56 It’s Farming. And It’s Better. Better Farming | September 2024 ers don’t have the infrastructure or pasture to do it,” he says. Calf club and pre-sort sales are one opportunity that benefits both the producer selling the calves, and the next farmer who will receive them. In Ontario, these calf clubs will allow a number of producers within a region to raise their calves on the same health protocol and bring them together to create groups of consistent calves. This also helps buyers put together full loads of cattle. “A lot of guys in these sales have 30 to 50 calves, which doesn’t fill a truck, and the weight range might be variable,” says Mitchell, who is involved in the coordination of these calf club sales and protocols after Kotzeff’s initiation of the program 15 years prior. “We are getting as close to western large-herd style sales as we can by bringing calves in from the same environment with the same health and weaning protocols, and we sort them into groups of the same size to offer feedlot buyers a uniform package.” In this case, cow-calf producers see the payoff of implementing a strong weaning program that prepares the calf for its next steps. “The calves would be double vaccinated prior to weaning – once in the spring and once in the fall – and they are dewormed during fall processing, so they should be clean from parasites. “They have maximum immunity and are also given selenium, so they aren’t coming in deficient,” says Mitchell. “They are prepared, and they are ready to go to their next destination. We are giving them a backpack full of supplies and preparing them as best we can.” During Mitchell’s involvement in the pre-sort sales, he has consistently seen the reputation of these calves bring in attractive prices. “For years running it’s been the most expensive sale in North America to buy calves at because of the long-standing tradition,” he explains. “One of the most common reasons we hear to not join the calf clubs is that they have to run calves through the chute in the spring and in the fall. It maybe costs $10 a head to run them through and depending on the sale, they made anywhere from $200 to $500 more per calf last year.” For a smooth weaning process, farmers should consider which strategies work best for their facilities and marketing plans, as well as how they might reduce stress within those strategies. This can help both buyers and sellers get the most out of calves as they transition from living on their dams to feed. BF Because the World’s Best Farmers Deserve the Hardest-Working Farm Magazine. Your ‘Better Farming’ Crop Advisor Team Bringing Ontario’s crop farmers the best advice & insight, for 25 years now. Patrick’s column has run in Better Farming since its launch in 1999. He is a member of the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame who has been a widely respected crop specialist for some 50 years. Patrick helped introduce the Certified Crop Advisor program in Ontario and helped establish the reduced tillage and soil conservation movements here. Pat continues to offer controversial and innovative ideas to encourage cash-croppers to think creatively to solve problems. Noted for teaching precision farming and 4-R Nutrient Stewardship, Dale’s “Yield Matters” has been in Better Farming since the beginning. He’s a member of the Ontario Ag Hall of Fame and was instrumental in bringing the Certified Crop Advisor program here. Dale began developing the digital ag strategy in 1993 to launch the precision ag movement in Ontario and emphasized capturing and analyzing field data. In 2016 he was named International CCA of the Year. Paul is an area agronomist with Corteva Agriscience and writes a regular agronomy and cash-cropping feature in Better Farming. Ontario agriculture is his passion and he has a strong reputation for helping cash-croppers solve problems through innovation, data analysis and informed management practices. His research has included corn population, fungicide, soybean row width/population and fertility work. Paul was the 2023 Ontario CCA of the Year Award winner. DALE COWAN PAUL HERMANS PATRICK LYNCH It’s Farming. And it’s Better. Livestock EMILY MCKINLAY Emily lives on a beef farm, raising Red Angus and Simmental cattle. She holds a Master of Science in Animal Biosciences from University of Guelph, with a focus on ruminant nutrition.
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