraping pens. This allows him to pay attention to detail and make small changes which has been helpful in keeping cattle on feed and maintaining good relationships with those he feeds cattle for.  

In a tight labour market, hiring and keeping good employees is always a worry, but Lyle says they are fortunate to have relatively low staff turn over. He attributes this to a number of factors, including treating their employees like family by recognizing achievements, celebrating them, providing variety in their day-to-day jobs and opportunities for further education and training.  

A recent change Lyle has made to their operation is the addition of the Te Pari® dosing gun system at take-in and when doing mass processing. This system automatically takes the weight of the animal and adjusts the dosage accordingly, taking the guess work out of processing animals. It prevents underdosing and overdosing which helps reduce antibiotic resistance and saves money, which Lyle is then able to pass on to his customers. Making the change to this system hasn’t slowed down processing and it allows staff to be confident that they are administering the proper dosage every time. “It’s just the right thing to do,” says Lyle.  

Along with the feedlot, the Adams manage 150 head of cattle year-round in a drylot. They calve in June which helps reduce the need for labour to check cows in cold weather, and reduces disease pressure in the herd. Calves are weaned in April, then backgrounded in the feedlot until July and sold as yearlings. Lyle intentionally targets this time of year as there are less cattle going to market during this period, resulting in a premium price for their calves. The main feedlot often empties out in the summer allowing them to focus on the cow herd as well as scrape everything out, make repairs, clean and set themselves up properly for the following year.  

It’s not always the big changes that influence the success of a business.  Attention to detail and doing the small things right are Lyle’s targets for his operation.  

Melissa Atchison

Melissa, along with her family and husband’s parents, own and operate Poplarview Stock Farms, a cow-calf and backgrounding operation with 650 cows and small cash cropping operation near Pipestone, Manitoba. Atchison describes their location as “where sandhills meet sloughs” with the majority of the land being either marshy or sandy. Their land base comes with both opportunities and challenges. Finding grazing and land management techniques that ensure the fragile landscape stays intact is not easy, however they have adopted extended grazing practices as a low-cost way to maintain their herd as well as promote healthy soils.

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Atchison has always liked the idea of feeding silage as a way to put up a large volume of high quality feed in a relatively short amount of time, but found the cost and logistics of delivering it to the cows was prohibitive. The Atchisons have been using extended grazing with swath and bale grazing for a long time so had the idea to see if they could ‘graze’ their silage pile. With a few minor changes they now have a system that allows approximately 225 cows to go to the silage instead of the other way around.

They chop and pile silage corn in the field. The pile is made longer and flatter than if it was being stored in the yard, aiming for only six to eight feet tall so that the cattle can still access it. They cover the pile with plastic or flax bales if they are available. Around the perimeter, high tensile electric wire keeps the cattle from getting into the pile and damaging the plastic.

Once the silage is fully preserved and ready for use they open the face of the plastic and run a cable along the front of the pile to create a mobile silage bunk that cattle have to reach their heads over in order to eat the feed. Every few days they move the plastic and cable back to allow the cows to graze further into the silage pile.

The family also supplements the cows with slough hay that they place around the field and allow cattle to bale graze. This provides cattle with an additional fibre source and also helps to distribute manure across the field, helping to increase soil organic matter.

Although they do have problems with wildlife in some of their extended grazing fields, specifically deer, elk, and migratory birds, they don’t see as much damage where silage grazing occurs. Atchison figures that because the cows spend a significant amount of time at the face of the silage pile plus the presence of an electric wire, this is enough to deter other animals.

In other areas where they are bale grazing or swath grazing, wildlife can become a problem. One strategy they use is to ensure that there is a good ground on their electric fence which is often a challenge in sandy soils. A two-wire perimeter fence allows for each wire to be separately connected to one of two wires on interior fences used to divide swath grazing paddocks. They use pigtail posts for the interior wires and slide a plastic insulator up the post so they can run both wires without contact.  In past years they have found they still had problems with deer and elk, especially when the snow was deep. They found that sacrificing some alfalfa bales and placing them around the perimeter of the field worked well to deter animals from going into the swath grazing.

Being directly in a migratory bird flightpath also presents the Atchisons with a unique set of challenges. Melissa has found that growing  Golden German Millet for swath grazing which produces seed later than other cereal crops such as barley or oats, has resulted in less crop damage  by birds.

Ryan Beierbach

Ryan and his family ranch near Whitewood, Saskatchewan, where they try to keep cattle grazing as many days of the year as possible. Cattle are selected to tolerate winter on the prairies as they strive to select easy-doing, deep and thick heifers as replacements. They use Hereford bulls on Black Angus cows then use Angus bulls on the heifers they keep as replacements.

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Ryan has found that providing about three days worth of grazing at a time has helped to improve his overall pasture, and it keeps legumes like alfalfa in the stand longer as well as prevent weeds from taking over. Cattle typically graze these pastures until mid-November, then are put out on swath grazing until mid-January. From there they are moved into corn grazing until mid-March. After the cattle have consumed the corn, they are fed hay closer to home until the spring pasture is ready, which is usually in May.

At weaning, cows are sorted two ways, with most cows going into the main grazing group. A second group includes the first-calvers and bred heifers as well as any second-calvers or older cows in poorer condition. This herd is managed similar to the main grazing herd, but they are more frequently supplemented as needed with hay or other feeds to keep their condition up. The Beierbachs also ensures this group has access to stock water at all times whereas the main herd might rely on snow for a water source if conditions are right.

Choosing the right variety of corn is very important to ensure cattle don’t experience grain overload or acidosis. Ryan continues to try different varieties but chooses a high yielding variety that has higher heat unit requirements than what their area is rated for as he aims for a crop that will not reach full maturity by the time the frost hits.When turning out cows onto corn Ryan finds that they have had minimal problems with cows overloading on corn when only allowing the herd access to up to three days worth of grazing at a time. At the beginning, Ryan says they err on the side of caution and make paddocks smaller as he would rather move them in two days than give them access to too much. Ryan says “once you move them a few times you get better at guessing how much they can eat in three days.”

Ryan says limiting access and keeping cows fenced in can be a challenge as they can’t really see the fence among the corn. As a way to deal with that issue, Beirerbach’s have started to silage strips through the corn and then put up some better-quality cross fencing in a few of those strips. For this they will use wooden posts or cross laminated timber (CLT) posts and one high tensile wire, but have used two wires or aircraft cable in the past for cows they were having trouble keeping in.

When it is time to turn the cows out, they use cable reels to add additional cross fencing, preferring to “leap frog” the fences across the field so they always have one paddock built ahead of the cows. This makes fencing a bit easier as they aren’t trying to do it while the cows are ready and waiting to be moved, but also gives cattle less space to go if they do get out of the first paddock. If the previously harvested silage strips aren’t in the proper location to provide 3 days worth of grazing, Ryan will use his tractor to push over two to three bucket widths of corn to provide a space to install the fence.

With cows calving in May and June, Ryan finds the corn with occasional hay supplementation enough to meet their high energy demands.  If the mature cows look like they are losing condition, Ryan will supplement the herd with an alfalfa bale to ensure their protein requirements are being met. The second group of cows with the younger and older cows will receive an alfalfa bale every time they move fences for some additional supplementation.

Kim Jo Bliss

Kim Jo Bliss is a beef producer and crop researcher who was born and raised in North-Western Ontario near the town of Emo.  She farms north of Emo with a 50 cow-calf herd and a small sheep flock.  She is deeply involved with all things local in particular the Stratton Sales Barn and Rainy River Regional Abattoir.  Currently a director on the Beef Farmers of Ontario Board of Directors, Kim Jo loves to promote agriculture in the North. 

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Kim Jo developed a love of the farm at a young age as her grandma was farming after being widowed.  After graduating high school, she attended the New Liskeard College of Ag Technology.  Kim Jo started working as a summer student at what was then known as Crop Check North, a crop research station in the Rainy River District.  Kim Jo is still working at that same research station though it has moved and has gone through two name changes – now known as the Ontario Crops Research Centre – Emo, a University of Guelph Station. 

Matt Bowman (Outgoing Chair)

Matt and his family live near Thornloe, Ontario, which is located along the 49^th parallel and borders the province of Quebec. There they raise 125 Charolais-cross cattle, cash crop 650 acres, and operate a pick-your-own strawberry patch.

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The cow herd calves in mid-March with weaning occurring in September. All calves are preconditioned for a period of six weeks receiving all vaccinations, adjusting to eating at bunks, and receiving medicated feed if necessary. Before they sell calves, any replacement heifers they plan on keeping are picked from the group and the remaining calves sell in a special preconditioned sale. Matt says persistence pays off when it comes to preconditioning. His family has been doing some form of preconditioning since the 1980’s and have built up a reputation in the area for quality, high health cattle. Matt says they can usually expect 10-15 cents above market price for their calves.

Bowman is also able to take advantage of some lower quality land to keep cows out of the yard longer. In his area mud is often the biggest issue so having places that the cows can spread out in the fall is a major asset. Bowman has some hilly pastureland that borders bush where cows are kept from October to December. The hills and dense bush make the land inaccessible for other uses, but it makes good grazing land. Matt rolls out hay bales for the cows and lets them bed down in the bush. This allows them to move around more than they would in the drylot and Matt has noticed fertility improvements since moving towards this more extensive system.

During the winter, the cow herd is moved into the yard so that they can be monitored during calving. Before going back out to pasture in the spring, all cows are vaccinated with a modified live vaccine prior to breeding and Matt has seen a very positive impact on overall herd health since implementing this practice. He finds that both cows and calves have less health problems but are also more vigorous out on pasture.

During the breeding season the heifers and second calvers are sorted into their own management group. This allows for better management of their specific nutritional needs but also provides the opportunity for selective breeding. This group of young females is bred to Angus sires while the rest of his cow herd is exposed to Simmental bulls.

Jeff Braisher

Ranching near Golden, British Columbia, has provided Jeff with both challenges and opportunities. Scaling a ranch is difficult in this area due to high land prices and low purchase availability. Jeff views this as an opportunity, however, as it has forced him to think outside of the typical ranching model. Today his operation consists of four main enterprises: research and development; a seed production business; agroforestry, where they produce high-end timber, and the beef cattle ranch.

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Raising both beef cattle and high-end timber might not seem like they go together, but Jeff says with proper management the systems become mutually beneficial. The trees provide shade and grazing opportunities for the cattle while the cattle help to control brush and keep out undesirable species.

Making sure the systems are synergistic involves more than just turning the cows out in the trees. On their operation they have private forestry, Crown land, and some open grassland which cattle get rotated through depending on the age and stage of the trees. Younger trees provide the best grazing land because they haven’t grown enough to have a canopy to block the sun, so grass growth is still good. But after a frost cows will often bite off the shoots of these trees causing permanent damage. Jeff tries to make sure that cattle aren’t grazing these areas in late fall.

Grazing in areas with mature trees also presents a few unique challenges. Although the trees provide shelter, if cows provide too much pressure on the trees it leaves them susceptible to insects and disease. Jeff mentions, “it is important to not have too many cattle out on those landscapes, especially in the late fall. If cattle bunch up under trees, they will trample the roots or even deposit too much manure in one spot, all of which can damage the trees.” Jeff is cautious to avoid winter feeding too close to the trees in order to avoid damage.

Jeff will rotationally graze cattle through both the treed areas and pastureland. In 2001, he spent a year working on a cattle operation in New Zealand which grazed cattle year-round. This inspired him to model his own grazing system after the low-labour system he observed in his travels.

Predators can be a challenge in their area, but Jeff says adapting their management practices have allowed for reduced problems. Jeff noticed that cow or calf kills often occurred on Sundays, a day they usually didn’t go out to the pastures. Jeff says that by making sure they are out with the cattle every day at random times, they have had reduced predator kills. Another strategy has been watching the predators that are around them to help focus on removing the culprits they know have killed cows. They try to maintain the predators that aren’t problematic in order to help prevent others from moving in. Proper and quick disposal of deadstock also helps to keep predators at bay.

Nathalie Côté (Ex-Officio)

Nathalie Coté is the ex-officio council member that represents Les Producteurs de bovins du Québec. While Nathalie is not a beef producer herself, she works closely with producers through her role as an agrologist and with the Verified Beef Production Plus (VBP+) program.

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The VBP+ program is a national program that enables certified beef cattle operations to prove to consumers and retailers that their operation adheres to the highest standards for food safety, animal care and environmental stewardship.

Nathalie has played a key role in reaching a broad range of producers who have decided to participate in the VBP+ program over the past year. Nathalie says that the success of the program has been due to several new initiatives and opportunities.

The first step was that they had both a dedicated staff as well as monetary support to help build the program. Nathalie and her team were able to offer in-person workshops, individual workshops over the phone, as well as online workshops. This allowed producers to choose their method of training and provided solutions that could work for most. Being flexible with how they offered training and thinking outside the box has helped to ensure all producers could have access to training.

Working directly with producers has been key to the success of Nathalie and her team. While she points out there is value to general advertising and promotion, the real changes start taking place when they can get one-on-one with producers to discuss their individual operations. She says that when they can walk producers through sample records and what the program looks like they are better able to see how it could work on their farm. Most producers quickly see that they are already doing many of the recommended practices. Formal participation in the program was simply about keeping records on the practices they were already doing.

Another thing Nathalie says that lead to increasing engagement with producers was partnering with other groups and organizations that were already involved with producers. This allowed them to increase awareness of the VBP+ program as well as build upon already existing events to provide training or interact with producers.

The commitment of end users such as packers, supply chains and restaurants has led to increased demand for VBP+-certified beef products which has also helped drive an increase in producer uptake.

John Doherty

John Doherty is a beef producer and member of the BCRC’s producer Council from Alberta. He owns and operates a mixed farm with his wife and family near Wildwood in Yellowhead County. They run a cow-calf operation with some backgrounding and grass-finishing, along with meat chickens, laying hens, turkeys, pigs and a small market garden.

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John grew up on a small cow/calf operation in southern Alberta, where his love of farming and animals was first cultivated. He has a bachelor of science degree in environmental science from University of Lethbridge, and has 10 years of experience in the oil industry.

Graeme Finn

Graeme Finn, along with his wife Heather and two daughters own and operate Southern Cross Livestock, a cow-calf operation near Madden, Alberta. Taking care of the environment and sustainably raising beef has always been important to Graeme. Graeme was raised in Australia and credits programs there for starting his interest in sustainability.

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At Southern Cross Livestock, cattle are grazed 365 days a year with no supplemental feed. A mineral pack that is formulated based on forage test results is the only thing provided to cattle while out on pasture. The majority of land that Graeme grazes is rented land. This works well for their operation, but Graeme says being clear about what is expected by both the renter and the land owner as well as having similar goals and expectations when it comes to land management and stewardship helps build a successful renting relationship.

Diversity is a key focus for Graeme and Heather in all aspects of the operation. Graeme includes diversity of forages that have been seeded into his pastures (including plenty of flowering species as beekeepers also use their pastures for bees), uses diverse mixes with swath grazing, has diversity in investments, and has an off-farm job with his role of president of Union Forage. By including diversity into as many aspects of his operation as possible, Graeme says he is able to spread out the risk if something doesn’t work out as planned.

The cow herd calves on grass pastures that are either naturalized bluegrass or pastures that have been rejuvenated to include more legumes. The high legume pastures offer high quality grazing in early spring but can get muddy if there is too much rainfall, cattle are turned out to the bluegrass pastures in the case of pastures high rainfall and mud. A few weeks after calving, cows are moved to summer pasture.

Electric fencing is a huge part of Graeme’s operation, allowing larger pastures to be split up into smaller paddocks for grazing. Electric fencing also allows them more flexibility to make changes depending on the weather or other environmental conditions.

Cattle are moved through paddocks based on grass conditions. For example, in the spring when grass is growing very quickly, Graeme is moving the herd through the 20 to 25 acre paddocks much more quickly than they are in the late summer or fall. Graeme wants cattle to move fast enough to get through the paddocks while grass is still growing and palatable to cattle, but also aims to leave over half of the plant in the stand, to ensure it is able to regrow. By managing his pastures like this he has been able to move his summer grazing turn out dates three weeks earlier over the years due to more forage being available.

In the winter (November to mid April), cattle swath graze a forage mixture of triticale, oats, peas, forage rape, forage turnip, and sunflowers. This mixture is seeded together around May 20 and then swathed In the second week of September. Graeme performs soil tests each year to determine inputs needed for his swath grazing crop and has found that by using forage mixtures and practicing extended grazing, he has reduced his need for inputs. Graeme uses electric fence to move cattle through the swaths daily.

Graeme and Heather sell all of their cattle direct to consumers or feedlots. When selling directly to feedlots, Graeme credits his involvement in agriculture groups as well as Union Forage with his ability to meet other producers and hear what their needs are for cattle. Developing a network and establishing these relationships has helped him to direct market his feeder cattle to buyers. Since Southern Cross Livestock is VBP+ certified, Graeme targets feedlots who are also VBP+ certified so that cattle can remain in the program and buyers are aware of the record keeping and husbandry practices that are required.

Graeme also sells direct to consumers. To do this he sets up an agreement where the consumer buys a 12-month-old animal in spring and Graeme then takes on the responsibility of custom grazing that animal until October when it is finished and ready for butchering. From there the animals are sent to a local butcher where the consumer can choose how they want it butchered and pay for the cost. This program started out small but is growing through word of mouth from established customers. Graeme says the growth in his direct-to-consumer sales is mostly due to the large number of acreages in his area and his close proximity to cities.

Having multiple ways to market their cattle is one more way Graeme is adding diversity to his operation.

Lee Irvine (Finance Chair)

Lee Irvine and his family raise cattle outside of Cochrane, Alberta. They purchased their place a few years back and have been working to transition it from what was primarily a horse facility back to a working cattle operation.

Lee works off the farm as a Beef Specialist with ATB Financial and as a Cattle Broker with TEAM Auction sales so having a production system that can accommodate his schedule is important. The family chooses the class of cattle that they run based on market conditions and work to capitalize on opportunities for their farm and the lease-pasture they have.

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One of the challenges Lee faces is balancing his off farm income with the cattle operation. In order to maintain an operation with a busy off farm schedule the family focuses on two key areas, agility and education. By focusing on agility and not being tied to a single production stream, the family can pivot and for example purchase breeding heifers or terminal cows as compared to mother cows or grass yearlings based on the market conditions. The second key focus for the family is education. Because of the off farm income, Lee gets to see lots of other operations, attend industry conferences and implement ideas that may help provide efficiencies at home.

When it comes to infrastructure, agility and “educated guesses” remain a focus, Lee chose free-standing panels over wood corals for flexibility and their resale ability. Lee pointed out that while permanent corals can become almost a liability when it comes to selling a place, free standing panels hold their value. Lee also chose free standing panels because it allowed for more trial and error as they set things up. “If we set up a system and notice the cows aren’t flowing through the way we want, or that they want to go out a certain corner we can just add a gate or panel to make things smoother for everyone,” he said.

Lee also likes the flexibility of a panel system. Using panels, he has the option to move where his handling facilities are located or change the whole system to suit what they are doing. It is easy to rearrange panels to build anything from a branding trap to a loading chute meaning they are not tied to doing something the way their facilities dictate.

Having a flexible attitude and being a student of the industry has proven just as important as a flexible handling system. Lee points out that it seems the more he learns about the industry, the more he realizes how much there is to learn. The family continues to research and seek out new ways to better utilize their pasture such as mineral seeding or rotational grazing practices or ways to re-think their handling system or marketing strategies.

Craig Lehr (Chair)

Craig, along with his family, owns and operates Short Grass Ranches, a third generation operation consisting of a 7,000 head backgrounding feedlot, 1,200 head cow-calf ranch as well as both irrigated and dryland farmland for feed and cash crop production. Short Grass Ranches is located near Medicine Hat in southern Alberta, so drought and feed shortages have been a reality in recent years.

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One of the ways Lehr is working to combat challenges due to drought is by using cover crops on irrigated land. This allows them to grow a second feed crop on their silage land as well as helps with soil health and fertility. Tillage radishes are added to the mixture to reduce soil compaction often caused by silage and manure trucks.

Lehr has always liked the idea of double cropping on their irrigated land and has tried it in the past but struggled to get the second crop off and dried down before winter set in. Switching to grazing has allowed them to produce a second crop without having to harvest it mechanically.

Cereal silage is grown first to be used as winter feed in the feedlot. As soon as that silage has been harvested, feedlot manure is spread on the land base and a forage mixture of winter wheat or triticale and forage radishes along with some brassicas is seeded and then irrigated. When cows come home in the fall, they are turned out on the cover crop mixture to graze. Lehr doesn’t use any cross fencing and allows the cattle to graze the entire field. He thinks that between the number of cattle on the field, the native dryland corners, and the stage of the crop, cattle seem to self-select.  He has yet to have any problems with bloat or cattle selectively grazing only the highest quality or preferred plants or plant parts.

Unlike traditional crops, Lehr says they don’t seed the winter wheat for survivability. What they are looking for is a crop that cattle can graze in the fall so they seed the crop earlier than is recommended, at the end of July or beginning of August, to ensure that there is adequate growth by the time they want to turn cows out onto it. If the crop does survive over the winter, they consider that a bonus. In the spring if it looks like the winter wheat has survived, they will fertilize and then harvest the crop for silage later in the summer.

By maintaining a constant cover on their soils, Lehr has noticed an increase in the soil nutrient profile and amount of organic matter. He also notes that tillage radishes have made a big difference to their soil. The root systems go deep into the soil which has helped to reduce soil compaction.

On the feedlot side, Lehr noted that installing a low-stress handling system has had a major impact on their operation. “It turned sorting cattle from something no one wanted to do to a job that no one minded doing” says Lehr. With their old system cattle movement was slow, prod use and yelling were higher than the family would like and every time the cattle had to be brought through the system they were more reluctant. The ability to sort cattle only three ways caused increased re-sorting and frustrations. By adding a new Bud box with a Daniels Alley and five-way sort system out the front that was all tied to a remote-controlled hydraulic system, Lehr was able to greatly reduce both the time and labour required for processing and resorting.

The new chute system is much more open than the previous one and allows workers to see cattle and how they are moving. It also enables the cattle to see where they are going and move more smoothly through the system. When processing cattle, Lehr thinks they have reduced both prod use and yelling by 95% where both are now a rare case. They have noticed a big difference on how cattle respond to the new system as they are much calmer before, during, and after processing.

Backgrounding and marketing even groups of feeder calves requires additional sorting through the feeding period which involves cattle being moved back through the system to get a good visual of the animal. The system is set up so that one person can run both the hydraulic system and sort gates and can sort into up to five different pens. The open design of the system provides the opportunity to fully assess each animal and allows for sorting more ways which has reduced the number of times sorting needs to be done. The new set-up not only reduces stress for the cattle but also for the workers using it.

Fred Lozeman

Fred and his family own and operate a mixed farm near Claresholm, Alberta, at the base of the Porcupine Hills. Along with a spring and fall calving herd they operate a feedlot, finishing their own calves, as well as around 1,500 head of purchased cattle. They also grow most of the feed required for the feedlot and cow-calf operation.

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The spring calving herd is managed very extensively. They combine cattle with a neighbour who manages the whole herd on pasture in the Porcupine Hills. The fall calving herd is managed at home on pasture along with oat-based swaths and corn grazing. If needed, a total mixed ration (TMR) supplement is provided which is possible since these cows are located near the yard site. Fred does point out that managing a fall calving herd is much more hands on but it has worked for them as it allows them to split their labour as well as have animals finished in March and April which gives them access to a different market.

Lozeman notes that the body condition of the fall calving herd does seem to fluctuate more than the spring herd. Since cows are often on green lush pasture when they aren’t supporting a calf, Fred finds that they gain weight easily but because they are in calf and lactating during the cold winter months they often lose condition during that time period. He attributes these seasonal changes in condition to the reason that the cows in the fall calving herd on average get culled sooner than those in the spring calving herd.

Having the ability to follow calves all the way through to the packer has provided Fred with some unique opportunities to base his cow herd culling decisions. When carcass reports are received, each animal is ranked in order of gross revenue (a combination of carcass weight, yield and quality) and that ranking is attributed to the cow. The cow receives a ranking based on the sum of all of her calves. For example, if a cow has had three calves that were ranked number 8, number 22, and number 10 in their respective carcass groups, the cow would be assigned an average score of 13.3. The lower the score for the cow, the higher they rank.  Fred then uses this information to make culling decisions. If a cow in the spring calving herd is in the top 25% of the herd but comes up open, she might be moved to the fall calving herd based on her age and past performance. But a cow that is open and in the bottom 25% would simply be culled.

Fred comes at his operation with a unique perspective. He earned his PhD at the University of Oxford in diabetes research and worked as a scientist in a Nobel Prize-winning lab at the University of Washington. This education and unique experience allow him to look at new technologies and current research with a bit of a different view, and to see their operation in a different light when making management decisions.

Dean Manning (Vice Chair)

Dean and his family have a mixed farm in the Annapolis Valley near Falmouth, Nova Scotia. There they raise vegetables to sell at farmers’ markets and have a herd of 80 Angus crossbred cattle. Farming in this unique area, alongside all forms of agriculture from greenhouses and wineries to dairy and hogs, has provided the Mannings with opportunities and challenges. With a limited land base that is surrounded primarily by housing developments, the Mannings realized that to produce more they had to become more efficient as expansion is not an option. The advantage is that land is very productive, and the moisture received makes for favourable growing conditions for forages and other crops.

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Selling products directly to consumers as well as being located so near to the public has shaped the outlook Manning has on farming. “The customer is always right. If they are saying they want or don’t want something, then I have to do it,” Manning explains. “It’s not about what I believe, it’s about having a product they are willing to buy.”

Although they try to manage their cattle as extensively as possible, the wet climate means that they must house some classes of cattle in barns through the winter. They use concrete pads to stockpile manure over the winter and then spread in the spring when the fields are dry enough or in the fall before it freezes.While in university, Manning first started learning about extended grazing and once returning to the farm began to try different practices. Over the years they have continued to experiment with different grazing strategies and have learned that being flexible and changing plans based on the conditions and environment are key for any method of grazing to succeed.

In recent years they have started applying the concepts of rotational and adaptive grazing to their wintering sites as well. Wooded or treed areas are common on the Manning farm and are used for logging, to provide wildlife habitat, and to provide shelter to cattle that are wintered extensively.

Manning fences off a portion of the trees and allows cattle access for all or part of the winter. Limiting access to the trees allows for manure to be spread out over the site, provides clean and fresh calving areas in the spring, avoids concentrating cattle on the tree roots over a long period of time which can cause trees to die off, and helps to provide habitat for wildlife species. Manning will sometimes fence off entire sections of trees, 10-15 feet out from the edge of the treeline. This allows the trees to still provide shelter but prevents cattle damaging the trees.

Manning is cautious and strategic about selecting wintering sites, but is flexible and says there is no set rotation. Wooded areas are evaluated for regrowth, how well they hold up in wet conditions, and what direction cattle will be able to shelter from the wind. Manning avoids wintering on the same site two years in a row and also tries to stay out of areas that have recently had trees cut or have a lot of sensitive regrowth. He also restricts cattle access to areas in early spring when trees are budding out. Management of these wintering sites is similar to the strategies employed for grazing paddocks. Even though relatively little grazing occurs in treed areas, Manning is aiming to match the wintering site to the cattle needs and vice versa.

The treed areas surround their winter-feeding paddocks where they use either bale grazing or strip grazing of corn, or kale in more recent years. Although they always have a set plan going into the winter, Manning notes that in his area having a backup plan is essential. Storms, wet conditions, ice, or mud often limit what they are capable of doing with extended grazing. For example, last year’s hurricane knocked down all of their corn at a 45-degree angle meaning they were forced to silage rather than graze it to prevent a total loss if it were buried in wet snow.

Roger Meyers

Roger Meyers is a purebred Red Angus and Bavarian Fleckvieh beef producer from Minton, Saskatchewan.

Michael Spratt

Being able to extend the grazing season and keep cows out on pasture longer has been beneficial for Michael Spratt. Spratt, along with his family, owns and operates a 6,000 acre grain farm and 140 head seedstock Maine Anjou herd near Melfort, Saskatchewan. They also background their own calves as well as do some custom backgrounding.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MICHAEL’S FARM

The area where Spratt farms is very fertile with highly productive land resulting in high land prices, so making the best use out of the land is a priority. Crops like corn are very high risk due to the short growing window and limited heat units available in this part of the province. This is also a high moisture area meaning that crops grow very well but it can be challenging to get them put up dry. For these reasons, the family relies on swath and residue grazing to keep cows out on pasture as long as possible. For over 20 years they have been swath grazing and refining their system.

Since the Spratts also grain farm, swath grazing crops are usually selected based on what seed is left over after the grain crops have been planted. They have found that oats and barley grow best in their location and provide a high-quality feed source. In late October, Michael brings cows in from summer pastures and weans the calves. The cows are then turned out onto a stubble field to graze until the ground is frozen and then will be moved to the swath grazing.

Since they calve in February cows are in their third trimester when swath grazing, but they have found that the feed is usually able to meet the cows’ high nutrient demands. Michael feed tests his swath grazing for nitrates and quality to ensure that it can meet the needs of the cow herd. They have also found that cows seem to have less trouble calving and have attributed some of that to their fitness level due to them having the space to walk around in the extended grazing system.

Swath grazing cows are pastured near the yard site and are given access to about a week to ten days worth of feed at a time using cross fencing. Since cows are located near the yard they have access to water but Michael says that if they have a lot of fluffy, loose snow some of the cows will choose to just eat snow and don’t come down to the yard site for water. By the end of December, they like to move the cows off of the swath grazing and into the drylot so they are closer to home for calving.

When it comes to the drylot side of their operation Michael says that he would not want to do it without their feed wagon. Having a feed wagon with a scale allows them to accurately formulate rations as well as know exactly how much feed each pen is getting. Both backgrounding cattle and cows close to calving get a total mixed ration (TMR) that is balanced for their specific nutritional needs.

Trevor Sund

Trevor and his family own a mixed cattle operation near Woodlands, Manitoba, where they have had cattle on the land for 49 years. They also grain farm, and have some sheep and chickens. While they are in an area known for rain and good farmland, they also have plenty of bush land that is much more suitable to grazing cattle.  

LEARN MORE ABOUT TREVOR’S FARM

The cattle winter in the bush land which provides shelter and protection from the elements. In addition, the cattle are integral in helping to keep back shrub encroachment through grazing. “It also helps with manure management” says Trevor “Why haul manure if you can just let the cows do it themselves?” Since their home is heated with a wood burning stove, they also integrate this into the systems as the areas that are cleared while cutting firewood become the places they bed cows the following year. While cattle are out in the bush, they walk up to ¾ of a mile to water which they find helps keep the cows fit for calving season and has reduced calving difficulties.  

They feed the cows twice a day with a combination of greenfeed hay bales that are rolled out for the cattle and then top dressed with additional supplement as needed. Calving occurs in late March and April at which time they move cows closer to home and shift to feeding in the evenings. This has resulted in more cows calving in the daylight hours making management easier for the family. “We started doing this thirty years ago while dad was hauling gypsum from the quarry into Winnipeg. We kind of figured it out by accident since nighttime was the only time he could feed his cows” says Trevor, “It was actually the year he stopped and we realized that calves were coming at all hours of the day. We learned our lesson and went back to the night feeding.” Calving this time of year works well with the rest of their operation as it gives them a dedicated time for calving before lambing starts in May and then seeding in late May and June.  

Keeping a condensed calving season is important with the number of enterprises on their operation but due to the rough terrain and bush land pulling bulls in the summer can prove tricky. Instead, to keep their calving dates condensed, the bulls are run with the cows most of the year, only separating them closer to the start of calving. They set a pre-determined length for their calving season and then after the final date has passed, sell all cows that have not calved. This prevents their calving season from getting too long or cows falling behind in future years.  

The Sund Family is located within an hour from Winnipeg which presents some unique opportunities when it comes to direct marketing. “We can sell eggs, lamb and beef direct to consumers in the city.” Trevor notes that up until now most of their sales have been through word of mouth but there is definitely room for expansion in that area.   

Trevor has long term goals to further integrate their crop and livestock operations but fencing and access to water on the cropland are limiting factors. Because of the high value of land in their area they are working long term to get more use out of the land they have and hope to do so by utilizing crop land for more time than just the days it is growing crops. “We’re using that land for only 100 days and then the rest of the time it isn’t getting used. For most of that land there is another 60-80 days we could get out of it plus get some added fertility benefits.”  

One thing the Sunds have been doing to increase utilization of their land is underseeding sweet blossom clover into some of their greenfeed. The clover helps to increase the feed quality as well as fixes nitrogen in the soil. Trevor says they notice the following year which fields have had the clover in them the year before and that they have observed less of a problem with ringworm and warts since introducing the clover into their rotation.  

Having diversity in enterprises as well as increasing utilization on the land are important goals for the Sund family. “We have three kids who love to farm,” Trevor says when pointing out that diversification is how they will increase future income on the operation if their children choose a career on the farm.