MOOSE JAW, Sask. – Duane Thompson and Martin Catto have struck a partnership that lends credence to the adage that good fences make good neighbours.
Thompson and his family raise cattle and grow grain, while Catto and his family grow grain and raise sheep. The two operations are about 10 kilometres apart in the Kelliher and Lipton areas of Saskatchewan.
They told producers attending a conference organized by the Moose Jaw River Watershed Stewards Inc. that they work together to make best use of their resources.
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For the past several winters, Thompson has grazed some of his 600 cattle on Catto’s grain land. At first the arrangement involved a temporary electric fence to keep the cattle moving.
Now, much of Catto’s land is permanently fenced. The pair recently fenced more than 20 quarters.
“I knew he was committed to my land,” Catto said.
Both farmers collect straw and chaff off their combines. Thompson devised a system using a Redekop chaff blower and a deflector to collect straw coming out of the chopper. He gets about one wagon full of chaff and straw per combine hopper and estimated the weight at about 450 kilograms.
The piles are left in the fields. Catto then takes as much as he needs for his sheep. He maintains a breeding herd of 1,500 ewes and keeps them close to home because of coyote predation.
The remainder is left for Thompson’s cattle, which eat from the piles and graze the stubble. There has never been a time when the piles weren’t cleaned up, Catto said.
Thompson pays Catto on a per head per day basis, except on the coldest days when he feeds.
“You don’t get paid a whole lot for it,” Catto said. “But he’s actually improving my land by doing it.”
The cattle add nutrients to the soil from their manure and they help get the field ready for spring planting by cleaning up sloughs and stubble.
Thompson’s cattle calve at the end of April, a move that is designed to coincide with when grass is putting out the most energy and cows need it.
Calves are weaned in mid-December, and the cattle are winter grazed as long as possible.
He grazes as many cows on a quarter as he can but keeps the time short. By moving them every three or four days this winter, he was able to keep the herd out a long time.
“The cows just came home March 16 from Catto’s,” Thompson said.
He said this arrangement is helping him cope with the cattle price downturn.
“We don’t know how long this market challenge is going to be. We’ve got to tighten up.”
He has traded in his feed wagon for a solar fencing system and moves cattle constantly.
“We move cows all the time … every two to seven days in summer,” he said.
Thompson’s commercial herd does not resemble any one breed because he said all the cows are “true performers” that can eat low quality feed and still look good.
Catto added that the chaff and grazing system works for sheep to a certain extent. But they won’t clean up a field as well as cattle.
He couldn’t think of any disadvantages to the system he and Thompson have worked out.
“In six or seven years, I have yet to see a down side,” he said.
Catto said there has to be trust between the partners, especially at the beginning.
Focusing on the money is a mistake, he said, because the other benefits have to be considered.
