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KIM JO BLISS
 Ontario Beef:
Tell us a little bit about your farm…
Kim Jo Bliss:
I am located in the Rainy River District, on the border of Manitoba and
Minnesota, about 15 minutes North of Emo. I live and farm on my Great
Grandpa’s farm. He, his wife and 5 kids took the trip North from Arnprior
in 1926.
They arrived to find cattle roaming around in the farm house they had
purchased. Of course, after getting this settled they built a new home
which sadly burnt in 1997. At the time I just had one Great Uncle living –
he wanted to build a new home and his wishes were to have a basement, water
softener and air conditioner. He passed away in 2004. A good chunk of the
land was cleared by the Dance Fire in 1938. One of my most memorable
stories was the fact that My Great Grandpa and Great Uncles built a
beautiful barn in 1936 and the fire came sweeping through in 1938 – the
Ministry Fire Crews told them they would never be able to save their barn –
they pumped water from a small beaver pond across the road and I am proudly
using this barn today.
My interest in the farm started with my Grandma. She just lived down the
road from where I am now. I farmed with her until 3 years ago when there
were some family troubles and I left her operation. I have 50 cows and I
(still) calve in February and March – mainly because of my off-farm job (I
work for the University of Guelph – at the Emo Agricultural Research Station
doing crop research from April 1 – December 1 each year). I like to have
all my calves before I get really busy at the Research Station.
Approximately half
of my cows are purebred Herefords and the others are Hereford/Red Angus. My
parents live close to me as well, and support me 100%. My Dad, who did not
grow up on a farm - loves to do tractor work so he has helped do a lot of my
field work. Since I cannot afford to pay him we decided to do another
venture: we background all our steer calves. I sell him all my calves and I
look after them (he has a good deal) and then we sell them the following
fall. I have really enjoyed backgrounding our calves; you really get to see
what they grow into. My Dad has been battling a lot of health problems so
this year I made all the hay on my own (I did have some help with cutting
from my boyfriend and his son). I have 720 acres of land – hay and pasture
land.
OB:
Has anything changed in the last 5 years?
KJB:
Oh yes! The biggest change was the fact that I am no longer farming with my
grandma. We ran our cows together and I had to drive every 2 hours to her
place to check cows during calving etc. Now I am able to walk and check
cattle, what a difference that has made.
I also have been trying simple things to improve my pastures. Of course a
large part of my pasture is bush area so I have been trying to feed in these
areas keeping cattle away from the yard, forcing them to walk to water and
using the liter to improve these areas. I really like to hold that cattle
back a bit in the spring to ensure the forage has had a good jump start. I
have had to manage things a bit more since I am counting on good pasture for
those calves that I am back grounding.
OB:
Where do you market your cattle?
KJB:
Well, I am a little partial to the Stratton Sales Barn. My Great Grandpa
was a part of building this facility – he was also the weigh man which is
the same job that I am doing there now. We have sold our yearling steers
into Winnipeg as well, but now with the increase in fuel – and the prices in
Stratton are generally the same as the west and even a little better – it is
just as smart to market right at home. I am also very excited that we are
in the process of introducing a marketing / vaccination protocol that we
will use at the Stratton Sales barn. We have new tags that will identify
the cattle are from Rainy River and that they have followed a certain
protocol.
OB:
And there’s a price advantage to that?
KJB:
We are hoping that we can make a bit of price advantage with our Rainy River
Protocol / Brand of cattle. We would like to make things easier for our
buyers to be able to access healthy, large lots of cattle.
OB:
Where do you see yourself – your operation in 5 years?
KJB:
I always wanted to be a full-time farmer by the time I was 45. I am 39… I
don’t’ think I can afford to do this, but I am lucky to have such a great
job doing what I love and working with a great bunch of farmers in Rainy
River District. I would like to increase my cow herd, but pasture
availability and time is a factor at this point but if push came to shove I
think I could make something work. I am also hoping that Rainy River will
have an abattoir soon and I would like to sale some “Local Food to Local
People!”
OB:
Where do you see the Ontario Beef Industry in 5 0r 10 years?
KJB:
I am hoping that the Ontario Beef Industry will be in much better times that
we currently are. I think the drive for access to Local Food and Feeding
our Regions will play a bigger role in marketing our cattle. I am hoping
that in the near future we will feel confident in encouraging our youth to
continue farming rather that discouraging them. I think that we need to
remind ourselves and others that no matter how big or small we are we are
still feeding someone and we have a safe, superior product.
OB:
Does anything need to change for this to happen?
KJB:
For sure, we need to continue to work together and stay together. We need
to continue to promote our product and the benefit’s of eating Local Food.
We need to continue to educate what we do and how our marketing system
works. Just recently I was at a meeting (non/agriculture group) and they
don’t’ understand why we farmers are not making $ when they are paying $3.00
per lb for hamburger!!! We need to continue to gather information on our
product, i.e. Carcass data, Genetic Information etc. so we can continue to
improve our product and keep our customers happy.
I would enjoy talking to anyone if they have any other questions about how
and what I am doing – R.R. # 2 Emo, ON P0W 1E0. My number is (807) 482-2863
or I can be reached at kjbherefords@xplornet.com |
