The Rural Voice, 1998-09, Page 40Bennett said there arc some
specific cdncerns to meet the
association's goals. One is the
sharing of information and
communication between the
association, OCA and the population
at large.
Another of the issues the
a3sociation hopes to tackle is
improving access to feeder cattle
from the U.S., Bennett
said. It's a complicated
health inspection system
that allows importation
of cattle under one set of
conditions at one time of
year and anothcr at other.
times, and varies
depending on the origin
of the cattle in the
shipment.
It's an issue that
Dave Gardner and his
brother Ben are
concerned about. "We
cannot get what we want
out of Ontario cattle,"
Dave Gardner said."We
can get it from Ontario backgrounded
cattle because they are cattle that
have been born in the West."
he brothers put two batches of
T
cattle each year through their
2750 -head capacity facilities,
split between their farms. In the fall
they fill the lots with cattle weighing
in the low -800 -pound range and in
the new year restock with cattle in
the low -700 -pound area.
Most of their cattle for the fall
stocking of the feedlot are Bruce
County yearlings that have been
bought from Western Canada and
backgrounded on grass with Bruce
producers. The mid -winter stocking
comes from heavy calves, often from
western Canada. Last year they also
bought and backgrounded 500 head
in Manitoba before bringing them
east to the feedlot this spring.
"I prefer the western cattle," he
said, but the feeding industry in
Alberta has become so concentrated
that it's hard for Ontario feeders to
get good cattle.
That's why the new group is
seeking better access to U.S. feeders.
Speaking at the Brussels meeting,
Bennett said he was not trying to put
the Ontario cow -calf industry down
in calling for less restriction on
importing U.S. calves. "We need a
lot of good calves of proper genetics
raised here," he said.
"As time goes on and customer
preferences are met, we may sec a
need for more specific genetics. It is
our hope we can work with the cow -
calf man to achieve this goal. What is
good for the cow man is good for the
feedlot and vice -versa."
Gardner agrees. "There is a great
opportunity hcrc in
Ontario for the cow -calf
man to get serious about
raising calves for a feedlot
such as ourselves —
raising 20 to 30 calves
that would be uniform and
all looked alike; to get in
some good bulls and up
the quality of Ontario
feeder cattle.
"The problem is
it's more of a part-time
thing with the smaller
cow -calf people in the
industry here in Ontario
and I would presume they
don't have enough time to
dedicate to it."
Bennett told the Brussels meeting
that the new association is concerned
that some sort of Ontario -wide
standard should be developed for to
control the quality of cattle being
produced for pre -conditioned calf
sales.
While feedlots in the U.S. and
Alberta have grown into mammoth
operations, cattle feeders in Ontario
have some advantages over their
counterparts in the industry outside
the province. In the past few months,
Gardner says, Ontario's feeding
industry has had the best markets in
North America — although even that
wasn't very good. The low Canadian
dollar has given Ontario feeders a
better return than their American
neighbours and they've also been
getting a premium of 10 to 15 cents
on the rail grade compared to feeders
in western Canada.
Ontario producers are fortunate to
have a large-scale packing plant in
Better Beef in Guelph which can
process up to 1300-1400 head a day,
as well as several smaller packers
handling 300 a day or less. "I often
ask myself where the feeder industry
in Ontario would be without Better
Beef," he says.
The Gardiners' finished cattle go
Ron Bennett — new
groups' vice-president
36 THE RURAL VOICE
The Ontario Cattle
Feeders'Association
— how it will work
As of Late July the Ontario Cattle
Feeders' Association was given
the right to form an association.
There will be four districts with
representation by cattle
population. District 1 includes all
of southwestern Ontario from
Hwy. 400 west, excluding York
region. District 2 includes York
and Durham regions plus the
counties of Victoria,
Peterborough, Hastings, Prince
Edward, Northumberland and
Lennox and Addington. District 3
includes Frontenac County and all
the remaining counties of the east.
District 4 includes Renfrew,
Haliburton and Muskoka and all
other counties and districts to the
north.
The board will be composed of
11 directors, nine to be elected
from the districts plus two
directors at large to be elected by
the entire voting membership.
The group will hold its first
annual meeting in January. It
hasn't been decided how many
directors' meetings will be held
per year.
Membership fees will be in
proportion to the size of the
feeding capacity. The minimum
fee of $150 will be applied to
those feeders with less than 500
one-time capacity in their feedlot.
Those with 500-2000 one-time
capacity will pay a membership of
$300 while those with more than
2000 capacity will pay $500.
Associate (non-voting) member-
ships for those involved in other
sectors of the beef industry will be
$300.
The steering committee setting
up the new group was surprised by
the turnout of 175 at the first
meeting in Brussels, August 19.
Based on that turnout and the
interest shown, Ron Bennett, of
Gorrie, vice-president, said it
might be reasonable to expect a
membership of 200 for the new
group.0
W