CALGARY – For Miles and Joyce Crandall at Triple 7 Ranches, beef quality assurance starts when a newborn calf hits the ground.
It is a question of management philosophy and consumer confidence.
Along the way, it also can earn ranchers more money.
“Quality assurance isn’t one particular standard or practice,” said Joyce. “It has to be a philosophy that is ingrained in the place.”
As owners of a backgrounding lot at Ponoka, Alta., the Crandalls embarked on a quality assurance program a year ago.
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It has improved animal health and impresses customers who want to place their calves there and finishing lots which want to buy from them.
The Crandalls are the first line of defence in a revolution which is sweeping Canada’s food inspection and quality assurance system.
At the government level, the inspection bureaucracy is being consolidated and reformed.
At the processor and packing plant level, a more precise system of inspection is being introduced.
And on farms like Triple 7 Ranches, producers are under increased pressure to operate with the new food safety rules in mind.
After attending the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association feedlot quality assurance course a couple years ago, Joyce and the ranch staff prepared a manual on animal health practices and procedures.
All procedures are recorded. It increases paperwork but provides proof that proper care is taken of all animals from the way needles are handled to castration and dehorning.
Staff support is crucial to make the program work and Crandall’s staff were supportive.
So far, they’ve completed a 37-page animal health procedures manual.
Next come guides on animal nutrition, lot administration and maintenance.
A written manual is a good training tool for new people and provides consistency.
“Before we even let them pick up a needle, they have to go through an orientation and training process,” said Joyce.
Already they have noticed benefits, including fewer animal abcesses due to infections from dirty or rough needles.
Animals are healthier, drug costs are lower and they can move through the packer’s line with fewer costly flaws like carcass scars.
She said quality assurance has to start when the calf is born and move through the chain of feedlots, packers, retailers and consumers who are responsible for preparing their food properly.
“We, as an industry, have to be able to stand up against mad cow disease and E. coli and say we are doing the very best we can at the producer level to assure you that this product is safe,” said Joyce.
