The Rural Voice, 1992-05, Page 44Travel
Beef is big-time in Nebraska,
Bruce beef producers find out
If you are a cattle feeder, did you
ever consider how wonderful it
would be to know before there were
any visible symptoms, that some of
your animals were about to need
medical treatment and to be able to
pick out which animals in the large
herd actually needed treatment?
That's just one of the many pieces of
information 47 people from
Grey/Bruce (mainly) brought back
from Nebraska in late February.
I'd better explain that in the large
custom feed yards we visited, the
feed is carefully weighed each time
and if there is any left over, mana-
gers look at a possible onset of ill-
ness as one of the possible reasons
for the lack of appetite of the animal.
As soon as all other possibilities
have been eliminated, the pen check-
ers may herd the whole lot down the
central alleyways to the treatment
area. Experience has shown them
that it is more than likely the last
animals to reach this area are the
ones that most likely need medical
attention.
The Grey -Bruce cattlemen's tour
started off with a handful from
Owen Sound on Sunday, February
23. By the last pick-up at Exeter, all
seats were filled. We ate a prepared
meal on the bus and reached our first
destination—a motel near the Detroit
airport for an overnight stay. We
flew out of Detroit next morning on
United Airlines to Chicago, where
we changed planes for Lincoln
Nebraska. From there we travelled
by a rather luxurious bus.
The first yard we visited was at
Kearney. All the feedyards visited
were much the same— central feed
mixing and storage area, loading
By Roger Lamont
chutes, handling facilities and pens
of cattle with attending cowboys on
horseback. There is no shelter of any
kind, only rounded mounds of dirt in
each pen of 100-200 animals. The
weather in the area was mild and had
been for most of the winter. All the
yard managers complained about ex-
cessive rain which caused wet condi-
tions making messy pens with a
mixture of manure and mud "shud".
One of the Nebraska practices which
elicited the most comments was that
of marketing the whole pen of 100-
200 head at the same time, without
sorting. The rationale behind this
practice is that cattle near market
weight will go "off feed" if disturbed
by departures or new arrivals to their
social order. In reply to questions on
grading factors, we were told that 75
per cent of the animals would grade
choice, 12 per cent would be over -fat
and 12 per cent would be under -
finished. In reviewing some of the
literature we received, we noticed
the problem with excess fat costs the
beef industry in the U.S. $128 U.S.
per head. More than two million
pounds of fat are produced by U.S.
beef packers per day.
It would seem there could be a
cause and effect situation due to the
lack of sorting and over -fat animals,
which was noted as the No. 1 beef -
buyer concern.
During the stay, the Ontario
farmers learned some interesting
facts during seminars they attended.
They learned that cattle hides, which
bring virtually nothing in Ontario,
are worth $75 in the U.S. Pregnant
heifers are supposed to cause losses
to Ontario packers (and discounts to
Ontario farmers) but in the U.S.
packers sell the fetuses for medical
research and receive up to $400.
The fact Nebraska sits on top of
the Ogallala aquifer means that
water is plentiful for irrigation,
bringing five cuts of alfalfa a year
and 200 bu./acre corn, making it
difficult for an Ontario feedlot to
compete. Could it be the future of
beef in Grey county will be in the
herds of the cow -calf producer with
land and climate suitable for pasture
production with the calves sent to
the U.S. for finishing? Already some
Grey -Bruce cattle are being fattened
in the U.S.
We asked several times about
subsidies. Amnesia seemed to set in.
One person did mention the floor
price for corn but said that had noth-
ing to do with the cattle industry.
From an Ag Canada study for 1989 I
learned that subsidies to the cattle
industry in California, Iowa, Kansas,
New York, North Dakota, Texas and
Wisconsin totalled $766 million fed-
erally and $1.306 billion from state
treasuries so you can figure out the
average of these and calculate what
must be going to Nebraska.
I asked about the land set-aside
program. One person said in some
states you could buy a large holding,
set aside 10 per cent, and use those
funds to make the mortgage pay-
ments on the whole farm. Another
farmer said an acquaintance set aside
the poorer acreage on his farm and
collected $70 per acre per year for
10 years. But of course this
shouldn't be called a subsidy.
40 THE RURAL VOICE