The Citizen-On The Farm, 2004-03-18, Page 37Carol Mitchell,
MPP for
Huron-Bruce
I am very pleased to represent
the riding of Huron-Bruce.
I have opened two new
constituency offices to better
serve your needs.
Clinton office is open Monday to Friday
482-5630 (1-800-668-9320)
and
Kincardine iS•open Tuesday and Thursday
396-3007 (1-866-396-3007)
Please call with any inquiries.
PAGE A-16. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2004.
0. „ On the farm •
Veal farmer has bigger problem than SSE
Veal farming
Albert Hessels of Belgrave has about 1,700 calves on his
Holstein veal farm just outside of Belgrave. Mike Kikkert,
left, of Zurich goes to stockyards in Kitchener, Listowel and
Milverton to buy Holstein veal calves for Hessels. (Elyse
DeBruyn photo)
By Elyse DeBruyn
Citizen staff
Although the border is still closed
to most beef in Canada, a local veal
farmer says that's not his biggest
problem.
Albert Hessels, a Holstein veal
farmer near Belgrave since 1984,
said the bigger threat for Ontario
veal farmers is not the border
closure, but other veal farmers in
Quebec.
He said Quebec veal farmers are
subsidized for their veal calves and
then sell the meat in Ontario
causing a loss in business to Ontario
veal farmers.
"It's craziness, and it's got to be
stopped. We can't compete with the
States and now we can't compete
with Quebec. We shouldn't have to
compete with our brothers," said
Hessels.
He said he thinks that in Quebec,
they purchase their cattle and then
Did you know?
On average, 114 people are
killed and another 1,499 are
seriously injured by farm-related
incidents in Canada each year.
Almost half of these incidents
are caused by farm machinery
and over a third involve children
under 15 or adults over 65. It is
estimated that farmers are five
times more likely to be killed
through occupation-related
accident than workers in all other
industries. Agriculture also has
the highest rate of disabling
injuries among all other
industries.
— Canadian Agricultural
Safety Program
American border is opened to dead
veal, but the problem is there aren't
enough packing companies in
Ontario to keep up with the need in
U.S. and veal is required to have a
federal stamp before getting across
the border.
"We can't kill them fast enough. I
think we did ourselves in with not
enough packers. There is too much
meat in Ontario and we need to start
exporting because it is pushing
prices down."
He said good veal is selling at the
stockyards for about 50-60 cents a
pound and plainer veal is selling for
30 cents a pound.
He said he was selling some to
New York and still would be if there
were enough packers.
Hessels said he has had to cut his
herd down in numbers, going from
2,100 cattle to 1,750 cattle.
He said he gets his cattle shipped
in from stockyards anywhere from
one week to one month old.
He said the calves get milk for the
first six to 10 weeks then are
gradually put onto a high energy
feed.
He said he also vaccinates and
medicates his calves when they first
arrive on the farm.
"It builds up their immunity to
disease like IBR, BVD, IP3 and
BRSV," said Hessels.
Hessels said his cattle are grain
fed with high energy heavy feed of
corn and concentrate. He said the
concentrate is made with soy beans
and gives the calves a high amount
of protein.
He said he uses two and a half
parts bf corn to one part of
concentrate when the calves are
young, adding more and more corn
as they get older, usually about
seven parts of corn to one part of
concentrate.
"We do this so the calves start
putting on meat right away. We
could feed them hay, but that would
make them get taller, not fill out,"
said Hessels.
He said when the calves reach
700 to 730 pounds, they are s,hipped
to be butchered.
He said other veal farmers feed
their calves milk until they are 500
pounds, making the meat leaner.
Other breeds that are used for veal
include limousins, which Hessels
said make good veal, but other beef
calves can get "way too fat,"
because they are already fat.
"I believe Holsteins work the best
because they have the frame to put
on fat and there is room to put meat
on," he said.
He said veal has more of a pinkish
colour to the meat and is not quite
as red as beef.
In an Ontario veal cooking
pamphlet, it stated that consumers
have the choice of purchasing and
cooking with either grain or milk-
fed veal. Each type of veal provides
a uniquely distinct flavour and
texture. It suggests looking for veal
with a fine grain.
It said milk-fed veal should be
creamy pink in colour while grain
fed veal should be .reddish-pink in
colour and any fat cover should be
milky white. Always look for the
packaged date and the best before
date when selecting veal from the
meat case and don't buy it if it looks
off colour. Veal that is spoiling can
appear to have greyish-green
colour.
Hessels said people who tend to
eat a lot of veal are Italian, Greek
and Jewish people.
The pamphlet also said that unlike
beef, veal is not sold by grade. All
veal that is wild on the retail market
has been inspected by provincial
and federal government inspectors
who visually inspect all veal calves
and carcasses before and during
processing at the packing plants.
the government gives subsidy, so
the farmers don't lose or gain profit,
just break even.
"If they didn't get subsidy for
their veal then they would be in the
same situation we are in. They need
to get rid of the subsidy and then
we'll get a healthier market again,"
Hessels said.
He said Quebec isn't just
subsidizing their veal farmers, but
dairy and pig farmers as well.
"We can survive a bad market, but
Quebec is hurting us more than the
Americans," he said.
He said the Canadian and
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