Farriers are There to Ensure that the Shoe Fits

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

Anyone who has been around horses for any length of time has gotten to know a farrier.

A layman might wonder what it is like to look after horses’ feet for a living, or how long a career lasts, or how many times one gets kicked.

Blaine Friesen is a 23-year-old Saskatoon farrier who is passionate about his calling.

“I’m coming into my fifth year as a farrier," he enthuses. "I have been shoeing my own horses since I was 14 years old in Waldheim. My father used to have a farrier come in, but it was difficult to access him at times, so Dad started to shoe his own horses. When I started to ride lots, I started doing it, too.

“While I was working on a ranch training horses in Alberta, I saw this advertisement in The Western Producer about going to farrier school for two weeks—just to get the gist of it. I figured I’d always have horses, so I should learn how to shoe properly. It was the Canadian Farriers’ School held in Crossfield, Alberta, just outside of Calgary."

Friesen registered for the course and went through the training.

“When I went to school, the instructor came up to me after the first couple of days and asked ‘what are you doing here?’ I said I was taking the course because I’ve always trimmed my own horses and I’d like to know what I am doing. He said, ‘Do you want to be a farrier?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Have you ever thought about becoming a farrier?’ I said, ‘No’. He said, ‘I want you to go and think about it.' I said, ‘No.’ Two weeks later I called home and said ‘ I think I’m going to come home and start up a business. My parents said, ‘OK, do what you want to do. You are young enough.’

“I have had my business since I was 19. I’m 23. I’ll do it until my back blows, I guess. Then I’ll have to find something else horse-related.”

It seems wisdom comes early in life to farriers.

“You have to like it if you do the job," says Friesen. "You can’t do it if you hate it. Once you start shoeing, every time you see a horse—or even when you walk into a mall—automatically your mind goes straight to people’s feet and how they are walking. You watch their step to see if their toe and heel break properly. Do their shoes fit the way they walk? It is really funny. You acquire a different view of everything. I even do it with my girlfriend. She is on her feet all day, working. I look at her shoes and think, ‘They don’t have enough of a breakover for you.’ It just comes naturally for you to ask if the shoes fit what you do.”

Early exposure to the trade seems to play a determining role among people who chose this career.

Twenty-five-year-old Loretta Flath of Radisson is another young farrier for whom this profession evolved out of the unique bond between humans and horses, as she experienced and witnessed it as a teenager.

“I was born and raised in Clearwater, B.C., and met a farrier there. When I was grade 11 and 12, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do, so he encouraged me to try this. I went out with him one summer and learned how to pull shoes and finish up and did a lot of holding horses for him and watching how he worked.

“I have always had a love for horses, and that is kind of where it stems from. I could watch my farrier friend all day. When I got into it, I just found I had an eye for it.”

Flath loved it so much she took a nine-month course in Advanced Farrier Science at Kwantlen University College in Langley , B.C., after being on a two-year waiting list. She graduated in 2000 and is now a member of the American Farriers Association.

“I have been at it five years… six years," she says. "I love it. It is hard work, but when you enjoy what you are doing, it doesn’t seem nearly as hard. If I take care of myself, I figure I could be a farrier until I’m 65.

The art of the farrier has not evolved much since the Middle Ages, and that takes a toll on the human body.

“The tools we use are still as archaic as they have ever been," explains Flath. "If you want to look at any ergonomic studies, farrier tools are very hard on the human body. Horse shoes—in terms of what they are made of, and how they facilitate shock absorption, traction and flexibility—have really improved. Shoes can be made from steel or aluminium, not just iron any more. There is a lot more technology to choose from. Not so with the tools.”

Where does professional fulfilment come from when you are a farrier? Flath believes much of it stems from helping our horse partners perform with more ease.

“It is always fun and rewarding when you get a lame horse or a horse with movement problems and you are able to improve upon that. I just really enjoy working with the animals, with different horses and different personalities and temperaments and different feet—especially the ability to work with some horses over a long period of time. There are some horses I have been shoeing now since I came out of school. I love to see the changes as they grow and progress in their training.”

For more information, contact:

Blaine Friesen
Farrier
(306) 384-4341

Loretta Flath
Farrier
(306) 241-6711

Improve your Land when you Feed your Cows

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

When winter-feeding cattle, not every portion of feed gets consumed.

Instead of referring to the material as "wasted feed", Glenn Barclay, forage development specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF) in North Battleford believes we should think of it as a soil enhancer.

"It seems a more appropriate description," he says. "Plus, in addition to the leftover feed, the cow produces manure, which also enhances the soil."

Barclay explains that Dr. Dan Buskirk and his associates at Michigan State University studied feed losses from various designs of cattle feeders. They found losses ranging from 3.5 to 14.6 per cent.

When hay is fed with no access restrictions, animals will trample, over-consume, foul and use hay for bedding. Bell and Martz at the University of Missouri found waste levels could even reach 25 to 45 per cent in unrestricted feeding areas. This material will eventually wind up back in the land, as nutrients.

"Straw and hay," Barclay explains, "are slow to break down, so the impact of the nutrients will start showing up in later years. Nutrient content in hay and straw can vary a great deal."

An SAF study in 1998 found the following average levels of nutrients in wheat straw: nitrogen, 0.4 per cent; phosphate (P2O5), 0.1 per cent; potassium (K2O), 1.4 per cent; and sulphur, 0.1 per cent.

"These levels are quite low and, because they aren't as available in the first year as commercial fertilizer, they do not produce immediate results," says Barclay. "However, the release of nutrients, the increase in the water-holding capacity of the soil, and the build-up of organic matter will occur in the future."

In addition to the hay or straw that is not consumed, cattle also supply manure. Cattle manure is diluted and variable in nutrient content. A 1,200 lb. cow that is seven months pregnant and fed a 50:50 hay/straw ration could produce about 13 lb. of dry matter per day of manure. Just before calving, the same cow, getting fed a hay ration with only three to four pounds of straw, might produce 11.5 lb. of dry matter per day of manure. The same cow, being fed hay and six pounds of grain per day when it is lactating, might produce 11.3 lb. of dry matter per day of manure.

"As the digestibility of the feed increases, the amount of manure dry matter decreases. Normally, better quality feed has higher levels of digestibility," he says. "If you assume manure is about 50 per cent water—although this varies—a reasonable estimate of 20 to 25 lb. of wet manure per average day per 1,200 lb. cow could be assumed in a winter feeding program."

Barclay advises that, when feeding bales, "keep in mind where you want to increase the production and soil organic matter of a hay field or pasture." A knoll, for example, could benefit from being a feeding area. Feeding in a low-lying area, on the other hand, could result in some of the nutrient benefits being lost through leaching and denitrification because of the water that tends to accumulate there. Small areas of pasture can be rejuvenated by making them feeding areas and scattering some forage seed on the soil surface. The cattle's hooves will incorporate the seed with the soil, and the leftover nutrients plus the topdressing of manure will assist germination.

Barclay has one more tip for cattle producers:

"If you are using a four-year reinvigoration plan for a field, you can feed cattle in one corner one year, another corner the next, and so on until the entire field has been covered. Cattle can adapt to snow as their water source, so this can be attempted even on fields far away from a water source."

As a final word of advice, Barclay encourages producers to monitor their fields to ensure excess nutrients aren't being applied.

"When feeding cattle this winter," says Barclay, "keep our land enhancement plan in mind."

For more information, contact:

Glenn Barclay
Forage Development Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
(306) 446-7650

Saskatchewan's Community Pastures Program: More than Meets the Eye

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

No one knows Saskatchewan's network of community pastures better than Rick Ashton, Manager of Resource and Management Services and the Saskatchewan Pastures Program with Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food.

The Community Pastures Program operates within the Lands Branch of Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food, and looks after 7.5 million acres of Crown agricultural land. Of that, about 800,000 acres have been set aside as community pastures. There are 54 provincially operated community pastures around Saskatchewan.

“You can think of it as a very large ranch that is spread out across the province," explains Ashton, "with the exception that the Government of Saskatchewan hires the cowboys and owns the land and infrastructure, but all the livestock is owned by members of the public."

Ashton points out that, as a result, there is a huge responsibility placed on the pastures program because it ends up looking after the cattle for the summer.

“What comes with that is different levels of health, different levels of breeding and various livestock management ideas," he says. "We have 2,500 patrons who all have differing views about what is the best breed, when is the best time treat calves, and all those sorts of issues.”

Cows are in the community pasture system for approximately 125 days on average—or four months. On average, 66,000 cow/calf pairs graze these pastures each year. We have one sheep pasture, and there are usually a few horses being grazed, but generally the pastures are cattle operations, explains Ashton.

“Most of our staff come on board in the first part of April and work a seven-month season," he says. "Fifty pasture managers look after operations at the pasture level, and we have about 70 to 80 riders to assist them in riding the fields and checking the cattle. The riders can work full time shifts—which would be the whole week during the grazing season—or they might come in for just a few days in the spring, maybe a couple of days during the summer, and again a few days in the fall when the cattle are rounded up.”

In addition to the community pasture network, there are six wintering stations where bulls are looked after, adds Ashton.

“Bulls that are owned by either the breeding co-ops or the patrons in and around the community pasture are housed and fed over the winter. We have six pasture managers working year around to look after those bulls—somewhere between 450 to 500 bulls in all. There are about 60 to 80 bulls per location.”

Beyond the purely agricultural value of the pasturelands, there is another increasingly recognized stewardship element to managing this unique resource. Much of the land in the provincial pastures program was returned or abandoned by homesteaders during the 1930s, or it was land that was deemed too rough, brushy, forested, rocky, or sandy for farming.

It is recognized by many of the organizations that are concerned with conservation and natural spaces that community pastures are important areas because they are all large blocks of land under the same management. Today, 500,000 acres of that is native or natural environment, with the remaining land being seeded forage. If you looked at a map of the province, we would have half of our land in the grasslands, and half of our land in the aspen-parkland or boreal transition region.

“The land in the south is primarily native prairie," says Ashton. "The historic Matador Provincial Pasture is the largest community pasture in our system. Pick just about any of the pastures in the south—they are all beautiful. Matador, because of its size, is a very interesting pasture. I like Millie Provincial Pasture in the Great Sand Hills also. Because it is in the sand dunes, there is so much wildlife there.”

Ashton is quite fond of the Hatherleigh Provincial Pasture northeast ofNorth Battleford., as well.

“It is situated in a knob and kettle landscape. It doesn’t have the potholes quite like the Missouri Coteau, but it has one nice larger valley going through it. The pasture stretches from one side of the valley to the other, and has a fantastic view.”

The role of the community pasture has changed over the years. When the community pastures were established in the 1940s and 1950s, it was to diversify farming. Back then, ranchers could earn a living with a herd of 30 to 40 cows. Now, producers need a herd in the neighbourhood of 200 to survive, according to Ashton.

“Our maximum allocation is only 50 cows, so few producers will be using the community pasture as their sole source of grazing land any more," says Ashton. "We celebrated 75 years as a program back in 1998. That makes us 82 this year. Eighty-two years is a long time for any government program to stay in existence, but the program is still well-received and still in demand among producers. As the department considers the future of Crown land management and the recommendations related to Crown land in the Action Committee on the Rural Economy (ACRE) report, the future of community pastures will be an important consideration. The land is always going to be grazing land, but, from my perspective, it is really important that large, contiguous blocks of public land be maintained in their present form, and be managed in the public good.”

For more information, contact:

Rick Ashton
Manager of Resource and Management Services and the Saskatchewan<>

Saskatchewan Agri-Food Value Chain Initiative Aims to Educate

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

Value chains are taking the provincial agricultural sector by storm, according to Bryan Kosteroski, an Advancing Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Saskatchewan (ACAAFS) value chain specialist in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Agri-Food Value Chain Initiative is an alliance of Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF), the Saskatchewan Council for Community Development (SCCD) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) that fosters collaboration in the development of value-added products for consumers in the retail marketplace.

A value chain is a market-focused collaboration between businesses to produce and market value-added products. It benefits producers, processors and marketers by responding to market demands through the alignment of product development, processing and logistics in an effective and efficient manner.

Value chains are not a new concept, explains Kosteroski, but they are an emerging concept. Knowledge-based value chains are growing in Canada. They are very successful in Canada,Australia and New Zealand, and there are some value chains in the United States. They are a new way of doing business that involves more collaboration with fellow producers and growers, and joining forces—putting our resources together—using our expertise within the chain and developing value-added products.

“Right now we have six value chains in the process,” he notes. “For example, Canadian Prairie Lamb has a value chain process that has led to the successful development of five value-added products that are going to the retail markets. The value chain program has been very successful for the sheep producers of Saskatchewan.”

Kosteroski point out that, four years ago, a number of sheep producers participated in an earlier version of the value chain program.

“They increased herds in Saskatchewan. They set up alliances among producers, slaughter plants and processors, and developed these new value-added products that will be available at stores across Canada . The benefit of value chains programs is producer groups setting up alliances and working together.

“The final products are all pre-cooked meats: lamb kebabs, Parmesan lamb meatballs. They did a lot of product development at the Saskatchewan Food Centre, which also sets up alliances with value chain partners.”

A new series of value chain workshops will take place in the next few weeks.

“Module one is about learning the basics of the value chain process: how to collaborate with people and work with each other," says Kosteroski. "When producers get together and work together instead of competing against each other, in the end, we’ll have more accessibility for higher yields of crops.”

To achieve this, the organizers are bringing in Richard Broadwith of BCI Marketing Partners of Guelph, Ontario.

“Richard and his organization have set up an alliance with SCCD and SAF . They have value chain partners across Canada , and Richard has a great knowledge of the value chain program. His technique and skills in developing those alliances really help producers and business partners in Saskatchewan develop those resources and learn how to break the ice and work together.”

Module 1 topics include: The logic of value chains applied to your firm/organization; Val ue chains—the rewards and the risks; Winning the competitive battle; Creating partner and consumer value; Introduction to value chain strategies; Designing a winning business; and Tips for executing value chain strategies.

“All the sessions run from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily. They will be held on February 13 in Regina , February 14 in Swift Current, February 15 in Weyburn, February 16 in Yorkton , February 20 in Saskatoon , February 21 in Melfort, February 22 in Outlook and February 23 in North Battleford .

Kosteroski believes many producer groups and small and mid-sized businesses looking to value-added markets will find it worth their while to attend, as his organization will aggressively promote value chains to Saskatchewan retailers and to brokers in every market accessible in Canada .

For more information, contact:

Bryan Kosteroski
ACAAFS Specialist
Saskatchewan Council for Community Development
(306) 975-6851

Natural Valley Farms an Example of a Value Chain in Action

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

If you were looking to find the perfect example of a value chain in the Saskatchewan beef industry, look no further than Natural Val ley Farms.

The Wolseley-based enterprise has recently accessed some $19,050 of Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food’s (SAF) research dollars through the Agriculture Development Fund (ADF #20040602) to come up with a way to add value to cattle over 30 months of age that aren’t eligible for export—and they are well on their way to succeeding.

Beef cattle producer Dave Fiddler is one of the founders of Natural Valley Farms.

“We are working toward making sure that our producers can recoup a little more out of these animals," he says. "We have taken a portion of beef that, on a younger animal, would normally be made into steaks, and—in collaboration with the Saskatchewan Food Centre in Saskatoon —developed a process whereby the meat is treated with a natural tenderizer and flavour enhancer. We use canola oil and other natural products to infuse moisture and flavour into these products. The result is a marinated steak that is very flavourful. It is a frozen product, targeting the hotel and restaurant trade. They will be our focus market as we move forward.”

According to Fiddler and his colleagues, this is an important development for the company.

“As a producer, I am very excited," he says. "I look at any opportunity to add value and further process products here in Saskatchewan , so it is not just our producers who benefit from adding value, it's also our local economy. The product that normally comes out of this region is commodity beef. What we are doing is new; we are adding value to a low-value product. This will be one of the many products we will develop.”

Natural Valley Farms has already produced some pilot products, and Fiddler says they are currently working on refining the process, “so that we iron the kinks out of it and we will soon come to the marketplace. We will develop a variety of flavours, but it is a long road and we still have a lot of work to do before we are ready to take these products to the marketplace.”

Is this a groundbreaking initiative for the beef industry?

Fiddler says it is.

“This exact recipe has never been done before, and nothing like this has been done on such a large scale in Saskatchewan. The most significant thing is we are adding value to an animal that, at this point in time, has minimal value because of our closed borders.”

Fiddler believes the consequences of the project will be very favourable for the food sector.

“There is a market for this product because it provides restaurateurs with a quality product at a reasonable price.”

Natural Valley Farms was started by producers. It is owned by producers through a producer group.

“Ultimately we operate in the total value chain for all our products," he says. "We are looking to benefit our producers, the provincial economy and the whole beef industry wherever we can.”

For more information, contact:

Dave Fiddler
Natural Valley Farms
(306) 627-3536