While the cattle business is a secondary enterprise to the chicken operation, they have over the years developed some simple devices and methods to make calving time more productive and efficient. The cows calve in January and February at the home farm in a shed about 16 metres square with one wall open to the south. It is well designed and equipped with good handling equipment.

“The chickens allow us to have some better equipment,” says Kirby, “but we still have to make money.”

Kirby and his son Bryce are slender and tall, both well over six feet. Arlene is petite and lively. Friendly and forthright, Kirby speaks with a clipped precision that suggests he is a person who likes to have things organized. The farmstead reflects this attitude. It is clean and uncluttered.

“It’s almost a full-time job keeping things tidied up,” says Kirby. “My father started this farm in 1975. At first we were in the egg business and then switched over to meat chickens. My wife grew up on a dairy farm and when we got married that’s where part of the interest in cattle came from. We started with a herd of commercial cows in 1984 and beginning in the mid-’90s we started to switch over to the purebred Charolais. We started the purebred herd with a registered cow-calf pair. We planned to keep heifers and gradually replaced the commercial cows so we’ve bred and raised most of our females. We do buy a few to incorporate different traits. Because we were building a cow herd, starting out there was an emphasis on milk and calving ease.”

For purebred breeders there are marketing advantages to winter calving but it can be a challenge. While the climate near Lake Ontario is moderate compared to some other parts of Canada it can get cold and raw in January and February. To lose a calf is a big financial hit. Kirby likes to be prepared and is always looking for ways to improve his facilities and approach. It appears to be a trait that is genetic.

“A lot of the special little facilities we use at calving time and around the farm were made by my father,” says Kirby. “He’s retired now but has been a big help with the cattle operation.”

Outside the calving shed there are three large pens for holding cattle as they come up to calve and to keep cows and older calves. Inside the open wall of the barn there are two large pens divided by a feed bunk equipped with locking head gates.

“The locking head gates are important for us because we breed about 70 per cent of the cows and heifers artificially,” says Kirby. “We use heat synchronization because it allows us to split straws of expensive semen and breed 10 cows with five doses. We also pregnancy check everything and because we handle the cattle so much the facilities save time and money. At calving time we still watch for the traditional physical signs like a cow bagging up but it’s a huge advantage to have good information about the cows’ due dates.”

As the cows approach their calving date they are first brought into one of the two large pens inside the calving shed created by the feed bunk. Across an alleyway along the back wall of the barn there is a long pen that can be divided into four smaller pens by gates. This is where the cows calve. In one corner of the calving pen there is an opening in the gate panel large enough for a newborn calf to get through. It leads to a small wooden structure about a metre square that Kirby calls a “hot box.”

“My father made it,” explains Kirby. “It’s just a box open on one side built out of plywood with a heat lamp mounted in the top and a sheet of Styrofoam insulation on the floor. We put the calf in it as soon as the cow has licked it off. The cow can still reach the calf because of the size of the opening. If it’s cold, say 15 or 20 below zero, you can see steam coming off the calf. It’s the calf’s coat drying off.”

From the calving pens the cows and newborns are moved into the larger pen on the other side of the feed bunk. In the middle of the wall across from the bunk there is a strip of plastic mounted vertically. It looks like a piece of PVC pipe a little less than a metre long. Running the length of the plastic strip there is a row of metal eyelets to hold the spring-loaded handle of an electric fence wire. There is also an insulated terminal on the feed bunk and by running a wire from the feeder across to the clips on the wall Kirby makes a large area for the calves to lie down that is clean and dry. Because of the vertical sequence of terminals he can adjust the electric wire up and down.

“It’s another thing my father made,” explains Kirby. “Because the barn is open to the south the sunlight streams in and makes it warm. We bed up the back half of the pen with straw and keep the cows out with the electric wire. Because we can adjust the height up and down we can match the opening to the size of the calves. We can also raise it as the manure pack builds up through the calving season. To encourage the calves to use the creep we purposely keep the bottom end of the pen a bit sloppy.”

Outside the barn there is another larger pen that is used as a creep when the calves get older. Inside the pen there is a covered feeder where the calves can be fed grain. The entrance is homemade out of two-by-fours and plywood. A plywood panel slides back and forth across the opening and is pinned to set the size.

“My father made it,” says Kirby with a grin.

Despite the extra effort Kirby is committed to winter calving.

“We might occasionally get a frostbitten ear but we really don’t have many problems,” says Kirby. “To be honest I wouldn’t do it any other way.”

The post Calving At Kirlene Cattle appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

On sale days, Small works on the sales ring floor, operating the gate that lets the cattle in to be sold.

“We’re one of the three largest sales barns in the province,” he says after his stint working in the sales ring. “One week we might sell the most cattle. Another week it might be one of the others.”

Beginning in the summer of 2009 Ontario Livestock Inc. was one of nine auction barns across the country that participated in a Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) project to test radio frequency identification technologies. The first of three phases of the project ended in January 2010 and a report on the findings was released in June.

For the first phase of the study, special handling facilities were constructed and the electronic hardware to read and record the information on electronic eartags was installed and tested. The CCIA’s goal was to assess the government’s target of a 95 per cent accuracy rate. “The technology and processes must meet the needs of the auction markets by not impeding commerce or causing additional stress for the livestock,” the CCIA said.

At the Cookstown sales barn an alleyway has been set up in a corner of the barn that leads to the scale where the cattle are weighed before they go into the ring. The alleyway is about four feet wide with solid wood panels on the sides. Four sensors are mounted on each side that read the tags as the cattle move through. On the wall above the alley eight electronic boxes display the readings.

The CCIA hired an employee to record the accuracy of the tag readers as each group of cattle was moved through. She sat in a small hut overlooking the alleyway where she recorded the results on a computer.

“The workers sorting the cattle would use hand signals to let the woman know how many head were coming through,” says Small. “If the sensors didn’t get the right number, the cattle were turned around and put through again.”

Small says the accuracy varied around 90 per cent, and the technology is only in its very early stages and has a long way to go.

“I would say it has to be improved by 25 per cent. The government wants 95 per cent accuracy but that’s not good enough. To work for us it has to be 100 per cent.”

2011 deadline

Accuracy is only one of a number of concerns Small has about the technology and the goals of the project. The government has set 2011 as the deadline for implementing the electronic tag-reading program. It would affect more than 150 auction markets across the country.

“I think they’re at least two or three years away,” says Small. “The real issue is that the technology has to meet the needs of the industry, not the other way around.”

The tag-reading facility at Cookstown is a wide alley system, one of three designs being tested. The others are a single alley that lets one animal through at a time and a dual alley which is two single alleys side by side.

“The wide alley is the only design that is practical,” says Small. “A single alley doesn’t work because it has to accommodate animals of every size. A bull would get trapped in an alley small enough to keep a calf from turning around.

“And what if a cow stops in a single alley? We’d have to shut everything down to get the bull or the cow out. Because the dual alley is two singles side by side it has the same problems. In this business we have to make a sale every 1-1/2 minutes. If we don’t we won’t be in business.”

Though the wide alley is the most efficient in moving cattle, Small says it poses a technical problem. In a space wide enough to let several animals through at once, sometimes the tags are too far away from the sensors to be read. All nine test sites are using the same tags, the ones currently being sold to producers.

“I think they have to look at using other kinds of tags,” says Small. “They’re trying to design a system with sensors that have to read tags that are less than two feet away when they should be able to read tags at least four feet away.”

“Lazy tags”

Small also says there’s a problem with “lazy tags” which will not read. “Maybe it’s because they’ve got millions of this one kind of tag out there they’re not looking at others.”

While Small has several criticisms and questions about the technology he is even more concerned about who will pay for the initial installation and ongoing maintenance and upgrades of the systems.

“We started to build our test alley in the summer of 2009,” says Small. “CCIA supplied the electronics and we paid the construction costs. It took three months to build and we had to hire extra people. It cost us many thousands of dollars. We agreed to participate in the project because we thought it was important to do what we could to help the industry but when it becomes mandatory, who’s going to pay?”

The Cookstown auction has experience with the costs of electronic tag- reading equipment. Before the CCIA test project started it installed four electronic tag readers of its own in a second smaller ring at the sales barn used to sell dairy cattle and slaughter cows.

“Each individual sensor and its electronic equipment cost $8,000,” says Small. “And when they had to be sent out for maintenance the bill was $2,000. This stuff is not cheap.”

Small bristles at suggestions that marts should simply raise their commission rates to cover the costs.

“That’s what they always say,” growls Small. “The government is great at coming up with rules and regulations and then expecting somebody else to pay. If the government wants this they should pay for it. This is not the stockyard’s responsibility so we shouldn’t have to pay. And if we raise our commissions then it’s the farmer who pays. They’re already suffering enough.”

Second phase

The second phase of the CCIA research project is scheduled to start in August. One of its objectives is to test software that will feed the electronic tag information that is collected into the sale barn’s computer system. Small says this is a critical link in the system.

“Any information that goes into our computers has to be 100 per cent accurate. Our business is so automated that when a farmer sells his cattle in the ring by the time he walks down to the office there is a cheque waiting for him. This is all done without any human intervention and the tag reading has to operate the same way. If there are mistakes they will cost us time and money. This is why the tag reading has to be 100 per cent accurate.”

Despite any frustrations, it’s obvious Small enjoys his work and is proud of his accomplishments. When he walks around his sales barn there is a spring in his step and plenty of good-natured banter with his employees and customers.

“I started in this business in 1961,” he says. “And all these years later we’re doing the same thing — selling livestock to people who want to buy them. The only difference is now there are four times the hassles.”

The post Tag Readers Have A Way To Go – for Aug. 9, 2010 appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

Pat farms in the hill country between Peterborough and Trenton in Southeastern Ontario. He keeps 25 cows that are mostly Gelbvieh/Charolais cross with some Simmental and Red Angus mixed in. The home farm is 40 acres, but most of the land he farms is rented.

“I would like to own more land,” he explains, “but right now it’s too expensive and it’s pretty easy to rent land around here. There are a lot of city people who own land and quite a few cash croppers who have land that’s too rough to crop but makes good pasture. We rent about 85 acres for pasture and 60 acres for hay plus we have hay ground here at home.”

In addition to farming Pat works full time in construction, routinely putting in 10-hour days at the jobsite. It means that he is up and on his way early and has chores to do when he gets home in the evening.

“When it comes to working out,” he says, “the two hardest times of the year for me are haying and calving.”

Pat likes to calve in March. He has a small barn set up with gates that can make four pens. Behind the barn there is a fenced one-acre field that rises to the crest of a small hill. When the cows are due to start calving he moves them into the field. He also moves in a homemade 16×10 foot calf hutch that he positions on higher ground with the open side facing south to catch the sun. Every day or two he beds the top part of the field with straw.

“When I’m calving I’m usually up at 4:30 in the morning,” he says.” I do a few chores and check the cows. If I see a cow that might be close, maybe she’s off by herself, I’ll put her in one of the pens in the barn. If her water has broken, or if I can see the feet, I’ll stay, but otherwise I’ll head off to work. The people I work for wouldn’t be too happy if I was always showing up late.”

Pat and his wife have two teenage sons. Philip, the youngest is 17 and is still in high school.

“Philip doesn’t catch the school bus until about 8:30,” says Pat, “so he keeps an eye on them until he leaves and then again when he gets home.”

Though a few of Pat’s cows calve in the barn the majority of the calves are born outside on the straw pack. If there are no problems he leaves them outside where they quickly find the shelter.

“The shelter works great,” says Pat. “I use it for calving and then when the herd goes to grass I take it to the pasture where I use it to creep feed the calves.”

The shelter sits on two 6×6-inch squared cedar beams and has a four-inch steel post mounted across the opening to keep the cows out. It has a steel roof and barn boards on the sides and back. To move it short distances he pushes it with his loader tractor or pulls it with a chain. To move it longer distances the shelter is sturdy enough that he can put it on a wagon.

“I want to build another one,” says Pat.

“Even though I’m not around all the time the way we calve works pretty well. One year we had three sets of twins. I never saw any of them born but the cows got them sorted out and started on their own.” Then he adds, “I don’t like twins though.”

Pat likes to calve in March because by the end of May when they go to grass the calves are old enough to eat forage. By this time they average around 250 pounds.

“Before they go to pasture at the end of May we vaccinate them with a live vaccine,” he explains, “and we also dehorn them and castrate the bulls. Then a couple of weeks before they go to the calf sale in November we vaccinate them again. The last calves we sold averaged 680 pounds for steers and heifers.”

Because he has an off-farm job, Pat focuses a significant amount of his herd management on breeding and genetics. Most of his cows are a Gelbvieh/Charolais cross because he believes it gives him a moderate-framed female with good mothering abilities. The Simmental and Red Angus in his cow herd comes from bred heifers that he buys occasionally. He is also very cognizant of calving ease when he buys a bull.

“We use purebred bulls,” says Pat, “and when we’re looking we really do our homework. I look at all the EPDs for birth weight, milking ability and growth rates. Over the years we’ve used both Gelbvieh and Charolais bulls and that gives us the tancoloured calves we like.”

The McLarens have a few purebred Gelbvieh females in their herd that they bought as calves to show. Both Pat’s sons Jeremy and Philip showed cattle. In 2005 Philip had the champion Gelbvieh heifer at the Royal Winter Fair.

“I hope Philip can farm,” says Pat. “I know he would like to but he’s probably going to have to work off-farm to do it. A young person can’t just walk out and buy a farm.”

Pat is 47 years old and his plan is to gradually expand his herd until he can retire from his construction job and farm full time.

“I’d like to have 35 or 40 cows,” he says. “I don’t know what the fellows I work with at construction do when they go home, but I can’t wait to get back at night to do chores and check the cows.”

One of the big days on Pat’s calendar is the date in November when his calves go to the auction barn. He is very proud of the quality of his cattle and if he can get the day off from work he likes to go and watch them sell. They usually bring some of the top prices at the sale and the owner of the auction barn is always encouraging him to expand.

“He’s always telling me to put that hammer down and get 150 cows,” explains Pat with a grin. “I would love to do it but it’s just not feasible now. But I’m going to keep at it because I think things are going to get better.”

The post Fitting the calving chores in with a day job appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.

“I’ve always been the one to stand up and talk,” he says. “It started in public school with student council and continued through high school. I was active in student politics and class valedictorian and it was the same at agricultural college. If there is a group of people talking and there seems to be an idea floating around I’ll blurt it out. Then it’s my idea and if it doesn’t work out then I’m the one who gets blamed. But, I don’t mind.”

Dan is the third generation of his family to operate his farm in Eastern Ontario’s Northumberland County. He and his wife have three sons and a daughter ranging in age from 15 to 22 and they all help out. The farm was established by his grandfather in 1909 and one of Dan’s perks is that he gets to live and work in a beautiful place. The house and farm buildings are on top of a hill and from his barnyard he can see about five kilometres across a valley checked with forests and fields. The home farm is 40 hectares that he uses primarily for pasture. He rents other land nearby to grow hay. There are 45 cows in the herd. Most are Limousin X Angus that he breeds to a black Limousin bull.

“It gives me well-muscled, mostly black calves,” he says.

Dan’s cows start calving in March and coming up to calving time he tries to make sure his cows are in the best possible physical condition. He feeds them in a way that they have to walk to water so they get plenty of exercise.

“They’re not just lying around getting fat,” he says. “We want them in good shape so they can push out the calf clean right away and get the calf started.”

He also tries to maximize the quality of the cows’ mineral supplements and saves his best hay to feed before calving.

“As we put hay in the shed,” he explains, “I keep a record of what hay came from what field and whether or not it got rained on.” As it turns out, keeping records is a substantial part of what he discusses in his OCA seminars.

At calving time Dan uses the hilly terrain of his farm to his advantage. There is an old bank barn and two pole sheds in a line along the top of a ridge. One of the sheds is a loafing barn where he makes pens using gates to deal with calving problems. The other shed is for hay storage. Running down the hill from the buildings there is a small pasture that he uses as a calving field. He keeps the cattle off the field the rest of the year to limit the buildup of pathogens in the soil.

“To feed the cows,” he explains, “I take the strings off a round bale of hay and roll it out down the hill. Most days I don’t even have to start the tractor. What the cows don’t eat gives the calves a clean place to lie down. As I take the hay out of the shed it makes a space that I set up as a creep for the calves that the cows can’t get into. It’s amazing how quickly the calves will find it when the weather’s dirty.”

To deal with a calving problem or a calf that hasn’t suckled, Dan uses the loafing shed that is beside the hay shed. It is set up with pens made out of gates.

“I don’t keep frozen colostrum,” he says. “I use a synthetic substitute. Most often I just try to get a few squirts into the calf and then go to the house for a coffee. By the time I get back it’s usually started on its own. If a calf hasn’t sucked it doesn’t know what milk is and if you get into a fight it has no idea what you’re trying to do. As a last resort we’ll restrain a cow to start a calf.”

What Dan does on his farm is scrutinized more closely than most other producers because of his work as an advocate for on-farm food safety. His Verified Beef Production seminars describe a comprehensive approach to on-farm food safety that involves record-keeping as well as animal and risk management practices that at first sound onerous to some farmers.

“It’s not uncommon,” he admits, “that when I’m giving a seminar someone will stand up and say, ’I’d like to come to your farm!’ I tell them that we look at our own farm as a work in progress so we’re constantly looking for ways to improve.”

Though Dan keeps detailed records at calving time his method is low-tech. He always carries a VBF pocket record book where he writes down all the calf’s information including the CCIA identification number and any treatments given to the calf.

“At the seminars,” explains Dan, “we encourage producers to use two tags. The first is the CCIA radio frequency identification tag and the second is for herd management. This can help identify the calf within the herd and acts as a cross-reference to the CCIA tag if it gets lost. I always have the pocket book with me in my coveralls. When it comes to vaccinations and treatments it tells me what I did and when I did it, but it is also a record of what worked. I don’t put my records on a computer. Some producers do but it’s not something we stress. A lot of older farmers are not that comfortable with the computer. It might be something their children or even grandchildren are more likely to do. The important thing is that the records are complete.”

Dan is a proponent of a spring vaccination protocol administered before the cattle are turned out to grass. By this time most of his calves weigh about 250 pounds. His advice is to consult a veterinarian to develop the protocol.

“When we process the cattle,” says Dan, “I get my 15-year old daughter to do the record keeping. She’s more elaborate in describing what is going on.”

Dan is as enthusiastic about helping other beef producers as he is about the work he does on his own farm. He is extremely well known in the province and when he gives seminars he recognizes most of the people in the room. During his presentations he refers frequently to his own operation, not because he thinks he does everything right, but because he thinks the producers relate better to another farmer.

“It’s amazing,” he explains, “how forthcoming farmers will be when they are talking to another farmer rather than a vet or a bureaucrat. It gets all kinds of discussions going about herd health and management issues. They start talking about what worked for them and sharing ideas. That’s the fun part for me.”

The post Some calving ideas from Ontario VBP co-ordinator Dan Ferguson appeared first on Canadian Cattlemen.