January 2011 Archives

I know I haven’t the resources or connections to be aware of everyone involved in the agriculture industry who passes away, but I have recently been sorry to read about the deaths of three who I have had some contact with over the years.

A few weeks ago I was sorry to learn Rob Stenson founder and CEO of Ag Growth International died, in Winnipeg at the age of 44. I met Rob back in the mid-90s when I stopped at his company, then, which was Batco Manufacturing in Swift Current, Sask. 

He and his brother Art and sales manager Gary Anderson where in the shop and Rob showed me this large capacity grain auger, as well as a conveyor they had just started marketing. (The above photo I borrowed courtesy of the Winnipeg Free Press). A couple years later they launched Ag Growth International, which has gone on to become quite a large company with nine different divisions, which include Batco, Wheatheart Manufacturing, Westfield Industries, Hi Roller, Union Iron, Twister, Applegate Livestock Equipment, Mepu, Franklin Enterprises and Tramco.

Also I was sorry to learn recently that Louis Latimer of Remitall Farms near Bowden, Alberta had died at the age of 87. The Latimers are a long-time purebred beef operation and as I recall I went to the farm to talk to them about Shorthorn cattle. (I never thought about it, but Remitall is LLatimer spelled backwards).

In his obituary it says, “Louis was born February 13, 1923 on the family farm near Bowden, AB. He attended the Nesbit school and at the same time started his business career by trapping weasels, muskrat and coyotes until he had enough money to buy a Shorthorn heifer which started a fabulous career of breeding purebred seedstock in four breeds, Shorthorn, Polled Hereford, Gelbvieh and Angus. Louis married Jean Winter on December 3, 1945. Their marriage was a partnership in both love and business.

 Together they raised six children and successfully built the Remitall herd. (The accompanying photo from the Remitall website is of Louis and son Gary).  In 1954, Louis and his brother Carroll formed a partnership that continued for twenty years. When they dissolved their partnership in 1976, he formed a partnership with his two sons, Gary and Bryan. During the period 1960 to 1972 Louis & Jean, Carroll & Jeannie purchased the John Deere business "GreenLine" in Olds. Louis was very active in the Olds Agricultural Society, and twice President. Also with the Calgary Stampede, Canadian Hereford and Shorthorn Associations. Louis has received numerous awards during the years including: Hall of Fame at Nile Exhibition 1979 (Billings MT); Canadian Livestock Man of the Year 1987 (Denver CO); American Shorthorn Association "Builder of the Breed" (Omaha NB); Canadian Hereford Association Honour Roll 1988; Alberta Angus Association Breeder of the Year; County of Mountain View Family Farm Award. Honoured as a Pioneer by the Beef Improvement Federation on July 3, 2008. The Remitall name and its bloodlines are known worldwide and have made great contributions to the cattle industry. Louis strongly believed in his family and attended many 4-H shows, Junior Livestock shows, hockey, soccer games and many other events to show his support. He was always willing to share his knowledge of life with both his family and friends.”

And most recently I was sorry to learn of the passing of Gus Gustavson in Calgary, AB. He was 82. I am not sure of his ag industry background, but back in the early to mid-90s I did an interview with Gus on a new concept he had called Growth Stage. He came to my office for the interview, which I remember. Since I work at home, very few people come to the house.

 But Gus came to explain this service he’d developed where you could use the seeding date, heat units and other factors to determine the actual growth stage of a crop. Say, for example, it was a cold spring. Using this system you could determine the actual stage of crop growth, regardless of how the plants appeared visually, and determine the correct timing for applying herbicides. The Growth Stage service was eventually sold to a company called AgCall and I know for a while it was used by farm supply companies and ag chemical dealers as a service available to customers. It could also help these dealers plan their inventory.is obituary didn’t refer to his career, but it did tell us “Gus was very partial to ice cream, coffee, peanuts and nanaimo bars. There was a time when he also enjoyed White Owl cigars and rye and water. He loved dogs, getting up early and wearing shorts.”

Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

Alberta’s Bill 36 explained

The Western Stock Growers Association is sponsoring a series of seminars in Alberta in January to explain to landowners, what it sees is the potential impact of three new pieces of legislation including Bill 36, the proposed Alberta Land Stewardship Act.

In a news release: “WSGA President, Bill Hanson describes the aforementioned three bills as “an extreme attack on Albertan’s property rights and in particular, rural Alberta”.  Bill 36 gives the Lieutenant Governor in Council authority to direct the development of, and subsequently approve, regional plans as legally binding documents under the Act. It also outlines what must be included in regional plans and what may be included to respond to regional needs while allowing the appointment of regional advisory councils to provide advice to government on developing regional plans.

According to the Government of Alberta website, the Act also requires provincial departments, regulatory agencies, municipalities and other local government authorities to align their decisions, plans and bylaws with regional plans. Essentially, this gives the Alberta government power through new regional plans to amend or extinguish a statutory consent which includes everything from a land title to a grazing lease, mineral lease, feedlot licence or a water licence. Hanson concludes, “The worst aspect of this is that compensation is not provided when land is taken or rezoned and there is no ability to appeal the land planning decisions in court”.

Agriculture lawyer Keith Wilson is making a presentation at the seminars, which started Jan. 10. The final four will be held January 17 at the Nisku Inn in Leduc, starting at 7 p.m.; January 24 in Viking at the Viking Community Hall, starting at 7 p.m.; January 25 at the Castor Hall in Castor, starting at 1:30 p.m. and January 25 at the Trochu Community Hall in Trochu at 7 p.m.

Just plan to attend, or if you need more information contact the WSGA office at 403-250-9121.

Reminder on marketing courses

 There are some excellent grain marketing courses coming up in Alberta in January through to early March. These are four and six day courses led by crop marketing specialists Lee Mevill, Neil Blue and David Wong sponsored by the Alberta Canola Producers Commission. Cost is $500, but that includes lunches. For details go to the Alberta Canola Producers website at www.canola.ab.ca or phone 1-800-551-6652.

Course locations include: La Corey, (northeast Alberta) Jan. 17 to 31; Vulcan (southern Alberta) Jan. 19 to Feb.17; Manning (Peace River region) Feb. 7 to 11; Pine Lake (near Red Deer) Feb. 14 to 17; and Drumheller, (just northeast of Calgary) Feb. 14 to March 3.

 Charolais breeder disciplined

(This is a report from the Regina Leader Post)

REGINA — An Alberta exhibitor has been barred from participating in the Canadian Western Agribition for three years after an incident at the 2010 show.

Agribition chief executive Jason Pollock said the decision, made by an internal disciplinary committee, hinged on an exhibitor's decision to show an animal that appeared to be in distress. The Charolais cow later died.

"If there's any question or doubt that acceptable standards of safety and animal welfare have not been met, we reserve the right to ban any person or persons who fail to conform with that. This decision was based on eyewitness accounts and letters of complaint received regarding the health and visible distress of the animal prior to the exhibitor's decision to take her into the show ring," Pollock said.

"The reason for that distress we have no idea, but the fact of the matter is that the animal was in distress and she shouldn't have been in the show ring. She should have been in the care of a veterinarian at that point."

Prairie Cove Charolais, which is named in the suspension, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The suspension covers the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Agribition shows and future participation will be on a probationary basis, Pollock said. It's the most severe disciplinary action Agribition has taken against an exhibitor.

The autopsy ruled out the possibility of an animal health issue that could have been contagious to other animals.

But there was no definitive conclusion on the cause of death, Pollock said.

Following the incident in late November there were allegations in the media that someone had pumped the cow with soda pop to make it appear rounder.

Agribition has no evidence to prove or disprove such a theory, Pollock noted.

But such a practice would not be considered permissible, he said.

The Canadian Charolais Association is looking at its own show guidelines in the wake of the incident and the speculation around what may have transpired, general manager Neil Gillies said in an interview earlier this month. The guidelines don't specifically mention anything about administering a fluid, he said.

"I've been around the game a long time and I haven't seen it being done, but I'm certainly not saying it hasn't been," Gillies said.

"Basically we're going to try and update our show guidelines to try and cover off some of the things that may occur," he said.

CBEF/BIC reorganization unveiled

At a Calgary news conference last week, plans were unveiled for the creation of a new beef marketing agency or structure, that would bring the Canadian Beef Export Federation, Beef Information Centre and the National Check-off Agency under one administrative roof.

The concept has been discussed for sometime and there have been previous studies looking at the impact or benefits of putting the three relatively independent agencies under the umbrella of a single agency to be called Canada Beef.

The most recent study has recommended the reorganization, as Brad Wildeman, co-chair of the Canada Beef Working Group explains to improve overall efficiency and effectiveness of the marketing effort and the plan will also save about $1.3 million annually. There are expected to be some administration savings, as well as the elimination of about 12 jobs among the three agencies.

The annual budget to operate CBEF, BIC and National Checkoff Agency is currently about $22.5 million. They receive about $5.5 million in producer funding through the national checkoff program, and the rest of the budget comes from government grants.

You can read more about this proposed reorganization in upcoming issues of the prairie ag media. Of course, there is an excellent report in the January 24 issue of Cattleman’s Corner in Grainews; Gren Winslow of Canadian Cattleman Magazine will have a report; Will Verboven of Alberta Farmer Express will no doubt have something to say about all this; Bonnie Warnyka of Alberta Beef is covering this story as well; Barb Glen of The Western Producer will have a full report, and there will likely be others. So you will have no excuse to say “I never heard anything about it.”

This may not be a life-changing story as far as your day-to-day beef operation is concerned, but it shows the best efforts are being made to make use of checkoff dollars.

Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

-30-

 (Editor’s note: If you read on long enough you’ll find there are courses coming up.)

I don’t know why the world doesn’t leave the poor farmer alone to grow his crops, and forget all this nonsense about marketing. How important is that?

But there seems to be this ongoing persistence to “learn about marketing”. I don’t know why farmers just don’t say “this is what I want for my crop this year – so pay me.”  That’s what Safeway, Boston Pizza and the World of Liquor does. It is so much simpler.

I am starting to sound like my late father-in-law with his history lessons of 1935, but I remember probably 15 or 20 years ago talking with Lee Melvill, then an Alberta Agriculture marketing specialist, and he was trying to explain to me the wonderful world of Futures and Hedging.

I was confused, and I am still confused. “So you sign a contract now, based on a price for next November, but you don’t really have to deliver the crop then or take that price, or you don’t even have to grow the crop, you can buy corn instead, and then just run away to Cuba with the money….” Something like that as I recall.

And believe me I’ve had it explained to me many times. I even took a two or three day course called GrainSim with some real producers and I remember we had some great lunches, but beyond that it is a bit vague.

Errol Anderson, author of the Wealthy Farmer, has tried to explain it to me, Paul Cassidy, of Mitcon Ltd.; Neil Blue of Alberta Agriculture; Dan Hawkins of FarmLink; Remi Schmaltz of Know Risk farm management; Shelley Wetmore, Market Master Ltd.; Gary Pike, Pike Management Group; Gord Mitchell of Mitchell Grain Company; Merv Berscheid of CGF Brokerage; Mike Millar, DTN; Reid Fenton and James Holm of BLB Grain Group; Derek Squair and Jennifer Gutfriend of Agri-Trend; and William Klok, no, wait William is a hoof trimmer, but I am sure he tried to tell me something about marketing.  Needless to say I’ve heard the marketing message many times and from the best, but something still doesn’t connect.

Man, give me a story on a new gate latch and I’m excited. “Okay, so you staple one end of the wire to the top of this stationery post and then wrap it around the top of the post of the new gate, tie if off, and you have your latch…” I got it, I’m good. But I still can’t figure out who is the guy who owns this Future’s business who is paying you more next November for a crop you haven’t even grown yet, and doesn’t even want delivery. Where was this guy when I was trying to unload my Bre-X Mineral shares?

I don’t think Lee Mevill can be very good at what he does, because I heard him speak at a conference not long ago and he’s still trying to explain the same thing as he did 20 years ago.

Know your cost of production. Don’t get greedy. Plan your marketing to be in the top third of the market, don’t worry about the peak. Know your breakeven price, your profit price, and your dream price. If you see a good price, at least lock in a portion of your crop at that price. When was the last time you had a complete crop failure? Use the tools of the marketplace. Etc. etc.

Actually, I think Lee, who is with Myers Norris Penny now, is quite good at what he does and is a man of many talents. He knows marketing, plays the guitar, coaches hockey, and manages a discount, over night travel service to Cuba.

Enough preamble, there are some excellent marketing courses coming up in Alberta in January through to early March. These are four and six day courses led by Lee Mevill, Neil Blue and David Wong sponsored by the Alberta Canola Producers Commission. Cost is $500, but that includes lunches. For details go to the Alberta Canola Producers website at www.canola.ab.ca or phone 1-800-551-6652.

Course locations include: La Corey, (northeast Alberta) Jan. 17 to 31; Vulcan (southern Alberta) Jan. 19 to Feb.17; Manning (Peace River region) Feb. 7 to 11; Pine Lake (near Red Deer) Feb. 14 to 17; and Drumheller, (just northeast of Calgary) Feb. 14 to March 3.

Lee Hart is a field editor for Grainews in Calgary, Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

I spent part of my Christmas break buying bulls. A guy tries to get a rest from the demands of being “all knowing” about the livestock industry, but when your brother-in-law asks you for help in buying bulls and you’re staying at his place, you go.

We went to Big Rock Simmentals at Creston, B.C. about an hour west of Cranbrook to look at a nice pen of yearling red Simmental bulls. This is the farm of Larry and Charlene Rast. They’ve been raising polled and horned, fullbood and purebred Simmentals for years. Larry also grows, sells and trucks hay, and apparently Charlene has developed a successful business too called The Pickle Patch. She grows and cans (pickles) cucumbers and other vegetables, producing dilled, sweet, and spiced pickles and pickled eggs. All natural products, which have earned a good market.

But, back to the bull business. So what makes a good bull? I always prefer the ones that don’t limp, and also ones that don’t chase you when you are in the pen with them. And Larry had bulls that passed both of these important tests.

Sure you can throw out a bunch of numbers known as EPEDS or something like that, but I think color is important. Go with a red one. Okay, they are all red, so let’s look for markings. Now we are making progress — red bulls that don’t limp, don’t chase you, and they have an attractive white blaze on their forehead. Must be a good bull.

Actually, my brother-in-law, Joe, is more of a numbers guy. And Big Rock has some good numbers. Polled bulls in this pen of 13 with an average birth weight of 99 pounds and a 205-day weaning weight of 812. That’s an average daily gain of 3.38 pounds. They are not necessarily low birth weight bulls, but do have a good build for calving ease.

And if you look at the EPDs, I guess those numbers are good too. Average birth weight EPD of 3.1; Calving ease of 2.8; Weaning weight of 35.7; yearling weight of 59.1; and a milk EPD of 7.6.

Joe made his selection and confirmed the deal with Larry. The bulls will stay at Big Rock for the winter, for delivery to Kootenay River Ranch at Fort Steele, closer to spring. Larry only sells private treaty, with prices ranging from $2,400 to $3,000 per bull.

So that was my bull buying mission. Glad I was able to offer my years of experience to this important decision. And as payment, Joe bought me a Dilly Bar at the Creston Dairy Queen, which made for a nearly perfect day.

If you need to talk to Big Rock Simmentals about bulls, contact Larry (pictured at right)  at (250) 428 8980, or email bigrock@westcreston.ca . For more information on the Pickle Patch phone Charlene at the same number or email: picklepatch@westcreston.ca

I think if you buy a bull they throw in a free jar of pickles, but I’m not sure if you buy pickles if they throw in a free bull. Doesn’t hurt to ask.

Lee Hart is editor of Cattleman’s Corner based in Calgary. Contact him at 403-592-1964 or by email at lee@fbcpublishing.com

-30-