The Rural Voice, 1993-08, Page 23financially self-sufficient. The
operation was losing $7,500 a week
in 1992. On top of that, the
government was paying another
$300,000 a year in grants in lieu of
taxes to the City of Toronto for the
35 -acre operation. Part of the plan for
having the stockyards support itself,
OSY Board Chairman Jack Riddell
explained, would be in leasing out 20
acres of land no longer needed by
OSY to a large company.
There were hot times in Ontario
Cattlemen's Association (OCA)
annual meetings across
Ontario this winter as the
plan for the future of OSY
was discussed. While a
discussion paper put out by
OCA didn't come out
against the renovation plan,
it did indicate it favoured
all the OSY land be leased
and the money used for a
"livestock industry
development trust fund".
Despite the fact the OCA
proposal got a downright
hostile reception in the
northeastern part of the
province, and even in
Huron County the OSY
renovation plan was
supported by producers,
the anouncement of the
closure of OSY by OMAF
on June 17 could almost
have been written by OCA.
The land will be leased and
the money will go to a
"Livestock Industry Trust
Fund" to benefit all
livestock producers.
So now both livestock
producers and
packers will have to
depend on
independent yards like
Brussels. Already Gamble
has been handling nearly as many
cattle as OSY. In 1992 60,000
slaughter cattle went through the
Brussels yard as well as 60,000
stockers. OSY, according to OCA
figures, handled 48,782 slaughter
steers and heifers, 39,801 cows and
bulls and 56,075 stockers.
The big difference between OSY
and Brussels has been in sheep and
lamb sales. Lamb producers were
desperately disappointed at the
announcement of the OSY closure
because many felt it provided North
America's best market for sheep and
lambs. With its high ethnic
population, Toronto provides a
special market for lamb. Even as
OSY's cattle numbers had dropped,
sheep and lamb sales had declined
only slightly, totalling 61,116 last
year. By contrast, Brussels handles
anywhere from 70 to 150 sheep and
goats on a typical week, though on
one week near Easter this spring 939
sheep and goats went through the
yard.
Gamble has
met with
and there's less shrink (because of the
shorter travel time)," Gamble
maintains. "They've just got used to
the Toronto market. We're just trying
to do the best we can to help lamb
producers. If we get the volume and
we get the buyers, we can do a good
job for the producers."
Doing a good job for producers is
one of the keys to running a
successful operation, Gamble says.
"When you're selling livestock it has
to be as if you were selling your own
livestock," he says. At the same time,
an operator has to treat
the buyers well so
they'll keep coming and
keep buying, so the
producers will get good
competition between
packers. "You have to be
kind of a middle man,"
Gamble says.
Catering to cutomers
also is exhibited in other
ways. For the Friday
stocker sale at Brussels,
Gamble sends a bus out
to Mennonite country to
pick up farmers who
couldn't otherwise travel
that far by horse and
buggy.
Staff are also out in
the field calling on
farmers, seeking their
business. They'll also
help sort cattle for sale,
Gamble says.
eeping first class
facilities is also
important. As
well as the new,
well -ventilated barn, he
has made numerous
repairs and improve-
ments since he took over
what had once been a
well-regarded operation
that had fallen on hard times.
The Brussels facility had been
started back in 1958 when Brussels
residents Hugh Pearson and Jack
Bryans bought a farm on the outskirts
of the village and opened a sales
barn, then called Brussels Livestock
Sales. In 1970 a five -man group, led
by Bruce McCall of Embro, bought
the operation and renamed it Brussels
Stockyards Limited. By 1984 it was
selling 51,000 head of cattle a year,
60,000 pigs and selling 14,000
western feeders directly to farmers.
Success in an operation like his, Gamble says, depends on treating
livestock as if it's your own. Above, he works in the ring at a stocker
sale. Good facilities and an excellent location at Brussels (below)
attracted him to buy Brussels Livestock.
representatives of the lamb producers
who are worried that all the little
packers in the Toronto area (there are
162 packers of lamb in all) may not
journey so far from the city. "If they
can't buy in Toronto they'll come out
where they can buy," Gamble says of
the packers. "We've got to have the
lambs before we get the buyers. It's
hard to get four or five packers if you
only have 125 lambs for sale."
There is plenty of lamb raised in
easy driving distance of the Brussels
yard. "It's easier for them to get here
AUGUST 1993 19