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Micro-machine helps reduce feedlot waste

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Feeding cattle the best diet for growth is a complicated business. Now, new technology is making it not only easier to do but also more efficient. 

Micro-machine technology enables cattle feeders to accurately measure individual additives or supplements that help cattle grow. 

There are three primary constituents in cattle feed – the concentrate, which is typically grain; the roughage, or silage; and supplements, including minerals and vitamins. The makeup of the feed varies with the gender of the animal and how long it has been in the feedlot.

Most Canadian feedlots hire nutritionists to create a balanced feed plan for their livestock.

Once a nutritionist has decided on the optimum supplement blend, it is typically made into a custom pellet. These pellets are then mixed in with the grain and silage. A feedlot might have four or more different pellets formulated for use during different stages of the feedlot growth cycle. 

Simon Cobban, manager of feedlot solutions at United Farmers of Alberta (UFA), said customizing feed for different groups of cattle can be wasteful. “If a feedlot operator wishes to increase the use of any given supplement, he must increase the number of pellets added to the feed. This means increasing all the supplements in that pellet and incurring a great deal of waste.”

How technology is reducing waste and improving accuracy

With micro-machine technology, cattle feeders can measure individual additives or supplements to within 1/100th of a gram. Once measured, these supplements are then sprayed directly onto the grain. It provides a much more accurate and homogenous mix than mixing in a pellet.

“The machines aren’t new, but the high capital cost puts them out of reach for most feedlots,” said Simon. “At UFA, we have a program for cattle feeders where we provide the machine at no cost, as long as they buy our feed, additives and supplements. We install the machine in a custom building, set it up, program it and maintain it. It makes this technology much more accessible.”

Initially, UFA’s micro-technology program was only available for feedlots that feed 10,000 or more head of cattle per year. It is now available to feedlots with 5,000 head, and it will soon be going down to 1,500 head.

“We currently service something like 60 to 65 per cent of the fed cattle in Western Canada,” said Simon. “We have 100 per cent customer retention, and we have quite a few smaller feedlots waiting for when we can reduce that threshold to 1,500.”

To learn about other ways technology is used in feedlot operations, read ‘How technology is helping improve feedlot efficiencies’.

How Olds College is preparing agriculture students for the future

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Agriculture schools are helping to shape the next generation of farmers. This first installment in our agriculture education series takes a look at Olds College, located an hour north of Calgary.

Olds College Smart Farm

When Stuart Cullum joined Olds College as president in 2017, he did so with a vision. He wanted to create an environment in which students could learn about agriculture technologies and the practices of the future.

The outcome of that vision is the Smart Farm. Here, the college’s agriculture students learn about, and experience first-hand, technologies that are making farming more efficient, productive and sustainable.

“The idea is to create a cutting-edge learning environment for students,” said Jason Bradley, Smart Ag director at Olds College. Many early adopters are already using these commercially available technologies – such as artificial intelligence platforms that are used to monitor crop health and diagnose diseases. “But at some point we will also start to look at using our facility to test and validate pre-commercial technology,” said Jason.

“Much of the learning of the applicable industry practices and technologies came about through our work with the Smart Agri-Foods Supercluster,” said Jason. Although the supercluster was not awarded funding under the federal Innovation Superclusters Initiative, it remains active in the Smart Farm and uses the facility as a place to develop new Smart Ag practices.

“The Smart Farm allows our instructors to teach the theory, and values of these technologies in the classroom, and then be able to demonstrate them in a hands-on teaching environment,” said Jason. “Students learn how to install them, integrate software and hardware, analyze data and use it for optimum decision-making.”

Tech-savvy graduates will have the knowledge and skills to help companies adopt technologies they would otherwise not have been ready for. The Smart Farm also provides a place for  producers to see those technologies in action, and talk to each other, the companies providing the technologies, and instructors and students.

“We want it to be like a giant coffee shop,” said Jason.

Smart livestock production

Phase one of the Smart Farm is focused on crop production, and the second phase – to be designed this coming winter – will focus on livestock production.

“An important part of that will be developing relationships with the companies that have developed applicable technologies, and with producers who are using technologies that fit into the Smart Farm framework,” said Jason.

How the Smart Farm supports economic development and ag innovation

Jason explained that the Smart Farm could have significant impact across Canada in several different ways. “We see this as a way to clearly demonstrate what technology can achieve in agriculture. We can show other schools how to design and implement this type of education and this type of collaboration with industry. We can also quantify the GDP growth and jobs created from high tech, improved practices. We can then help other regions replicate that, and scale it.”

Stay tuned for future posts in which we will look at other educational institutions helping educate the next generation of farmers.

Environmental stewardship is a science at Harmony Beef

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Canada’s beef producers care about the environment – after all, their livelihoods depend on the health of the land where they work. Through ongoing research, innovation and best practices, they constantly strive to minimize their impact.

In parts 1 and 2 of our series on Harmony Beef, we showcased the food safety and animal care innovations practised at the new beef processing plant north of Calgary. The plant’s environmental stewardship systems are also leading edge.

“We aren’t just in the business of producing beef,” said marketing director, Cam Daniels. “We want to create the most value and show exceptional regard for everything that is touched along the way.”

Sustainability practices at the plant include:

    • Cattle waste is collected, dried, composted and turned into fertilizer.
    • Packaging is eco-friendly.
    • Waste heat from the refrigeration units is captured and used to warm the floors and barn.
    • A recycling program ensures all waste is managed responsibly.
    • More than 94 per cent of the water used is recycled.

An industry leading water treatment facility

During the plant’s design, owner Rich Vesta traveled to Holland to purchase a state-of-the-art water treatment system. Installed by a Calgary-based company, the system cleans the waste water to a standard higher than Canadian drinking water standards.

Water used in production processes and equipment cleaning comes from the water treatment system, reducing water usage at the plant by more than 96 per cent. That’s a reduction from 500,000 gallons per day to 18,000 gallons per day.

Water treatment system at Harmony Beef“We’re very proud of our water treatment plant because it demonstrates our high technology and our commitment to environmental stewardship,” said Cam.

Check out the other two posts on Harmony Beef: ‘How a beef plant is setting a new standard in food safety’ and ‘How respect for the animals that feed us aligns with beef cattle production’.

How technology helped reduce the impact of a bovine tuberculosis outbreak

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A disease outbreak is one of the most tragic things that can happen in any industry that relies on crops or livestock. In September 2016, the Canadian beef industry was faced with an outbreak of Bovine Tuberculosis (TB) – a disease that had the potential to devastate our cattle producers’ operations.

Fortunately, in this case, the outbreak was brought under control, and its impact minimized, using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Read on to find out how.

What happens when disease is discovered

When the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) notified the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) that a case of bovine TB had been detected in a cow from Alberta, the first step was to identify the farm of origin. This was quickly achieved through a combination of RFID tags, brand identification tattoos, metal tags and farm tags.

The next step was an investigation so that control measures could be put in place to help prevent the spread of the disease. According to the CFIA, the investigation’s first stage involved identifying all the animals from that farm, and any that had encountered them.

Phase two of the investigation required tracing all animals that had left the infected farm in the last five years, and also tracing any animals that they had come into contact with.

During the third phase, CFIA identified the herds from which animals had been introduced into the infected herd in the past five years. The goal here was to identify the source of the infection, but the reality is that it cannot always be positively confirmed.

Once the infected animals had been identified, and farms they’d been on were traced, any adult cattle that could have come into contact with the infected animals were quarantined and tested to verify whether the disease had spread to other farms.

By the time the outbreak was contained, approximately 11,500 head of cattle had been humanely destroyed, and 14,000 were quarantined and subsequently released.

The role of traceability

Being able to trace the movement of cattle that may have been exposed to the infected herd was fundamental to the CFIA’s ability to prevent the spread and impact of the disease.

According to CFIA, animal traceability contributes to be an effective disease response and reduces the impact of a disease outbreak on individual producers and the industry as a whole. Good tracing information supports a faster response and can help limit the number of farms that must be quarantined.

The outcome of the outbreak

The TB outbreak was finally contained, but not before the beef industry experienced a significant impact. Nonetheless, without the benefits of RFID technology, the outcome would have been even worse. It’s worth noting that Canada’s world-leading cattle traceability system is made possible due to the diligence of industry members, who play a critical role in ensuring this information is collected and maintained. If this information had been incomplete or unavailable, the length of the investigation and the ability to determine the source of the infection would have been impacted significantly.

You can read more about RFID technology in these posts:

Cattle traceability and Canada’s place as a global beef producer: how a tag retention study is helping

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Canada has a reputation for producing some of the finest beef in the world. Part of what cements this international standing is our ability to accurately track cattle from their farm of origin right through to slaughter. Using radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, beef producers provide detailed information about each animal, including health and feed histories.

While this technology already sets Canada apart from other countries, there’s always room for improvement. One of the major concerns for livestock producers has been tags that fall off or become compromised, but until recently the degree of this problem was unclear. To address the issue, Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) commenced a National Tag Retention Project in 2011. This project studied the long-term viability of the tags in use.

We spoke with Paul Laronde, tag and technology manager at CCIA, about the project, which was four years in the making.

Q: Why was the tag retention project deemed necessary?

Paul: Tags are mandatory within the system for all cattle leaving the farm of origin. Tag retention is affected by a number of things, and it affects all livestock operators differently. While some industry members have little or no problem with tag retention, others are frustrated by tag loss, which costs time and money. Though there is a lot of anecdotal evidence regarding tag loss from industry members, it was determined that a science-based trial may be able to narrow down the causes and rates of tag loss that are outside of a livestock operator’s control.

Q: Was there a sense before the trial of the expected results?

Paul: Going into the trial, there were no expectations. As a research trial, it is important to generate unbiased data from actual field conditions. It was so important to remove bias from the testing that experienced, third-party cattle-handling experts – professional cowboys – were contracted to apply the approved tags to animals involved in the trial. Since there were no assumptions made about the research trial, there were no surprises.

Q: What were the results?

Paul: We gathered real-world tag retention data, which was analyzed by expert scientists to ensure the data interpretation was valid and relatable to industry. Among the learnings resulting from the trial, were the different retention rates between various tag applicators, and the preference by the professional cowboys for particular applicator(s). CCIA encourages livestock operators to try another brand of tags with matching applicator, if they are experiencing any challenges or frustration with the tag application process.

Q: What are some of the solutions that will be recommended?

Paul: Approved tags performed well for the majority of this study. The comments from the researchers that applied tags have been shared with each approved tag manufacturer as feedback, with the continued goal of working together to improve tag and applicator design and retention in future. One of the critical outputs of the project was to highlight the need for further tag testing – to build on this project’s results and to test tags in the field for longer periods of time.

Moving forward to improve tag retention and effectiveness

CCIA will use the results of this study to recommend solutions for maximizing tag retention and readability, and also to hold manufacturers accountable for the performance of their own products.

You can learn more about the role RFID technology plays in the Canadian beef export market in ‘Why traceability is making Canada a world leader in beef production.’ In other posts you can learn about how RFID technology is assisting with the development of verified sustainable beef and with alleviating the agricultural labour crisis.

Meet the team: Ryan Kasko, vice-chair of the board

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Here at the Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association we couldn’t truly represent the interests of our industry without input from our board of directors. Comprised of the men and women who work in the cattle feeding industry every day, our board helps provide direction for all our activities.

For this week’s post, we sat down with Ryan Kasko, CEO of Kasko Cattle Company in Coaldale, Alberta, and vice-chair of ACFA’s board of directors, for another installment of our meet the team series.

Ryan grew up just outside Coaldale, the son of a cattle dealer, but it wasn’t until after graduating from the University of Lethbridge, with a bachelor of management degree, that he became involved in the industry himself. At that time he joined his father’s business, and two years later they decided to buy a feedlot together.

That was 20 years ago, and Kasko Cattle Company now has feedlots in four different locations. As it has expanded, it has also provided opportunities for other family members – Ryan’s wife, Shannon, is the office manager, and his brother and brother-in-law, and their wives, also work in the business.

“It’s an exciting industry to be in,” said Ryan. “The technologies we are using today are really sophisticated, and we’ve made significant improvements over the last 20 years, in the way we manage people and how we take care of the animals – it’s an industry that’s just been constantly changing and it’s great to be a part of that change.”

Helping the ACFA represent a changing industry to the government

Ryan has been on the ACFA board for five years now, a responsibility he takes very seriously. “It’s important to serve the industry,” he said, “and I’ve done that in different organizations through the years. I think the ACFA does a very good job representing cattle feeders in Alberta and I thought it was important I take my turn.”

“There’s been a lot of things going on recently,” continued Ryan. “New laws around labour standards and safety, and initiatives like the carbon tax have significant impacts on our operations. The ACFA works with government to help them understand the industry, and what we do every day – to help them make decisions that are going to work for our industry and the people involved in it. As a board, we help provide the association with direction.”

The Kaskos at home

With four children – one in middle school, two in high school and one in his first year of college – Ryan and his wife have a very busy family. They enjoy watching basketball together, and while his kids also play, Ryan says that watching is enough for him. For stress relief, though, he plays squash and competes in triathlons.

In other posts in our meet the team series, we introduced you to Bryan Walton, CEO, Page Stuart, past board chair, Martin Zuidhof, board chair, Casey Vander Ploeg, manager of policy and research, and Jennifer Brunette, manager of events and member services.

Former Edmonton Sun columnist Danny Hooper on the evolution of the beef industry

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When you think about the beef that’s served on your table, it might seem that the product hasn’t changed much during your lifetime. What has changed, though, is the business of beef production.

With the annual Alberta Beef Industry Conference approaching, from February 15-17, we thought it would be interesting to talk with long-time event master of ceremonies, Danny Hooper, to see what changes he has observed over the years.

As well as being conference MC for over a decade, Danny is a former page 6 columnist for the Edmonton Sun, a recording artist, motivational speaker, fundraising auctioneer and one-time host of the 790 CFCW morning show. He also comes from a farming background, having grown up on a cattle ranch in Tomahawk, Alberta.

Changing times have brought changing issues

We asked Danny what issues have come to the forefront during his time with the conference. “When I did my first year, it was right in the middle of the BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) crisis,” he said. “Since then, I’ve seen a succession of different issues. Tech is a big one – it’s interesting to see how technology changes the industry every year. Country of Origin Labelling has been another big topic. Other issues I’ve seen include the economy; the way that changing demographics, as well as social and cultural norms, affect beef producers; politics; regulation and more.”

Food safety in Canada

Danny also said that food safety has been a constant theme at the conference, and he’s always been impressed at the high standards followed by the industry. “I recently returned from a three-week trip to Bali,” he said, “and that was a real eye opener. You can’t drink the tap water, even in a nice hotel, and you’re always wondering about the safety of the food you’re served. In Canada, you don’t have to give food safety much of a thought.”

The adaptability of Canadian beef producers

As consumer demands change, Danny noted, the industry has been able to adapt and respond. “There’s so much information out there, both good and bad – and a lot of misinformation – and it travels at the speed of light. It can affect consumer choices very quickly, and at the other end of the scale, the producers,” he said. “Food producers have to respond, and often have to respond quite quickly, and I think overall they’ve done a very good job of it.”

Danny concluded our conversation with a couple of observations about the industry:

“To me, it’s always an eye opener what big business this is,” he commented, “and all the issues that the producers do face. I don’t think people are aware of that.”

“Another thing I’ve found interesting through the years is the custom branding. A lot of the small independent producers are doing a really good job of branding and marketing their farms and their products.”

To learn more about the consumer trends that affect the beef industry, check out last week’s blog post: ‘Changing demographics mean changes at the dinner table.’ And stay tuned for more from conference speakers in the upcoming weeks.

Why traceability is making Canada a world-leader in beef production

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In previous posts on this blog we have seen how technology is helping improve feedlot efficiencies, and could even help with the labour crisis.

The technology responsible for much of these developments is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), and this week we’re going to take a look at how this technology is used in the Canadian Cattle Identification Program.

To learn more, we spoke with Kori Maki-Adair, communications manager at the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA).

“The use of RFID tags in Canada’s cattle identification program assists the Canadian cattle industry with the automation of data collection and the ability to maintain the integrity of all information,” said Kori. “In 2003, the entire Canadian cattle industry committed to a transition to this technology, and Canada’s traceability system is now world-renowned for its efficiency and effectiveness.”

What is RFID?

Every cow in Canada is fitted with an ear tag prior to leaving its farm of origin. Each tag contains an approved RFID transponder (capable of receiving and transmitting a radio signal), consisting of an encoded chip and antenna.

The tag can provide a permanent record of such basic information as where the cow originally came from, its date of birth, sex, breed and species. But the possibilities are almost endless – the tags can be used for herd management, on-farm record keeping and more. As we saw in ‘How technology is helping improve feedlot efficiencies’, they can also be used to monitor what each individual animal has been fed, and its precise intake.

Why does this ability to track information matter?

The technology gives us the ability to trace an animal through the entire chain of custody (from its farm of origin through every step of the production chain, right to the consumer). It’s a crucial tool in helping to ensure the protection of animal health, public health and food safety. For instance, in the event of a disease outbreak, tracing the origin is fast and simple.

This ability to track how each individual animal has been raised creates absolute confidence in our Canadian product, and has given Canada a reputation as a leader in the field. For retailers and restaurants it means they can make claims about the beef they serve with 100 per cent certainty that they are accurate.

“A strong and credible traceability program will help to ensure Canada remains a leading producer and marketer of beef and dairy cattle, bison and sheep, with a stable demand for products at all times,” said Kori.

How is the program implemented and enforced?

All cattle must be identified with an approved tag before leaving the farm where they were born – and it is prohibited for any operator in the beef supply chain to send, transport or receive an animal not bearing an approved tag. This is enforced by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

“Tags are issued to livestock operators through CCIA-authorized tag dealers,” explained Kori. “Each tag is visually marked and electronically embedded with a unique identification number which is allocated by, and subsequently recorded on, CCIA’s Canadian Livestock Tracking System (CLTS) database.” Data from each tag is transmitted to, and stored on the database, using tag readers.

The unique number of any animal’s tag remains active until the point at which the animal is exported, or processed and inspected.

Are the tags reliable?

“All approved Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) RFID tags are laboratory and field-tested to a rigid testing framework that embraces international standards,” said Kori. “They are designed to function without battery power, and have the capacity to perform for the lifetime of the animal. In addition, they are designed to function in a variety of climates and through other environmental contaminants that are known to impede line of sight technologies such as bar-codes and dangle tags,” she continued.

If an animal loses its approved tag, it must be replaced with another approved tag.

As we saw in the post ‘McDonald’s verified sustainable beef – what does that mean for Canadians?’, the quality of Canada’s traceability program was a leading factor in McDonald’s Restaurants’ decision to use Canada for their Verified Sustainable Beef Pilot Project.

Stay tuned as we explore more ways technology is being used by Canada’s beef industry.

How technology is helping improve feedlot efficiencies

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If you’ve spent any time at a feedlot or on a cattle ranch, you might have noticed the numbered ear tags worn by each animal. More than a simple numbering system, these tags are sophisticated tagging and tracking devices that contain detailed, up-to-the-minute information about each individual animal.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are part of an industry-driven program, administered by the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency, and have many different purposes, such as age verification and traceability. But they are helping with more than just tracking. At Cattleland Feedyards, RFID tags are an integral component of a Residual Feed Intake (RFI) research program being conducted in their Integrated Beef Research Station (IBRS).

To learn more, we spoke with Sarah Van Schothorst, a research assistant at Cattleland:

Q: How is RFID technology used to monitor cattle feeding?

Sarah: Here at Cattleland, we use a feeding system created by GrowSafe Systems to measure individual feed intakes. Each animal eats at a feed bunk, which is a large feed tub on weigh bars, or load bars, which measure the food given. The system automatically reads the tag and starts collecting data on the amount consumed. The data is wirelessly transferred to a panel in the feedyard and then to a computer.

Q: Why is it important to measure intake in this way?

Sarah: We use the technology to help us monitor the feed efficiency of potential breeding bulls. We are able to determine which animals are gaining weight while eating less, through the calculation of feed to gain ratios. This is called ‘residual feed intake’, and it’s an inheritable trait. Having technology available that allows us to monitor individual intakes allows us to select genetic lines that will be more cost effective and more environmentally friendly due to less consumption of resources during the animal’s production life.

The technology also allows us to identify individual animals with reduced intakes, leading to earlier detection of animals that will need treatment.

Q: Who monitors the data, and what actions might follow?

Sarah: This technology is fairly labour intensive. GrowSafe Systems monitors all of their systems and records the data for each trial, and for each cattle pen. At Cattleland, I work with the GrowSafe support team to ensure that the animals are in the best condition, feeds are delivered properly, and the system is in working order by doing necessary maintenance and any repairs. The bunks need to remain clean and the load bars free from debris that may affect weighing of the feed or data collection.

Q: How long has this technology been used?

Sarah: GrowSafe Systems developed the technology in Canada starting in the mid- to late 90s. Cattleland implemented its use in 2002-2003.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts where we will continue our technology theme, and look at other ways innovation is helping make the cattle feeding industry more efficient and more sustainable.