HomeMy WebLinkAboutFarming '91, 1991-03-20, Page 9FARMING ’91, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1991. A9.
Farming ’91
Cattle like leftovers, farmers like savings
One of the major cost savings for
the Howatts with their system is
the elimination of grinding costs,
an expense Doug puts at S8-S10 a
ton. The by-products are stored in a
big pit behind the Howatt’s slatted-
floor barn and at feeding time a
front-end loader is used to dump a
little of the various feeds into a
huge mixer wagon. The various
feeds are then blended and dump
ed into the long manger in the
drive-through barn. The feeding
operation takes less than an hour, a
good thing because the Howatts
also operate a busy trucking com
pany.
The slatted-floor bam which they
put up 11 years ago saves a lot of
time, Doug says. “Labour is very
low, only minutes a head.” There
is no bedding required and they
clean out the manure tanks two or
three times a year. The one
detriment of the building is its high
construction costs and that prompt
ed the switch to by-products to save
money on feeds and labour. Doug
says the cattle gain better in the
barn which has all natural ventila-,
tion with the temperature controll
ed by the opening or closing of
large doors on the sides and ends of
the barns. The temperature is
roughly the same in winter as
summer, he says.
The feeding is handled by only
one or two people because it’s
important to keep the ration consis-
Continued on page A10
Carrots are among the by-product foods the Howatt Brothers feed at their Westfield-area feedlot.
Doug Howatt says besides saving on feed costs, the vegetables in the cattle’s diet help improve
herd health.
$75.°°BY KEITH ROULSTON
Huron county is dotted with
empty feed lots, abandoned be
cause of high costs and low prices
but the barns at Howatt Brothers
farm near Westfield in East Wawa-
nosh township is full of 700 head of
cattle. Part of the reason may be
the unusual diet of those cattle.
When mother talked of “eating
your carrots” she was talking to the
kids not the cows but that’s what’s
happening in the huge Howatt
barn. Of course the cattle are also
eating cereal and top off their
meals with cookies.
The Howatts, Ron and Doug,
feed 15 tons a day of food
manufacturing by-products, things
left over from the manufacturing of
foods for human consumption. The
foods include carrots unsuitable for
the consumer market from the
Holland Marsh area; potatoes from
the Alliston-Shelborne area; ruta
baga pulp from the G. L. Hubbard
Rutabaga plant in Blyth; cereal that
doesn’t meet the standards of
Kellogg’s and is ground up for
feed; and cookie meal, the ground
up remains of broken or other
substandard cookies from large
bakeries.
Corn by-products are a big part
of the diet. There is corn hominy,
left-overs from two plants that
make cornmeal; dried corn gluten,
a by-product of making starch a
whiskey; distillers grain, what re
mains after distillers are finished
with corn; and brewers grits, a corn
by-product used by brewers. They
also feed barley left over after
brewers get what they want out of
it.
Distressed corn is another pro
duct fed on the farm. This is dried
corn that spoiled in silos during
storage and has changed colour.
The Howatts throw it into the big
feed pit at the farm and let it soak
up juices from the other feeds, then
mix it and feed it with the other
by-products.
All these feeds are used as they
become available from the various
plants so the Howatts also grow a
small amount of com silage and
haylage to fill the gap if the other
foods aren’t available. The only
thing added is minerals. No con
centrates are used.
The Howatts have been in the
cattle business for 20 years but
switched to food by-products about
10 years ago when they figured
they had to find a cheaper way to
feed their cattle than growing 250
acres of corn a year. Now they use
their land for cash crops and use
the cheaper by-products for the
animals. “In these days you have
to grow a .crop and get everything
out of it you can for humans and
use the rest to raise beef,” Doug
Howatt says.
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