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Newsletter
- Fall 1998
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HEADLINES AND HYPE
AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT THEM
Every magazine that I happen to lay my hands
on these days seems to appeal to every human being's normal instinct
which is bigger is better, greed is more and staying small is
stupid. A case in point, in the past, is the loop hog systems
where I am now finding out that the average cost is now approximately
$140 per hog. As long as prices were high, the farmer was flying.
Now that the hog industry has stumbled and fell, there seems to
be no end to the bottom. Prices keep on plummeting and farmers
that went into these enterprises now seem to be over extended,
too deep in debt and short on cash flow to cover what they are
doing. Add to this, the problem that the farmers are having with
the new exotic diseases especially mystery disease, we certainly
find that the problems in this industry are really starting to
show up loud and clear. The interesting thing is that many of
the hog farmers on the Bio-Ag program are not finding near the
same amount of problems that other people in the industry have
been experiencing.
I keep reading all kinds of interesting articles in several of
the large dairy magazines. One magazine talked about herd size,
efficiency and what the records show. They actually showed on
the front page that on a large 300 plus cow dairy, the average
pounds of milk was almost 22,000 lbs whereas the small 45-50 cow
dairy was around 16,000 lbs of milk. They are saying that farmers
who stay small can certainly not compete with the big guys. However,
on the back page they came forward and admitted that larger size
herds are resulting in higher production which leads to lower
fertility and faster turnover. I find it interesting that where
service conceptions were 60-70% for New Zealand cows, a comparison
to U.S. cows showed they had only a 35% conception rate. What's
happening of course is that they are pushing these cows, creating
a terrible acidosis and these cows ultimately burn out far quicker.
What they forget to mention in the small herds was that most of
these people had breeding stock to sell instead of having to buy
replacements.
In this same magazine they were talking about the global quest
for milk quality. The continuing nonsense is that mastitis is
caused by a range of organisms coming up and invading the teat
canal. This doesn't matter whether you are raising sows or milk
cows. They are saying that all that matters is the cow, the equipment
and the person when it comes to mastitis. There was absolutely
no mention anywhere in the article relating to the type of feed,
molds, feeding procedures, mineral-ization and nutrition with
the incidence of mastitis and how it can relate to somatic cell
count.
Another American magazine talked about Cytokines to the rescue!
According to this article (see second last page), these cytokines
have proven to be quite safe and are a non-drug. They have isolated
one of these cytokines and were using it on dairy cows to reduce
coliform mastitis.
Cytokines are what we find in kelpmeal. Why has kelpmeal been
so effective in sow herds, starter operations, poultry operations
both layer and turkey as well as the dairy industry--because of
cytokines and many other factors too numerous to mention here.
Cytokines are in essence stimulators of white blood cell production
and the immune fighting ability of the body.
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WEATHER
The summer of 1998 is rapidly growing to a
close. What we are seeing is a whole new way of thinking as far
as our feeds go. After having such a dry year, be very careful
for nitrates. Nitrates can be a very serious problem especially
in corn fields if you have applied too much manure or nitrogen
to those fields. One thing that may happen is that any silage
inoculant you use may indeed not work quite as well as it has
in previous years. The thing to remember is to have a fair amount
of dry down on your corn for high moisture before you start taking
it off. I want each of our farmers to remember that to stay in
the forefront, to be leaders and to maximize your profits (get
a better bottom line), soil and nutrition work and proper and
timely application are all very important.
A closing point on soils and crops. We are now starting to find
out that much of this BT corn does not have near the level of
nutrition than what is present in the old types of corn. We have
also found that farmers are paying to use this new technology
which does not necessarily result in an increase in quantity,
quality and nutritional value in these crops. It used to be years
ago that farmers needed many years to be convinced of any changes
whereas now it seems that most farmers just rush headlong like
a set of lemmings into the ocean following some new idea that
has never totally proved itself. Probably BST will end up someday
going into the same league.
I just returned from the U.S. where I saw a 500 cow dairy that
was on BST. Upon doing some autopsies and cutting ribcages open,
we discovered that the rib bones were literally hollow. These
cows, bedded with sand, ate mouthfuls of sand. These cows had
foot and leg problems so serious they were shooting them because
they couldn't get them to heal. When will we ever learn? The answer
is - God only knows.
P.S. An after note to the Super Cow that I mentioned in the last
newsletter, it was now found that the farmer had drilled a very
small air hole into the weigh unit and as a result, this cow did
not give near the amount of milk that they had recorded. How unfortunate
when our greed drives us to this kind of extent.
It seems that farmers have now been convinced to spend thousands
of dollars to put processors on their harvesters. It appears that
too much whole corn is passing through the animal and if we maul
up the corn, we will not see how poorly our livestock digest this
technological marvel!
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Please note our office will be closed for Thanksgiving, Monday
October 12th.
We have recently had to raise some prices on our U.S. products,
due to the Canadian dollar. We have done every-thing possible
to keep prices down, but unfortunately have been forced to adjust
our prices accordingly. See our ad for Culbac Animal prices -
5% discount for the month of September.
From the staff at Bio-Ag:
Murray, Florence, Ted, Bill, Carl, Mel, Mary Lou and Susan.
1-800-363-5278
(519) 656-2460
Fx: (519) 656-2534
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Help Wanted
Bio-Ag Ration Specialist. Part time person
needed to formulate feed rations, correspond with customers and
perform regular office duties. If interested, please forward resume
to Bio-Ag, RR 3 Wellesley N0B 2T0 or contact Susan @ 1-800-363-5278.
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For Sale
WHEAT, soft white winter, organic Grade 3,
60 tonne. STRAW, 2000 small bales available. Call Herman Wilz
656-2849.
HOLSTEIN HEIFERS, 10 months old, contact the office for more details.
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LIFE'S LITTLE INSTRUCTIONS
* Sing in the shower
* Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated
* Strive for excellence, not perfection
* Plant a tree on your birthday
* Return borrowed vehicles with the gas tank full
* Compliment three people every day
* Leave everything a little better than you found it
* Keep it Simple
* Think Big Thoughts but relish small pleasures
* Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know
* Be forgiving of yourself and others
* Say "thank you a lot"
* Say "please" a lot
* Avoid negative people
* Remember other people's birthdays
* Buy whatever kids are selling on card tables in their front
yards
* Commit yourself to constant improvement
* Carry jumper cables in your trunk
* Have a firm handshake
* Return all things you borrow
* Make new friends, but cherish the old ones
* Sing in a choir
* Plant flowers every spring
* Count your blessings
* Stop blaming others
* Take responsibility for every area of your life
* Don't expect life to be fair
* Never underestimate the power of love
* Don't be afraid to say, "I made a mistake"
* Look people in the eye
* Call your mother
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WANTED
Bio-Ag would like to do a study on dairy and
hog operations.
Over the years, we at Bio-Ag have always maintained
that our clients are among the best and most profitable in the
business. What we need are costs of production and bottom line
figures while on the Bio-Ag program.
We would not publish names or individual numbers but would use
them similar to what OMAFRA does with their figures.
A $25 Bio-Ag voucher would be given for each client that participates
in this study. Please call the office @ 1-800-363-5278 if you
could assist us in this way.
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TRACE MINERALSALT BLOCKS
We have a quantity of small salt blocks (approximately
5 to 10 lb each) that we will sell at a reduced price. Our regular
price is now 19¢ per lb.
Special - 15¢ per lb
(while quantities last)
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