The Citizen-On The Farm, 2004-03-18, Page 24Got milk mom?
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THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2004. PAGE A-3.
On the farm
Farmer sees no early solution to crisis
These three hungry
belong to dairy replacement
Blyth. (Elyse DeBruyn photo)
little calves mother
farmer Stephen Webster of
and their patient
By Elyse DeBruyn
Citizen stnff
The effects of BSE have been
devastating to farmers across
Canada, and a local dairy
replacement heifer farmer said he
doesn't expect things to change
anytime soon.
Stephen Webster of Blyth, said he
raises holstein calves (also called
heifer calves or dairy heifers), to 16
months old, breeds them to produce
milk and finally sells them at 22
months of age to a U.S. buyer. He
said he also sells locally to some
dairy farmers as well.
He said he keeps the cow (that had
the heifer) until it is five to six years
old, then sells it to a hamburger
producer.
He said before the Canadian and
U.S. border closed, he was selling
his calves to U.S. buyers for $1,500
to $1,600 U.S. a head and good
calves for $2,000 a head in
September and October of 2002.
He said last fall, a good heifer
would have sold for close to $1,000
a head and the average heifer sells
for $500 a head, but if he sells them
for meat he gets about $200 a
head.
He estimated that if he sold 20
head of cattle a month before the
crisis hit, he would get about $2,100
a head, but now he is getting about
$300 a head, totaling a loss of about
$30,000 a month.
"I'm losing $30,000 a month and I
don't see any improvement over the
next 12 months. I haven't seen
any government assistance
or compensation either," said
Webster.
Before the border closed, Webster
said he had 480 cattle, but now he
has 290.
He said he doesn't expect the
border to open for dairy producers
until after the U.S. election.
"It's basically a big joke. The
government seems to bury their head
in the sand and hope the problem
will go away," said Webster..
He feels that the Canadian
government isn't learning from
Britian's mistakes from their BSE
disease problem.
He said he has contracts with three
different U.S. dairy milk processing
plants to buy heifers from him and if
the border opens back up he will be
able to ship to them.
He said he is now selling most of
his calves for meat at Kitchener
Stockyards and to a couple of
grocery stores.
"The market basically disappeared
because in Canada, the dairy
industry doesn't have supply
management," he said. "We can only
sell so much milk, so they don't
need much more."
He believes that the border closure
is all political.
"There is no good scientific
reason for it. We're all feeling the
effects of this."
He said there is a possible solution
to the problem.
"Basically we have to
build packing plants and the
government needs to help out with
that."
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HURON FEEDING SYSTEMS
Part of the job
Since making the decision to work with her father on the
family farm, Lisa Stevenson of Belgrave feeds the dairy
cows, just one of many chores that comes along with her
job. (Elyse DeBruyn photo)
Day begins at 5:30 a.m.
Continued from A-2
is the good bosses and the
involvement they give her when
making farm-related decisions.
Stevenson, along with her father,
her cousin Tim Wharton who helps
on weekends and their hired man,
Edward Noon, milk 100 cows in a
Double 10 parlour, meaning it has 10
milkers on each side.
Her daily routine begins between
5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. when she milks
the cows.
Other chores she does are feeding
the cows and calves and monitoring
the status through a computer.
She said the computer helps her
watch the production of the cows'
milk, how much milk they are
giving, the breeding times and when
the cows are expected to calve.
After lunch, she gets caught up on
the barn cleaning and works with the
tractor.
"I really enjoy farm life. It's a
great place to start a family."
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