Advantage Traceability Profile: Van Mar Farms Ltd.Traceability Improves Livestock ManagementMike Buis isn't a man afraid to try something new if it promises strong returns. In 2004 when cattle markets were weak, the feedlot operator decided to reduce his costs by raising his own calves, rather than paying to ship them in. The only catch? The Chatham-area farmer had never calved a cow before in his life. "We started with a hundred cows," he laughs. "The neighbours thought we were completely crazy." Five years later, he and his son run a profitable 350-head operation, selling some finished animals to the freezer trade, auctioning others at the Ontario Livestock Exchange, and selling younger calves to other livestock operators to finish. Similarly, his experiments with alternative feeds have paid off in lower production costs and healthier cows. 
Figure
1: Mike Buis, Owner, Van Mar Farms
Ltd. Van Mar Farms Ltd. installed:
So perhaps it's no surprise that when Buis learned about the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' Traceability pilot program, he looked at the potential return on investment and decided to sign up. Traceability is an initiative to help food growers and processors track vital information at each stage of production and distribution and conduct faster and more accurate product recalls when necessary. Buis's goal in creating a traceability system was twofold: to manage his cows better by more efficiently tracking information about each animal, and to prove to his customers that the animals he sold met specific production requirements. Tracking 350 cows is no simple task. "We run five different yards and pastures, so we need to keep track of who's where and who has calved," Buis explains. "We need to have good records." The solution was CattleMax, a database package designed specifically for the cattle industry that tracks all the inputs Buis uses, along with records of each cow, and generates customized traceability reports. Buis coupled the software system with electronic RFID (radio frequency identification) cattle ear tags that can be scanned using either a mounted RFID panel reader or a wireless handheld wand. Wireless Bluetooth technology then transmits the ear tag number to the scale head, which calls up the detailed records of that animal: where she is, her calving history and the ID numbers of each calf, her medical records, and any special notes that he or his son has added. Buis can also download the information to his laptop computer to study back in the comfort of his home office. Going wireless was a smart move, he says. "Animals are never as cooperative as you need them to be," he explains. "It's quite easy to ruin stuff just by getting tangled up in wires and whatnot." One lesson Buis learned was not to electronically tag the calves at birth. Momma cows are patient to a point, he says, but try to do too many things to their newborn and they quickly become upset. Now Buis waits until the calves are weaned before giving them RFID tags. Implementing a traceability system has brought several benefits. For starters, the detailed data Buis collects will help him to make culling decisions based on how each cow's calves perform in the finishing yard. "You can produce a calf and you could look at it and say 'yes, that's a nice-looking calf,' but until you've followed it all the way through, you never know for sure how well it's done," he explains. The traceability system has also improved livestock management on Van Mar Farms. If a particular cow seems to be limping, for example, Buis can quickly check back through his records to see if she has a history of foot infections. Finally, when it comes time to sell the calves, Buis can prove they followed specific production protocols - guaranteeing the cattle are drug-free, for example - thanks to the CattleMax traceability reports. That's already paying off in a stronger freezer trade business, and Buis predicts it will become an even bigger advantage in the future. "As consumers get more and more aware of where their food is coming from, they're going to want to have some guarantees that we're doing what we say we're doing," he notes. "We can do that now that we have a system that will print out all the data. Traceability Can Help your businessBy implementing a traceability system, Van Mar Farms Ltd.:
Funding for the Food Safety Initiative Traceability Grant Program and Pilot Project was provided under the Agriculture Policy framework, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. For more information: |
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