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Newsletter
- October 2000
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The year 2000 has proven to be a very difficult
year for most farmers in Ontario. Not only were we dumped on with
all kinds of rain, but now we seem to have all kinds of problems
with moldy feed and low production in the dairy field. We have
also seen very poor crops of corn coming off for our livestock
in terms of silage or high moisture corn. The years of 1998 and
1999 although dry were certainly better. However, we need to remember
that life does go on and we need to continue doing the best job
we can given the circumstances that we have.
BIO-LAC
We would like to announce to you that we now have our new enzyme
plant in operation. We are very proud of the new product, Bio-Lac,
that we are producing. For those of you who buy Bio-Ag Premixes,
this new product is now present in our full line of premixes--cattle,
hog, poultry and horse minerals. The Bio-Lac is added at no extra
charge to you the customer-one more reason why Bio-Ag Premixes
are a superior product in the market today. I strongly believe
that we have found, developed and are producing one of the best
lactic acid/lactobacillus/enzyme products in the ~vorld. We know
from our recent hog study that the hogs on our program:
- took 4% less feed from 65 Ibs to market;
- actually weighed more than the competitor hogs;
- had a 35% increase in white blood cell count;
- had half of the level of blood urea nitrogen in the blood
tests that we took;
- had far, far less heavy metals in the manure.
- Iess phosphate in manure .
- had longer, wider, flatter spleens
We know that the bone marrow and bone structure
was much more dense and better developed. This can have nothing
but a positive, nutritional impact on the consumer who is buying
this end product. We are also in the process of running a beef
feedlot test as well as some Agriculture Canada research tests.
We will report on these as they become available.
Pork Project
Speaking of pork, we are currently in the process between Bio-Ag
and a company called Confederated Swine Producers to try to find
upwards of 5,000 to 10,000 sows in this province to produce a
natural pork. At present, we have quite a number of producers
interested in pursuing this project. Currently we are now putting
together a corporation in which farmers would also be member stakeholders
and in which they would participate and produce hogs that would
be slaughtered and processed here in Ontario and marketed into
the United States as "natural pork". Some of the criteria
for natural pork would be.
- no Genetically Modified Organisms;
- no Antibiotics;
- Hydrogen Peroxide in the water;
- a full audit trail of GMO free feed;
- Bio-Ag Hog Premixes;
- HAACP standards
- no growth promotants
The function of this company would be to incorporate
one genetic pig, namely, Genetiporc. We think that with the utritional
program that we have developed and especially with these new enzymes,
the farmer can produce a very healthy, drug free hog. The phase-in
period for this would be approximately two years.
We feel very strongly that if we were to develop
a product such as this with help from Farm For Profit and other
organic organizations, we know that we could probably capture
a fair bit of niche market. If any of you are interested, please
call our office or talk to one of our dealers to find out more
information on this project. In the final analysis, we know that
if there is another downturn in the market like there was last
faII, many producers will literally be forced out of business.
This is one way where united we can stand up and be counted as
a group.
Bio-Tech Wars
Well it seems like the bio-tech wars are heating up again. Only
recently, we have found that a banned gene that was strictly destined
for livestock feed actually show up in Taco Bell's taco shells.
It seems some agency discovered these on a routine test of corn.
The interesting thing about this is that was banned simply because
it was feared that it could develop allergies. The type of corn
was produced by Aventis Corporation and called Starlink and was
approved by federai authorities in 1998 as an animal feed. Because
the corn has been genetically modified in a way that makes it
more difficult to break down in the human gut, the agencies have
refused to approve it for human use.
It seems that the possibility that the modified
corn made it into food products anyway seems to have U.S. officials
concerned with several calling the development very serious if
confirmed by future testing. Officials at the Food & Drug
Administration who called the possible presence of Starlink corn
in human food unlawful said recently that the agency has already
started an investigation.
If the tests are confirmed, it will surely
raise the stakes and magnify the level of disparity in the already
contentious debate over biotech foods which in recent years has
become common place in U.S. and Canadian grocery stores.
As many of you know, most of the country's
political, scientific and commercial establishments have embraced
this new technology as safe and useful. Of course activists continue
to raise questions about its use and hope to inspire the kind
of backlash that is now present in Europe. The interesting thing
about it ali is that the group that had the taco shells tested
called Genetically Engineered Food Alert, has asked the FDA to
recall the products immediately. This will help to heat the whole
mess up. However much gets in the news, depends on how much the
media really wants you, the public, to hear.
Taco shells tested were manufactured of all
places in Mexico for Taco Bell and were distributed by Kraft Foods.
Kraft Foods said the corn was bought by a Texas miller from farmers
in six states and that the miller had ordered a conventional form
of corn. So, if this indeed is true then this is a real development.
It almost seems to me that it will be the farmers who are taking
the rap. If this indeed is the case, is it possible that this
corn was contaminated by pollen drift? Very much so. Maybe the
600 feet that is required by law isn't adequate. However, it is
interesting that our Federal authorities on both sides of the
bordes have never done any of this testing. It is always left
to splinter groups and this revelation now raises the stakes more
than ever before.
In a recent Farm Show magazine, the Editor's
Notebook by Mark Newhall, writes that a veteran writer by the
name of C.F. Marley who has been covering agricultural events
for more than 50 years recently told him about a 50 acre field
of beans that was situated near a pond. Two varieties were planted
in these adjoining plots. One was Roundup Ready soybeans, the
other was conventional beans. The farmer explained that a flock
of geese who lived on the pond had been grazing on the beans all
summer but would not touch the Roundup Ready beans. All they would
eat was the conventional beans which resulted in a distinct line
marking the boundary between the two crops. The year previous,
conventional beans were planted where the Roundup Ready beans
were planted this year. Last year they ate the beans, but this
year they wouldn't go near that field. This kind of makes us wonder
if these inferior, simple animals might know something that we
super-smart, highly educated human beings might not.
More revelations in the dairy industry
Many of you will remember years ago that this writer was involved
in a somatic cell count debate with DFO and the milk industry
branch at that time. The argument was that too low a somatic cell
count was a detrimental thing. Now suddenly there is a report
in the Country Guide of a study that was done on cows with low
somatic cell counts. These cows get far sicker when they have
mastitis outbreaks or other infectious outbreaks. Of course, we
have to do more testing to make sure, but my does it feel good
to be right once in a while.
Low Milk Prices
In a recent paper of The Country Today, which is a Wisconsin farm
newspaper, it has come to our attention that American farmers
had staged a one-day protest against low milk prices and had dumped
apparently between 18 and 21 million pounds of milk. Of course
as you realize, not one word of this came into our T.V., or into
our newspapers or even our agricultural papers which purport to
tell the whole truth. What is interesting in the United States,
is that they are still underproducing enough milk for their country
by approximately 6%. Once all the imports come in, it is enough
to trip the price, send it reeling and force producers to ship
milk at a loss. However, not to fear, the American mentality says
that if we haven't got enough with 1000 cows, and milk is $10
cwt, then if we put in 2000 cows, then it will cash flow. It kind
of reminds me of the two guys who were hauling watermelons and
weren't making any money with a 48 foot van. They thought if they
would expand to two 48 foot vans that they would make more money.
Somehow that didn't seem to work either. In the final analysis,
as bad as it may be, at least our quota systems offer somewhat
of a price structure so our farmers can plan what it is that they
need to do.
From the staff at Bio-Ag: Murray, Florence,
Ted, Bill, Susan, Mel, Betty Ann, Parry and Amos.
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