The Rural Voice, 1989-01, Page 22The Fischers: Holding their
own in the Beef Business
by Mary Lou Weiser -Hamilton
Armand Fischer likes being a farmer. But, like most beef
producers, he'd enjoy it more if there were money in it.
Fischer, 48, has survived the tough
years of the early 1980s when many
beef producers went under, and while
he is not reaping a big profit, he is
holding his own. He's made mistakes,
but through hard work and long hours
he has streamlined his operation, using
non -conventional farming practices, to
be as cost efficient as possible.
Fischer and his wife Doris have
about 300 head of cattle on their two
farms, which cover 360 acres and have
about 300 acres workable. Chores and
field work are shared equally by the
husband and wife team.
They have been farming together
since 1960 when they married and
took over the 150 -acre Century Farm
near Neustadt on which Doris was
raised. In 1979, they bought the two
farms of Armand's father and added
an additional 210 acres to their oper-
ation. Both properties have two barns,
and livestock is kept in all four.
All stock from the cow/calf herd is
finished to market weight or kept as
replacements and most of the cattle
are fed on the feedlot year round.
Chores take nearly four hours each
morning and almost as long in the
evening — the five miles between the
two farms doesn't help to save time.
The Fischers' herd of 90 to 100
head of "Heinz 57" cows are bred to
Limousin bulls and the calves are
finished at between 1,000 and 1,100
pounds. With the exception of 40 to
50 head of yearling heifers kept at the
ARDA community pasture near
Dundalk and at a rented pasture farm
near Chesley, all livestock is fed hay-
lage in the lots. As much feed as pos-
sible is grown on the farm. Seventy-
five per cent of the hay crop is cut for
haylage and the rest is baled. At one
time, 25,000 bales of hay were put in-
to the barns, but that number has drop-
ped to 9,000. The four upright silos
are filled with haylage or corn silage.
Fischer practises a three-year crop
rotation and corn for silage is planted
in fields broken from sod. Oats and
barley are grown the second year and
the field is underseeded with a 60-40
mix of alfalfa and timothy when oats
and barley are planted the third year.
Fischer has not used fertilizer for
the past three years on any of the 100
acres of grain or 20 to 25 acres of corn
he grows. He finds the cost prohibi-
tive and can't justify the expense.
He is satisfied with his yields for
corn silage despite the poor growing
conditions this summer. Mixed grains
average 80 bushels to the acre, with a
couple of fields averaging 100. The
lack of fertilizer has not affected his
yields very much, Fischer believes.
"Our yields are not much less than
what they were when we were using
20 THE RURAL VOICE