Manitoulin Island's cattle industry rebounds

Monday, February 3, 2014

The island's beef producers were hard hit by the 2003 BSE crisis, but cattle numbers have recovered and the arrival of organic producer Blue Goose is expected to give the industry a leg up

by MARY BAXTER

You can't spot the change in Manitoulin's beef industry just by looking. Driving along the narrow roads in the island's interior reveals large range pastures with clusters of cows and calves. It's the sort of scene to be expected in a part of the province that has had a long-standing reputation for generating good quality calves and yearlings.

Until recently, the biggest impact on the island's industry was the 2003 BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) crisis, says John McNaughton, president of the Manitoulin Cattlemen's Association. "We lost a large number of producers and a lot of them also just shrank their operations."

But, although producer numbers have remained much smaller, cattle numbers rebounded by 2008, and in 2011 the island's cow herd stood at just over 7,000 – about 400 more than were on the island in 2002.

A series of recent events have the potential to generate some significant changes in the local industry and islanders are showing renewed optimism. Just don't call it a renaissance or revitalization. "This island has a tremendous history of cattle production," says Jim Martin, one of those at the centre of change. Yes, it's likely there will be more widespread recognition of the island's production capabilities in the years ahead, he says. But to say there's radical change ahead tends to minimize how well Manitoulin producers  have done over the years, despite the hurdle of isolation.

The local industry expects that the arrival of Blue Goose Pure Foods, an organic food company which got its start in organic cattle production in British Columbia, will soon raise its profile significantly in consumer markets far beyond the island's boundaries. There's some big money in Blue Goose which, according to financial statements, focuses on "the production, distribution and sale of organic and natural beef, chicken and fish," as well as related by-products such as organic fertilizer and compost. Toronto-based Dundee Corporation, spearheaded by Canadian investor Ned Goodman, holds a controlling share. In 2013, Blue Goose spent $69.1 million to expand its operations in Canada and the United States; during 2012, it invested $27.4 million in its cattle production operations, which not only include picturesque locations in British Columbia and the equally scenic Manitoulin Island, but also in Colorado.

In 2012, the company's land holdings included more than one million acres of deeded and leased land and its organic cattle herd numbered 8,500. Some of its products can be found in Whole Foods Market and Sobeys Inc. The company launched its organic beef products in Loblaws stores in December.  

A year and a half earlier, Blue Goose announced its presence on Manitoulin with Jim Martin as its general ranch manager. By July 2013, the company's island holdings were approaching nearly 9,000 acres, spread over 50 kilometres from Barrie Island on the North Channel to Providence Bay in the south. There are leased properties beyond that. The total herd at that time was 1,000 (560 of which were cows mothering calves; the calving program is split between summer and fall). The island cattle operations employ nine people, not including Martin.

In July as well, the island operation was working towards, but had not yet received, organic certification. The company's B.C. operations are certified organic and certified as well to the fourth level of the Global Animal Partnership, which requires producers to meet certain animal welfare standards, such as stocking densities and year-round access to the outdoors.

Martin, whose family maintains a 130-cow purebred shorthorn and Angus breeding and commercial market operation, says the certification process is much like any other with a verified audit. "Quite frankly, I'm glad to learn it, glad to participate," he says. "We're just verifying a product for targeted customers."

The distances between Blue Goose's Manitoulin locations, however, present a challenge, Martin acknowledges, as can record keeping of cattle identification in some pastures. Some of the farms acquired are older and need improvements, such as fencing. Water supply during 2012's drought presented another possible hurdle and a chance to work it out before it really became one. "We got to learn about the water capacity of some of these farms," Martin explains. So, where needed, Blue Goose has added ponds and solar pumps to ensure cattle's access to water.

Martin says Blue Goose is making a positive difference in the island's cattle industry and beyond. For one thing, it has offered employment opportunities. "We've got a considerable number of young people on the staff who didn't go to a mine or an oil well; they stayed here," he says.

The company also buys feed from neighbours and, in future, there may be the opportunity to supply it with genetics as well. Moreover, for farmers considering an exit strategy, having another buyer in the marketplace doesn't hurt, he adds. The company also contributes to the broader community: last year, it sponsored a local Lion's Club festival and helped Manitoulin Health Care raise funds for ultrasound and X-ray equipment.

Martin recognizes there have been questions about whether the company's extensive land acquisitions are driving up prices and making it difficult for other farmers to locate on the island. He points out that, over the past two years, two beginning farmers have moved into the area and McNaughton also observes there have been other farmers, mostly from southern Ontario, looking for more reasonably priced land. Mennonite and Amish families, in particular, have shown interest and have made some individual purchases, but not as a large group, he says.

Dave McDowell moved his farm operation to the island in 2012 from the London and St. Thomas area. He maintains about 70 cattle at his location south of Little Current. He has 300 acres, the same number as he had on his farm in southern Ontario. The move, however, presented another opportunity – a livestock auction business.

The island had been without an auction facility since the mid-2000s, when high winds blew down the previous building. McDowell had acquired a former bull-testing station, so there is plenty of space for sales. He credits Dean Millsap, a local beef producer and trucking service operator, for giving him the idea. The first sale, held last spring, featured 125 animals and drew buyers from the north shore of Lake Huron and southern Ontario. By his last sale of the year in November, there were more than 200 animals and about 40 buyers. He's hoping to build a new sales barn, so sales can be held indoors, and to increase the capacity to 500 to 600 animals per sale. He'd also like to establish a location for a farm market.

The launch, earlier this year, of the Manitoulin Island Community Abattoir Inc. is also being heralded as a game-changer for the local industry. It's the first larger scale, provincially inspected, multi-species abattoir on the island since the 1990s. As of last July, about 50 farmers had taken out memberships in the non-profit venture. Birgit Martin, chair of the abattoir's board (she's also married to Jim Martin), says its establishment has helped to complete the production chain to bring local product to consumers. Tourists ask for local product when they visit the island's butcher shops, she notes. Until now, "that was always really hard to deliver."

It will help farmers to market products under their own brand, but there are also plans to establish an island brand. The abattoir is in an ideal position to establish the brand's production and processing protocols, she says.

Max Burt, who owns a mixed farm and on-farm store near Gore Bay and, since 2000, has done his own processing at his private, provincially inspected abattoir, says the local food movement has created more demand for island product and, currently, there is not enough to meet demand. "My real hope is that the community abattoir will indeed provide benefits for the whole community," he says.

Blue Goose, with its goal of managing all aspects of production from the farm to the retail outlet, is the abattoir's main customer. Currently, it uses the service once a month. As its production numbers increase, it will use the abattoir weekly.

McDowell doubts that Blue Goose's goal of finishing and even processing cattle on the island will convince other local producers to follow suit in great volumes. Without access to markets for finished beef, for a farmer like him "freezer beef trade isn't going to do it," he says. There's not a large enough market on the island, so it would mean trucking product off the island, which adds expense. Nor, says McNaughton, who runs a 50-cow herd and a 200-head stocker barn, will all the new developments in the island's cattle industry significantly increase its cow herd.

What they will do, he says, is make it more viable for island producers to retain some animals longer and do more finishing on the island. Previously, producers had to drive at least three to five hours to obtain abattoir service, he points out.

And even though the presence of a larger farming partner like Blue Goose has created more optimism within the island's farming community, he cautions it's still early days yet for the venture. "A lot of it we're still waiting to see because there's a good deal of speculation around them. But with that number of cattle coming on the island, it certainly does help in the motivation that this is a good place to be raising cattle." BF