BQA Award Winners Take Us On A Farm Tour
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Suggested Lead: The annual checkoff-funded Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Award is created to recognize outstanding beef and dairy producers from across the country who incorporate BQA principles as part of the day-to-day activities on their operations. The winners are selected based on their commitment to beef quality assurance while operating sustainable cattle operations.
This year’s dairy winner is Phoebe Bitler, Vista Grande Farm in Fleetwood, Pa.
Phoebe says they are constantly trying to improve on beef quality assurance standards on their dairy farm.
Phoebe 1: “So over the years, we’ve developed a lot of protocols, you know it’s by trial and error sometimes for our dairy operation, and these protocols have really helped us achieve both high production and a solid genetic foundation to sell purebred breeding stock from. And we feel that we’re the caretakers of our cattle and of our land and we try to improve it constantly…always make it better or leave it better than we found it.” (26 seconds)
It’s a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week job, but that is their commitment to healthy cows, and therefore, quality beef when the cows’ milking life is done.
Phoebe 2: “Healthy cattle require a clean environment. It often feels like an endless task to sweep and scrape and so forth. But by keeping the barns, the alleyways, the walkways, everything clean, we’re preventing some of the things that could arise and therefore not have to treat them medically.” (18 seconds)
Phoebe demands that calves be fed following the consistent protocol for proper milk blend, temperature and time.
Phoebe 3: “All of our feedstuffs are stored separately in clean bins or in bunks. Everything is nutritionally tested before mixing and feeding; we test at harvest and we test again before feeding. The cattle are fed inside and outside depending where they’re at different times of the year. We do utilize two skid loaders to diminish the possibility of contaminating feedstuffs with manure.” (26 seconds)
Phoebe believes firmly that they and their cattle are a team; they work in partnership. “If you take good care of the cow, she will take care of you.”
Phoebe 4: “The calves are my babies…have always been my babies. I’m quite particular with how they’re taken care of, and because they’re the future herd, we have two years of investment into them before we get any return. It’s very critical to provide a clean birthing area. We have a protocol of dipping the navel, of giving them colostrum, and we move them away from their mother shortly after they’re born. Each calf has their own individual pen.” (26 seconds)
Productivity on Vista Grande Farm is key, such as focusing on prevention systems, cow comfort; reproductive and genetic management; providing proper balanced nutrition based on high quality forages; monitoring proper use and withdrawal/withholding on drugs and handling the cows calmly.
Phoebe 5: “If I do have to medicate anything, I try to do it as least as possible and then follow the guidelines of do it in the neck, in muscle or under the skin. I dehorn as early as possible with the least amount of stress. They don’t even miss a meal – that way they’re not stressed out from that. I always joke that I keep better health records on my calves than I do on my son. Everything is in the computer.” (25 seconds)
Phoebe and her family have always been willing to share their leadership skills with other folks interested in the industry. To see more about her farm, visit www.discoverdairy.com.
Phoebe 6: “Public relations for agriculture has always been one of my passions. I feel we need to share our story wherever we are, whether it’s at home giving a farm tour or if it’s at another farm. And I try to showcase what farms and families or industries are doing to produce safe and nutritional food.” (18 seconds)
Phoebe shares some of the checkoff-funded BQA protocols she practices on her dairy: Milking cows are housed in large, roomy tie stalls that are equipped with water beds. Shredded newspapers are recycled to keep the beds dry. Waterbeds have been used for 10 years, and they have virtually eliminated swollen hocks and bruises. Tunnel ventilation keeps the air fresh and circulating when the cows are in the barn. Large capacity water pipes assure that there is enough clean, fresh water at all times. Water is tested every six weeks, and a chlorinator assures that the water is clean. And, during the summer, the milking herd is turned out to pasture overnight for exercise.
Phoebe 7: “The last market cow audit showed that dairy producers could improve on body condition and lameness. Balanced nutrition and an attention to detail keeps that body condition and lameness in check. We have found that making sure that their footing, the surfaces that the cattle walk on, all of that plays a huge role in their lameness and in turn, in their body condition. So those are things that we’ve tried to make improvements on over the years. Our cows do sleep on waterbeds.” (29 seconds)
This year’s beef winner is Jim Warren, 101 Livestock Inc., Aromas, Calif.
Jim originally leased the auction market in 1975. At that time, the market had two full-time employees and sold about 5,000 cattle annually. Today, there are 12 full-time employees and up to 60,000 cattle are sold each year.
Jim 1: “And the challenge in making the changes and completely building the new facility for 101 Livestock market was to develop a facility that we could humanely transport the cattle through this facility and on to trucks and off of trucks as humanely as possible. And so that was one of the challenges in building the facility to start with. And in that complete remodel, the other consideration we had was employee safety.” (26 seconds)
Using his own common-sense approach as well as consulting with experts to create the design, Jim has created a sale yard which stands out among other sale barns in the country in its ease of processing cattle comfortably through the market chain.
Jim 2: “When we started thinking about this, drew plans for our structure and layed them on the table and then we had truck drivers and producers and employees all look at those plans – and I left a red pen there so that they could mark the things that they liked and did not like – and after we drew the third set of plans, we finally were ready to go with the new facility. And I think that’s one of the reasons why it’s worked so successfully is because we were able to take advantage of the expertise from lots of different people.” (27 seconds)
After holding some of the first Beef Quality Assurance Programs in the early 1990s, 101 Livestock held its own follow-up program with local veterinarians outlining major disease and carcass problems, the causes of those problems and practical solutions.
Jim 3: “About 60% of all the cattle that are sold annually in the United States actually travel through a market. And this gives market owners a great opportunity to actually have an impact on beef quality assurance. And we started by having those beef quality assurance seminars in our building to let producers know what inoculations to give, where to give them, when to give them, how long to keep cattle from the market once they’ve been given antibiotics. And so we’re really excited that we do have a chance to affect so many producers at the very ground level.” (32 seconds)
Beef quality has been the number one goal of Jim and his management team for over 30 years. They started by improving animal health, and developed a physical plant the allowed for the most comfortable and humane transportation of cattle through the facility.
Jim 4: “One of the keys we talked about briefly was the smooth transformation of the cattle through the facility. And one of the keys to that fluid transformation of the cattle is the gates that all open away from the cattle. That’s one thing that not only speeds up the marketing process but it also made a real big difference in the humane transportation of those cattle through our facility.” (21 seconds)
In 2000, 101 started rewarding producers who participated in their "Vaccination Program #1" with free floppy animal ID tags. Today, 80% of all cattle sold at 101 have EID tags, qualify for PVP programs, and have at least one series of vaccinations through the 101 program.
Jim 5: “One thing about the producers is that they basically get to sell their cattle once or twice a year and that day is really, really important to them. And so, our commitment to the humane transportation, the best feed and water, and animals EID-identified cattle, with a good vaccination program and mineral program, has helped them get the very top of the market for their calves.” (21 seconds)
Sick or lame animals are not allowed onto trucks. Jim would rather hold animals over and be sure they are given the care they need and that they are delivered to their buyers in good condition - rather than sending them on in "as is" condition and passing a potential problem forward in the production chain.
Jim 6: “We don’t accept non-ambulatory cattle at our place, but if we have a cow that goes down here, we actually have a sled that we can put a cow that happened to go down in our facility on, isolate her to a place where she can actually stay on dirt, and we give them six hours to regain their feet. If that doesn’t happen then they’re euthanized.” (19 seconds)
Click here to download the full webinar audio file from March 11, 2010.
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Funded by the Beef Checkoff.
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