Welcome to our Producer Resources section located on our Website and YouTube Channel.
Introduction
The Ontario Corn Fed Beef Program (OCFBP) and Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), have collaborated over the past 3 years to create an educational video series which provides a learning tool to use on social media, at industry meetings and group discussions. The OMAFRA team has been instrumental in the production of the videos and the presentation of the webinars, and we sincerely appreciate the time and effort involved in taking these video productions to the final viewing stage.
These webinar/video series include our first video (look under Research) produced in the Summer of 2020, “Ontario’s Feedlot Cattle Behavioural and Feed Bunk Management Study”, focusing on bunk scoring, cattle behavioural patterns and consistent feeding and delivery times, attracting over 16,000 views to date.
We have had the pleasure of working with very dedicated summer students from the University of Guelph, who set up the trail cameras and tracked/captured the activity of the cattle at the feed bunk and bedded area 24hrs/day. With the data collected, graphs were designed by the students using the accurate trail camera information. Trends were becoming noticeably evident on each of the six participating farms, and we then made recommendations and commented constructively on our findings with those producers.
The success of the first video set the stage for more to follow, and with its popularity, led us to believe there was a real need for practical information that producers could use in making management decisions on their feeding operations. Since cattle producers are only able to manage what they have control of on their farms, Good Production Practices (GPPs) need to be implemented and managed effectively. GPPs examples include those that address receiving and shipping of cattle, feed and nutrition management, the feeding environment, and animal health management derived from a risk assessment rating of in-coming cattle. These GPPs develop into Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) which are the documented management protocols and record keeping as part of the Ontario Corn Fed Beef Quality Assurance Program (OCFBQAP) requirements. In addition, it’s essential to retain accurate records and benchmarking data to enable proper judgement of any management changes made on the farm. Remember – “You can’t manage what you don’t measure”.
It has been a rewarding experience for us with the Ontario Corn Fed Beef Program to interact with the OMAFRA team and our producers to create an educational “Show Me” series of videos. It’s our objective to give our producers, in particular our younger ones, the opportunity to improve their management skills in beef production by learning from the experiences of their peers. Our producer panel discussions were something we certainly wanted to include in the videos, as they provide an excellent learning forum for the uptake of helpful information from our participants.
We also want to acknowledge Beef Farmers of Ontario, and their continued support over the years of the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association and the Ontario Corn Fed Beef Program. Our joint Ontario Beef Market Development committee is consistently increasing value to Ontario producers with a number of initiatives, including targeted brand developments and increased export sales.
In summary, we emphasize that the goal of the Ontario Corn Fed Beef Program, is to shed light on the many changes that we see coming down the pipe from a production standpoint. Also, to provide leadership to producers in the whole production process, thus standing by our long-term commitment to the OCFBQAP attributes and goals of producing a consistently high-quality animal, while providing an excellent eating experience, and commitment to food safety for our consumers.
We trust this webinar series will provide information that our producer members can implement on their own operations and become better managers at what they do!
If there is a specific topic you would be interested in learning more about, please let us know
Thank You