Dave Biesenthal believes an environmental farm plan saved his cow-calf operation at Walkerton, Ont., in 2000.
Interviewed at the Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan annual conference in Saskatoon Dec. 13-14, he detailed his experiences after his town’s water supply was contaminated by cattle manure.
A town well near Biesenthal’s cow-calf operation was identified as the likely source, with further investigations revealing town employees had failed to properly manage the well and had altered records.
Biesenthal said farmers are vulnerable and need to protect themselves from such incidents.
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“When something does go wrong with the environment, at least you can say you have done something to protect the environment and demonstrate due diligence,” he said.
“Farmers have to keep good records,” he stressed.
Biesenthal sat on a panel of speakers representing salmon, chicken and equine horse producers and other organizations, who shared strategies for managing and responding to public concerns about their industries.
As the owner of Stonegate Farms and an equine veterinarian, Biesenthal was familiar with the bacteria in the contaminated water and knew cattle were natural carriers, but was taken off guard when approached to comment on what had happened.
Being identified publicly as the source of the contamination created great stress for the Biesenthals.
“My wife wouldn’t go into town for a week,” he said, adding they needed to block their driveway with a semi trailer to keep people away.
While farmers know and can speak about the specifics of their own operations better than anyone, he felt farmers would be well advised to refer more general questions to industry representatives.
“Don’t pass yourself off as an expert if you’re not; just tell the truth,” said Biesenthal.
Norm Luba, the executive director of the North American Equine Ranching Information Council in Louisville, Kentucky, told the meeting that his group has learned that lesson.
“(Equine) ranchers (pregnant mare’s urine producers) recognize the importance of speaking through a central group and this strategy has worked well for them,” he said.
NAERIC has cultivated a host of third party allies such as veterinary associations and industry experts to answer questions that producers cannot answer.
Luba said the group has also armed itself with as much information as possible about its own industry, its members and their farm practices.
“We need to let people know these are family run farms, people involved with rural agriculture doing a great job with their horses,” he said.
NAERIC completed reviews of how farms operated, sought ways to improve their practices and created a PMU code of practice.
The final step was to communicate to the general public what they had done.
“It’s important to get your message out because there are plenty of people willing to tell about what bad things you’re doing,” he said.
Animal agriculture has traditionally closed itself off but consumers are becoming increasingly vocal about food safety and animal welfare, said Lisa Bishop-Spencer of the Chicken Farmers of Canada.
Reached by phone in Ottawa, she said the industry needs to showcase its high standards of care.
“People are no longer going to take our word for it. We need to be able to demonstrate what we’re doing,” she said.
