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 Sandra Vos and Roger
Sisler
Ontario Beef:
Tell us a little bit about your farm…
Farming came to me
late in life. I had an opportunity to buy about 80 acres of land that had
been in my Uncle’s family. It was owned by a non-farming son. So I came home
to my family and announced that I was buying a farm. I figured that if I own
farm, I guess I’d better try and use the land for its best purpose and be a
farmer.
There was no house on
the property so for my family a move didn’t even have to be a consideration.
The farm is located between Paris and Brantford in the County of Brant,
where we have a hotbed of land issues. I remember at the time my youngest
son asking me if we were now going to be poor. He still comes home from
school and wants to know if I have been buying cows with his education
money! “Don’t tell all” is my motto.
My philosophy is take
care of the land and it will take care of you. So I went to a haymaking
workshop to learn about growing hay, to stop erosion on the slopes and have
something to sell. I then went out and bought some haymaking equipment and
paid for custom cutting. Those first four years we made small squares and
continue to do so.
I put up a 50’x60’
coverall to store the hay and hired my kids’ city friends (my kids learned
to bugger off to far away jobs at haying time!) and my husband to help out.
Then a farming cousin suggested I buy his Limo cows - he said I needed cows.
He thought I would feed them 30 pounds of grain/day for slaughter and I said
“I thought you kept them to breed!” Not the best choice for pasture gain and
a farmer with no cattle experience. And did you know, a Limo will attack a
raccoon?
Today my cowherd is
mostly commercial. I use one of our Red Angus bulls to produce Angus
crosses. I also run Purebred Red Angus cows.
When you have limited land base, you are new at farming, and you farm by
yourself with help only at certain times, your production model is set by
different criteria than hardcore numbers. You try things out that you don’t
know aren’t supposed to work. It’s funny how sometimes those ideas work
quite well. A forage- and pasture-based cow/calf and beef operation works
best for me. Fencing becomes extremely important when you don’t live
on-farm. Add a creek and you farm constantly aware of the environmental
issues and how best to water your livestock. Making quality hay for your
customers to keep them coming back is really important. I will occasionally
grow wheat or beans if the price is really good because it makes no sense to
buy all that equipment as well.
Raising hardy
breeding stock that are on pasture most of the year, and feeding only
excellent forages and mineral is critical. Rotational grazing, strip grazing
a variety of plants i.e.) open-pollinated corn in the dense stage and
barley, and recognizing when you need to change what you are doing is the
way I farm. Calving starts in late April and ends mid-June. Otherwise, the
late born calves have more trouble with the daily pasture changes and I am
too old to chase them. The cows have to calve themselves out and I know that
is a sin in some eyes, but I measure my success on 100% pregnancy, no
deaths, and selling those animals who don’t fit the program.
OB: Has
anything changed in the last 5 years?
Many things have
changed. When I finally bought my own tractor I was in greater control of
what I could do myself and when I could accomplish tasks. I also realized
that I could never be as strong or smart as the guys who had grown up with
cattle. So I learned to find the best experts in the area that I could hire
to fix my machinery, custom plant, fence, etc. until I could manage myself.
That is how Rodger
Sisler, a traditional cut-and-blow (silage-based) farmer, and I came to work
together. He farms by himself as well and needed a tractor jockey - and I
needed someone who thought outside of the box. At the time, he was still a
dairy farmer who loved cows and we bought our first Red Angus calf together
as a joke at the North American Beef Congress. That first purchase turned
into R&S Reds. Many, many animals later, we combine our strengths, tell each
other when we are nuts (it’s mostly Rodger telling me I am out of my tree)
and cover each other’s farms when necessary. We are focusing on the genetic
base that suits our needs - and the market - and we are on board with the
Canadian Angus Association’s Performance Program.
OB: Where do
you market your cattle?
I market most of my
animals through direct freezer sales. Because there are a number of
customers with different tastes we can provide, forage-fed beef, traditional
ration (non-silage) beef, virgin bulls (benefit of testerone) etc. We always
check our carcasses to validate our feeding and livestock handling
protocols. Evaluation from the butcher is crucial as he is cutting everyday.
We are blessed with
local abattoirs. Finally, our customers tell us if our animals met their
taste and price expectations. If I market my calves and don’t keep them for
replacements, then I make sure they are age-verified, vaccinated to the sale
barn protocol, castrated completely and calm before they get on the truck.
If someone is looking for specific calves to fit a branded program, I can
fulfill that as well.
OB: And
there’s a price advantage to that?
Yes and no. Yes to
the direct marketing, no to the sales barn way. I take whatever the price is
that day. The key thing is to realize just as there are a variety of ways to
raise cattle, there are a number of venues to sell the beef.
OB: Where do
you see yourself – your operation in 5 years?
I’ll probably still
be secretary of the Brant Cattlemen’s Association and amusing the
neighbours. I’m continually learning about the industry. Perhaps I’ll even
be thinking about how the guys down here can organize a calf sale. I’ll
still be concentrating on fine-tuning what works for me.
I am now working
on-farm only for the next 24 months to satisfy the Canada Revenue Agency.
One of the facts I learned by taking the Farm Business Advisory Services
Assessment is that in order to qualify as a full-time farmer and trigger a
farm sale capital gains exemption at some point, your gross farming income
needs to exceed income from all other sources. I guess if you bought a farm
before 1987 there is a different set of rules. Well, that is how it was
explained to me.
OB: Where do
you see the Ontario beef industry in 5 or 10 years?
Honestly, I haven’t
been in the industry long enough to be qualified to make a call on that.
There have been some great success stories such as branding but I suspect
the demand for beef from consumers will be even less than now. That means
those left in the industry will have to adjust to that trend.
OB: Does
anything need to change for this to happen?
It was a shock for
Rodger to be dropped into the beef world. His first question was “Don’t guys
in this beef chain work towards a common interest, like the end customer?” I
applaud the efforts that went behind the set up of the Ontario Beef Value
Chain Round Table. More of that collaborative work needs to happen. The age
verification and serial numbers on a tag is an excellent start.
I think it’s
important for industry to try to sort out the working reality of any new
protocols before passing them on to the farmer. As an ex-age-verifier, lost
tags are a real issue particularly for us cow/calf producers whose animals
stay for a long time. OCA has the tough task and a limited budget to try and
balance the demands of the different sectors in the industry. I guess we
need to figure out what we can control and then do it well.
More questions you’d
like to ask Sandra? She can be reached at
vos97@rogers.com
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