Cattlemen's Young Leaders Spring Forum Day One

Cue Corb Lund's Long Gone to Saskatchewan, as this depicts my morning perfectly. I travelled from Vermilion to Saskatoon this morning for the Cattlemens Young Leaders (CYL)  Spring Forum.

The CYL program is run under the Canadian Cattlemen's Association (CCA). The purpose of the program is to provide industry specific leadership and mentor ships to young people in the cattle industry. Launched in Alberta in 2010, the program has now grown to include all of Canada's youth cattle leaders.

Throughout the mentor ship, the mentee is provided with a variety of formal and non-formal opportunities to learn and grow their knowledge of the agriculture industry. Young producers between the ages of 18 and 35 years have a chance to participate in high level discussions that define the direction and future of the Canadian cattle & beef industry. The program provides a chance to explore careers, and to make connections within the industry.

Today marked the end of the program for the 16 participants for 2011-2012, with a banquet supper recognizing them as graduates of the CYL program. Today also marks the start of the journey for the 25 candidates for 2012-2013. I have been given the privilege of attending this years Spring Forum as a semi-finalist.

The program for today started with a brief and casual meet and greet with the graduates, mentors, candidates, facilitators and judges. We then moved to an industry panel where we got to ask some pivotal questions facing the industry, and try our hardest to stump the panel. Our panelist consisted of; Martin Unrau CCA President, Jeff Bilow of UFA, John McKinnon a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Scott Wright from the Government of Canada, and Sandy Russel of Spring Creek Land & Cattle Consulting. The panel was able to provide insights into various issues in the industry, from consumer concerns to where the beef industry will be in 5 years.

We then were able to listen to one of the top 50 influential people of Alberta, Brenda Schoepp. The main theme from her speech was that we need to focus on what the consumer wants. The average Canadian has 1.3 kids and 2.2 dogs. This speaks to who we need to cater to with our marketing strategies. The typical Canadian family is not what is used to be. We need to ask our consumers, "What is it that you want?"  The driver of the upcoming consumer is different as well. Less then 1% of kids get information from a book, the rest search the internet and use social media. We need to tell our stories in these formats to get our word to the consumer.

We also need to connect the dots in the industry. Brenda shared that when she visited Europe, she met a farmer who a portion of everything that was used in producing his pigs. From the land used to grow the feed, to the trucks used to transport them, to the processor used to cut the meat. Which I find interesting, as this is where you will make the most money. She also added that every farm had a social room and invited their customers to come and see the farm. This is vital to the relationships being built between the farm and the plate.

Brenda is a 2012 Nuffield Scholar. Her proposal to make a mentor ship program for women in agriculture could not be ignored by the Nuffield panel. as 53% of the worlds agriculture workforce is made of women, as well as 29% of Canada's. This is vital to the international cattle industry to have her working on a mentor ship program to help teach women to become more involved in agriculture.

One last thing Brenda added was that "You need a priest, and a policeman once a day. Three times a day you need a farmer." I think that was a fantastic closing remark as it builds on how vital our industry is.

Following Brenda was a break before the banquet that signified the graduation of the CYL 2011-2012 group. We were able to some intensive networking with mentors, facilitators, and judges.  Even if I am not chosen to do the complete program, having the opportunity to have these connections and have great conversations with these people is phenomenal. Not many places could you sit down with the founder of AdFarm Kim McConnell and the President of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association Martin Unrau to have a casual discussion about everything agriculture.

I am very nervous for the round table discussions tomorrow which will be on;  What are the key issues facing farms in terms of succession planning and implementation?  How can you as a leader in the Canadian Beef industry have positive influence on global consumer demand for beef and more specifically Canadian Beef? What tools might you use to help address this? How can the cattle industry encourage more innovation to advance the competitiveness of the sector? What is needed for young producers to financially succeed in today’s agricultural environment? How do we ensure a sustainable and profitable future for the Canadian beef industry? What are you looking to learn about in your potential mentor ship? What would be your main interest area?


Hopefully everything will flow and my brain will be in full working mode!

Where Lakeland College can take you

 After my excitment of getting accepted to Lakeland College in the Animal Science Technology (AST) diploma, I had many people asking me, "Well what kind of career can you get with this education?" Many people were under the impression that this was a school to make a farmer, but it is much more than that. 

In order to truly tell you what you can do with a diploma in Animal Science, I have asked five of my thirty six classmates three questions; give me a bit of background and why you chose Lakeland, what is your favorite aspect of the AST program, and what are your future plans.

Brianna Baghsaw came from the very very small town of Birsay, SK. (Don't feel bad if you need to google map it to find out where it is, I did). She is a 5th generation mixed operation farmer, including grain and cattle. Brianna chose Lakeland because a friend from 4-H attended and absolutely loved her time there. She was able to convince Brianna to attend. The small class sizes made the decision final for Brianna, as it was an easy step from her small high school. Her favourite part of the AST program is all the hands on experience. "It's not all book work, you get to learn to do by doing, not just watching or reading about it!"

Brianna's summer will involve lots of fleece at the Elbow Multi Species project at Elbow,Sk. Her duties will include moving sheep and goats with her dog, Lacey, and horses during the grazing season. She will also be doing some fencing and kidding the goats. Brianna plans to stay involved in agriculture for the rest of her life. 

Brianna and Lacey

Brooke Lowes came from a large cow-calf operation of approximately 1700 head and 3000 acres at McAuley, MB.  She chose Lakeland because she wanted to do something with agriculture, and the university that she was attending did not offer an ag program. Brooke also liked that Lakeland also offers the hands on aspect in the Student Managed Farm, which isn't offered anywhere else.

"I enjoy how the teachers that teach you aren't just people who don't care to get to know your name or treat you as a number. They all have left industry jobs to come and teach the younger generations. They all have great passion for what they have done in industry which allows you as students to also develop passion as well as great industry contacts."

This summer Brooke will be returning home to the farm, where she will be calving the cows, artificially inseminating approximately 400 heifers and helping with their custom silage operation. In September, Brooke will be returning to school at either University of Manitoba or University of Saskatchewan to work towards her Bachelors in Animal Science.

Brooke roping calves at home.

Riley Isaacson came from a mixed farming operation near Viscount, SK. He chose Lakeland because of recommendations from friends who have attended. His favorite aspect was the environment created by people that go to school here and the fun that happens in addition to all the learning. This summer Riley will be working at a community pasture along the Montana border in Saskatchewan. His duties will include working on a 108 section, or 432 quarters, pasture with 5 horses. Riley will ride to rotate cows and rope sick cattle to treat them, as well as check fences. This position is part of the PFRA program.

Riley analyzing  pasture land.

Carolynne Vallee grew up in small oil town Bonnyville, AB. Her love for horses, animals and the outdoors contributes immensely to who she is and what she does. Carolynne chose Lakeland College because it was a school where she has the opportunity to work hands on with livestock and meet people from the agriculture industry.

Her favorite aspect of the Lakeland College AST program is how much hands on experience there is to gain and how tight-knit all the ag students are. Carolynne added that moving away from home for the first time is pretty intimidating. However, being a student in the AST program is like being part of a family. She also enjoys the small class sizes and the close student-teacher relationships.

This summer Carolynne will be working at the Lakeland Agricultural Research Association in Bonnyville. Aside from working, she will also be coaching the advanced drill team in her home town. In the fall Carolynne will be transferring to University of Alberta to finish her degree in Animal Science as well as complete her pre-requisites for vet school. Her long term plan is to get accepted to veterinary medicine where she plans on specializing in large animal practices and focus on equine medicine. Carolynne's dream is to own a practice in a rural area and make a career out of working with large animals.

Carolynne with her two favorite animals.

James Harbers traveled all the way from Iroquois, ON to attend Lakeland College. The reasoning behind this was to gain as much hands on experience he could in the agriculture industry. James grew up on his family's dairy farm, and became the President for the Lakeland College Dairy Club this past year. James found himself a part time job while in Vermilion, working for a grain farmer. James stayed in town this last summer to work at this farm, and he will be staying until Christmas this year to help out before returning to Ontario. 

James testing some college feed with fellow students. 

As you can see, the AST program at  Lakeland College can take you many places, including further education opportunities, working in government research stations or even just going back to the family farm. Lakeland College provides its graduates with great hands on experience that lets them live the learning, as well as providing excellent industry professionals to help the learning process. 

Lambing & Calving 2012

Sorry for my lack of posting guys! Things have been crazy around the Lakeland College Student Managed Farm powered by New Holland. We are in the tail end of our calving season, and our lambing season is underway!

As part of my cow-calf management class, we must do the calving checks throughout the calving season. We start with one 24 hour check, and then move to 48 hours shifts. There is 5 groups with 5-6 students in each group. This class is offered for second year students, however as part the first year reproductive class, the lab portion requires them to do some calving checks as well. We do checks every 3 hours, unless it is below -20 degrees Celsius, then we check every 2 hours.

Black angus calf born Feb 9, 2012

My Student Managed Farm class requires each student to choose a team to be a part of. Our choices were the dairy, beef or sheep teams. I chose the sheep team because I wanted to gain more experience within the sheep industry. As part of this class, we must be on call for the first year sheep production students, who have to do the regular checks everyday. Their check schedule is 24 hour shifts, with one 48 hour weekend shift. They also check every 3 hours, unless it is below -20 degrees Celsius, then every 2 hours. For the second year Sheep Team, we are there to aid in any complications that arise, and be there to advise at chores with the lamb processing.

 

A commercial lamb born March 8, 2012

As you may start to notice, I have a lot more pictures from the lambing barn. What can I say, they are a little cuter and easier to photograph.

One of many sets of twins

One of our excellent mothers

As with any sheep operation, there comes a few orphans. This year, to date we have 20 orphan lambs that need to be bottle fed 4 times per day. They are fed at 1am, 7am, 1pm and 7pm. We have students that are our orphan managers that oversee the lambs health to ensure they are being fed appropriate amounts at each feeding. We typically try to foster the lambs to mothers who have lost their babies. If there are no mothers to take fosters, we have to orphan them if the ewe doesn't have enough milk to feed all her babies, or is not accepting the babies.

Our orphans drinking from a pail.

Overall, we have been crazy busy on the farm in the last few weeks. I hope this post makes up for my lack of posting!

Rewards for Good Animal Handling

As I was reading this weeks Alberta Farmer Express newpaper, I came across an interesting article, titled "Second annual Feedlot Challenge awards buckles for good handling".

I was pleased to read this article. Many people believe that animals are not handled properly and that the agriculture industry is not doing enough about this problem. This is a great example of how they are rewarding producers for good handling.

The buckles were sponsored by Pfizer and included eight teams, including one from Ontario! The scoring of this competition was spilt into three categories; pen checking, chute processing and a written component. The main weighing of scores being on how low stress the teams handled their animals.

The competition was held near Picture Butte, AB at the Shooten and Sons Farms. One aspect of the competition had the handlers separate calves into groups to be treated. For a further challenge, they marked specific animals to cut out of the herd that needed further treatment.

The winners posing with their buckles.
(L-R) Shane Broeders, Travis Klassen, Sandy Debruin and Trevor Burks.

 

 

 

 

The winners were Acme Highway 21 Feeders Inc who won belt buckles for their low stress cattle handling.

I think this is a prime example of what the Agriculture industry is doing to promote low stress handling to their producers. It also demonstrates how far this competition is spreading, that a team from Ontario made the trek down to Alberta to compete.