The Rural Voice, 1998-03, Page 54News
alliances, and to meet in round table
groups to see if there were needs that
could be met by working together.
The panel included Judie Glen of
Glen Farms, a specialty food
processing company near Ethel;
Shirley Hazlitt, who is working with
the Maple Seal of Quality program
with the Ontario Maple Syrup
Producers and Murray Switzer of the
Kirkton-Woodham Farmers Buying
Group. Moderator was Reg
Cressman, general manager of
Bingeman Park in Kitchener and a
member of the Canadian Business
Network Coalition.
Glen said her experience with
alliances ranges from simple one-to-
one co-operation with other small
businesses to their mutual advantage,
to working with organizations like
the Blyth Festival and Maitland
Valley Conservation Authority on
fundraising and promotion projects.
She stressed it was important to enter
arrangements not just thinking about
what you could get out of them.
Hazlitt emphasized it was
important to have goals clearly stated
when getting into an alliance such as
the one the maple syrup producers
were involved in. And, she said, "in
an alliance everyone has to win."
Switzer said his group began in
1916 at the time many other farmers'
buying groups were organized, but it
is one of the few to survive (many
became full co-operatives). Last year
it did $3 million in business with 290
farmers as members, buying farm
inputs such as fertilizer from 18
different suppliers. It has no
buildings and only one employee. If
there are profits at the end of the year
members get dividends.
Discussion groups were held on
such topics as expanding markets and
distribution.
The organizers of the meeting,
Huron Business Development
Corporation and Women and Rural
Economic Development (WRED),
hope that the food producers and
users in Huron will build alliances to
assist them in increasing the value of
food production in the county.
WRED will provide facilitators to try
to help the alliance grow. Anyone
interest can contact WRED at 273-
5017.0
50 THE RURAL VOICE
Advice
Conserving forage
in a shortage
By Douglas Dickie
Livestock Advisor, Markdale
OMAFRA
In dealing with a shortage of
forage, the place to start is to take an
inventory of both feed and livestock.
This is simply estimating the total
amount of feed on hand, whether it is
hay, silage, grains, or alternate feeds.
If you don't have it, you can't feed it!
For this inventory estimate the total
amount of dry feed available.
The next task is to try to figure out
how much longer winter is going to
last. On Groundhog Day, "Wiarton
Willie" suggested that just six weeks
of winter remain. Last year Willie's
prediction was just half right for the
cow herd; winter lasted another 12
rather than six weeks after February
2, 1997. In other words, winter feed
was needed until the early weeks of
May. Believe it or not we are at the
middle of the winter feeding needs
rather than getting close to the end.
If you have already fed more than
half of your winter's feed, then some
budgeting of feed may be necessary.
How do we do this? Can feed be
budgeted without reducing the
productivity of the herd? The answer
is yes!
First the real feed needs of the
herd need to be assessed. Dry cows
late in calf need about two per cent of
body weight as dry feed. Cows with
calves at foot need about 2.4 per cent
of body weight as dry feed. Thin
cows require much more feed than
cows in good condition, primarily
because they lack insulation from the
cold. Clean well bedded cows or
cows kept outdoors require less feed
than cows that are not kept dry.
Methods of limit feeding forages:
One method is to provide enough
hay to last for three feeding days. By
using this method, all cows get an
opportunity to eat over an extended
time. This method works because
the period is so long. The more
aggressive cows stop guarding the
hay supply and the less aggressive
cows get an ample opportunity to eat.
Chopping hay increases its
digestibility by over 30 per cent.
This is particularly true with young
cattle, and when using lower quality
forages. At the present prices being
asked for hay, grains can be very
affordable sources of feed for beef
cows if short on forage.
Alternate feeds are many. Some
are affordable, some are not. This
winter some producers have grazed
stockpiled pastures into December
and grazed corn stover to the present
time. Some alternate feeds used in
cow herds this year have included
carrots, onions, soybean straw,
canola straw, oat hulls, soybean
hulls, screening pellets, shorts, wet
brewers grain, barley bran, and flax.
All of the above alternates are
specialty feeds and should be used
with some caution. It is good advice
to consult with someone familiar
with their use before adding them to
a cow ration.0
Enterprise analysis
pays off
It's now the time of year when
many farmers are getting their books
in order in preparation for income tax
filing. This year, why not consider
using this information for something
more than just tax purposes. To
evaluate financial and production
strengths of your operation, why not
plug this information into the Ontario
Farm Management Analysis Project
(OFMAP)?
The project provides you with
both an income statement and a
balance sheet for your business. It
can provide financial data for a
number of different enterprises in
Ontario. Using your documents, an
analysis is done to show the
performance of your business. Profit
is calculated as a return on capital
and labour, and cost efficiency of the
business can be determined for each
enterprise. It is possible to look at
individual overhead and variable
costs, and by comparing these to the
provincial averages for a similar type
farm, identify both strengths and
weaknesses within your farming
business. For example, you could
compare your feed costs per