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The Rural Voice, 1998-02, Page 40preconditioning program designed after a meeting of the Ontario Cattlemen's Association, Beef Improvement Ontario, OMAFRA, breeders groups, nutritionists and veterinarians. It is in the best interests of the cow -calf producer and feedlot owner to co-operate, Dr. Bridge said. "The cow -calf guy and the feedlot guy might as well be married," he said. Too often in the past, however, they have thought that if one is to win, the other has to lose. The preconditioning program was designed to produce a better calf for the feedlots. If the calf is worth more, then the feedlot owner can afford to pay more for it. The preconditioning program requires all calves to be vaccinated with a booster applied. They are treated for worms and warbles and weaned. Numbers of preconditioned calves sold at the first sale were disappointing, Dr. Bridge admitted. There was an offering of 81 calves with 39 sold at the sale, 17 being sold at another sale, and 25 being retained. Of the group, there was no mortality when the cattle were put in the feedlot. One buyer had to treat two or three head. Bridge testified to the value of the OPAC preconditioning program from his own experience. He bought some OPAC Charolais calves at 15 cents a pound more than he paid for some non-OPAC Blonde d'Aquitaine calves. He thought at the cheaper price the Blonde d'Aquitaine cattle were a bargain, he said, but the Charolais were now 50 pounds heavier and look like the best deal. Ken Alton of Lucknow supported the OPAC program, saying he had bought three of the calves. "Those are the kind of cattle we've got to have if we're going to compete," he said. Bill Davis of Dobbington said the preconditioned calves seemed to respond better to treatment if they did get sick. Ron Kuhl of Keady Livestock, cow -calf producer Myles Ryan of Markdale and feedlot operator 36 THE RURAL VOICE News Harold Klages of Desboro all discussed the presorting, prevaccination program instituted this fall at several feeder sales at the sales barn. The requirement for the sale was that calf producers give their animals a four-way vaccination, and had to be castrated one month before the sale. A demonstration was set up in August at which cattle were vaccinated, dehorned and castrated. Cattle were tagged for identification. Cattle were presorted according to weight and sex. Lists of offerings were faxed to some buyers. One buyer had the cattle he wanted picked out before he arrived for the sale. There was a follow up with buyers to see if there had been any health problems with cattle bought and most buyers were very satisfied with the cattle. There was some problem with pneumonia that was not covered in the vaccines applied. Next year, Kuhl says, he'll require the vaccine to prevent pneumonia too and ask that cattle be castrated two months before the sales. One of the cow -calf operators taking part in the sale was Ryan. He castrated and dehorned early, between one and three weeks of age, then vaccinated in September, giving a booster two weeks later. He estimated the additional cost at about one cent per pound. With the calves presorted, the most calves he had in any one lot was six, Ryan said. "We were part of 31 lots." Convenience was a major plus. Instead of six or seven hours of selling under the old method, 1200 calves were sold in just two and a half hours. Asked if there was an extra premium for his extra work, Ryan said calves were selling for $200 more than last year, but prices in general were higher this year. "Time will tell whether you get paid for it or not." Klages liked the program but said "The most important thing was that producers can work together to try a new idea." He described presorting or preconditioning as "a kind of packaging. The performance of the calves will determine the true value." Continuing the theme of co- operation he predicted "The future will belong to those who arc part of a win/win arrangement." Dale Pallister of Dundalk, who chaired the panel agreed. "If the beef industry in Ontario is going to survive in North America we're going to have to co-operate."0 High carryovers bad news to crop prices Carry-over drives the commodity pricing mechanism and increased carryovers will mean crop prices won't be strong, Colin Reesor, OMAFRA Commodity Marketing Specialist told the Crops Day at Grey -Bruce Farmers' Week in Elmwood. Corn prices are under pressure because predictions for carryover (stocks of a grain left over when a new crop comes on line) are increasing, Reesor said. Carryover is important because if there isn't grain left over people hoard and stockpile. If there is an increased carry-over there is less fear of shortage and more hand-to-mouth buying. The USDA prediction (prior to the January 13 update) was for the carry- over to be about 10 per cent of total needs, larger than when prices were driven up earlier in the '90s but much less than in the mid -'80s when stocks -to -use ratio was about 50 per cent of use and prices collapsed. Corn supply in the U.S. has been pretty consistently around 10 billion bushels, Reesor said. With industrial uses for sweeteners or ethanol, usage has been creeping up and use for feed is high but the swing point in pricing, and the soft part in the current usage, is exports. Exports are not meeting expectations and "the longer this goes on, the more out of whack the expectations may become." The former Soviet Union countries have turned from importers of grains to, in some cases, exporters of feed -grain, Reesor said. The problem is their meat production is dropping. "They've consumed their livestock herd and it will take a long time to rebuild the herds."