Most producers shudder at the thought of going back to school, but for rancher Aaron Hougham from Frenchman Butte, Sask., the recent Western Canada Feedlot Management School had one advantage: “You come willingly to this one.”
The school, held Aug. 9-11 in Saskatoon, covered all the bases. It was designed for people already in the cattle feeding business, producers considering expansion or those just getting started.
The ninth annual school covered business and marketing, processing, receiving and identifying sick cattle and feedlot nutrition in a mix of classroom seminars, feedlot tours and hands-on learning.
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Jamie Blacklock, general manager of the Saskatchewan Cattle Feeders Association and one of the school organizers, said it was originally designed for people who wanted to get into the cattle feeding business but didn’t know how to start.
While it continues to serve that purpose, she said it is also designed for those who have been feeding for awhile, but who either want a general brush-up course or who are proficient in one side of the business but would like to learn more in other areas.
Hougham knew what he wanted to learn from the school.
“I went down specifically for the nutrition seminar, so I get a better ration in front of my finisher calves.”
While the Houghams have been feeding cattle for decades, they have just started finishing animals.
“At home, we’d been retaining ownership on our calves, and we’d been backgrounding to 850 weight, and then usually selling them. But with the drought and the BSE the last two years, we actually on-farm finished some cattle.
So I was there to kind of get myself up to date and current on feedlot practices because we’re starting to retain ownership right to the finish level.”
Hougham said he was pleased with the breadth and quality of the speakers and their presentations and he would recommend it to other producers.
“It was well worth my time and investment.”
He said these kinds of schools will often produce one or two key pieces of information that on their own are worth the cost of registration.
Hougham said he originally thought he’d use implants on his feeder animals sparingly or not at all so he could market his end product as natural beef. However, the school changed his mind.
“There was one speaker who was adamant that if you don’t use implants, you’re basically losing $90 a head in lost efficiencies during the feeding period. Well, the (profit) margin or the amount extra for natural beef wouldn’t offset the decrease in efficiency, so that in itself was worth my trip; that one talk.”
The school has been filled to capacity every year with the exception of 2003, just after BSE hit the industry, and Blacklock said this strong demand for a spot in the school speaks to its need and relevance for today’s producers.
Change with the times
Blacklock attributed some of the growth of the cattle feeding industry in Western Canada in the last decade to the school and said its main themes stay constant every year.
“But how we cover those topics has probably varied quite a bit over the years, depending on the current trends or the changes in industry or the difference in what people are raising, the different types of cattle that we’re wanting as an end product.”
Amanda Walker, a graduate student in the University of Saskatchewan’s animal and poultry science department, found the seminars on marketing and foreign contracts to be the most beneficial.
“Eventually I’m going to be out working in this industry, so it’s good to get out and meet the people who are working there right now and who are going to be there in the future.”
Walker was optimistic at the prospects of a career in the cattle feeding industry.
“There are lots of options. What I’d like to do right now is be in some sort of technology transfer position, kind of being the middleman between the university, the knowledge generators, and passing that information down to the producers who can use it and put it into practice every day.”
The Western Canada Feedlot Management School was organized by the Saskatchewan Cattle Feeders Association, the U of S’s extension division and the animal and poultry science department and Saskatchewan Agriculture.
