Hey Randy!

[gcreekrch]

Talked to one of your Canada Gold cohorts today. Going to drum up some support in BC. Good luck on a Conservative win. Dave

[rkaiser]

Good for you Dave.

And thank you.

www.canadagoldbeef.ca

The web site may help you spread the word.


Randy

[kato]

I will also talk to people here. I think it sounds really good.

I posted a suggestion on RNet. Here's a repeat.....

Perhaps, rather than reinvent the wheel, would it make better sense to utilize the Verified Beef Program that's already running, and integrate it into the system? It would speed things up a lot.

They have the same criteria for record keeping and such, have set high standards for medication, management protocols, and feed records, and have an advantage of having been all over the country putting on training sessions already. The producers enrolled in this have all had the education and training to do things correctly. After a producer has had a Verified Beef audit, give them a number, and use that as the quality control assurance.

I bet it would knock a lot of time off how long this thing takes to get going. For example, in our case, I've taken the training, and it would just take a phone call and a visit from the auditor to have us on board in a matter of a couple of weeks. I'm sure there are lots of other producers who are in the same situation.

I bet the people over at the Verified Beef Program would love to hear from Canada Gold.

Just a suggestion.

I'm curious. How many here have taken the Verified Beef training sessions? How many are enrolled? I've taken the training, and we've just been waiting for a signal that the cost of an audit would pay for itself before going all the way into it. Maybe that time is coming now?

[rkaiser]

Eileen Leslie over at the VBP office loves us Kato. We are suggesting a bit more than even the current VBP program offers but are definitely going to use it as part of the CGB protocol.

Thanks
Randy

[per]

I haven't yet kato but will get on it Monday. I just checked out their website and nothing there looks any different than is already happening here and on many progressive operations. Is it a long course and quite involved?

[farmers_son]

I recommend checking out:

National Beef Industry Development Fund
http://www.canfax.ca/beef_supply/projects.htm

There are several links to excellent ecomomic papers on branding beef.

[grassfarmer]

You must have changed URLs Randy? www.canadagoldbeef.com pulls up the website www.canadagoldbeef.ca doesn't come up with anything.

[rkaiser]

sorry grassfarmer --- a few growing pains to go I am sure....

[kato]

The Verified Beef program has been made a lot simpler since it first came out. The training session is done in an afternoon now. Covers basic record keeping and protocols for safe use of drugs and vaccines.

I found there wasn't anything in it that we weren't already doing. They want records going back a few months for antibiotics used and such, and we already have those too. The audit can cost a couple of hundred dollars depending on how far the auditor has to travel. That's been the roadblock for us in following up. Up until now there wasn't any economic incentive to make the investment in the cost of an audit. We just used the knowledge to know we were on the right track.

Maybe now we have an incentive now eh?

[gcreekrch]

My sister just completed her VBP by teleconference last week. Took about an hr. and a half. There were 5 other participants taking it with her. Don't know if they offer that option outside of BC, but it sure is more convenient to do it from your own home

[rkaiser]

Damn you guys in B.C. are on the bit. That is a heck of an idea.

Thanks Dave