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TRANSCRIPT
Publications Mail Sales Agreement No. 40063866
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WISE WORDSDairy Farmers of Ontario past chairs share their recollections of their time on the board
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2 MAY 2014 | MILKPRODUCER
Follow DeLaval
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 3
4 EDITOR’S NOTES
6 DFO CHAIR’S MESSAGE
18 LEGAL
20 FARM FINANCE
22 DFC PROMOTION
32 LOOKING BACK
34 PROACTION
36 RESEARCH
38 FEED
42 RUMINATIONS
44 MARKETS
47 NEW ’N’ NOTED
50 BACK FORTY 24
30 40FEATURES
8 OPEN FARM DAYS Ontario dairy regions will let the public tour select dairy farms
30 GREAT ACHIEVEMENT York region woman celebrated for her efforts in helping the dairy industry
40 APPLIED SCIENCE Researchers aim to improve the lives of cattle and farmers through science
CONTENTSVol. 91 No. 5
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4 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER
EDITOR’S NOTESBy Sharon Laidlaw
What does it mean to be sustain-able? To some people, sustain-ability evokes thoughts of wind
turbines lining country fields and rows of solar panels placed along rooftops, and to others it means rethinking how humans live and interact with their surroundings and the environment. These could include simple adjustments, such as switching to using low-flow toilets in public and private bathrooms, or major endeavours, such as our provincial government implementing a cap and trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
One thing is certain; there is no one definition when it comes to sustainability. The words sustainable and sustainability can be applied to many approaches that improve our way of life and preserve our environment.
Sustainability can encompass many meanings, including the following:• developing systems that merge ecology and economy into one system;• living in harmony with nature;• responsibly using the earth’s resources without damaging the environment;• using science to develop new ‘green’ technologies;• making lifestyle adjustments to preserve natural resources.
The Canadian dairy industry also prac-tices sustainability, from farm to fork. Environmentally-friendly practices are key to ensuring the sustainable future of Canadian dairy farms. The Dairy Farm Sustainability Award is testament to that fact. It recognizes Canadian dairy farm-ers who have proactively adopted on-farm management practices that extend beyond regulatory requirements and demonstrate continuous improvement in various as-pects of sustainable dairy farming, such as natural resource use and animal care.
Dairy farmers follow these practices because they love what they do and care about the environment and their animals. Now, farmers in Ontario, including dairy farmers, have another avenue to showcase their environmental stewardship. Clean-
FARMS, a Canadian agricultural steward-ship organization, is calling all Ontario farmers to take The Great Ontario Clean Farms Challenge and help profile the posi-tive contributions they make to the en-vironment through good waste manage-ment.
“Farmers are committed to acting in environmentally responsible ways,” said Barry Friesen, general manager of Clean-FARMS in a news release. “This challenge encourages farmers to share what they do and allows us to showcase their ongoing stewardship commitment.”
The Great Ontario Clean Farms Chal-lenge was launched in late April and is open to all farmers who own or operate commercial farms in Ontario. The chal-lenge closes on July 30, 2015. Finalists will be selected based on their commitment to best practices, innovation and participa-tion in recycling programs. The winning farmer will receive a $5,000 cash prize.
This is the second Clean Farms Chal-lenge. It ran last year for the first time in Manitoba. The challenge is designed to help create a dialogue about on-farm in-novations that help farmers reduce, reuse and recycle agricultural waste. More infor-mation can found at www.cleanfarms.ca. Click on The Great Ontario CleanFARMS Challenge under Pilot and Special Pro-jects.
Dairy producers and their families are good stewards of land, air and water, and while they don’t often get any recognition for their efforts, it is good to know about the work they do on the farm and in their surrounding communities that help make this world a better place to live.
MILK PRODUCER is published monthly by Dairy Farmers of Ontario, 6780 Campobello Road, Mississauga, Ontario, L5N 2L8 EDITOR: Sharon LaidlawASSISTANT EDITOR: Amy ReuschFREELANCE GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Ashley SpiresPHOTOGRAPHER: David BarrCo-ordinated by the Communications Division, Graham Lloyd, Director and General Counsel. Subscription rates: $26.88 for one year, $49.28 for two years and $67.20 for three years in Canada (includes HST), $36 per year in the U.S., $36 per year overseas. Single copy: $2.50. Make cheques payable to Dairy Farmers of Ontario. Canada Post Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No.40063866. Return postage guaranteed. Circulation: 9,500.ISSN 0030-3038. Printed in Canada
SUBSCRIPTIONSChange of address notices should be sent to:MILK PRODUCER 6780 Campobello Road, Mississauga, Ontario L5N 2L8Phone: (905) 821-8970Fax: (905) 821-3160
FOR ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES CONTACT:Bill Dimmick National Marketing ManagerPhone (905) 808-2760 Email: [email protected]
Opinions expressed herein are those of the author and/or editor and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or policies of Dairy Farmers of Ontario. Publication of advertisements does not constitute endorsement or approval by Milk Producer or Dairy Farmers of Ontario of products or services advertised.
Milk Producer welcomes letters to the editor about magazine content.
Email:[email protected]@milk.org
Websites:
www.milkproducer.cawww.milk.orgFacebook: /OntarioDairyTwitter: @DairyOntario
THINK SUSTAINABILITYDairy farmers are encouraged to share their efforts to help protect the environment [
6 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER
Ralph Dietrich, Chair
Dairy Farmers of Ontario
April 23, 2015
DFO CHAIR’S MESSAGEBy Ralph Dietrich
CONNECTING WITH CONSUMERSAT OPEN FARMS EVENT IN JUNE
PORTES OUVERTES ET CONTACT AVEC LES CONSOMMATEURS
Time flies by so fast. Before weknow it, it will be time for ourOpen Farms celebrations. This
concept is one of the festivities DairyFarmers of Ontario (DFO) is organizingas part of its 50th anniversary celebrations.Dairy farmers will showcase their industryto interested urban and rural Ontariansthroughout all 12 regions in the province.
Fifty years ago, there were about 40,000dairy farms shipping milk and cream inOntario, and roughly 875,000 milkingcows, according to Canadian Dairy Infor-mation Centre statistics. Ontarians weremuch more knowledgeable about agricul-ture and dairy farming at that time com-pared with today.
The number of Ontarians who have anyinvolvement or ties with agriculture con-tinues to decrease. Over the years, the per-centage of people with direct or indirectconnections to agriculture has dropped
to under two per cent. This poses both a responsibility and an opportunity. The more dairy producers educate consumers, the better the consumer can appreciate our agricultural system.
The farming sector has made incredible changes over the years. The technological advances in Ontario’s dairy industry are unparalleled. The efficiencies and man-agement skills of the people who work in this industry match those of any business. The dairy industry is pleased and proud to showcase its agricultural excellence.
The Open Farms event DFO is show-casing will let the public experience a day on a dairy farm. Dairy producers have an important responsibility during this event—to ensure each visitor has a great day on the farm.
My daughter once said: “I can’t imagine what it would be like not to have a farm to take my kids to (visit).” You can’t put a
price on the value of raising a family on a farm; it is priceless. Living and working on a dairy farm has many benefits. On June 27 and 28, dairy producers will open up their farms and provide all Ontarians the oppor-tunity to experience life in rural Ontario, and show them just how lucky they are to be working in agriculture.
Please join us. We earnestly look for-ward to seeing you on our farms.
Le temps passe vite et nous serons viterendus aux journées Portes ouvertes.Il s’agit d’un des événements organ-
isés par le Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO)pour célébrer son 50e anniversaire. Dans les12 régions de la province, les producteurslaitiers exposeront leur métier aux Ontariensintéressés des villes et de la campagne.
Il y a cinquante ans, environ 40 000 ex-ploitations laitières produisaient du lait etde la crème en Ontario, avec à peu près 875000 vaches laitières, selon les statistiques duCentre canadien d’information laitière. Àcette époque, les Ontariens étaient beau-coup plus informés qu’au-jourd’hui surl’agriculture et la production laitière.
Le nombre d’Ontariens impliqués ouayant des liens avec l’agriculture continuede diminuer. Avec les années, le pourcent-
age de gens impliqués directement ou in-directement dans l’agriculture est tombé en dessous de 2 %. Cette situation pose un problème de responsabilité et d’oppor-tunité. Les producteurs laitiers ont besoin d’aider à éduquer les consommateurs.
Le secteur agricole a connu des change-ments incroyables au cours des années. Les progrès technologiques de l’industrie laitière en Ontario sont incomparables. L’efficacité et les compétences en gestion des gens qui travaillent dans cette profes-sion n’ont rien à envier aux autres entre-prises. L’industrie laitière est heureuse et fière d’exposer son excellence agricole.
La journée Portes ouvertes du DFO permettra au public de voir ce qu’est une exploitation laitière. Les producteurs laitiers ont une importante responsabilité
pendant cet événement — s’assurer que chaque visiteur passe une bonne journée à la ferme.
Ma fille m’a dit un jour : « Je ne peux pas m’imaginer ce que ce serait de ne pas avoir de ferme où je pourrais aller avec mes enfants. » On ne peut pas mettre un prix sur la chance de pouvoir élever une famille dans une ferme ; c’est inestimable. Vivre et travailler sur une exploitation laitière offre de nombreux avantages. Les 27 et 28 juin, les producteurs laitiers ouvriront leurs fermes et offriront à tous les Ontariens la possibilité de connaître la vie de l’Ontario agricole et de leur montrer la chance que nous avons de travailler dans l’agriculture.
Merci de vous joindre à nous. Nous comptons sincèrement sur votre visite dans nos fermes.
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Dairy regions across Ontario will be hosting an Open Farms event to help celebrate Dairy Farmers of
Ontario’s (DFO) 50th anniversary and connect with consumers. DFO has com-mitted to assist the 12 regions to host an event on June 27 or June 28, 2015.
The purpose of this event is to open barn doors to Ontario families so they can better understand the dairy industry, as well as grow the relationship between rural and urban communities. The event will allow Ontarians to experience a dairy farm firsthand and show what producers do and why they do it.
Each event will be a family-friendly ac-
tivity where visitors will be able to tour the farm, see the cows and farm equipment, and talk with producers.
These events will allow dairy producers to connect with industry supporters, part-ners and local communities. Special guests may include government representatives, such as MPs, MPPs, local businesses, schools and processors. Open Farm Days will provide Ontarians with an opportun-ity to meet dairy farm families and show-case the important role dairy plays in local communities and the national economy, says Laural Adams, DFO’s communica-tions manager.
“The idea is to share the story from
farm to glass, and make a connection from family to family,” she says.
Each host farm has been given guide-lines to ensure consistent messaging and standards to implement a well aligned, media ready event, Adams adds. Each re-gion will choose its own host barn. The host barns need to be camera ready since these events are open to the public and, perhaps, media. All host barns must be regulatory compliant.
“We recognize each region will want to do something different, and are encour-aging each host farm to customize their event for their expected audience,” says Adams.
DAIRY UPDATE
OPEN FARM DAYS IN JUNE Dairy regions will join in DFO’s 50th anniversary celebrations by allowing the public to tour select dairy farms[
DAIRY FARMERS
of Ontario is hosting a series of Open Farm Days this June to celebrate its 50th anniversary and connect with consumers.
WHO Hosted by a dairy farm (one per region) for the public, particularly urban and rural families
WHAT Open Farm Days Event on the farm
WHERE On a host dairy farm chosen by the region WHEN June 27 or June 28
WHY Expose families to the dairy industry, as well as educate, pro-mote and build relation-ships between the dairy industry and Canadians
EMBRO Performance Dairy Centre — 519-423-9119
KOMOKADairy Lane Systems — 519-666-1404
PETERBOROUGHWood’s Farm Automation — 705-295-4752
SEELEYS BAYMcCann Farm Automation — 613-382-7411
MOOSE CREEKLaurence Dairy — 613-538-2559
DRAYTON, WOODSTOCK, LINDSAY, BRINSTONNorwell Dairy Systems — 519-638-3535
10 MAY 2015 MILKPRODUCER
DFO ADDRESSES SUCCESSION
PLANNING AT ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL
Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) has developed a succession strategy to address its evolving workforce and
changes in the industry, says Shikha Jain, DFO’s human resources and organization-al development manager.
There is a need for DFO and the dairy industry to modernize, innovate and com-pete in the marketplace, says Jain. For DFO to accomplish these goals it needs a workforce that has in-depth knowledge of:• global and national trade, and how it affects the dairy industry and producers; • current regulations and policies, where they came from and, if changed, who they will affect and how; • who DFO’s partners and stakeholders are, their mandates and what their place is in the industry;• processors’ needs and challenges; • producer perspectives.
The need to build relationships is also a requirement for DFO’s future success. Strong working relationships with gov-ernment, industry partners and processors have been vital to DFO’s past success, says Jain.
“When we are looking at succession, knowledge is something you can gain. However, relationships take time to build and develop,” she says.
Over the past three years DFO has had many new employees join the organiz-ation. These new hires now represent 27 per cent of DFO’s workforce, says Jain. DFO has many long tenured employees. Fifty-two per cent have more than 15 years of service and 40 per cent have been with the organization for more than 20 years. This is not common in other industries, she says.
However, 11 per cent of DFO’s work-force will be at retirement age in the next three years. The average tenure of these employees is 32 years, says Jain. These em-ployees have incredible tacit knowledge that needs to be captured, she adds.
DFO is taking a proactive approach in
how these staff changes will affect the or-ganization, says Jain.
A new hiring process was developed three years ago to ensure DFO has indi-viduals with the right skills and competen-cies to do their jobs, and attracts those who share the same values, ensuring cultural fit. It includes on-boarding plans, a custom-ized plan for new hires that includes ac-tivities, such as touring farms, attending board meetings to see how policy is adopt-ed, visiting the Guelph lab, and job shad-owing a bulk tank milk grader and field services representative. DFO also conducts behavioural interviews and assessments, regular check-ins with new hires, and has probationary performance objectives in place to target learning and measure suc-cess.
DFO is using career plans to develop succession candidates. An annual corpor-ate training plan has been created out-
lining individual and collective training opportunities to develop the necessary knowledge. It is also developing a dairy Wikipedia-type web portal as an educa-tional tool to be used as a single resource that consolidates educational and refer-ence materials for staff, board members, dairy producer committee members and even the public.
DFO has very specialized jobs, such as milk allocation and quota management. “These are unique positions and replace-ments won’t be found easily,” says Jain. DFO is developing contingency plans for such jobs. Its succession strategy includes a team approach to senior management and cross-training to eliminate single-point de-pendencies, she adds.
Succession planning is an ongoing ef-fort, says Jain. DFO is identifying needs and putting programs in place to address future challenges, she adds.
DAIRY UPDATE
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Editor’s note: Dairy Farmers of Ontario recently held its annual policy conference in Alliston, Ont. Magazine staff filed this report based on the discussion papers and interviews conducted after the conference.
Years of service at Dairy Farmers of Ontario
52% 48%
Over 15 years of service Under 15 years of service
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 11WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
ONTARIO’S DAIRY INDUSTRY CELEBRATES GRAND-OPENING
OF THE LIVESTOCK RESEARCH AND INNOVATION CENTRE
Mark the date in your calendar—Thursday, May 28, 2015 is the official grand opening and open
house of the new Livestock Research and Innovation Centre (LRIC) – Dairy Facility in Elora, Ont.
This state-of-the-art facility will be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free lunch will be provided for all attendees. The LRIC – Dairy Facility is funded by the Government of Ontario through the Agriculture Research Institute of Ontario, and by Dairy Farmers of Ontario and more than 30 industry sponsors.
“This world-class facility will position Ontario at the forefront of innovation and technology development in agri-food, par-ticularly for livestock research,” said Rich Moccia, the University of Guelph’s associate vice-president, strategic partnerships. “It’s an excellent example of the power of university, government and industry collaboration.”
Throughout the construction and plan-ning, careful consideration has been given to ensure the facility complies with the housing guidelines of the Canadian Coun-cil for Animal Care and Animals for Research Act regulations.
The centre is being built in co-operation with the Livestock Research Innovation Cor-poration, a not-for-profit consortium of live-stock commodity organizations, established to advance the research objectives of its member organizations. The dairy herd will be transi-tioning from the old facility to the new facility starting this spring, with research projects offi-cially beginning in September.
The centre will house 240 cows in eight groups in freestalls for research trials, and 24 cows in tiestalls for projects where more research and cow monitoring is required.
Special needs housing, such as mater-nity and calf nurseries, are also available. Traditional ventilation systems have been enhanced, with environmental controls to provide more consistency in the animals’ en-vironments, so they will not undermine the accuracy of research results. A rotary parlour and robotic milking machine have been in-stalled to closely simulate various dairy in-dustry requirements. There are also facilities to prepare laboratory samples and store other equipment that may be needed in the future for further processing of milk onsite.
The LRIC – Dairy Facility address is 6185, 2nd line East, Centre Wellington. The open house will include remarks from industry
representatives and government officials. There will be oppor-tunities to explore the facility and learn and share technical advancements and research. Appropriate footwear, such as closed-toe shoes and flat soles, are recommended for the tour. The event will take place rain or shine.
For more information and updates on the grand opening and open house, visit https://eloradairyfacility.wordpress.com/grand-opening-and-open-house/.
THE LIVESTOCK Research and Innovation Centre-Dairy Facility offically opens on May 28. Above is an artist rendering of the centre.
12 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER
DAIRY UPDATE
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DID YOU KNOW?
Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s Dairy
Education Program is celebrating
its 20th anniversary in July 2015.
If you are a past educator or
have the contact information of
a past educator, please send an
email to Audrie Bouwmeester at
NOTICE: To keep Ontario dairy producers and other industry sectors informed, Dairy Farmers of Ontario publishes changes to its regulations. Complete regulations are available on DFO’s website at www.milk.org.
DFO Regulation 05/15 replaces DFO Regulation 04/15 and was made to adjust the price of Special Milk Classes as a result of a CDC announcement, effective May 1, 2015 as follows:
5(a) 5.1331 5.0419 6.5396 6.2644 0.8376 0.9307 5(b) 5.1311 5.0419 2.3519 2.3545 2.3519 2.35455(c) 4.7962 5.0811 1.8249 2.0893 1.8249 2.0893
Ralph Dietrich Chair Graham Lloyd Secretary
DAIRY FARMERS OF ONTARIO
THREE FARMERS SHARE THEIR
SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERIENCES
Farmers should use social media to talk directly to their customers, share their stories and tell the truth
about agriculture, said blogger Carrie Mess. She and two other farmers spoke about their experiences using social media to promote agriculture at Farm and Food Care Ontario’s (FFCO) annual meeting, held in April.
“We need to talk directly to our cus-tomers,” said Mess. “If we aren’t, who is doing it for us?”
The Wisconsin dairy farmer started a blog called The Adventures of Dairy Carrie in 2011. Mess writes about life on a dairy farm. She also has a Facebook page and Twitter account to promote agriculture and answer questions about dairy farming.
There are pro and cons in each plat-form, said Mess. The one-on-one conver-sations are where change happens; this is what changes people’s minds, she added.
In 2013, Mess found out Mercy For
Animals was going to post a video of a downed cow. She wrote a story entitled Sometimes we are mean to our cows and posted it on her blog. She described what a down cow is, why it is important to get them up, and the methods farmers use to do so.
Mess’s post garnered a lot of attention and media came to her farm and con-ducted interviews. “I was able to have my say,” said Mess.
“The people who want us out of busi-ness are loud, but they aren’t the majority,” said Mess. The majority of people want to know the food they buy is safe. Farmers have knowledge, passion and truth to share with them, she added.
She encouraged the meeting’s attendees to share something from their life in agri-culture on social media once a week. “We all do the same things, but each of us has a different way of telling the story,” said Mess.
Sarah Schultz started blogging more than five years ago. The registered nurse is married to a grain farmer. The couple lives in Alberta. Schultz’s first blog was about being a new mother, but she then shifted her focus to agriculture. After discovering the amount of misinformation there was about food on other mother-centered blogs, she started her Nurse Loves Farmer blog to share credible information about agriculture.
“I encourage farm wives to tell their stories,” said Schultz.
Shultz has published blog posts about genetically modified organisms, using pesticides and general farm work. She has received negative feedback for some her posts.
“My goal isn’t to convert the people who are against agriculture; it’s to help inform consumers who are drowning in a sea of misinformation.”
On Jan.1, 2015, Ontario dairy farmer Andrew Campbell started a new project—to post a picture of his farm every day in 2015 on his Twitter account @FreshAir-Farmer using the hashtag #farms365.
His early posts received various com-ments, he said. It wasn’t until a story about his project was published on the cover of the London Free Press that the animal rights community got involved.
“Activists took control of the conver-
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 13WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
sation and hijacked the hashtag,” saidCampbell. Animal rights groups and indi-viduals used the hashtag to post informa-tion against agriculture, he said. Not sur-prisingly, activists use the guilt consumersfeel about their food choices to furthertheir cause, he added.
Consumers want information aboutfarming practices, he said. “Through socialmedia, I’ve started to have conversations withthese consumers,” said Campbell. “Theyhave liked the information I have shared andthat’s exactly what I want to hear.”
COMMUNICATING WITHTRANSPARENCY Canadian consumers have a lot of ques-tions about McDonald’s food quality, saidSherry MacLauchlan, McDonald’s Res-taurants Canada director of governmentrelations and sustainability. MacLauchlanspoke at FFCO’s annual meeting. Thereis a direct correlation with the perceptionof McDonald’s’ food quality and sales,she said. These perceptions are the biggestdriver of McDonald’s’ long-term businessgoals, she added.
McDonald’s launched a digital plat-form called Our Food. Your Questionsin 2012 to improve consumer percep-tions, said MacLauchlan. Consumers canask questions about McDonald’s’ foodthrough their Facebook and Twitter ac-counts. Employees, suppliers and expertsanswer questions by text, video or photoswith text. All the questions and answersare posted on the Our Food. Your Questionswebsite and the Facebook page or Twitteraccount of the person asking, she added.
The goal of the program was to be trans-parent and authentic, said MacLauchlan.McDonald’s has answered 25,000 ques-tions and about 10 million people haveread the posted answers, she added.
The campaign has improved McDon-ald’s’ food quality perception by 53 percent, said MacLauchlan.
Consumers are changing, said Ma-cLauchlan. They want to know the farm-to-fork story, said MacLauchlan, such as,where the food comes from, what is in it,and how it is prepared in McDonald’s res-taurants, but they won’t compromise ontaste and quality of freshness.
FROM TOP left is Andrew Campbell, Sarah Schultz and Carrie Mess. The trio talked about their experiences promoting agriculture using social media at Farm and Food Care Ontario’s annual meeting in April.
14 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
DAIRY UPDATE
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ALBERTA MILK MAKES CHANGES
TO ITS NEW ENTRANT PROGRAM
Alberta Milk will be offering more quota to participants of its New Entrant Assistance Program. The
quota has increased to 25 kilograms per day of total production quota up from 15 kg per day. The current program was changed to support dairy industry sustain-ability in the province.
The program loans quota based on a two-to-one ratio from loaned to purchased
quota up to 25 kg per day at no cost to the new entrant. This quota translates to about 20 to 25 milking cows.
Alberta Milk has also extended the term of the program from seven to 10 years. New entrants can expand their quota holdings to 70 kg per day while receiving the loan.
Alberta Milk introduced its New En-trant Assistance Program in 2011 to help individuals and families start dairy farm-
ing. Since its beginning, 12 new dairy farms have started in the province.
All current and 2015 applicants will be eligible for the quota increase under the new guidelines. An applicant must submit a two-year business plan, a 10-year imple-mentation plan, risk mitigation plan and a signed letter from the applicant’s finan-cial institution agreeing to finance their operation to qualify for the program.
Farm and Food Care Ontario announced that in light of the recent cases of Avian Influenza
(A.I.) in Oxford County, the June 6, 2015 Breakfast on the Farm event has been postponed indefinitely.
A.I. poses a significant risk to Ontario’s poult-ry farmers, such as the Veldman family of Embro, who had agreed to host the 2015 event.
This decision is based upon advice from industry partners and discussion with the host farm family.
BREAKFAST ON THE FARM EVENT POSTPONED
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 15WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
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CONNECTING WITH CONSUMERS
VITAL TO DAIRY INDUSTRYEditor’s note: Dairy Farmers of Ontario recently held its annual policy conference in Alliston, Ont. Magazine staff filed this report based on the discussion papers and interviews conducted after the conference.
Dairy Farmers of Canada’s (DFC) marketing and nutrition goals for the coming year are to keep dairy
products top of mind for consumers and create multiple communication points with them to influence their buying habits, said Caroline Khoury, DFC marketing director.
Consumers today are demanding more from retailers and the people who produce their food, said Khoury. Programs, such as the Recharge with Milk (RWM) and All You Need is Cheese (AYNIC), help DFC dis-seminate important nutrition and health information to consumers using various media. Tracking tools DFC uses has shown the RWM campaign, launched in 2008 in Ontario and the Maritimes, has helped in-crease the number of consumers who con-sume chocolate milk, said Khoury.
Likewise, the AYNIC campaign has enabled DFC to position cheese as an ex-cellent source of pleasure. This year’s cam-paign has a stronger Canadian aspect, said Khoury. The AYNIC magazine, launched six years ago, now has close to 100,000 subscribers. More than 1.5 million cop-ies are distributed four times per year to households and stores across Canada, ex-cept in Quebec. A recent survey of shop-pers showed more than 82 per cent had prepared recipes featured in the magazine, said Khoury.
Although these two campaigns have made significant inroads in selling more chocolate milk and cheese, a new ap-
proach to shopping has emerged that may pose challenges for the dairy industry, said Khoury. For instance, Walmart is ex-panding its Grab and Go locker program to an additional 33 stores in the Greater Toronto Area after launching a 10-store pilot program last August. The program lets consumers shop online and pick up orders at another location using a person-alized PIN attached to an assigned lock-er. Loblaws recently launched its grocery click-and-collect pilot program at a north Toronto store. It lets consumers shop on-line and pick up their orders at the store. Upon arrival at the store, customers park in designated pick-up areas and have their grocery items loaded into their vehicle by a Loblaws employee.
Bob Stultz, DFC director of market-ing development, said these new initia-tives will decrease consumers’ visits inside stores and, in turn, to the dairy aisle.
“We (the dairy industry) need to stay ahead of the curve,” said Stultz. “For in-stance, Amazon is looking at starting home deliveries.”
Stultz also encouraged producers to visit the various trade shows DFC attends to spread the positive messages about dairy products and connect directly with con-sumers. Dietitians in stores are helping push those messages and provide key health information, but producers need to share their stories about what they do, he said.
16 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER
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CANADIAN STUDENTS TAKE TOP PRIZE
AT ANNUAL DAIRY COMPETITION
University of Guelph (U of G)students won a first place teamaward at this year’s North American
Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge (NAIDC),held in early April in Syracuse, N.Y.
U of G students Laura Donkers, Myr-anda Morrison, Courtney O’Neil andKevin Reijnen, with coaches Mark Carson,Ken Leslie and John Walton, participatedin the three-day competition. They wereone of four teams to receive a first placeaward. The students each received a $200scholarship. The other three teams werefrom California Polytechnic State Univer-sity, Washington State University and theUniversity of Tennessee.
Participants toured a farm and had a ques-tion-and-answer session with the farm owners.The teams then developed recommendationsfor nutrition, reproduction, milking proced-ures, animal health, cow comfort and finan-cial management. The teams presented theirrecommendations to a panel of five judges,which included dairy producers, veterinar-ians, farm finance specialists and agribusinessprofessionals. Six local dairy farms openedtheir operations for the challenge.
Other activities included farm tours andtwo panel discussions. Several processorsshared their perspectives on their businesses
and how they interact with producers dur-ing the first panel discussion. Four youngproducers from New York and Pennsyl-vania shared their insights on starting orentering a dairy operation for the seconddiscussion.
The annual NAIDC lets students study-ing for careers in dairy apply theory and
learning on an active dairy farm whileworking as part of a team. The event helpsstudents improve skills, network and learnabout dairy careers and innovation. Thisyear’s contest included teams from 32 uni-versities and 274 college students. About4,700 students have participated in theevent in the last 14 years.
UNIVERSITY OF Guelph animal science students took the top prize at this year’s North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge, held in early April. From left are Kevin Reijnen, Laura Donkers, Courtney O’Neil and Myranda Morrison.
WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
DAIRY UPDATE
You can participate in the OntarioFood Bank Donation program by fill-
ing out the new donation form includedin this issue of Milk Producer and return-ing it to Dairy Farmers of Ontario in thepostage-paid envelope provided by July 1.You can find the form and envelope in themiddle of the magazine.
The program, which provides milkand milk products to the province’s foodbanks, is currently supported by 410producers donating 70,000 litres of milkmonthly. Total donations for this dairyyear are estimated to reach approximately850,000 litres.
Processors continue to donate process-ing costs, and Ontario Milk Transport As-sociation members donate transportationcosts.
LOOK FOR FOOD BANK
DONATION FORM
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 17
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Fromagerie du Presbytère’s Lalibertéis the Grand Champion of the ninthedition of Dairy Farmers of Cana-
da’s Canadian Cheese Grand Prix awards(CCGP).The winning cheese was enteredin the cream-enriched soft cheese withbloomy rind category. It was selected bya jury of top Canadian food industry ex-perts from 27 category winners.
The CCGP celebrates the high quality,versatility and great taste of Canadiancheeses made from 100 per cent Canadianmilk. “From all the excellent cheeses thejury tasted, we found Laliberté to be thestand-out,” said Phil Bélanger, CCGP jurychair.“This cheese truly distinguished itselfin texture, taste and overall appearance. Itsexquisite aromatic triple cream with itstender bloomy rind encases an unctuouswell-balanced flavour with hints of mush-room, pastures and root vegetables.”
Named after Alfred Laliberté, thefamous sculptor born in St. Elizabeth deWarwick, Que., the farmstead cheese tooka year and a half to develop and is madefrom 100 per cent Canadian cows’ milk.Fromagerie du Presbytère manufactures,distributes and retails speciality cheeses. ItsLouis d’Or was named Grand Championat the CCGP in 2011 and the fromage-rie has won numerous other national andprovincial awards.
The Grand Champion and 27 categorywinners were selected from a record-set-ting 268 cheese entries submitted by chee-semakers from Prince Edward Island toBritish Columbia. The submissions werethen narrowed down to 81 finalists by thejury in February.
Canada’s vibrant and unique cheese-making craft has evolved to the pointnew types of cheeses are continually beingadded to the CCGP. This year, nine newcategories were added to the competition,including three individual Gouda categor-ies based on cheese age and a standalonecategory for smoked cheese. CCGP jurymembers tasted, touched and smelled eachcheese, evaluating them for appearance,flavour, colour, texture and body, as wellas salt content before determining the fol-lowing winners.
To see the complete list of winners, visitwww.dairyfarmers.ca.
QUEBEC SOFT CHEESE
NAMED GRAND
CHAMPION AT AWARDS
WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
18 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
The Ontario government is pro-posing new legislation to make Ontario’s crop insurance program
coincide with similar programs in other provinces. If passed, the amendments could potentially widen production in-surance coverage to allow livestock pro-ducers, including dairy, to benefit from coverage resulting from an unexpected loss due to weather, pests and disease.
The changes will be managed by Agri-corp, which will address fluctuating costs and market prices. Agricorp provides risk management solutions to Ontario’s agri-food industry. It runs several risk manage-ment programs, such as AgriStability.
Law firm Miller Thompson recently re-ported in its April 7, 2015 blog, entitled Proposed Changes to Ontario’s Production Insurance Regime, costs for the produc-tion insurance, in its current format, will be split between farmers and federal and provincial governments. Coverage will only be applicable to crop or perennial plant losses due to specific events, such as weather, pests or disease.
Agricorp offers production insurance
for several commercial agriculture indus-tries in Ontario, including fruit, honey, grains and oilseeds, vegetables, tobacco, and certain specialty crops.
The new rules introduced in Bill 40, known as the Agriculture Insurance Act, will amend the title of the Crop Insurance Act (Ontario), 1996 to the Agricultural Prod-ucts Insurance Act, 1996, and will extend coverage to agricultural products. The On-tario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will be authorized to make regulations designating which agricultural products may be included for coverage.
According to published statements by Ontario Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal, livestock, dairy, poultry and bees could all be included within the list of agricultural products insured under the revamped pro-duction insurance program.
Bill 40 passed second reading on March 11, 2015 and has been referred to the Stand-ing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs for consideration. If passed, these amendments could potentially provide On-tario farmers more options to manage risks and losses due to weather, pests and disease.
GOVERNMENT REVISITS CROP INSURANCEOntario farmers may soon have more options to manage risks and losses due to weather, pests and disease
LEGAL CORNERBy Graham Lyoyd
THE NEW amendments could potentially widen crop production insurance coverage for livestock producers.
Information in this article is intended for informational purposes and is summary in nature. It does not constitute legal advice.
Graham Lyoydis DFO’S general counsel and
communications director.
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20 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
FARM FINANCEBy Amy Reusch
GETTING STARTED An early start to succession planning can make the transition easier
Making a generational transition on your farm is a difficult process to undertake. If your retirement is years away or you’re not ready to take over the farms’ reins, you may
feel succession planning isn’t something you need to think about just yet. However, getting started earlier may make for a smoother transition.
It is never too early to start your succession plan, says Darren Wilson, senior relationship manager for Farm Credit Canada. Wilson works mostly with dairy, poultry, crop and hog producers in Middlesex and Elgin counties. He is based in London, Ont.
“The healthiest transitions I have seen started early and had lots of time for input from all affected parties,” says Wilson. “There are a lot of emotions and dollars involved in transitioning a farm, and if the process is rushed, it could lead to making mistakes.”
Producers should look at succession planning as an ongoing process rather than a one-time event, says Wilson. It can take years to develop a plan and even longer to implement, he adds.
Starting the process early, when there is little to no stress, will enable all parties to work on their communication skills, says Bev Johnson, a Saskatoon-based chartered accountant and profession-al agrologist with KPMG. Johnson specializes in farm succession. She and her husband farmed with her parents for nearly 30 years.
Farm succession is really about communication, she adds. “Improved communication skills will help families set succes-
sion parameters and decide what is important to avoid conflicts,” says Johnson. By starting early, families can also retain control over the process, she adds.
DELAYING THE INEVITABLE Fear is often the biggest obstacle in starting succession planning, she says. Fear of not knowing what to do or making poor decisions can delay the process.
If the children are reluctant to talk about succession planning, parents can broach the subject in a non-confrontational way and keep giving them opportunities to verbalize what they want, she adds. Alternatively, younger farmers should create a business plan outlining their succession goals and present it to their parents if they are hesitant to start discussions, she adds.
Children or potential suitors may lose interest and leave the farming operation if succession planning is started late, says Wil-son. Farm performance can suffer if the next generation is held back while the older generation hangs on, he adds. “If the older generation hangs on too long and does not reinvest in the oper-ation, the farm may lose its financial viability,” says Wilson.
WHEN CONSIDERING professional help to assist with succession planning, your family needs to find someone all parties trust and who understands family dynamics.
[
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2014 2MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 21WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
SUCCESSION WITHOUT FAMILY“Never assume your son or daughter wants to take over the farm,” says Wilson. “I have seen nephews and-or unrelated in-dividuals take over an operation and the process went well.”
When a producer realizes he or she has no family members interested in taking over the farm, the producer should start preparing his or her business for a possible sale, says Johnson. “People want to buy a profitable business,” she says.
Producers can also turn to their employ-ees to gauge their interest in purchasing the farm, says Johnson. If they are interest-ed, producers should start to mentor them to take over the business, she adds.
HOW TO STARTThe first conversations about farm succes-sion should start at the dinner table, says Johnson. The parties involved should set
short- and long-term business and per-sonal goals, talk to people who have been through the process, and attend succession planning seminars or workshops, she says.
When considering professional help, the family needs to find someone all par-ties trust; a person who understands family dynamics, says Johnson.
“Never assume you know the other par-ties’ intentions,” says Wilson. “Open com-munication is key.”
Once you’ve started the process, you’ll need to get a lawyer, accountant and bank-er involved, says Wilson. Having regular meetings keeps communication open and everyone accountable, he adds.
OTHER BENEFITS TO SUCCESSION PLANNINGA succession plan can also act as a contin-gency plan if the primary person on your farm becomes ill or is injured and not able to work, or worse, dies, says Johnson. A
contingency plan will benefit your busi-ness and family, she says.
“I often tell clients succession planning won’t kill them,” says Johnson. Families may need to decide what is more import-ant—the business or the family getting along. There is no right or wrong way to create a succession plan.
“Getting started early will help you be in control of the process,” she says.
Amy Reusch is
assistant editor of Milk
Producer.
22 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER
CTV’S THE Social visited Armstrong Manor Farms in Caledon, Ont. and filmed a segment that aired Friday, April 17. The segment shows host Lainey Lui touring a dairy farm and learning about Canada’s high-quality milk. To view the video, visit www.thesocial.ca/video.
DEEP IMPACTCanadian dairy farmers are a driving force of the economy
Dairy farmers are vital players in Canada’seconomy. They enable families in commu-nities across Canada to thrive. Whether in
London, Ont. or Camrose, Alta., dairy farmers’ pos-itive influence can be felt throughout the country.
According to research conducted by ÉcoRes-sources on the dairy sector’s impact on Canada’seconomy, the industry provides 215,000 full-timeequivalent jobs, directly and indirectly. It generates$18.9 billion in Canadian gross domestic product(GDP) and $3.6 billion in tax revenues paid tothe three levels of government. In addition, dairyis one of the top two agricultural sectors in sevenprovinces.
Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) asked fourproducers to participate in a short video to dem-onstrate the significance the dairy industry has inall provinces across the country. Each producertalks about the industry’s success in their respectiveareas, their farm operation, and how dairy farmingsupports local industries and professions, such asnutritionists and veterinarians.
The four videos are:• Dairy farming brings value in Alberta;• Local milk creates jobs in London, Ontario;• It takes a village (available in French only),Quebec;• Farms help other local businesses thrive inNova Scotia.
To view the videos, visit dairyfarmers.ca, underthe Farmer’s Voice section. DFC encourages dairyfarmers to share the videos through social media.
MISTYGLEN HOLSTEINS, located near London, Ont., is featured in one of four videos produced by Dairy Farmers of Canada. The videos show the impact dairy farming has on local communities. Above are: Kris and Tom Pettit and their two daughters, and Tom’s sister Suzanne, left.
[DFC PROMOTION By Chantal Marcotte
DFC brings you the latest national marketing and nutrition news with this
feature. Learn more about the programs and activities we carry out to
get the most from your promotion dollar. We welcome your comments,
so write or fax us at:
DFC, c/o communications manager, 1801 McGill College Ave., Ste.
700, Montreal, QC H3A 2N4.
Fax: (514) 284-0449 or
Email: [email protected].
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24 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER
Ge o r g e M c -Laughlin,
the first chair of the then Ontario Milk Marketing Board (OMMB), carried out his last official act as a board member on Fri., Jan. 14, 1977.
With considerable emotion he expressed his appreciation to the members: “There’s been a lot that’s happened since that first meeting on Aug. 19, 1965. The pressures have been great. The temptation for the board to waver from its established policies has always been there. Many of our meetings have been stormy. There have been some violent arguments, and the odd person has even walked out of a meeting. But the board members all remained steadfast and united as they moved about the province. We all realized that from the beginning this was essential, and I’ve appreciated it.” The quote was taken from the book
called The Challenge of Achievement, writ-ten by Everett Biggs, published in 1990.The book documents the OMMB’s first 25 years, from 1965 to 1990. Biggs ac-curately captured McLaughlin’s last few years as chair of the board and his feelings toward the difficult tasks board members and chairs had to deal with in the early years of supply management’s formation. While much has changed from those tumultuous times, the OMMB and its suc-cessor, Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO), have been steered through many challeng-es, firsts and successes, such as the intro-duction of the quota exchange in 1980, creation of the P6 pooling agreement in 1995, and establishment of federal cheese standards in 2008, among many others. McLaughlin, in his chair’s address from the 1976 annual report, talked about having to make difficult decisions to curtail increas-ing production due to numerous factors, including decreasing consumption: The past year was a very difficult time for the dairy industry, not only in Ontario and Canada, but also in the world at large.
An unusual combination of factors, mostly unforeseen and occurring at about the same time, brought about both rapid increases in milk production and decreases in consump-tion, with the result that world prices for surplus products, such as skim milk powder, plummeted to extremely low levels. The problems involved in cutting back domestic milk production, in order to put milk supplies once more in balance with Canadian domestic requirements, were nu-merous and exhausting. Attention had to be concentrated on this area to the detriment of several worthwhile projects, which the board had hoped to advance in 1975-76. Making these policies and programs a reality, and sometimes having to make de-cisions that were not always popular with the grassroots, took a dedicated team of producers serving on the board. Milk Pro-ducer recently interviewed DFO’s surviving chairs to capture their thoughts and feelings during their time with the organization. The following pages include detailed conversa-tions with past chairs Gordon Coukell, John Core, Bruce Saunders and Bill Emmott.
COVER STORYBy Sharon Laidlaw
Editor, Milk Producer
WISE WORDSFROM DAIRY FARMERS OF ONTARIO PAST CHAIRS
WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2014 3
Looking back gives us a different perspective of current
and future challenges. As we recall those early leaders, it
highlights the need for today’s leaders to lead as they best
know the challenges the industry faces. Leaders must
resist the pressure to maintain the status quo. They must
understand the obligations that come with the responsibility
of operating under government legislation, and they must
focus on the growth and future of the industry.
JOHN COREChair, 1990 to 2001
Joined board in 1981
Major changes that occurred:
Quota issued in kilograms of butterfatMultiple Component Pricing beganCanada loses Article XI in GATT Uruguay roundDaily quota system introducedDFO assumes responsibility for raw milk quality program
Q: What were some of the major issues when you were first elected to board?
A: When I was first elected to the board, significant policy development was un-derway and a number of programs were introduced, including the establishment of the Ontario Dairy Herd Improvement Corporation, Grade A premise standards for all producers, fresh milk sampling and testing, and the permanent plant supply quota policy for milk allocation to processors. Also, the National Milk Marketing Plan was signed after consid-erable negotiation.
Q: What are some of your most memorable moments?
A: The board functioned very much as a team once the policy decisions were made, but discussions were always very
robust during the lead-up to the policy acceptance. The processor acceptance of supply management was still tenu-ous during my early years on the board. However, this began to evolve rapidly during the 1980s when it became clear there was no government appetite for abandoning the system. The producers who had been opposed to the formation of the system now recognized the value of a predictable and stable market.
Q: Describe how the working environment changed over the years.
A: It was an evolutionary process be-cause the board established a clear di-rection by creating excellent strategic planning processes. Consultation with producer committees was the basis of support as the board matured and took on new directions.
Q: What changes did you see in the industry during your time on the board?
A: The most significant driver of change was the loss of Article XI in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Uruguay Round and the introduction of tariffs. This led to the P9 and P6 pooling agreements, which have driven a number of developments since that time.
Q: What were some of the challenges you faced in your position? What would you have done differently?
A: The most significant challenge was responding to the changing internation-al trade rules. For instance, deadlines passed with no clarity of what may or may not happen. The discussions about change at the national level became awkward since the deadlines we were supposed to face under the new trade rules came and went with no resolution. It is hard to achieve consensus on mas-sive change when the sense of urgency passes. Given the information we had at the time, I believe the industry made the necessary changes to give the flexibility required for future trade impacts, even if some of those impacts have not yet hap-pened.
1965 1990 2001 2006 2009 2015
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GORDON COUKELLChair, 2001 to 2005
Joined board in 1986
Major changes that occurred:Expansion of DFO Elementary School Milk Program with government grant of $ 2 millionWTO rules Export Milk Contracts are subsidized, and are subsequently discontinuedBSE closes U.S .borderOntario Dairy Quality Assurance Program finalizedEnd of farm separated cream shipments
Q: What was it like working with your board?
A: The board had very thorough dis-cussions before policy was established. Once established, policies were sup-ported by everyone unanimously. Joint board meetings with the Ontario Dairy Council brought a greater understand-ing of the issues faced by producers and processors, which eventually led to the acceptance of the fluid milk pricing for-mula and a better working relationship.
The board also had excellent senior staff that assisted us by providing in-depth analysis of the changing issues as the
board developed effective policies. Con-sultations with producer committees were very important and provided the basis of support as new issues were dealt with.
Q: What were some of the challenges you faced in your position? What would you have done differently?
A: The evolving trade talks that never ended were a challenge to communi-cate to producers. The loss of the World Trade Organization (WTO) panel on Ex-port Milk Contracts led to the issues with the Georgian Bay milk producers. The repeal of the Edible Oil Products Act opened the ice cream market up to the competition from frozen desserts. DFO was concerned about the repeal of the act because it prohibited the blending of dairy ingredients and edible oils into products that imitate dairy products.
Another challenge was the closing of the U.S. border due to the Bovine spon-giform encephalopathy (BSE) crisis. Dairy farmers suffered as a result of the border closures, which affected all exports. The loss of our export markets for bred heif-ers was critical. This market represented about $200 million per year to Canadian dairy farmers. Before the discovery of the BSE cow, about 70 to 80 per cent of our cull cows went to the U.S.
This made our Canadian Quality Milk program all the more important to es-tablish on our farms. At the start of the program, many producers did not ful-ly understand why they needed to fill out standard operating procedures and follow other practices, but times have
changed. It was important to reiterate to producers the CQM program was going to ensure continued strong consumer demand for Canadian milk products.
Q: What changes did you see in the industry during your time on the board?
A: There were many, but one in partic-ular is when we started to notice a sig-nificant rise in imports of dairy blends, butter-sugar blends and butteroil-sugar blends in the early 2000s. These prod-ucts were being accepted at the border and were not being classified under the tariff lines of the product they were re-placing. This essentially shrunk the Ca-nadian market for raw milk and affected the income of Canadian milk producers. The increase in uncontrolled imports is estimated to have cost producers more than $80 million in 2000-01.
Q: What do you wish to say about DFO’s 50th anniversary?
A: The 50th anniversary gives the in-dustry the opportunity to look back and understand all the benefits that are be-ing enjoyed today because of the hard work and difficult decisions that were made for the betterment of our industry over the years. The current stability and predictability developed from a history of turmoil and chaos. It shows what can be done when strong leadership and well thought out policies are put in place that recognize the legislative obligations the industry works within.
FROM LEFT: John Core, Gordon Coukell and Bruce Saunders.
WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2014 5
BRUCE SAUNDERSChair, 2005 to 2009,
Joined board in 1987
Major changes that occurred:SNF:butterfat ratio limits imposedPay-what-you-bid for quota introducedContinuous quota introduced at the national levelFederal cheese standards introducedP5 harmonized quota policies introduced
Q: What was the industry/DFO like when you started on the board?
A: The OMMB was well established as a respected professional organization. Communication between producers and processors was also well established. There was significant recognition of the benefits supply management had brought to the industry.
The GATT trade negotiations were starting to heat up, and with it the risk that it potentially could curb our supply management system. There was discus-sion about issuing quota in kilograms of butterfat rather than litres of milk. This was followed with discussion about pric-ing milk based on all the components in the milk rather than just the butterfat.
Q: What was it like working with your board?
A: The fact 12 individuals would leave their personal interests outside the
boardroom and work to develop policy for the betterment of the industry was gratifying. The board members came prepared for the meetings having read a pile of documents usually about an inch thick, and ready to question staff about the recommendations being made.
Q: What are some of your most memorable moments?
A: One of my most memorable mo-ments was when 40,000 farmers con-verged on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to protest against the GATT trade talks. As well, I chaired the national promotion committee, which sponsored the Cana-dian Olympic team, and got to spend a week at the Olympics in Nagano, Japan in 1998. I also enjoyed working with the P5 to develop quota policy.
Q: Describe how the working environment changed over the years.
A: I was always impressed by the ded-ication of the staff to DFO. I believe the success of DFO was a result of the early chairs and the general manager, Lorne Hurd, who worked together to create an organizational structure that continues today. The board gives direction to the general manager who then acts on that direction.
Q: What changes did you see in the industry during your time on the board?
A: The emergence of issues or con-
cerns among consumers, such as an-imal welfare, environmental concerns, antibiotic resistance, and the role animal treatment may play in that.
In the early 1990s, the board sug-gested the creation of a national deci-sion-making body. There was no na-tional agreement, but the P4 and the P5 pools had already been created. The P5 makes all quota and transportation de-cisions, which are then implemented by the provincial boards. Also important, establishing the solids non-fat-butterfat ratios to offset abnormally low butterfat levels in some producers’ milk.
Q: What were some of the challenges you faced in your position? What would you have done differently?
A: The BSE crisis in 2003 affected the price for cull cows and the heifer market. A number of farmers who just raised heif-ers were forced out of the market because of the low prices. Our farm sold four cull cows the week the BSE-positive cow was revealed. I received a cheque for $7.04.
Consumer attitudes toward animal agriculture was one of the reasons DFO took over the quality inspection. The proAction initiative that has been sup-ported nationally is a further step to ad-dress these concerns.
The industry is accused of never changing; nothing
can be further from the truth. Supply management has
the support of all levels of government because THE
SYSTEM WORKS. To the current and future leaders,
do what is needed to enhance the future of the industry,
which includes the processors. Do not be afraid to enact
change even if it may be unpopular at the time.
WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
28 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER
BILL
EMMOTTChair, 2009 to 2015
Joined board in 1999
Major changes that occurred:Formal rollout of Canadian Quality Milk programNational fluid milk pricing formula acceptedSomatic cell count level lowered to 400,000Class 3d introduced for mozzarella on pizzaComprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union signed by federal government
Q: What were some of the major issues when you were chair?
A: There were many, but some that come to mind are: not enough produc-tion and at other times too much pro-duction, P5 quota harmonization, po-tential for tariff wall breach, promoting the 100% Canadian Milk symbol with processors, milk pricing, concentrating on growing the market, moving on with proAction, just to name a few.
Q: What was it like working with your board?
A: We operated very much like Team Ontario. However, we need to move things along. The industry is bigger than just one of us or one segment of the in-dustry; and the media is all about writing stories that harm our industry’s image.
Q: What are some of your most memorable moments?
A: The new national common infor-mation technology (IT) infrastructure, paperless meetings, and the new tech-nology introduced to the board, such as Blackberries and iPads. Also, one of the
single biggest accomplishments was the signing of the new lab services contract. It meant DFO could directly deal with the lab. The new contract was more than bet-ter service delivery. It provided current and ongoing information to allow every producer to manage their production and respond to issues when they arise.
Q What changes did you see in the industry during your time on the board?
A: There have been many transitions on the farm over the years, which led to having to put in place certain policies to deal with changing technologies and pro-cesses at the farm level. Another signifi-cant change was the level of knowledge producers wanted from DFO and how they wanted this information to be dis-
seminated. Communicating with produc-ers has been a longtime goal of DFO, but it’s equally important for it to hear from the grassroots. Two-way communication is vital to the industry’s success. I remem-ber my first conference in the 1980s as a young producer from Brant County. It left a lasting impression of meeting industry
movers and shakers, being brought up to date on major issues of the day and lis-tening to the concerns of other grassroots producers from around the province.
Q: What were some of the challenges you faced in your position? What would you have done differently?
A: Most producers throughout Cana-da share the same concerns. We need to find a way to treat these concerns or issues the same. Our system brings to-gether Canadian dairy farmers from Brit-ish Columbia to Newfoundland. What happens in one part of the country im-pacts all of us.
We owe a great debt to the men and women who
lay the foundation of today’s supply management.
We must safeguard our system, and improve on it
every way we can, so the next generation can thrive
and prosper as we have.
Our industry is in our hands, what would our forefathers have said if they could offer an opinion today?
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30 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
P roducers are undoubtedly the face of the Canadian dairy industry. However, behind the scenes, there
any many people who contribute their time, energy and enthusiasm to help the dairy industry thrive. One York Region woman has dedicated countless hours to support and promote the Ontario dairy industry in her community and schools.
Debi Johnson is the dairy educator co-ordinator for York Region, a munici-pality located north of Toronto, Ont. She serves as secretary-treasurer for the York Region dairy producer committee (DPC). She also volunteers for the York Region Holstein Club and Belhaven community hall, and has been involved in many pro-grams that have promoted dairy products in the region.
“Farming is not just a job; it is a way of life,” says Debi. “If you want to see it continue and thrive, you do whatever you can to be involved. I find farmers are the “salt of the earth” and great people to be associated with.”
Debi is the winner of Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s (DFO) Award of Distinction for Lifetime Achievement. DFO created the distinction awards to celebrate dairy producers and stakeholders’ achievements. The awards had four categories: dairy farm, bulk tank milk grader, processor and lifetime achievement. Debi was present-ed with the lifetime achievement award during DFO’s annual meeting in January.
“Not once, in all of my volunteer work, did I imagine receiving an award of any kind,” says Debi. “Seeing the difference my efforts have made is all I needed.”
Debi joined the York milk committee in 1997. Beyond her regular duties, Debi or-ganizes farm tours and gets the committee to support local sports tournaments and donate to the Food for Learning program. She also organizes the milk booth at the Markham Fair.
She learned about the Food for Learn-ing program from a friend. The program provides a nutritious breakfast or snack to elementary school children.
“I was shocked this program was need-ed, especially in our community. I realized that we (DPC) could help,” says Debi.
Under Debi’s direction, the milk com-mittee has donated more than $11,000 to the program over the past five years. The money is used to buy dairy products for the kids’ breakfasts, says Debi.
For more than 20 years, Debi has orga-nized the milk booth at the Markham Fair, one of Canada’s oldest agricultural fairs. During the four-day event, volunteers at the booth hand out promotional items, as well as sell DFO promo items and milk. Debi also promotes the dairy education program at the booth.
Debi was a 4-H leader for 10 years. She co-led the homemak-ing club, where proj-ects focused on cook-ing. Members learned about the importance of milk and how to cook with it from the Milk Makes it Better project organized by Debi. She and her hus-band, Doug, provide calves to 4-H dairy club members.
MILK IN THE SCHOOLSThe York dairy educa-tion program was run by the milk commit-tee when Debi start-ed. “When I took over as secretary, the job of dairy education co-or-dinator seemed a per-fect fit. I was already a volunteer in two local schools and I could see firsthand how the program would ben-efit the students,” she says.
The program ed-
ucates students about milk’s nutritious benefits and shows the students who dairy farmers are and the work they do, says Debi. It also teaches the importance of growing food for local communities and the world, she adds.
Over the years, Debi has increased the number of presentations in York Region schools. She now has three part-time ed-ucators working in the York region school district.
“I have the opportunity to work with some amazing women (dairy educators) who believe in the program,” says Debi. “Because of their professionalism and enthusiasm, as well as the content of the
PROFILEBy Amy Reusch
DEBI JOHNSON was presented with Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s (DFO) Award of Distinction for Lifetime Achievement at DFO’s annual meeting in January. Bill Emmott, former DFO chair, presented the award to Debi.
GREAT ACHIEVEMENT York region woman celebrated for her efforts in helping the dairy industry thrive [
WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 31
Farming is not just a job; it is a way of life. If you want to see it continue and thrive, you do whatever you can to be involved.
program, they have been invited back year after year to the schools.”
“Debi is efficient, effective and beauti-fully organized, says Audrie Bouwmeester, DFO’s dairy education program manager. “She always succeeds in making every in-teraction pleasant and enjoyable. There are not many people who have Debi’s gift for compassion and positivity.”
FAMILY AND FARM LIFEDebi got her start in the dairy industry when she married her husband Doug. He ran a dairy farm with his brother and fa-ther when the pair married in 1975. The farm was located is Belhaven, Ont. They milked more than 60 cows in a tiestall barn during the partnership. In 2011, Doug’s brother built his own dairy barn and the Johnsons bought his share. Doug continued milking for two more years and then sold the herd in 2013.
Today, Debi and Doug own 212 acres and rent an additional 250 acres. They grow hay, beans and wheat and own 30 calves they house during the winter and pasture during the summer months. Debi manages the farm’s accounting and helps with fieldwork when needed.
Doug and Debi’s farm was the recipient of the Town of Georgina’s Excellence in Agri-Business award in 2002. The couple is always looking for ways to innovate on their farm. They recently installed solar panels on the barn and garage roofs.
Doug and Debi have two children, Bry-an and Jaclyn, and four grandchildren, Gavin, Ben, Liam and Kaitlyn.
“Our family lives close by so I have the privilege of looking after my grandchil-dren while their parents work,” says Debi.
OUTSIDE THE DAIRY WORLDIn addition to her work and duties for the York milk committee, Debi is heavily
involved in her community. She worked part-time for more than 40 years. Debi also served as secretary-treasurer for the Belhaven Community Hall for more than 25 years. She managed the hall’s bookings, had a wheelchair ramp installed and wash-rooms made wheelchair-accessible.
Debi has written and published two books. The first, written with a friend, was about the hamlet of Belhaven’s histo-ry. More than 400 copies were sold, with proceeds going to the community hall. The second book was a guide on how to start an investment club and keep it go-ing. More than 600 copies were sold across Canada, says Debi.
“I have volunteered for so many years that it just seems to be a part of my life,”
says Debi. “When you enjoy your life, it is not hard to find a balance. I have been acknowledged for my work, but I did not do all this alone.”
Without the support of friends Carol Lockie, Nancy Pegg, Sandy and Dennis O’Hara, Paul and Thea Hulshof, and Ash-ley Beckett, to name a few, she couldn’t accomplish everthing she has done.
“Our dairy educators and York Region dairy producers are very special to me. I am so proud of the work they do,” she says.
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Amy Reusch is assistant editor of Milk Producer.
A trip down memory lane ... showing how things used to be done
This was a common sight in the Kingston area. Every day several milk transporters used the ferry to get to Howe Island,
Wolfe Island, or Amherst Island to pick up milk from producers located there. In addition, other transporters, such as those
seen in the photo, used the ferry to Wolfe Island to deliver milk to Kraft’s plant on the island. No doubt, all the transporters could
tell numerous stories about the unusual experiences they had been through during their use of the ferry systems, especially
during some of the winter storms of 1978.
LOOKING BACK
32 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
FOUR MAIN steps were taken by the board’s staff to ensure milk cheques got to producers on time:1. EVERY MONTH, information pertai-ning to each producer is fed into the computer and taped. The tapes are then fed into another section of the computer and cheques, including producer state-ments, are printed. The computer oper-ator Len Chiu, in the photo (right), runs off 16,000 cheques in six hours.2. THE CHEQUES are then handed to Ed Forma and Maria Costa who feed them into a microfilm machine so the board has a complete print on film of all cheques for record purposes. This operation takes about four hours.3. THEN THE cheques are taken to the mailing room and put on an inserting machine where they are inserted, along with cheque stuffers, on occassion, in envelopes. Norm Rowe and John Petruzza operate this machine. This operation takes about 10 hours.4. UNDER NORMAL circumstances, the cheques are mailed, but because of postal disruptions, which occurred at various times during 1975, some monthly cheques were delivered to producers by milk transporters, such as in this photo, when transporter Wal-ter Morris delivered a milk cheque to producer Lorne Parke of Caledonia.
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34 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
Dairy Farmers of Canada conducted a pilot project in 2014 and 2015 to en-sure requirements for the animal care
module are reasonable for implementation on farms and clear to all parties involved.
Producers in the pilot project imple-mented the requirements on their farms. Animal assessments and mock validations were held on more than 100 dairy farms across Canada to test all aspects of the pro-gram and gather feedback from producers, validators and others involved in the pro-gram development. More than 228 people participated in the project. They included 140 producers, 41 assessors, 38 validators and nine provincial co-ordinators.
The farms involved were of various types and sizes, and had different milking systems. There were 52 tiestalls, 51 free-
stalls, eight pack barns, and nine classified as other. Milking systems varied, with 58 farms milked in tiestalls, 50 in parlours and 13 with an automatic milking system. The majority of farms had between 20 to 150 milking cows. Most farms had calves, heif-ers and dry cows on site. About 24 per cent of the farms had bulls on site.
Producers were asked to implement the program requirements on their farms after completing training. They attended work-shops, individual training or informal “kitchen meetings.”
ANIMAL ASSESSMENTS Veterinarians, validators or classifiers act-ed as assessors for the pilot project. They performed animal evaluations on a sample of cows in a herd. The assessments tested
the protocols and gathered feedback from producers and assessors.
Assessors were trained to follow the draft Animal Care Producer Workbook’s Ap-pendix 1 entitled Animal-based measure-ment protocols.
Assessments took just under two min-utes per cow, on average. For the majority of herds, between 28 and 59 cows were as-sessed. Most assessments were completed in 30 to 90 minutes.
MOCK VALIDATIONS The pilot project also included validations on participating farms. Most of the farms took part in the mock validations to assess implementation of the program, test the validation process and provide feedback.
Fifty-three per cent of farms validated
GATHERING FEEDBACK Animal care pilot results show producers performed well in mock validations
PROACTIONBy Maria Leal
THE PROACTION animal care module was recently tested on more than 100 Canadian dairy farms. The farms were of various types and sizes, and had different milking systems. There were 52 tiestalls, 51 freestalls and eight pack barns. The majority of farms had between 20 to 150 milking cows.
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 35WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
were recommended for registration and47 per cent would have had to implementcorrective actions before they could receiveregistration. Writing standard operatingprocedures (SOPs) or a corrective actionplan (CAP) for downed animals was themost common corrective action requestedby validators.
Producers ranked each requirement inthe program on its degree of difficulty tocomplete. Producers said all the require-ments were easy to complete. However,some producers said certain requirementsrequired more effort. They were:• evaluating the milking herd for hock,knee and neck injuries;• writing corrective action plans fordowned animals;• evaluating the milking herd for bodyconditions scores (BCS);• evaluating the milking herd for lameness;• having clean lactating cows.
About 40 per cent of farmers said theyfound no barriers to implementing theanimal care module on their farms. The
remaining producers said there were somebarriers to implementation including:• animal-based measures;• SOPs, CAPs and paperwork;• providing water to young calves;• tail docking;• cow cleanliness.
Thirty-nine per cent of producers stat-ed there were no requirements they wouldnot implement on-farm and 75 per centsaid there were no requirements theycould not complete.
NEXT STEPSGenerally, participants responded posi-tively to the animal care program. TheproAction animal care technical commit-tee received specific feedback on how toclarify requirements and improve practicalapplication.
The committee is reviewing the resultsof the pilot project and will make recom-mendations to the proAction committeefor program revisions. Final approval ofthe animal care program is expected to be
received in July 2015, along with approv-al of the livestock traceability program. InSeptember 2015, a new set of integratedproducer materials will be issued, whichwill include the Canadian Quality Milk,animal care and livestock traceability pro-grams. The new set of requirements foranimal care and livestock traceability willbe included in the validations starting inSeptember 2017.
Maria Lealis Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s assurance
programs and field services manager.
36 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
There are many reproductive man-agement practices to increase yourherd’s insemination and pregnancy
rates. With so many to choose from, howcan you be sure the practices you have cho-sen will increase your herd’s performance?
Stephen LeBlanc, professor in popula-tion medicine at the University of Guelphand PhD student José Denis-Robichauddeveloped a national survey to gather dataon Canadian dairy farmers’ reproductivemanagement practices and their attitudestoward these practices.
“We’re trying to learn what producersare doing to manage reproduction of theircows,” says LeBlanc. “Managing reproduc-tion is important, but so far there hasn’tbeen much insight into which practicesmight work best for different herds.”
The survey contained more than 50questions and was completed by 800 Can-adian producers. Enough surveys werecompleted for the researchers to precise-ly estimate how many farms are utilizingspecific practices.
The researchers also collected herd per-formance data from 650 of the participat-ing producers, which they correlated withproducers’ practices and attitudes as indi-cated by their survey responses.
Less than 50 per cent of respondentswere satisfied with their herds’ reproduct-ive performance, says LeBlanc. Ninety percent agreed there was significant profit inincreasing their herds’ pregnancy rates,while about two thirds did not think there
had been any decline in their herds’ fertil-ity in the last 10 years.
The researchers also found about 80 percent of respondents prefer to inseminate theircows when they observe strong signs of heat.However, producers were divided about thedifficulty of detecting cows in heat.
“Not only are we trying to understandwhat dairy farmers are doing to managereproduction of their cows, but we’re try-ing to gain insight into why they’re doingwhat they’re doing,” says LeBlanc. Produ-cers provided their perspectives on the ef-fectiveness and acceptability of various re-productive management approaches. “Weare now linking this information with herdperformance,” he adds.
LeBlanc wants to use the informationfrom this survey to guide subsequent re-search on two levels. First, he expects thesurvey data to highlight knowledge gaps.This will allow researchers to focus on whatmethods are and aren’t working to achieveoptimum herd performance, says LeBlanc.
Next, he wants to investigate if there areunrealized opportunities for reproductivepractices producers aren’t aware of or aren’tusing. If there are, LeBlanc wants to findout if it’s a result of producers not receiv-ing enough effective information, or a dis-connect between researchers’ advice andrecommendations and producers’ prefer-ences and perceptions.
“Looking to the future, I expect this sur-vey will guide years of research in a target-ed way,” says LeBlanc.
SURVEY RESULTS Canada-wide survey provides insight into dairy cattle reproductive management practices
RESEARCH
By Anna Wasserman
Anna Wasserman is a student writer
for the University of Guelph’s office of research.
Dairy Farmers of Canada and Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada, through the Dairy Research
Cluster 2 project, funded this project. University
of Guelph professor Andria Jones-Bitton and
University of British Columbia professor Ronaldo
Cerri were involved in this research.
UNIVERSITY OF Guelph researchers conducted a national survey on Canadian dairy farmers’ reproductive management practices. The data found about 80 per cent of respondents prefer to inseminate their cows when they observe signs of heat.
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MILKPRODUCER | APRIL 2015 41WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
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38 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
FOCUS ON FEEDBy Essi Evans and Brittany Dyck
MAXIMIZING FEED VALUEConsider adding canola meal for high-forage diets and lower your feed costs
Concerns over feed ingredient pricesdrive a lot of research efforts. Highingredient costs were the impe-
tus for a study conducted by researchersDr. Antonio Faciola from the Universityof Nevada and Dr. Glen Broderick fromthe Dairy Forage Research Center in Wis-consin. Both scientists believe maximiz-ing forage in the diet can reduce costs bylowering the need for purchased feed. Butwhat forages are best? What is the bestprotein source for higher forage diets?
The scientists conducted the study at theDairy Forage Research Station in Wiscon-sin. They compared six experimental diets.Each diet provided 60 per cent forage on adry matter basis. They also compared threeratios of alfalfa silage to processed corn silage:• 50 per cent alfalfa silage and 10 per centcorn silage (5:1);• 30 per cent alfalfa silage and 30 per centcorn silage (1:1);• 10 per cent alfalfa silage and 50 per centcorn silage (1:5).
All diets were balanced at 17 per centcrude protein, and within each forage mix-ture, diets were formulated for protein usingeither soybean meal or canola meal as thesupplemental protein ingredient. The studywas conducted using 60 mid-lactation Hol-stein cows, with 10 cows given each diet.
Milk fat and protein yields, as well as en-ergy-corrected milk yield, increased as cornsilage replaced alfalfa silage in the diets asshown in Table 1. Feed efficiency, calculatedusing energy-corrected milk, improved withincreasing amounts of corn silage in the diet.
The study showed regardless of the ra-tio of alfalfa to corn silage, canola mealwas more effective than soybean meal insupporting milk production as shown inTable 2. Milk, protein and fat yield wereall higher with the canola meal comparedwith soybean meal. More importantly,milk urea nitrogen (MUN) levels werelower when the diets contained canolameal. High MUN levels could be a causeof low milk production and fertility.
This study clearly showed milk productionand feed efficiency can be maintained withdiets containing higher than normal levels offorage, with energy-corrected milk increas-ing as corn silage increased in the forage mix.These data further demonstrate canola mealis better when formulating diets with a highpercentage of forage in the dry matter.
Essi Evans, PhDis a ruminant specialist and president of Essi Evans Technical Advisory
Services Inc. in Bowmanville, Ont. She can be reached at essievans@
sympatico.ca. Brittany Dyck is the canola meal manager at Canola Council
of Canada, Winnipeg, Man.
Alfalfa Silage to Corn Silage Ratio
5:1 1:1 1:5
Dry Matter Intake, Kg 23.7 24.0 23.4
Milk yield, Kg 34.6 37.2 38.7
Fat % 4.09 3.99 3.82
Fat Yield, Kg 1.41 1.49 1.47
Protein % 2.96 3.02 3.07
Protein Yield, Kg 1.02 1.11 1.19
Energy Corrected Milk, Lb. 33.9 36.4 37.2
Feed Efficiencya 1.43 1.52 1.59
Milk Urea Nitrogen Mg/dL 13.8 13.2 13.4a Feed efficiency was calculated as energy corrected milk/dry matter intake
Protein Source
Soybean meal Canola meal
Dry Matter Intake, Kg 23.5 23.8
Milk yield, Kg 36.4 37.3
Fat % 4.00 3.94
Fat Yield, Kg 1.45 1.46
Protein % 3.02 3.02
Protein Yield, Kg 1.09 1.12
Energy Corrected Milk, Kg 78.3 79.4
Feed Efficiencya 1.51 1.52
Milk Urea Nitrogen Mg/dL 14.0 12.9a Feed efficiency was calculated as energy corrected milk/dry matter intake
TABLE 1: Comparison of three ratios of alfalfa silage to processed corn silage in diets containing 60 per cent forage
TABLE 2: Comparison of soybean meal and canola meal in high forage diets
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 39
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• Expedites manure digestion• Maximum odour reduction• Significantly assists with reduction of ammonia nitrates
and other micro nutrients such as phosphorus• Better soil penetration• Increased crop production• Use less chemical fertilizer• Cleaner manure pits & pipes
Special PricingBactZyme $555.00 / pail of 50BactZyme $1,060.00 / pail of 100
April 1 - May 31st, 2015
“Genetic Excellence ... Ideal Cows”
Technical Specialist, Robotic MilkingDeLaval, world leader in research, development, manufacturing, sales and service of equipment for the dairy industry in more than 110 countries throughout the world, is actively seeking a Technical Specialist, Robotic Milking Systems for Canada.Are you interested in a non-repetitive job, offering constant challenges that allow you to exceed your own limits? To work with the highest technologies available in the dairy industry? This job is for you!We are seeking an autonomous person who can also work as part of a team dedicated to obtaining customer satisfaction and has the desire to solve problematic issues related to our different types of automated milking systems. The selected candidate will work on a national level all across Canada.The person sought for the technical specialist position will also be responsible for training and technical support to our DeLaval Canadian dealership network. The candidate will need solid skills in over-the-phone problem solving and occasionally visit farms to support our dealership network’s technical personnel.The person will also need to be passionate about milk production and the technical aspects of our equipment. Having been exposed to agriculture and milk production areas one way or another would be an asset. This position requires frequent travelling across Canada and to be on call when necessary.Basic competencies:• Experience or training as a technician in related areas (electro-mechanical, electronics, computers,
hydraulics, etc.).• Advanced competencies in network environment, Windows and Linux would be an asset.• College or professional studies in agriculture and/or technical fields.• Be bilingual or master the French language.
If interested, please forward your covering letter and resumé to:DeLaval Inc.
M. Jean-François Lambert150B Jameson Drive, PO box 4600
Peterborough, ON K9J 7B7Or via e-mail to:
REACH YOURTARGET MARKET
We Deliver It!
Need to reach all—or just some—of the 7,000 dairy farms in nine provinces? You can target your brochure, newsletter,
provinces.
Find out how Milk Producer can deliver for you. For more information about our Targeted Insert Program, please contact our National Marketing Manager, Bill Dimmick.Phone: (905) [email protected]
40 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER
Research undertaken at the Univer-sity of British Columbia’s (UBC) Industrial Research Chair in Dairy
Cattle Welfare (IRC) has helped bring about a gradual transformation in the way dairy farmers manage cattle welfare. One reason the field of dairy cattle welfare has made significant progress in Canada in the past 15 years is due to the work carried out at the IRC, jointly held by professors Dan Weary, Marina von Keyserlingk and David Fraser.
The chair, which is granted by the Nat-ural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), was recent-ly renewed for the third time for a five-year period (2014 to 2019). It is financial-ly1 supported by Dairy Farmers of Canada, NSERC and other industry partners. The research is conducted at the UBC’S Dairy Education and Research Centre, Agas-siz, B.C., and on commercial dairy farms throughout B.C. and Canada.
Since its inception in 1997, the chair has helped develop science-based solutions to dairy cattle welfare issues, including calf care, cow comfort and management, feed-ing behaviour, lameness and transition cow disease. This research has provided practical recommendations to dairy producers.
“In terms of dairy cattle welfare, our main objective is to do work that improves the lives of cattle and farmers,” says Weary. “By providing farmers with science-based, practical solutions that are relatively easy to adopt, we help them identify win-win practices that improve their lives and those of their animals.”
The three chairs work with local and na-tional dairy producers to learn about the issues they face so they can develop prac-tical solutions to help them make better decisions. “We consult with an advisory group and get input directly from dairy farmers. We also take our results and see
how well they can be applied to commer-cial dairy farms in B.C. and other prov-inces, not just on our research farm,” says Weary. “It’s a collaborative effort on many levels.”
Belinda Arpagaus, a British Columbia dairy farmer, attended a seminar present-ed by von Keyserlingk on ways to improve cattle welfare, based on the research con-
ducted at UBC. Belinda is eager to start implementing changes on the family farm and believes Canadian dairy farmers can benefit from improving dairy cattle wel-fare.
“The research conducted at UBC is positive for everyone involved—consum-ers, producers and animals,” says Belin-da. By putting more effort into animal
APPLIED SCIENCEBy David Fraser, Nina Von
Keyserlingk, Dan Weary,
and Marie-Claude Ethier
NEXT GENERATIONOF RESEARCHResearchers aim to improve the lives of dairy cows and farmers through science
THE UNIVERSITY of British Columbia’s (UBC) Industrial Research Chair in Dairy Cattle Welfare has helped develop science-based solutions to dairy cattle welfare issues, including feeding behaviour.
[
40 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 41
welfare—from the youngest calf right upto the producing cows—the consumer isgetting products he or she can feel goodabout, production yields rise, the image ofdairy farmers becomes more positive, andanimals are healthier and live longer. It’s awin-win situation for everyone.”
“The way we care for dairy cattle is start-ing to change, and I believe a lot of thosechanges are a result of work that was be-gun at the centre,” Weary says.
SCIENCE-BASED SOLUTIONSHELP DAIRY PRODUCERS MAKE BETTER DECISIONSStudies conducted at UBC, and confirmedby research done at other institutions,have shown calves benefit from receivingmuch higher levels of milk than was pre-viously thought optimal. Instead of thestandard four litres a day, UBC ResearchCenter studies have shown feeding calveseight or more litres a day enables themto gain weight more quickly and producemore milk.
Tom Hoogendoorn, another British Co-lumbia dairy farmer, says he was amazedby the results after implementing thisfeeding practice on his farm. “It’s made ahuge difference. The calves grow faster andwe can wean them a little quicker,” saysHoogendoorn. The biggest benefit is oncethey are weaned and transferred to grouphousing, they are much healthier, he adds.Other farmers have now adopted the prac-tice, says Weary.
Group housing for calves is anotherpromising area of research. Most farmersbelieve calves will get sick when group-housed, but according to von Keyserlingk,calves fare better when raised in groups.Studies have shown there are many benefitsto keeping them in small groups or pairs.
One key advantage of group housing iscalves take advantage of ‘social learning’ tomore quickly discover and use solid feed.Young calves housed in groups start eatingsolid food earlier than individually housedcalves. This helps minimize distress at wean-ing and improve calf performance afterweaning. Research has also shown duringthe pre-weaning period, calves housed inpairs double their consumption of solidfeeds compared with calves housed alone.Pair housing also improves social skills andreduces stress and aggression.
Other important research currently un-
derway at UBC includes early identification of cows at risk of becoming ill or lame and how to create environments to reduce that risk, as well as the effects of cow and calf sep-aration and providing access to pasture.
IMPROVING CATTLE WELFARE THROUGH CHANGES TO THE DAIRY CODE OF PRACTICEThe research team at UBC has also played a key role in providing the scientific back-ground required to update the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle. For example, as a result of the re-search on calves and milk intake, the code now states calves “should be offered a min-imum total daily intake of 20 per cent of body weight in whole milk.” This corre-sponds to about eight liters a day for a 40 kilogram calf.
The Code of Practice was also updated to take into account findings regarding tail docking and dehorning pain management. These are two areas of research pioneered
by UBC researchers. They were the first to test whether tail docking is beneficial. Their findings, which were confirmed by studies at other institutions, showed tail docking does not provide the intended benefits in cow health or cleanliness. The team also pi-oneered work on practical methods of pro-viding pain control for dehorning. Basedon this research, the code now specifies tail docking is not permitted unless medically required, and pain management is required when dehorning calves.
The research work at UBC work is help-ing the dairy industry address current is-sues, says Fraser. The greatest long-term impact of the IRC’s work may be in train-ing the next generation of experts to ad-dress the problems of tomorrow, he adds.
“Our greatest contribution to the dairy industry is in training young scientists who have learned firsthand about dairy produc-tion in Canada, and who now help provide leadership in the private and public sector, in Canada and abroad,” he says.
WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 41
David Fraser is a professor and program director in the animal welfare program at the University of British Columbia. He is
a co-lead of the NSERC Industrial Research Chair on Dairy Cattle Welfare.
Nina Von Keyserlingk is the associate dean of graduate studies and professor in the animal welfare program at the University of
British Columbia. She is also the co-lead of the NSERC Industrial Research Chair on Dairy Cattle Welfare.
Dan Wearyis the associate dean of graduate studies and professor in the animal welfare program at the University of
British Columbia. He is a co-lead of the NSERC Industrial Research Chair on Dairy Cattle Welfare.
1 Financing partners include: Alberta Milk, B.C. Dairy Foundation, CanWest DHI, Cattle Industry
Development Council, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Merck Animal Health, Natural Sciences and Engineering
Council of Canada, Novus International Inc., Valacta, Westgen, and Zoetis.
FROM LEFT, David Fraser, Nina von Keyserlingk and Dan Weary.
Dairy farmers and their advisers have been paying more attention to raising heifers in the last five years,
with good results. There are many reasons for this, including a new and better focus on raising milk-fed calves, greater awareness of how expensive it is to raise a heifer to calving age—about $2,000—new calf barns being built to provide better environments, and setting achievable goals.
There’s industry-wide evidence farm-ers are doing a better job, too. CanWest DHI data showed Ontario has reduced the average age at first calving from 27.2 months in 2010 to 26.6 in 2013. This may not sound like a lot, but it’s heading in the right direction, consistently, for the first time in several years.
Ontario is not alone because all provinces have reduced their average age at first calv-
ing over the same time period, according to CanWest DHI data. Examining cows’ life-time milk production records shows high-est lifetime production is achieved from cows calving between 23 to 25 months of age. While there is still work to be done to move that average down, many producers are already meeting this goal.
IMPROVE YOUR HEIFERS’ GROWTH RATEBetter nutritional management can improve heifer growth. In 2011, the Calf-ETERIA project conducted a detailed survey of heif-er-raising practices and only 38.5 per cent of Ontario farmers of 1,000 surveyed indi-cated they regularly balance their heifers’ rations during the year. Having a properly balanced ration is important for improving heifer growth.
About 40 years ago, the nutritional ad-vice for heifers was not to get them fat by feeding too much energy, because there was a risk of depositing fat in the mam-mary glands, which would reduce future milk yield. However, energy content in a heifer’s diet may not be the only problem. Recent research from a joint project con-ducted by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Brazilian researchers showed the im-pact of different protein to energy ratios on mammary development.
Their project studied five metabolized protein (MP) to metabolized energy (ME) ratios in pre-puberty and post-puberty heifers. Mammary development changes before and after puberty can have a strong effect on later milk production. The diets were formulated so they all met the aver-age daily gain target of one kilogram per
RUMINATIONSBy Tom Wright
BALANCING RATIONSIf you’re planning to accelerate your heifer-rearing program, you may want to examine your heifers’ rations[
HAVING A properly balanced ration is important for improving heifer growth.
WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA 42 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 43
day. In the four-month study, 25 heifers were used, five per diet, with an average starting weight of 213 kg and an age of 7.8 months. Before the start of the exper-iment, all heifers were fed the same total mixed ration since weaning and gained about 0.7 kg per day.
In the experiment, the diets’ protein content was increased by replacing corn with soybean meal. The protein to energy ratios were 33, 38, 43, 48, and 53 grams per mega calorie for the five treatments as shown in the Table. The energy level in the five ratios was kept constant.
Ultrasound mammary gland measure-ments were done every 28 days to assess mammary fat deposits compared with milk-producing tissue changes from the diets. Ultrasound images were used to determine changes in mammary tissues based on the fact fat tissue reflects the ultrasound’s sound waves by showing a whiter shade compared with the grey or darker pixels reflected back by other mam-mary tissue. The researchers carefully con-ducted pixel by pixel analysis of selected portions of the images.
RESULTS OF THE FIVE DIETSThe two highest dietary protein treat-ments provided more crude protein to en-ergy than is recommended in the National Research Council’s publication (2001) on dairy cattle’s nutrient requirements. How-ever, some researchers have recently sug-gested those recommendations may not be meeting the needs of heifers weighing
more than 200 kg, which is why the high-est levels were included.
There were no differences in the responses measured from the pre-puberty or post-pu-berty heifers. This indicated the responses to the diets were the same regardless of the heifers’ maturity. The groups of heifers consuming the five diets had the same dry matter intake, dry matter digestibility and gained nearly one kilogram per day. Di-etary crude protein content increased when soybean meal replaced some of the corn, and non-fibre carbohydrate decreased.
There was more nitrogen excreted in the heifers’ urine when fed the higher levels of protein to energy in the diet. The main purpose of the project was to study the differences in mammary development, not the impact to the environment. The two lowest protein-to-energy diets, as shown in diets 33 and 38 in the Table, showed significantly higher scores for brightness on the ultrasound images in the mammary glands, particularly in the mammary duct areas. The researchers concluded the diets with the lowest protein-to-energy ratios were likely to lead to a higher degree of fat deposits in the mammary glands when feeding for an average daily gain of one ki-logram per day in heifers.
Unfortunately, the study did not record milk production, although the number of heifers in the study was best suited to ex-amine mammary development differenc-es, not variations in milk production.
Birth, puberty, pregnancy and lactation initiation are the key steps in mammary
development, particularly when hormonal changes occur. In this study, the research-ers took blood samples and reported a significant linear increase in the hormone IGF-1 as dietary protein increased. Along with other functions in the body, IGF-1 stimulates cellular proliferation in the mammary gland. Previous research has found a strong correlation between the concentration of IGF-1 in blood and the mammary gland.
When the fat tissue in the mammarygland grows in an undesirable way, as shown when the protein and energy contents of the diets are unbalanced, it can negatively impact milk-producing tissue develop-ment. The lowest dietary protein-to-energy treatment diet was not recommended for heifers when feeding for a high rate of gain.
DIET FORMULATIONFrom a practical standpoint, the study showed it is important to balance rations for growing pre-pubertal and post-puber-tal heifers, when targeting higher rates of gain. Depositing fat in the developing mammary gland is affected by the diet’s energy content and the ratio of metabo-lized protein to metabolized energy. In this study, the energy intake was constant in all the diets, so mammary fat develop-ment variations were related to the pro-tein-to-energy ratio.
Consult your feed adviser on balancing your heifer rations regularly to achieve your goals if you’re planning to accelerate your heifer-rearing program.
WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
Tom Wrightis a dairy cattle nutritionist for the Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs,
department of animal and poultry science at the
University of Guelph.
r. BeavReference: Albino, R.L., M.I. Marcondes,
R.M. Akers, E. Detmann, B.C. Carvalho, and
T.E. Silva. 2015. Mammary gland development
of dairy heifers fed diets containing increasing
levels of metabolisable protein: metabolisable
energy. J. Dairy Res. 82:113-120.
Ruminations is prepared by Ontario Ministry of Agricul-ture, Food and Rural Affairs livestock technology spe-cialists.
Ingredients (%) Protein : Energy (grams MP/ME)
33 38 43 48
53
Corn silage 60.8 60.8 60.1 60.0 60.0Soybean meal 14.2 18.2 24.4 26.0 29.9Corn 16.5 14.6 10.9 9.3 6.4Wheat bran 7.7 6.1 4.2 4.2 3.3Minerals 0.8 0.3 0.5 0.5 0.5Daily intakeDry matter (kg) 7.48 7.11 7.15 7.18 7.28Crude protein 1.10 1.16 1.33 1.38 1.52
Metabolizable energy
20.1 19.6 19.9 20.1 20.6
Table 1. Composition of experimental diets with different metabolized protein (MP): metabolized energy (ME)and intakes (kilograms per day) of dry matter, crude protein and metabolized energy.
44 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER
MARKETS
STEADY GROWTH
There is continued strong growth in the Canadian dairy industry, which is evident in the steady rise
in butterfat requirements in the first couple months of the year, says Kristin Benke, Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO)
economist.These requirements were up 2.8 per cent in February compared
with the same period last year. This was due to increases in cream sales, as well as the butterfat test in yogurt and cheese. On the other hand,
butter consumption, which had been trending upward in recent
months, has slowed down, and special class butterfat usage has also decreased,
but this should be temporary, says Benke.Butterfat requirements are expected to
rise another 0.21 per cent by July 2015, when butter, cheese and cream sales once again show positive growth, she says.
Solids non-fat (SNF) requirements are up 2.1 per cent in February compared with the same period last year. This is due to increases in demand in Class 3 for cheese and in Class 2(b) for ice cream and frozen yogurt, as well as some increases in butter and powders.
However, these increases were offset by a decline in fluid milk sales, and decreases in cheese used for further processing, as well as some decreases in butter and powders.
BUTTER STOCKS WELL BELOW NORMAL LEVELSButter stock levels at the end of March were below normal levels, says Benke. Plan A stocks were five tonnes, down 100 per
cent compared with the same time last year. Plan B stocks were 2,281 tonnes, down 63 per cent from last year.
Total public stocks were 2,622 tonnes, which is 72 per cent lower than last year at this time, and well below the normal stock level for this time of year, usually around 9,000 tonnes. Canadian Dairy Commission stocks have plateaued since November, says Benke. This is normally the time period when stock levels would be built up, she says. However, private stock levels are high at 12,000 tonnes and continue to increase. Butter stock levels for July 2015 are now forecast to be 18,500 tonnes.
NO CHANGE TO SNF-BF RATIO CAPThe P5 producer boards agreed to keep the SNF-butterfat ratio cap at 2.35 on
P5 AND WESTERN MILK POOL BLEND PRICES*The graph below shows the 12-month blend price for the P5 provinces and the Western Milk Pool (WMP).*There is a two-month lag reporting these figures.
SOLIDS NON-FAT TO BUTTERFAT (SNF-BF) RATIOThe graph shows Ontario’s SNF-BF ratio for the last 12 months in relation to Ontario’s target SNF-BF ratio of 2.2840.
Ben
d p
rice
in $
/hL
Ontario’s SNF-BF ratioTarget SNF-BF ratio
P5 blend priceWMP blend price
SN
F-B
F R
atio
WMP$79.97
P5$77.82
2.2068
72
74
76
78
80
82
Mar
201
5
Feb
2015
Jan
2015
Dec
201
4
Nov
201
4
Oct
201
4
Sept
201
4
Aug
201
4
July
201
4
June
201
4
May
201
4
Apr
201
4
Mar
201
5
Feb
2015
Jan
2015
Dec
201
4
Nov
201
4
Aug
201
4
July
201
4
June
201
4
May
201
4
Apr
201
4
2.15
2.2
2.25
2.3
2.35
2.4
2.45
Sept
201
4
Oct
201
4
[
WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 45
MONTHLY QUOTA PRICES ($/kg)
AP
RIL
PR
ICE
S
U.S. CLASS PRICESThis graph tracks U.S. Class III Prices, widely used to show trends. Actual prices paid to producers vary by state. The March 2015 Class III Price, $15.56 US per hun-dredweight, is equivalent to $44.86 Cnd per helctolitre. This equivalent is based on the exchange rate of $1 US = $1.27 Cdn, the exchange rate when the USDA announced the Class III Price. The Class III Price is in $ US per hundredweight at 3.5 per cent butterfat. One hundredweight equals 0.44 hectolitres. Canadian Class 5a and Class 5b prices track U.S. prices set by the U.S Department of Agriculture.
Source: USDA
Mar
201
5
Feb
2015
Jan
2015
Dec
201
4
Oct
201
4
Sept
201
4
Aug
201
4
July
201
4
June
201
4
May
201
4
Apr
201
4
$26
$12
$14
$16
$18
$20
$22
$24
Nov
201
4
PROVINCE PRICE/kg AMOUNTWANTED/kg
AMOUNT FOR SALE/ kg
AMOUNT PURCHASED/kg
British Columbia $44,000 890.91 131.66 131.66Alberta $38,330 296.80 304.58 212.80
Saskatchewan $28,750 6.50 40.10 2.25
Manitoba $27,000 121.73 170.16 90.53
Ontario $25,000 10,482.07 577.06 577.20
Quebec $25,000 11,742.90 597.00 595.40
New Brunswick $25,000 252.80 130.00 130.00Prince Edward Island $25,000 106.60 14.93 14.93
Nova Scotia Cancelled
*Newfoundland does not operate a monthly quota exchange. Quota is traded between producers.**$25,000 price cap in effect in PE.I., N.B., N.S., Ont. and Que.
WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
a monthly basis for the 2015-16 dairy year. The SNF surplus removal forecast for the 2014-15 dairy year is 75 million kilograms, up 23.2 per cent from the 2013-14 surplus removal activity.
The results of the ingredients strategy could have a significant impact on SNF market opportunities, which would help
substantially decrease the current surplus removal activity, says Benke.
P5 INCENTIVE DAYS ADDED Effective May 1, 2015, one additional incentive day has been added for the months of May, June, July and August on a non-cumulative basis. This brings the
total amount of incentive days to three for each of these months.
These incentive days will help replenish butter stocks that are below normal levels.
The quota committee will continue to monitor markets and production, and will provide updates if further adjustments are required.
46 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
5(d)/4(m)
5(c)
5(b)
5(a)
4
3(d)
3(c)
3(b)
3(a)
2(b)
2(a)
1(b)
1(a)
MARKETS
ONTARIO MONTHLY PRODUCER BLEND PRICE
Net after DFO deductions. Per hL based on monthly provincial kg-per-hL composition.
P5 UTILIZATION BY CLASS*For February 2015 (kg of butterfat/kg of solids non-fat)
Class 1a Homo, 2%, 1%, skim, chocolate milk, flavoured milks, buttermilk
Class 1b Fluid creamsClass 2a Yogurt, yogurt beverages, Kefir
and LassiClass 2b Ice cream, sour cream, frozen
yogurtClass 3a Fresh cheese, specialty cheeseClass 3b Cheddar cheeseClass 3c All types of Mozzarella except
when declared in 3dClass 3d Mozzarella used strictly on
fresh pizzas by establishments registered with the CDC
Class 4a Butter and powdersClass 4b Condensed and evaporated milk
for retail saleClass 4c New productsClass 4d Inventory, animal feedClass 4m Domestic surplusClass 5a Cheese for further processingClass 5b Non-cheese products for further
processingClass 5c Confectionery productsClass 5d Planned exports (Class 4m is grouped with 5d)
Milk marketings: During the month of March, total DFO milk marketings were 5.4 per cent higher than the corresponding month a year ago. Total DFO milk marketings for the 12-month period February
2014 to March 2015 was 1.6 per cent higher compared with the same period a year earlier. A total 3,859 producers sold milk to DFO in March compared with 3,957 a year earlier.
$78.46
% Butterfat
% Solids Non-Fat
12.95%
11.69%
7.14%
5.32%5.85%
16.47%12.54%
13.55%14.88%
2.34%2.50%
20.07%4.29%
2.27%2.38%
5.27%
11.30%
2.42%
2.85%
1.14%
2.16%
2.16%2.49%
0.24%
30.05%
$75
$80
$85
$90
Oct
201
4
Sept
201
4
Aug
201
4
July
201
4
June
201
4
May
201
4
Apr
201
4
Mar
ch 2
015
Feb
2015
Jan
2015
Dec
201
4
Nov
201
4
PRODUCER PRICES For March 2015
BUTTERFATper kg
PROTEIN per kg
OTHER SOLIDS per kg
RETURN per kg/BF
RETURN *per hL
Within-quota $9.70 $8.49 $1.68 $18.93 $78.46Over quota $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
ONTARIO DEDUCTIONSFor March 2015
Within quota
Over-quota
*per hL *per hLAverage gross $78.458 $0.000DFO Administration $0.625 $0.625CQM Administration $0.020 $0.020DFO Research $0.050 $0.050Canwest DHI $0.060 $0.060Transportation $2.700 $2.700Market Expansion $1.500 $1.500
Total Deductions $4.955 $4.955Average total net $73.503 $-4.955
*These kg per hL equivalents are based on Ontario’s March 2015 average composition of 4.14 butterfat, 3.37 protein and 5.77 other solids, rounded to the nearest cent.
The actual transportation rate for March 2015 was $2.70 per hL.
WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
3.95%
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 47WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
Over 60 years of leading poultry
productionexpertise
1 (800) [email protected]
Thinking of Poultry?We can help!
A $3.7 Billion MarketWe arrive in the mailboxes of 7,000 dairy farms
in nine provinces every month. Reach this premium market with a premium magazine offering you cost-effective advertising rates. For advertising information, contact Bill Dimmick, National Marketing Manager, 905-808-2760 or [email protected].
By Lillian Schaer
NEW ’N’ NOTED
K eeping calves free of disease andgetting them off to a good start inlife is a top priority for dairy farm-
ers Henry and Rose Keunen of Strathroy.In fact, an integrated milk pasteurizer and
calf bottle washer system designed by Henryhas won the Keunens a Premier’s Award forAgri-Food Innovation Excellence.
The invention saves a lot of labour andcontributes significantly to better calf health,including less diarrhea and elimination ofpassive transfer of Johne’s disease.
The Keunens used to feed their calvesby hand and rinse calf bottles daily withwarm water, disinfecting them with chlo-rine water only when they had residue.
However, the bottles are a perfect envi-ronment for growing pathogens, such asE.coli, bovine viral diarrhea virus, salmo-nella, among others.
Rose and Henry searched for a milkpasteurizing system that was able to wash
and disinfect milk bottles. Finding none,Henry set out to design his own.
The couple purchased a pasteurizer fromDairy Lane Systems in Ilderton and builta bottle washer that fits perfectly inside thepasteurizer and uses its wash system to rinse,wash and disinfect the bottles for each use.
It’s been so successful Dairy Lane nowmanufactures the bottle washer, alongwith the pasteurizer.
“It’s very simple to fill the bottles withmilk. The bottles are put on a rack for fill-ing and when they are empty, they go backon the same rack but upside down, andinto the pasteurizer for washing,” Rose ex-plains. “The bottles are disinfected beforeevery feeding and all the nipples go in apail with chlorine water before they go onthe bottle. If you only rinse a bottle withhot water, it is still dirty and the film layerwill cause bacteria to grow, which you arethen feeding to your calves.”
At night the Keunens fill their pasteur-izer with the amount of milkthey need for morning andlunchtime calf feedings. Inthe morning, a timer turns onthe pasteurizer and the milk iscooled to a preset temperature.“The timer makes it flexible towork for everybody and youdon’t have to be a slave to yourmilking schedule,” says Rose.
Lillian Schaer is a freelance writer
based in Guelph, Ont. A longer ver-
sion of this story was originally
prepared for the Ontario Veal As-
sociation’s Calf Care newsletter in
2014.This article is one in a series
provided by AgInnovation Ontario.
The organizers of the popular Ca-
nadian Dairy XPO (CDX) have
changed the dates for the 2016 show
to Wed. April 6 and Thurs. April 7, in-
stead of the first week of February.
“Our quest is to continuously
improve the XPO, and that starts
with customer safety. Phase-two of
our strategic plan is to protect the
safety of our customers traveling
from across the country and to move
the event away from travel risk and,
ultimately, the devastation of road
closures during the week of CDX,”
says Jordon Underhill, show founder
and general manager.
The event will continue to take
place in April and remain at the Strat-
ford Rotary Complex, says Underhill.
Now heading into its fourth year of
operation, the Canadian Dairy XPO
currently has 350 qualified exhibitors
representing 32 countries. More than
15,000 dairy producers from across
the country are expected to attend
the show.
“April will allow for outdoor exhibit
space growth and the potential con-
struction of a large, onsite pole barn
structure,” says Underhill. A perma-
nent parking lot will be constructed
this summer, he adds. Show staff will
meet with Stratford’s mayor and local
MPs and MPPs to discuss funding
options for facility expansion.
For more information, visit www.
dairyxpo.ca.
Note: Descriptions of products and services are for
the information of our readers only. Publication of
this information does not constitute endorsement
by Milk Producer.
NEW BOTTLE WASHING
SYSTEM WINS AWARDCDX CHANGES SHOWDATES TO EARLY APRIL
HENRY KEUNEN is pictured filling milk bottles for calves.
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It’s M
ange
r Sea
son!
I n turn-of-the-century Amsterdam, the city had many milk salons where anyone could enjoy a glass of milk sold directly from a dairy farmer. In turn, consumers knew where their milk came from.
This is according to a Dutch artist who is reviving this old tradition for consumers, farmers and processors to rediscover the value of milk.
Sietske Klooster operated a temporary pop-up milk bar in Amsterdam, called MelkSalon, during the month of April. Several years ago, Klooster worked in a studio on a dairy farm. She discovered the taste of milk differs between farms. Klooster wants people to consider the entire experience of drinking milk, even the cup or glass from which it is drunk.
Klooster also thinks milk plays an important role in Dutch history, culture, the economy and rural communities. As European milk quotas expired March 31, Klooster used MelkSalon to get people talking about the dairy industry and, of course, drinking milk.
MelkSalon held tastings that featured milk sourced from six dairy farms across Holland. Klooster enlisted Bas de Groot, a self-proclaimed milk sommelier, to help. A sommelier is someone with extensive knowledge of wine. de Groot runs an agricultural communications company and drinks a lot of milk. He also thinks milk from across Holland tastes different. He claims to able to taste the difference between milk from corn-fed and grass-fed cows and between different cow breeds.
MelkSalon also held Old Amsterdam Milk tours. Participants toured old milk markets and salons in the city. MelkSalon was used to educate consumers about the dairy industry. It held workshops and movie nights featuring films from different perspectives of the industry, as well as provided dinners where milk was the central ingredient.
THE BACK FORTYBy Amy Reusch
A DUTCH artist ran a temporary milk bar in Amsterdam during the month of April that offered samples of milk from different Dutch farms. The goal was to get people talking about the dairy industry’s importance to the Dutch economy and culture.
50 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER
Amy Reuschis assistant editor of Milk Producer.
A FINE GLASS OF MILK Artist revives an old tradition to get people talking about and drinking milk
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Le Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) a mis au point une stratégie de suc-cession afin de gérer l’évolution de
son personnel et les changements de l’in-dustrie, selon Shikha Jain, directrice des ressources humaines et du développement organisationnel du DFO.
Le DFO et l’industrie laitière doivent se moderniser, innover et se battre sur le marché. Pour que le DFO atteigne ces ob-jectifs, il a besoin d’un personnel qui ait des connaissances approfondies des sujets suivants :• commerce international et national et influence sur l’industrie laitière et les pro-ducteurs ; • réglementations et politiques actuelles, leur origine et, en cas de changement, qui en sera affecté et comment ; • qui sont les partenaires et intervenants du DFO, quels sont leurs mandats et leur place dans l’industrie ;• besoins et défis des transformateurs ; • perspectives des producteurs.
La nécessité d’établir des relations est également essentielle au futur succès du DFO. Des relations de travail fortes avec le gouvernement, les partenaires indus-triels et les transformateurs ont été indis-pensables au succès passé du DFO, selon Mme Jain.
« Quand nous examinons la succession, la connaissance est quelque chose que l’on peut acquérir. Cependant, dit-elle, il faut du temps pour établir et développer des relations. »
Au cours des trois dernières années, de nombreux nouveaux employés ont joint le DFO. Ces nouveaux employés repré-sentent maintenant 27 % du personnel. Le DFO a de nombreux employés de longue date – 52 % ont plus de 15 ans d’ancienneté et 40 % travaillent pour l’or-ganisation depuis plus de 20 ans. Selon elle, cela n’est pas habituel dans d’autres industries.
Cependant, 11 % du personnel du DFO sera à l’âge de la retraite pendant les trois prochaines années. L’ancienneté moyenne de ces employés est de 32 ans. Ces employés ont des connaissances tacites incroyables qui doivent être transmises.
Le DFO utilise une approche proactive dans la façon dont ces modifications du
personnel affecteront l’organisation, con-tinue Mme Jain.
Un nouveau processus d’embauche a été mis au point il y a trois ans pour s’assurer que le DFO dispose de personnes ayant les compétences nécessaires pour faire leur travail et attire des personnes qui parta-gent les mêmes valeurs, afin d’assurer une bonne compatibilité culturelle. Cela com-prend des plans d’entrée en fonction, un plan personnalisé pour les nouveaux em-ployés comprenant des activités comme des visites de fermes, des participations aux réunions du conseil d’administration pour voir comment la politique est adoptée, la visite du laboratoire de Guelph et l’obser-vation du travail d’un conducteur-classeur et d’un représentant régional. Le DFO organise également des entrevues et évalu-ations comportementales, des contrôles réguliers des nouveaux employés et a mis en place des objectifs de rendement d’es-sai pour cibler l’apprentissage et mesurer le succès.
Le DFO utilise des plans de carrière pour la formation des candidats à la suc-
cession. Un plan annuel de formation interne a été créé décrivant les possibilités de formation individuelle et collective pour développer les connaissances néces-saires. Le DFO met au point un portail Web de type Wikipedia comme outil édu-catif à utiliser comme source unique afin de regrouper les documents éducatifs et de référence pour le personnel, les membres du conseil d’administration, les mem-bres des comités de producteurs laitiers et même le public.
Le DFO a des postes très spécialisés, comme l’attribution du lait et la gestion des quotas. Pour Shikha Jain, il s’agit de postes uniques qu’il ne sera pas facile de remplacer. Le DFO élabore des plans d’ur-gence pour de tels postes. Sa stratégie de succession fait appel au travail d’équipe avec les dirigeants et une formation poly-valente afin d’éliminer les dépendances ponctuelles.
La planification de la succession exige des efforts continus. Le DFO identifie les besoins et met en place des programmes pour répondre aux futurs défis.
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 F1WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
NOUVELLES
LE DFO S’ATTAQUE À LA PLANIFICATION DE LA SUCCESSION AU NIVEAU ORGANISATIONNEL[
52%
Années de service au Dairy Farmers of Ontario
48%
Moins de 15 ans de servicePlus de 15 ans de service
F2 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
MARCHÉS
CROISSANCE RÉGULIÈRE
L’industrie laitière canadienne connaît une croissance régulière continue, qui se manifeste par
l’augmentation constante des besoins en matière grasse des
premiers mois de l’année, selon Kristin Benke, économiste au Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO).
Ces besoins ont augmenté de 2,8 % en
février, par rapport à la même période de l’année passée. Cela
est dû principalement aux aug-mentations des ventes de crème, ainsi
qu’à la teneur en M.G. des yogourts et fromages. Par contre, la consomma-
tion de beurre, qui avait tendance à aug-menter au cours des derniers mois, a ralenti et l’utilisation de matière grasse des classes spéciales a aussi diminué, mais cela devrait être provisoire selon Mme Benke.
Toujours selon elle, les besoins en matière grasse devraient encore augmenter de 0,21 % avant juillet 2015, quand les ventes de beurre, de fromage et de crème affichent encore une fois une croissance positive.
Les besoins de matière sèche dégraissée ont augmenté de 2,1 % en février, par rapport à la même période l’année passée. Cela est dû aux augmentations de la de-mande dans la classe 3 pour le fromage et dans la classe 2(b) pour la crème glacée et le yogourt glacé, ainsi qu’à quelques aug-
mentations dans le beurre et les poudres. Cependant, ces augmentations ont
été compensées par une diminution des ventes de lait de consommation et des diminutions dans le fromage utilisé pour d’autres transformations, ainsi que certaines diminutions dans le beurre et les poudres.
STOCKS DE BEURRE BIEN INFÉRIEURS AUX NIVEAUX NORMAUXFin mars, les stocks de beurre étaient in-férieurs aux niveaux normaux. Les stocks de plan A étaient de 5 tonnes, soit une baisse de 100 % par rapport à la même époque de l’année dernière. Les stocks de plan B étai-ent de 2281 tonnes, soit une diminution de 63 % par rapport à l’année dernière.
PRIX PONDÉRÉS DU P5 ET DU POOL DE L’OUEST*Le graphique ci-dessous montre le prix pondéré de 12 mois pour les provinces du P5 et le pool de lait de l’Ouest (PLO).*Ces chiffres sont fournis avec un décalage de deux mois
PROPORTION DE MATIÈRE SÈCHE DÉGRAISSÉE À LA MATIÈRE GRASSE (M.S.D.-M.G.)Ce graphique montre la proportion de M.S.D.-M.G. en Ontario pour
les 12 derniers mois par rapport à sa proportion ciblée de 2,2840.
Prix
pon
dér
é à
l’hec
tolit
re
Proportion de M.S.D.-M.G. en Ontario
Proportion ciblée de M.S.D.-M.G. en OntarioPrix pondéré du P5
Prix pondéré du PLO
Pro
por
tion
de
M.S
.D.-
M.G
.
PLO$79,97
P5$77,82
2.2068
72
74
76
78
80
82
mar
s 20
15
fév.
201
5
janv
. 201
5
déc.
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4
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2.15
2.2
2.25
2.3
2.35
2.4
2.45
sept
. 201
4
oct.
201
4
[
MILKPRODUCER | MAY 2015 F3WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
Les stocks publics totaux étaient de 2622 tonnes, ce qui est inférieur de 72 % aux stocks de l’année passée à la même époque et bien en dessous du niveau normal de stocks à cette période de l’année qui est de 9000 tonnes. Les stocks de la Commission canadienne du lait ont plafonné depuis novembre, selon Mme Benke. Normalement, c’est la période à laquelle les niveaux de stocks seraient reconstitués. Cependant, les niveaux de stocks privés sont élevés avec 12 000 tonnes et continuent d’augmenter. Les prévisions de niveaux de stocks de beurre pour juillet 2015 sont maintenant de 18 500 tonnes.
PAS DE MODIFICATION DE LA PROPORTION M.S.D./M.G. MAXIMALELes comités de producteurs du P5 ont accepté de maintenir la propor-tion maximale M.S.D./M.G. à 2,35 sur une base mensuelle pendant la campagne laitière 2015-16. La prévision de retrait des surplus de M.S.D. pour la campagne laitière 2014-15 est de 75 000 tonnes, en
augmentation de 23,2 % par rapport au retrait de surplus de 2013-14. Les résultats de la stratégie des ingrédients pourraient avoir un
impact important sur les possibilités du marché de la M.S.D., ce qui contribuerait à diminuer fortement l’activité actuelle de retrait des surplus, conclut Mme Benke.
AJOUT DE JOURS D’INCITATIFS DANS LE P5 Depuis le 1er mai 2015, un jour d’incitatifs a été ajouté pour les mois de mai, juin, juillet et août sur une base non cumulative. Cela amène le nombre total de jours d’incitatifs à trois pour cha-cun de ces mois.
Les jours d’incitatifs contribueront à reconstituer les stocks de beurre, qui sont inférieurs aux niveaux normaux.
Le Comité des quotas continuera de surveiller les marchés et la production et fournira de nouvelles informations si d’autres aj-ustements sont nécessaires.
PRIX DU QUOTA QUOTIDIEN ($/KG)
AV
RIL
PR
IX
PROVINCE Prix/kg Montant voulait/kg
Quantité à vendre/ kg
Quantité achetée/kg
Colombie-Britannique $44,000 890.91 131.66 131.66
Alberta $38,330 296.80 304.58 212.80
Saskatchewan $28,750 6.50 40.10 2.25
Manitoba $27,000 121.73 170.16 90.53
Ontario $25,000 10,482.07 577.06 577.20
Québec $25,000 11,742.90 597.00 595.40Nouveau-Brunswick $25,000 252.80 130.00 130.00
Île-du-Prince-Édouard $25,000 106.00 14.93 14.93
Nouvelle-Écosseannulé
* Terre-Neuve n’utilise pas d’échange mensuel de quotas..**Plafond de 25 000 $ en vigueur en Île-du-Prince-Édouard, Nouveau-Brunswick, Nouvelle-Écosse, Ontario et au Québec.
F4 MAY 2015 | MILKPRODUCER WWW.MILKPRODUCER.CA
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
5(d)/4(m)
5(c)
5(b)
5(a)
4
3(d)
3(c)
3(b)
3(a)
2(b)
2(a)
1(b)
1(a)
MARCHÉS
REVENU NET MOYEN EN ONTARIORetenues brutes moyennes par hL , basé sur la composition mensuelle provinciale kg-
par-hL.
*Utilisation par classe dans le P5Pour février 2015 (kg de M.G./kg d’extrait sec dégraissé)
Class 1a Lait entier, 2 %, 1 %, écrémé,
lait au chocolat laits aromatisés,
babeurre
Class 1b Crèmes de consommation
Class 2a yogourt, breuvage au yogourt,
kéfir, lassi
Class 2b Crème glacée, crème sûre,
yogourt glacée
Class 3a Fromage frais, fromages de
spécialité
Class 3b Cheddar
Class 3c Tous types de Mozzarella sauf
celles incluses dans la classe 3d
Class 3d Mozzarella utilisée uniquement
sur des pizzas fraîches par
des établissements enregistrés
avec la CCL
Class 4a Beurre et poudres
Class 4b Laits concentré sucré et évaporé
au détail
Class 4c Nouveaux produits
Class 4d Stocks, aliments pour les animaux
Class 4m Excédent intérieur
Class 5a Fromage pour transformation
ultérieure
Class 5b Produits non fromagers pour
transformation ultérieure
Class 5c Produits de confiserieClass 5d Exportations prévues
La classe 4m est groupée avec la classe 5d
Livraisons de lait: Le total des livraisons de DFO de lait du mars été
5.4 % plus élevé à celui enregistré pour la période correspondante l’an derni-
er. Le total des livraisons de lait de la période de 12 mois allant février 2014 à
mars 2015 est 1.6% supérieur la même période il y a un an. En mars, 3,859
producteurs ont livré du lait au DFO compara tivement à 3,957 l’an dernier.
$78,46
% M.G.
% Extrait sec degrasse
$75
$80
$85
$90
oct.
201
4
sept
. 201
4
août
201
4
juil.
201
4
juin
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4
mai
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4
avri
l 201
4
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s 20
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. 201
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nov.
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4
PRIX ACCORDES pour mars 2015
M.G. par kg
Protéin par kg
A.M.S par kg
REVENUpar kg de
M.G.
REVENU *par hL
Prix intérieur-quota $9,70 $8,49 $1,68 $18,93 $78,46Excédent de quota $0,00 $0,00 $0,00 $0,00 $0,00
Retenues en OntarioFor mars 2015
Intérieur quota
Excédent de
quota
*par hL *par hL Retenues brutesmoyennes
$78,458 $0,000
Administration DFO $0,625 $0,625Administration CQM $0,020 $0,020Recherche DFO $0,050 $0,050Canwest DHI $0,060 $0,060Transport $2,700 $2,700Expansion de marché $1,500 $1,500
Total de retenues $4,955 $4,955Total net moyen $73,503 $-4,955
*Ces équivalents par hl sont calculés d’après la composition moyenne ontarienne pour mars 2015 de 4,14 pour la M.G., de 3,37 pour la protéine et de 5,77 pour les A.M.S., et arrondis au centième près.
Le prix réel du transport pour mars 2015 était de 2,70 $ l’hectolitre.
12,95%
11,69%
7,14%
5,32%5,85%
16,47%12,54%
13,55%14,88%
2,34%2,50%
20,07%4,29%
2,27%2,38%
5,27%
11,30%
2,42%
2,85%
1,14%
2,16%
2,16%2,49%
0,24%
30,05%
3,95%