Just another day in the life of a 2 year old cattle feeder...

Something we have always made sure of is that our kiddos know where their food comes from.  But, for some reason, our kiddos also find great excitement in knowing where their food's food comes from.  It's fun to think back to Squirty's first show and tell day in preschool.  While sitting around the table for supper, we asked her what she wanted to bring to school the next day.  Without ANY hesitation, she said silage, mom.  It was a super proud mommy moment to hear her explain the contents of each plastic bag of feedstuffs. Fast forward to today... Mr. B decided this morning that we should play in the check feed while checking pens.

First Stop of our feed tour, checking cows...

Naturally, one uses pink binoculars to look for new calves that just so happen to be right in front of you!

Next stop, wetcake...

Wetcake is wet and sticky and 1,000 times more fun to play in than sand.  Wetcake, also called distillers grain, is a byproduct of the ethanol industry and is a great high protein livestock feed.  Interested in learning more about the ethanol industry?  Check out our friends over at the Minnesota Corn Growers Association.

  HEY, I mean HAY (good lookin') It's hard to find something that smells better than freshly ground hay.



Not all hay is created equal!  Our feedlot critters are able to utilize lower quality hay than our friends over in the dairy industry. The highest quality hay (in terms of protein and other nutrients) is needed for lactating dairy cows, this type of hay would be too rich for most horses or beef cattle.

Mommy, you eat it!



I take that back, there's nothing better then the smell of freshly chopped silage! 

Corn silage is the whole corn plant "chopped" while it is still green, rather than allowed to ripen and only harvested for the ear for grain.  There are many options of preserving silage, at our farm we chose to pack it into large plastic bags.

 

 Once all of the previous ingredients are loaded into the TMR (Total Mixed Ration) Mixer, a special blend of minerals is added, it's kind of like daily vitamins for the cattle.

Mom, can we go get my loader so I can scoop this?

I think we've looked at everything mom.

I'm hungry...

Just another day in the life of a two year old cattle feeder...

 

Food Scientist Flashbacks.

Welcome, I'm excited to share with you our stories of life, love and the pursuit of passing our farm to the next generation!  I hope you find my topics of conversation interesting and relevant to your day to day happenings.

In a former life, I had the opportunity to work in the Quality Control/ Quality Assurance department of a top notch cheese manufacturing cooperative in central Minnesota.  I was lucky (though, it didn't seem so at the time) to have had the opportunity to be actively involved with many different levels and types of audits from regulatory to 3rd party, and everything in-between. These experiences in the auditing and processing sector of food production have often led to implementing various types of best management practices on our own cattle farm.

Once you've work on "both sides of the fence" it's easy to see how there is a real need for farmers and ranchers to have some level of auditing or verification processes for their operations. This recent blog post by Feedyard Foodie about audits and 3rd party verification inspired me to reflect on the importance of "doing what you say and saying what you do" and how that relates into not only added value for your products, but increasing consumer trust.

Walmart, Target, Kraft, McDonalds... the list goes on and on of companies who are large drivers of why and how specific best management practices are implemented in food processing and manufacturing plants around the country.  With massive brands like those, the need to protect that brand is of vital importance to their future. (Don't we, as farmers, have our own brand to protect?) As we progress in our efforts to improve food safety and quality, there is a growing level of need to implement similar best management practices on the farm level.  Just as an F.Y.I. - in order for food processors satisfy the supplier requirements in many of these 3rd party audits, the farmer supplying raw materials to the processing or packing plant must have certain best management practices in place as well.

So, let's talk about audits...  (The idea of being audited is enough to send chills up even the most seasoned veterans back.)  We, in the beef industry, are still in the drivers seat when it comes to implementing an audit strategy on our operations.  For the time being, voluntary auditing schemes are acceptable and readily available to our industry; we also still have the option to self assess.  The National Cattlemen's Beef Association in cooperation with many industry stakeholders, has developed a series of  assessments through the Checkoff funded BQA program.  Completion of self assessments puts your operation ahead of the curve and displays a commitment to safety, quality and transparency. 

Not interested in self assessment?  OR is the processing plant purchasing your product requiring something else?  There are many options for 3rd party audits or in some cases, the beef council within your state has staff available to conduct the BQA assessments with you! The right option is really up to you and how you plan to market your product.

The take home message this:  We need to be proactive in implementing audit strategies on our beef/dairy operations.  If we voluntarily implement the programs already available, we will greatly reduce the chance of being required to complete an audit that is not common sense or efficient.