The Rural Voice, 1999-09, Page 48The solid reputation Canada's
Outdoor Farm Show has
established for providing
practical, hands-on state of the art
farming information promises to be
upheld when the 1999 show takes
place at the University of Guelph's
test farm near Woodstock September
14-16.
Beef producers, for instance, will
get all the latest available information
on total quality management in the
beef industry at the show this year,
through demonstrations and the work
of organizations such as The Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and
Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), Beef
Improvement Ontario, and the
National Identification Program
offered by the Canadian Cattle
Identification Agency.
The cattle handling demon-
strations, will be conducted by
Davon Sales and McPhee
International. Cattle will be paraded
through the cattle handling systems
for show visitors to evaluate, and
popular demonstrations such as the
Ivomec Pour -on are on this year's
program.
OMAFRA is using the show to
introduce the Mainstream Marketing
initiative. Beef experts from
OMAFRA will be showing off a
cow -calf pair that exhibits some of
the most highly desired traits, bred to
a terminal sire. "We've broken out on
our own to make our point at the
44 THE RURAL VOICE
Outdoor Farm Show," said Dave
Murray of OMAFRA.
The breeding strategy for beef
cattle in Ontario is designed to "more
closely match the product we are
producing to the demands in the
marketplace... We are trying to
utilize all the hybrid vigour we can in
the females, and using cross -bred
females to maximize the heterosis,
and to use breeds that we know are
strong in terms of mothering traits,"
Murray commented.
"When consumers go to the
counter, we want them to know that
the consistency of the meat is going
to be there," remarked Murray.
As part of this year's beef
programming, the Canadian Cattle
Identification Agency will be
presenting its National Identification
Program, including the rationale for
the program, how it will work, and
what is expected from producers.
The National Identification
Program is a method of assigning an
individual number to each head of
cattle in Canada, recorded on an ear
tag. The ear tags are applied before
the animals leave their herd of origin,
and they stay with the animal until
the point of carcass inspection. If any
health or safety issues are identified,
the animals can be traced, and
hopefully future problems can be
avoided. ..
The National Identification
Program trial will also be
incorporating BIO tags into their
program trial. During the daily beef
programming each afternoon, BIO
will talk about their beef
improvement products, with an
emphasis on their bar-coded trace -
back ear tags. The tags trace the
origin of the animal back from the
carcass, and provide information on
grade, yield, marbling, and its sire
and dam. With this information,
producers can zero in on the traits of
their best animals.
Experts will be on hand in the
BIO booth within the Beef Tent to
help answer producers'- questions.
Aside from the identification
program, BIO will be offering up
data on beef cattle that should help
producers make better decisions in
their herd management in terms of
genetics and their selection of their
replacement heifers and bulls.
In dairy programming, the Gencor
Progeny Review has changed
formats. Rather than showing off the
daughters of one bull, they have
moved to showing six daughters,
each the offspring the most popular
animals from the Semex Alliance.
They aim to show variety in quality
daughters with sought-after traits.
Gencor will be bringing in a
speaker at 12:00 noon to give a talk
' on "Y2K: Is Your Farm Ready?" The
talks will also take place within the
Dairy Pavilion.
At Boumatic, maker of automatic
milkers, a speakers' program is being
introduced that fits into the total