Mr Butter's letter

[coppertop]

With respect to this topic, there will be a PRODUCER organized information session at Lindale Hall,on September 24th at 7:00 PM. ( north at the junction of Highway 39 and Secondary Highway 759, then right at the Lindale sign ).
ABP and Alberta Agriculture representatives have confirmed their attendance.
An group of producers have provided both ABP and Alberta Agriculture with a list of questions similar to ones that have been posed on this site. These questions will be the basis for the meeting, and an independent moderator will field the questions from producers.
It is unfortunate that the timing of this meeting will likely be during harvest but the topic and impending regulations make it crucial to hold the meeting now.
Producers from all areas of the province are most welcome to attend this meeting.

[Kathy]

I never go away, but of course the scheduled meetings are exactly when I will be in Nova Scotia for a week attending a conference sponsored by the Physicians for Global Survival.

The newspaper ads are stating that the producers must "sign a declaration" to get the second cheque, as well as all the other hoops. AFSC does not have a copy of this document yet, however, I suspect it is the same document that they want you to sign for AgriStability.

I intend to ask some of these questions on the Derry Brownfield show this friday 9-10 am.

I also noticed the newspaper ads do not say what you have to do to obey the LAW.... just what you have to do to get the second cheque.

[sagewood]

We do, for sure, live in interesting times in Ab. I have said for some time that 'licensing' will happen to those of use in the beef industry and that the BSE thing was just the foot in the door that the government and regulatory agencies needed to start to direct how and what we raise on our grass. As a retired purebred breeder, I have never had a problem with age verifying--knowing sire and dam--keeping health records and so forth and can produce my health and calving dates back to the beginning of time and I have no problem with showing them to anybody who may be interested. I have no problem in welcoming people to inspect my operations or my cattle, be they other producers or government types. My concern, as is Sean's, is that the licensing of either myself or my facility will be onerously costly and again, it is those of us in the cow-calf sector who will pay the increased cost of supporting inspectors/office workers and so forth. So much of the time these people have little connection to the land and have little understanding of the practical needs of an operations as opposed to the 'book' practises. Everything looks possible when laid out in a classroom--sometime putting those ideas into practise needs serious 'tweaking'. I know I sound defeatist when I say that I do believe that we in Alberta will be 'licensed' to raise livestock and this is coming in the not-too-distant future. I look forward to futher posts on this issue.

[coppertop]

Alberta Agriculture is offering packages to a significant number of it's staff in order to come up with the 40 million it needs to start up the Livestock Secretariat. They readily admit that they will be hiring new staff with less experience, which concerns me when this new staff will be the ones on the front lines of this entire new livestock program.

The proposed regulations are onerous and will cost producers time and money, and some of them make no sense at all.
Scanning cattle as they are loaded on trailers at the farm, then again at auction markets, again at feedlots and again at the slaughter facility, is overkill ( pardon the pun). Particularly when anything going across the border is mouthed .

All the above is going to certainly be a make work project for many people, all on the back of the cattle producer whose back is getting very sore from carrying the load as it is.

[grassfarmer]

Sagewood, yes we will see licensing at some point - it's the way of the world and not just in agriculture either. Accept it as the cost of doing business in the future and move on. I don't understand this P M attitude led by ABP that wants everybody to sit around wringing their hands in despair about this new development. (Well I do understand ABPs angle - it's a convenient distraction from their P.P. performance that will see them lose their levy but I digress...)
Look at the opportunities - if you are going to have to do this work anyway why not get it done, call CanadaGold and try and be one of their best paid consigners of calves. That way you have a chance of benefiting from the work you are having to do. This is a free market opportunity led by forward thinking people so why not give it your support? You are a good example of someone who has the records already (as many producers do) so people in your situation should swallow the pride and get on with it, you may just get an enhanced return from the marketplace. Something that for all their hot air, ABP has no idea how to accomplish. Sticking with being the lowest cost supplier to the US, given their ethanol byproduct advantage, and relying on the trickle down effect to enhance our returns clearly won't work but it seems to be the only idea knocking around in the collective heads of ABP/CCA.

Coppertop,
Don't be fooled by the ABP moaning this is a positive move by the AB government and I thought you of all people would see that. The scanning you mention sounds like a traceability/movement tracking system which is something we desperately needed anyway. If you have details of the actual requirements please post them as I haven't read them anywhere else. The comment "Particularly when anything going across the border is mouthed" highlights how far ahead this program will put us compared to the US(fred flintstone)standards.

[sagewood]

Grassfarmer, I am not against some of the 'requirements' that are being mandated by Ab. Ag.; I am just wondering when we are going to get paid for the extra work and extra tags and so forth. I jumped on the band wagon and used the bar coded dangle tags--then I retagged with RFID tags so all my herd complied--I have birth verified my calves since it was possible to do so--I have sent their birth certificates to the feed lot and auction mart with them--I have healthy--tag free--red, white and buckskin calves that usually weight between 600 and 700 # at weaning--I have given my premises I.D. as soon as the AFSC site would take it (I attempted it many years back and they were not set up to accept it). My cattle get exemplary care, shelter, health protocol--not just me blowing my own horn either--the SPCA recognized my care and facilities for all my livestock, big and small, some years back. I most often sell at the top of the pay scale, but the 'premium' for these high-end, high-yielding calves has just not materialized. The auction marts bally-hooed that if we dangle tagged we would see 5 - 10 cent premium--didn't happen--same with RFID--didn't happen. I have not looked into Canada Gold, so can't comment whether they will measure up to their much-vaulted press releases and don't just know where I would have to deliver my calves. If they have to go 200 miles south to the Ab. feed lot alley, then the cost of the diesel to get them there (or pay a trucker) would most likely offset any premium that I might receive--I suspect that the premium would not be paid until the calves were hung and graded--seems a long time to wait to see a premium on something that was 'guaranteed' when we started bar coding our calves. But I too digress--I will look into Canada Gold and see what their program is all about--until then--I am skeptical that there will ever be a premium on Alberta calves. I have talked to several 'old timers' like myself and most just are going to get out now--as for me--I still enjoy the cattle, so will hang in there and hope to break even once in every couple of years.

[coppertop]

grassfarmer the information regarding the proposed tracking system from the farm gate to the slaughter facility, was discussed by Alberta Agriculture's representatives at one of the Livestock Strategy meetings I attended. It means that the truckers who haul in smaller truck/trailer units to the smaller markets are going to have to lay out a considerable sum of money in order to be ready to scan these cattle. The information I heard was that only commercial truckers will need this, farmers hauling their own cattle won't...GO FIGURE THAT ONE OUT !!!
I do understand the need for some tracability system, however I do not agree with it being mandatory at this point.
If producers could see a return for their time and money spent, those who are forward thinking would come on board which is the desired result.
I have never been as disappointed in a comment made by a Minister of the Crown, than I was when George advised that those who didn't want to fall in line could exit the industry.

Those who will likely have the most difficulty 'catching on' to this program as the very producers who have believed in the industry in this province and been the heart and soul of the cattle industry in particular for generations. Grassfarmer you only need to look at the average age of Alberta's cattle producers to understand how this new strategy is going to pose challenges for many of them.
I have spent the past two weeks calling producers in my area to let them know abuot the upcoming meeting at Lindale on September 24th, and MANY of them didn't have a clue what in hell I was talking about. They are going to need to burn the midnight oil to be ready for January 1.
I think we should have been given at least 18 months to get producers up to speed on the program, and above all, get those who are going to implement this program up to speed.

I sat at the local auction market yesterday and listened to three older producers tell me the run around they have been getting trying to find out information about the program from the advertised phone numbers.

I was very involved with the livestock regulatory system under AOPA. It went through countless hearings, meetings, presentations etc. for several years and the final product which came into effect January 1, 2002, was vastly different than what was proposed several years earlier.
In fact that legislation has been amended four times since then, and the producers who built facillities during the first year or so did it under a lot more stringent regulations than what are in effect today.
This may well be what happens with the Livestock Strategy....so my fervent wish is that the Minister, in his wisdom would take the time to get it right and ensure that producers can light at the end of this regulatory tunnel which, in my book, means more dollars in my jeans.

[coppertop]

Just wanted to add, grassfarmer, I think ABP has raised some good points, and, just for the record, I do not get 'fooled' by moaning from any sector or direction.
Since the Minister made his announcement in June there have been numerous rumours regarding the 'intent' behind the legislation.
Personally, I think the Department was caught unaware when the announcement was made, and now they are struggling to make staffing changes to accommodate the new Secretariat.
One fear I have is that other areas of the department will be shortchanged due to some fairly seasoned staff taking packages.

[grassfarmer]

Sagewood, You are clearly a leading producer and deserve to be rewarded for the way you do things. You wonder when you are going to get paid for the extra work - unfortunately it doesn't tend to work like that in the real world. More likely you will just be better rewarded than most producers because you are not getting the discounts they are when they sell cattle.
CanadaGold sounds like it might be able to offer you something in the way of a return for your extra management - no guarantees of course but at least the chance to possibly benefit. Is that better than sitting around complaining about things you can't change? Yes in my book. What have you got to lose though? like me, you are already doing the work required - you may as well try and get rewarded for it.
I think your worry about trucking costs with CanadaGold might be unfounded - they will have cattle in several feedlots and in any case where ever you sell your calves now will likely be paying you a price with the trucking to feedlot alley built in. That's why calves generally make more in Strathmore or Lethbridge than they do in Northern Alberta.

[grassfarmer]

Coppertop,
I think our tracking system must be mandatory ASAP, anything else is a cop out. I have supported the choice of electronic tags since the outset because I know there are systems that can work in an auction situation, I saw them demonstrated in Europe over a decade ago but unfortunately the Europeans then chose to go with a paper chase system. I do not want to see that repeated here. I have moved resolutions at ABP AGMs concerning this - to get it done right away, readers installed in auctions and on liner back doors and paid for by Government funding. I have got no support for this from ABP who argue that we don't need a movement tracking system.

I was more disappointed with Minister Ritz's comments regarding listeria and his hope that Wayne Easter was the person in PEI who had died of it than Minister Groenevelds comments.

I don't think there needs to be an 18 month run up period to introduce this - are beef farmers somehow exempt from needing to show any business sense or awareness of what is going on around them? The only requirements by Jan 1st are to age verify your calves and register a premises ID - the rest doesn't come in until 2010. This was announced in June - I guess the people you spoke to didn't read the letters they received? I bet they cashed their cheques though (except Kathy of course) - there really is no excuse for anyone not being able to age verify their calves this year. There are numerous people who will age verify calves for producers at no cost so there really is nothing to stop it happening other than the attitude that this isn't the way Grandpa did it in 1910. The ridiculous rule still allows you to name the date you started calving and call them age verified. Every producer should be able to hazard a guess as to that date. Equally there is no reason why they couldn't properly (individually) age verify them by the end of next year.

But please think on this - what good will it do producers to run a slew of meetings this Fall grumbling and moaning about Government regulations that are coming in some form anyway? Instead imagine the potential if all this interest and effort was turned to supporting outfits like CanadaGold through informing producers about them rather than griping. Isn't this just the type of thing we have been looking for? something that may have the potential to improve producer returns through gaining access to new markets and securing a fairer share of the revenue generated by the production chain. It just strikes me that we are going to miss a great opportunity by not acting positively on things we can change versus negatively on things we can't.