Meristem: Beef Science

Looking after the environment and looking after the bottom line. Those were two of the key themes presented to more than 120 producers and agribusiness representatives at the fourth Grassroots Cattle Conference staged in St. Paul, Alta, last week.

The economic and social value of looking after the grass and making more efficient use of resources were emphasized in separate presentations by Emile Carles, who ranches near the southern Saskatchewan community of Radville and Ron Richardson, who along with his brother Geoff run a cow/calf yearling operation west of Olds, Alta.

As well, Jim Gerrish, a well-known grazing management consultant from southern Idaho, demonstrated the economic value of better managing native and tame grazing land and pastures. Improved management makes pastures more productive which translates into either improved weight gains or more feed for more cattle.

The conference drew strong producer participation from across a wide area of northeast Alberta and northwest Saskatchewan despite the fact many farmers took advantage of good weather to complete a late harvest.

"The conference aimed to provide practical take-home ideas for improving management and production," says Perry Phillips, a beef producer from Vilna, Alta. and conference co-chair. "The speakers also challenged producers to think about less conventional production practices."

Carles, who won the Canadian Cattlemen's Association 2005 National Environmental Stewardship Award, described how he and his family manage about 250 head of Charolais and 150 Black Angus cattle over 3,220 acres of native and tame pasture in an area of southern Saskatchewan known as the Missouri Coteau.

From a season long grazing system that failed to provide enough forage during a drought several years ago, the Carles' have developed a sustainable rotational grazing system using both native and tame grass pastures.

It not only supports the beef operation, but also provides valuable habitat for wildlife, waterfowl and uplands birds.

"It's a good system for our ranching operation, but is also good for the environment," says Carles. "It is important to maintain healthy and productive resources we can pass on to future generations."

Near Olds, Alta., the Richardsons have developed a cow/calf, yearling operation with an extended grazing system that relies heavily on swath grazing of barley and oats.

Recognizing years ago that ranchers along the foothills of southern Alberta can often pasture cattle year round on open native ranges, the Richardsons use their farming skills to manage hay and annual cropland to produce pasture that lasts about 11 months of the year.

One production twist, which seems to be working, involves not weaning calves. The cow herd, which is managed in five separate groups, naturally weans their overwintered calves themselves on pasture in March and April before the cows deliver a new calf crop starting in mid June. The previous year's calf crop is sold off pasture as short-keep yearlings in July.

"We wondered ourselves if we were doing the right thing, but the cow herd is doing well, the yearlings do well, and it is a very economical and manageable system," says Richardson.

Gerrish, a long-time university professor from Illinois before launching American Grazing Lands Service in Idaho, urged ranchers to look at making pasture improvements that benefit forage production and grazing efficiency.

"It costs about $50 per acre to maintain pasture (fences, taxes, land value) and if it produces 4000 pounds of forage per acre you have a base cost of $1.25 per pound of forage," says Gerrish. "If you can produce 6000 pounds of forage your base costs are down to 83 cents per pound."

Relatively low cost improvements such as cross fencing, inter-seeding with legumes, and simple water systems will provide the fastest payback on the best pasture land, he says.

Other speakers on the Grassroots conference agenda included John Knapp, a former assistant deputy minister with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, who urged producers to support the ongoing federal/provincial BSE surveillance program. While the program has tested as many as 1,200 suspect cattle a week, Knapp says the program needs to test at least 300 head of high risk cattle per week to maintain Alberta's commitment to the national testing program.

As well, Susan Church, executive director of Alberta Farm Animal Care urged producers to pay attention to proper livestock production practices because critics of animal agriculture - animal welfare organizations - are active in Alberta and looking for any weak links to fuel their campaigns against all types of livestock production.

In another message, Frank Burdzy, an Edmonton-based consultant urged producers to learn more about the beef industry beyond the farm gate, and produce quality cattle that best match consumer needs.

"It was a full agenda that delivered a lot of information to producers over the day," says Delaney Anderson, conference co-chair. "With a number of producers looking for follow up information, it indicates we had topics and speakers they were interested in. Initial observations and feedback shows producers want more of these relevant topics at the 2006 conference."

For copies of the conference presentations, producers are urged to keep watching the conference website at www.GrassrootsCattleConference.com. The 2006 Grassroots Conference is planned for October 26, 2006 in St. Paul.

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Grassroots speakers focus on improving beef efficiency and economics