Cattle call: A special report on Canada’s beef sector

Mar. 10, 2022 at 9:34 am CST | 24 min read

Canadian Cattlemen editor Lisa Guenther speaks with Melanie Wowk, newly re-elected chair of Alberta Beef Producers, about drought-related difficulties producers faced in 2021 and her first year at the helm; Cattlemen’s Young Leaders alumni Kaylee Chizawsky talks about barriers for young producers entering the cattle business and the importance of mentorship; Karin Schmid, beef production and extension lead with Alberta Beef Producers, shares forage tips and how producers should approach their pasture resources in 2022 after last year’s drought. Hosted by Gord Gilmour.

[podcast_transcript]

Gord Gilmore: Hello and welcome to another edition of Between the Rows. The podcast of Glacier Farm Media, I’m your host this week, Manitoba cooperator editor Gord Gilmour. This week we’ve got a special report from Lisa Guenther of Canadian Cattlemen magazine. She recently attended the annual General Meeting of the Alberta beef producers. There, She spoke to newly re-elected chair Melanie Wowk about her first year in office and the challenging days the beef sector has seen.

Melanie Wowk: I said This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, and that includes practicing veterinary medicine.

Gord Gilmore: She also caught up with Kaylee Chizawsky, a new ABP delegate and recent alumni of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association Young Leaders Program. They talked about getting into the cattle business and the value of mentorship.

Kaylee Chizawsky: Yeah, so I think that one of the biggest challenges a young producer faces, and I would probably just be the high operational cost coming into the business if you don’t have any family or any kind of groundings to get your feet on the ground that way.

Gord Gilmore: And she also spoke to ABP production and extension lead Karin Schmid about the challenges of recovering from a drought.

Karin Schmid: I think it’s important to recognize that both of our water and our forage resources probably took a bit of a beating.

Gord Gilmore: But before all that, here’s a word from our sponsor.

Commercial: We knew we were doing something right when our competition started swearing every time they talked about us. Just the other day, I heard someone saying, Have you seen this seed master ultrapro II? They got third party Pammy testing that confirms its individual row metering delivers uniform seed placement near zero seed mortality and no impact on germination results. We take it as a huge compliment. Start raising your ROI at seedmaster.ca

Gord Gilmore: We’re back. You’re listening to Between the Rows and I’m your host this week, Gord Gilmour. Last year was a brutal drought stretching across most of Canada and hitting the prairies particularly hard. Cattle producers are in the business of harvesting rainfall and sunlight in the form of high quality protein. And their pasture has suffered mightily due to the moisture shortfall. Lisa Guenther caught up to Alberta beef extension and production lead Karen Schmidt at the organization’s recent annual meeting to talk about how to manage those stressed resources.

Karin Schmid: So I am Karen Schmidt. I am the lead in beef production and extension with Alberta beef producers.

Lisa Guenther: Great. And so we’re at the Alberta Beef Producers AGM in Red Deer here, and you were talking a little bit about things to think about. Recovering from drought as we head into the spring.

Karin Schmid: Well, and I think we we all hope that we don’t see another year like last year with the with the heat and the dry weather, but I think it’s important to recognize that both of our water and our forage resources probably took a bit of a beating and we need to be cognizant of that. And so one of the key pieces is probably to not graze too early. Those foragers are still trying to recover from being very stressed throughout the summer and fall. And if you graze too early, you’re just going to put more pressure on that and slow down the regrowth. You may have to lengthen your recovery periods because they might be taking a bit more time to regrow than you’d normally expect. And I think one of the other really important parts is that plants that have toxicities or other contaminants usually green up a little bit faster in the spring, and they stay green a lot longer in the fall. And so if other forage resources are limited, what you’re going to see is the cattle head to those those green plants that look tasty and are and are probably bad for them.

Lisa Guenther: So we we want to make sure that we try and limit their exposure to those toxic plants. How how do producers just as a kind of recap, how how can producers tell if their pastures are ready to be grazed? What should they look for?

Karin Schmid: We usually look for both the three leaf stage in grasses, and that is usually a good indication that that you’re ready. If you’re if you go before that, what you’re going to do is you’re actually going to set back your your fall grazing by at least three days in the fall. For every day, you graze too early in the spring, so wait for about that three leaf stage, both for leaf, for alfalfa and then then you should be OK.

Lisa Guenther: Another thing you touched on was the importance of water sources. What should people watch for this year?

Karin Schmid: Well, I think there’s a couple of things, so water availability is the big one, right? So make sure you have a plan if your water, if you’re relying on natural water sources, if they’re low in the water table, you’re going to have to have a backup plan, whether that’s truck water, whether that’s build a pipeline or try to develop a spring, you’re going to need some water.

The second thing is water quality. And when we get really hot and dry temperatures, when the water evaporates, it can actually concentrate sulfates, salts, total dissolved solids. All of these things impact water quality, and depending on the levels, you could see reduced growth, reduce performance. Or you can even get some very serious effects like polio from high sulfates or if the water is very, very salty, you can get dehydration and death. So I think those are those are the two things to look out for with water

Lisa Guenther: for those looking to maybe do some water sampling. Do you have any any tips about how to do that effectively?

Karin Schmid: So, yeah, I mean, the Saskatchewan ministry has a lot of good tips on their website. I think what there are some hand-held meters, some electro conductivity meters that you can get to do that. The accuracy of those is kind of hit and miss. So your best bet is to actually contact the lab and see what type of sampling, depending on your problems you know you’re going to, you’re going to send away for different tests if you’re looking for for total dissolved solids versus blue green algae versus sulfates, right?

Lisa Guenther: So OK. Yeah, that’s that’s that’s a good point as well. Anything else you want to add, Karen, that people, this is kind of a bit of a high level discussion, but maybe if people have questions where they can go for more resources

Karin Schmid: there’s some really great resources on drought management on the Beef Cattle Research Council sites, at beefresearch.ca also check out a ABPdaily.com. We’ve had some we have some articles about drought management recovering from drought. I think one of the things I would encourage people to do every year, regardless of what the weather looks like, is to really lay out a grazing and a water management plan and include a drought scenario. What are you going to do in case? And you’ll usually know right in in May, June or July, if you haven’t got any rain that you’re going to be in trouble. So what are you going to do if that happens?

Lisa Guenther: Yeah, I suppose that kind of helps you make that decision if that time comes

Karin Schmid: right! And so there’s some triggers in those plans, right! So if my rainfall is below this by this date kicking part of this plan? Yeah,

Lisa Guenther: yeah. Great. Well, thank you very much, Karen.

Karin Schmid: Thanks.

Gord Gilmore: That was Karen Schmid in conversation with Lisa Guenther of Canadian Cattlemen. You’re listening to Between the Rows and I’m your host this week, Gord Gilmour of the Manitoba Co-operator, being a young cattle producer is challenging when building their business. Lisa and Kaylee Chizawsky recently sat down to talk about how producers like her are navigating these challenges.

Kaylee Chizawsky: My name is Kaylee Chizawsky. I was born and raised just outside of Vegreville, Alberta, where my family and I operate a cow calf operation, so we run about three hundred head half of the operation is commercial and then the other half is purebred. Simmental

Lisa Guenther: Great. And I understand your new zone delegate with ABP. Alberta beef producers this year. Just tell me a little bit about why you decided to get involved.

Kaylee Chizawsky: Yeah. So actually, just recently completed my mentorship program through the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders program. And then once that kind of was completed, I kind of thought, what other organizations could I get involved with to kind of have a little bit more of a youth initiative behind it? So yeah, I became a delegate for the Alberta beef producers and looking forward to see where that takes me.

Lisa Guenther: Why do you think it’s important for young people to get involved at the board level in this industry?

Kaylee Chizawsky: I think that we offer a different perspective, kind of some of the conversations that are being had as different ways to connect and communicate with the consumer and kind of just being of the younger generation. I’m pretty familiar with social media strategies in different ways, just to perhaps market beef to the consumer and just inform the average consumer. But what actually happens on the farms and how this beef is produced?

Lisa Guenther: So what do you see is sort of the big issues facing young beef producers in this province?

Kaylee Chizawsky: Yeah. So I think that one of the biggest challenges a young producer faces now would probably just be the high operational cost coming into the business if you don’t have any family or any kind of groundings to get your feet on the ground that way. Yes, I think a new producer coming into the business probably is the financial aspect of it is probably the most difficult.

Lisa Guenther: Just tell me a little bit about your experience in the Cattlemen’s Young Leaders mentorship program. What did you take away from that program?

Kaylee Chizawsky: Yeah, so I was actually fortunate enough. I because I’m pretty familiar on the cow calf side of things because of my upbringing. I wanted to focus my experience on the program more on the feeder side of things. So I was paired up. My mentor is John Lawton, so he owns a couple of feedlots in Alberta and is a part of the Allied Marketing Group, and they own a couple lots in Saskatchewan. So it was pretty fortunate that he was pretty close to me. So I got to spend quite a bit of hands-on time working with him and his nutritionists on farm and working with his team that way. And yeah, I got a good insight of how. Maybe a take away of how some producers should market their animals and. Different things that feedlot the cattle buyers are looking for in the industry that way. So yeah, it was really it was a rewarding experience. It was a good networking opportunity for sure. And like I said, having him so close to me really made all the difference that way. So,Yeah.

Lisa Guenther: Great. Where would you sit, because I understand the deadline for the Cattlemen’s young leaders program is end of March here, what would you say to people that are thinking about applying this year?

Kaylee Chizawsky: Yeah, I’ve actually had a couple of people kind of reach out to me and ask what the takeaway was and if they’d recommend applying. And my answer is absolutely. The program is kind of what you take away from. It is what you put into it. So the mentee as the mentee, you’re kind of expected to kind of drive the conversations and kind of set out your own goals for yourself and your mentors just kind of there to help you achieve them. With COVID being the last year, I know lots of the other participants, more of their interactions with their mentors are a bit more virtual. So I was kind of a little bit of the one off, but our like the mentees throughout my year. I mean, some of us were on the the feeder side of things. We had one participant who worked with Canada beef and was paired up with the chef. So I mean, the opportunities are endless in the program. And in addition to that, the networking opportunities are. Are great, even still now we constantly get emails about different job opportunities that are coming up and the people that you meet, I mean, even here today, I mean, I’m working now with people that have been through this e-mail program and there are a few other delegates here at over to be producers that went through the program. So yeah, I would encourage anybody to apply for if they’re interested, for sure.

Lisa Guenther: One thing that kind of struck me today is, and I mean, it’s something I think about every now and then. It’s just this is it’s not easy to make a living as a farmer or rancher, so people have to be quite driven and passionate about it. What is it about raising cattle that inspires passion in you? Why do you do this?

Kaylee Chizawsky: Why do we cow cows and minus 40? Yeah, that’s kind of a good question. I think it’s just it might sound a little bit cliche, but it’s just the way of life, honestly. I mean, being on the farm some days I wake up just as frustrated. It’s minus 40 and cows are calving and I’m freezing and I’m a walking popsicle out there and I’m wondering, why do we do this? But honestly, like at the end of the day, when it’s summertime, when the cows are out there grazing and and you get to see the finished product and all your blood, sweat and actual tears kind of are are worth it and the life lessons it teaches you. I mean, I probably I would like to think that the work ethic I have is because of the farm and. I’m a lot more appreciative of the food I have on the table because I know of the work that that it puts into, and at the end of the day, farmers feed the world. So I’m just grateful to have that opportunity to be a part of it and. Yeah, I think that. It’s probably not for everybody, but it’s definitely my preferred way of life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way, that’s for sure, but.

Lisa Guenther: All right. Anything else you want to add?

Kaylee Chizawsky: I don’t think so.

Lisa Guenther: Ok. I always ask that that’s like the standard question.

Kaylee Chizawsky: I’m like, Oh, wow, I don’t know.

Lisa Guenther: Yeah. Well, great. Thank you so much.

Kaylee Chizawsky: Yeah, no worries. Thanks for having me.

Gord Gilmore: That was Lisa Guenther of Canadian Cattlemen speaking to Kaylee Chizawsky. You’re listening to Between the Rows and I’m this week’s host, Manitoba Co-operator editor Gord Gilmour. Melanie Wowk took the leadership reins at Alberta Beef Producers a year ago, and since then the cattle sector has grappled with a crippling drought. She joins Lisa now to talk about the responsibility of representing her industry during a time of crisis.

Gord Gilmore:

Melanie Wowk:

Melanie Wowk: I’m Melanie Wolk and I’m chair of Alberta Beef Producers. We ranch about one hundred miles east of Edmonton, south of the hamlet of Beauvalion. My family, my children, are fifth generation ranchers and we have a cow calf operation, a commercial cow calf operation. And we also buy and sell a lot of horses.

Lisa Guenther: Great. And so you were just recently reelected chair here today at the Alberta Beef Producers Conference, but you’ve also been chair through some interesting times in the last. Is it one year or two years.

Melanie Wowk: one year. This will be my second year, OK? Yeah, it’s been. I said this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, and that includes practicing veterinary medicine. It has been extremely challenging, and I just didn’t realize the pressure that you felt of all the producers in Alberta wanting you to help them. And that was the hardest thing about the drought is that, you know, you’re sitting at home and it’s bad enough and you’re at home and you’re talking to your neighbors. But when you’re dealing with the province and then even beyond that, we saw not only the fires in British Columbia, but this extended drought through Sask, and Manitoba, part of Ontario and then into the northern United States. And it’s just it was it was very difficult to try and deal with that because you knew that so many people were counting on what you were doing. So we we try to move as quickly as we could and make the decisions that we thought our producers needed.

Lisa Guenther: And so given how hard it is. Well, why are you?

Melanie Wowk: I guess, you know, I grew up in the city, so I never stood beside a cow until vet school. I decided when I got to vet school that something about cows really intrigued me, and I ended up in practices through the summers that were either, you know, typically mixed animal practices. So I could get a range of everything. But I really liked cows. But even after twenty five years in practice, it was still a challenge. You know, they’re big animals. They they can hurt you. They move very quickly. Even doing caesareans like you just know that your next wreck is around the corner. Like, even now, when I started to do a cesarean, you know, if one of our cows needs it, I just get this pit in my stomach because it’s so scary. And so my kind of my whole career has been based on this fear of and having to perform at different things that I wasn’t comfortable with. And coming into ABP, I was not comfortable standing in front of people talking. I did not feel like I had a voice for this industry. And over the last six years, obviously that’s changed a lot and I’ve learnt so much. And now I’m just so excited to to get that knowledge out and to let producers know that they have somebody here that just, oh my goodness, I just want this, this to to be an industry that our children can can prosper in. And I hope, like I said in my speech today, that the producers of the province are looking at us saying, you are doing something with our money. And that was the other thing is a lot of negativity in regards to us hearing we’re not doing enough with our checkoff. Dollars aren’t doing anything, and it’s a hard question to answer a lot of times and to be continually asked. And so I guess it’s just it’s a challenge at the end of the day and and when you get something done, it sure feels good.

Lisa Guenther: Yeah, you sound like you’re comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.

Melanie Wowk: I really am. And I mean, part of as a kid, I was really, really shy and I ski raised and I remember it just being so quiet. And I mean, that was back in the days where coaches didn’t stick up for you if kids were being mean to you or if you weren’t included in something. And and there were times like that. And I for some reason the other day I was singing one of my coaches. I told my parents she’s not a leader and she never will be. And you know, that stuck with me from the time I was about 11. You know, for somebody to say that. So it definitely. Going through all these stages and going through all these steps, I’m a different person coming in on the other side.

Lisa Guenther: Yeah. One thing I mean, you’ve yeah, you’ve certainly been facing your your share of challenges as it’s interesting. You just never know what you step into these leadership positions, what you’re what you’re going to deal with over the next year or more. But one thing you did talk about a little bit today that came up is the veterinarian shortage, which is something that’s been going on for for many years. And yeah, what are your thoughts on that?

Melanie Wowk: Well, I think that it’s a it’s a different generation. So when I came into it, it was just even though I didn’t come from a ranching background or a cowboy background. You just knew what you’re getting yourself into, right? We in the early nineties were doing a lot of caesareans. You know, the exotic breeds were still punching out really big calves. And there was days where I would do six or seven caesareans in twenty four hours, you know, it was really busy and it was just expected like, you just got up and you did it and this generation behind me. I spent some time with fourth year students coming through on practice rotations, and I had another veterinarian tell me the same thing that they said to her, You guys were stupid the way you practice. Like, we’ll never do that. We’ll never go first to January to the 31st of May and be on call twenty four seven. And I often think maybe I was stupid. You know, I did. I did miss out on a lot of stuff my kids were doing. Luckily, I have an awesome husband that that, you know, picked up the slack. But that’s one big regret in my life is a lot of the things I missed. But then at the end of the day, I think, yeah, but I chose this and people relied on me to do a job for them at the end of the day. And so I don’t regret it. But I think that that is a big issue now is is quality of life for this, this generation behind us and a lot of people maybe don’t agree with that. But I think it’s very important to them, and I think it’s something that I don’t know.

Melanie Wowk: I don’t know how the veterinary, the veterinary profession is going to work around that because there’s always going to be emergencies, whether you’re in small animal or large animal. But if you’re rural, you’ve got to deal with it. And I don’t know, it’s it’s a way bigger question than just getting more kids out. There’s been the talk of letting more rural kids in. There’s been four or five around in our area and one is working rural. The rest are either companion animal or they’re not practicing. And so I don’t think that’s the answer, either. I mean, my biggest joke is that you get because our profession is also like now graduating eighty five to 90 percent women. You got to marry a cowboy that lives in the middle of nowhere and you have no choice to do anything but what I did. But you know, it’s it’s not funny, but it is kind of funny. And that’s where I get stuck. And and so I brought up at the meeting that I’ve really been pushing the veterinary association to open up the act, to get technicians to do more, to take the pressure off of veterinarians. Why do we need a veterinarian out all day testing? Why do you need to send a veterinary note to do a uterine prolapse or a vaginal prolapse that can be done by technicians, just like you would with a nurse practitioner vaccinating things like that, it’ll bring more income into the veterinary practices. In return, they can pay those technicians more. Hopefully, we’ll get more retention there and it’ll take some pressure off the veterinarian.

Lisa Guenther: One thing you said to me that really resonated with me was like, It is not easy just in general to live in a rural area, but it’s been a really good life.

Melanie Wowk: Oh, like, I just love sitting at our house and not seeing a car drive by for two days. Just the kind of person it is to me. It is the most relaxing, beautiful place on the planet to live. You know, I used to enjoy running a lot and it was, you know, I could go out in any direction and it was just, you know, take the dogs with me for some extra protection against the bears. But it just, you know, even just going to the grocery store, my family’s still in Calgary. You know, I go to the co-op to pick something up and you’re waiting in line and you’re waiting on line. You know, you go to Vegreville for your groceries. If there’s one person ahead of you, they’re opening up a new checkout. It’s just, you know, it’s just and the people. And that’s one thing I found working with cattle people in practice, just phenomenal people to work with, especially once they got to know me. And, you know, like I said, they’re big animals. You run into wreck stuff, dies right in front of you, and people were just extremely. Understanding and willing to help me, and that’s one thing I always told the young girls or young women that were coming through on these rotations is like, I don’t care who you’re talking to. We’re never as strong as a man and take their help. They love to give it. And you know, they’d rather see help you than see you struggling and end up in a wreck and. And so those are things I learned. Like, you know, if the guy standing beside me, you want me to hold that? Absolutely. Here you hold this uterus. Well, I put it in. You know, why would I fight with that? So that’s that to me, those relationships I had were pretty special and it continued on, you know, their kids being at a smaller school and and, you know, knowing the teachers and knowing the other kids in their class. And it’s just been a beautiful place to to have a family.

Lisa Guenther: Anything else you want to add here?

Melanie Wowk: No, just that. You know, her same executive is returning this year for a second year, and so we’re looking ahead to a year or two. God only knows what’s in store for us. Well, we’ll soon find out know. We’ve just had word that there’s going to be a rail strike. So I’m sure we’ll be working with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, as well as the Alberta cattle feeders to figure out how to continue to get feed to their cattle. But I’m just looking forward to, you know, we’ve got some new faces on our board and and just another hopefully exciting year ahead.

Lisa Guenther: Great. Well, thanks so much. Great to talk to you.

Melanie Wowk: Thank you.

That was Melanie Wowk, president of the Alberta Beef Producers, in conversation with Lisa Guenther of Canadian Cattlemen magazine. That’s it for another edition of Between the Rows. Just a quick reminder that you can find the show and some extras on YouTube by searching for Between the Rows podcast. Be sure to include podcast. In the meantime, I’m your host for this week, Manitoba cooperator editor Gord Gilmour saying so long, and we hope you’ll join us again next week.

[/podcast_transcript]

Cattle call: A special report on Canada’s beef sector

Subscribe to newsletter

Introducing the NEW! AgCanada app.