“As many producers tend to their crops and livestock daily, they need to remember to also tend to themselves and their own well-being,” John Cale from Prairie Mountain Health told the Farm Outlook 2015 conference presented by the Dauphin Agriculture Society here last month. “The farm may not make as much profit without completing a few more jobs that day but in the long run, the farm won’t make any profit if the producer isn’t healthy mentally and physically.”

Farmers are well known for being independent with a tendency not to openly talk about problems or ask for support, while at the same time facing tremendous pressure as they try to balance work both on and off the farm.

A 2006 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) cited farming as one of the most stressful occupations. It identified risks including hazardous work environments, reduced access to emergency services, unstable and adverse economic conditions, long working hours, lack of social recognition, financial uncertainty and social isolation.

“Farmers are facing an immense amount of pressures from all different areas, weather, increased input costs, large debt loads, disease outbreaks, erratic markets, government regulations, long hours and uncertain yields,” said Cale.

That creates stress, which in turn can threaten physical and mental health, causing high blood pressure, heart disease, weakened immune systems, depression and even suicide.

A 2005 report in the International Journal of Social Psychiatry indicated that farmers experience one of the highest rates of suicide of any industry and there is growing evidence that those involved in farming are at a higher risk of developing mental health problems.

“If your body is a tractor, then stress can be compared to how hard you rev. Too little revs and you could be lugging yourself along; too much and you could blow a gasket; too long and you deplete your fuel. But revs are not your enemy, it’s revving too much, too long that becomes the problem,” said Cale.

Get ready for seeding

With the stress of spring seeding approaching, Cale encourages producers to evaluate their situation and stress levels.

“Everyone views stressful situations differently and has different coping skills. Many times you cannot control outside forces that affect the farm but you can control how they are handled and how you cope with the stress.”

Cale recommends assessing your thinking patterns, avoid all-or-nothing thinking, jumping to conclusions and disqualifying the positive or making mountains out of molehills.

“Once your stress alarms have gone off you need to check your thinking to make sure that you are not now fuelling the problem,” he said. “Fuelling the problem with your thinking is the difference between having stress that will push you to aspire to do better things and stress that can actually contribute to mortality.”

Cale offered up some real-life coping tools throughout his presentation, noting that farmers should give themselves credit for what has been accomplished, set realistic goals, prioritize tasks, delegate as much as possible and don’t set yourself up for stress — leave some time to deal with the unexpected.

In recent years, the changing global economy has affected producers’ relationships with one another, due to increased competition, increased farm sizes and further separation from neighbours. In many cases, farmers have lost the primary support of fellow farmers.

Agriculture, more than any other industry, is a community that is empowered by networking and communication. As the busy seasons approach, Cale urges producers to be open to communication.

“Farm communities in Canada were built by neighbours helping neighbours and keeping that bond strong will only lead to better profits and health for everyone.

“When talking to someone who is highly stressed, accurate empathy is the first place to begin,” said Cale. “Many of these producers are dealing with very significant and real losses. If you say, ‘it is all going to be OK,’ when they are losing what they are losing, it is not an accurate response to what they are dealing with.”

Cale encourages all producers to utilize Manitoba Farm and Rural Support Services online counselling, text, email and chat support lines as well as the organization’s free and anonymous application, Calm in the Storm.

“Ask for help. There are a number of resources available to farmers in all different areas,” said Cale. “Make consultation appointments even if you don’t think you will use the service. Talk to advisers, professionals and your neighbours. If they can’t help you, they may be able to direct you to the right person. You do not have to do everything on your own and it never hurts to ask.”

The post You can’t have a healthy farm without healthy farmers appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

But that’s who the Manitoba Pork Council hired as keynote speaker for its annual meeting last week. Rick Berman, who also spoke at the Banff Pork Seminar earlier this year, is a Washington-based consultant who makes a very comfortable living indeed lobbying on behalf of unwinnable causes.

Organizations he’s founded include The Center For Consumer Freedom, which counters the battle against obesity, and Beverage Retailers Against Drunk Driving, which promotes “social drinking” in order to counter the efforts of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Mr. Berman is willing to argue gestation stalls are OK too, and says anyone who disagrees has a secret agenda to turn us all into vegetarians. He wants the pork industry to “fight back” and he’s perfectly willing to take their money to help them do it.

There may indeed be members of animal welfare groups who want everyone to stop eating meat, but that doesn’t mean that gestation stalls are humane. There is a growing, science-based consensus that there are more welfare-friendly alternatives available.

Europe and nine U.S. states have passed legislation outlawing them. The industry’s biggest customers — the likes of processors Maple Leaf, Olymel and Smithfield’s — have announced they are moving away from them. Major food-service chains, such as McDonald’s and Tim Hortons, will also abandon stalls in the not-so-distant future.

These multinational corporations have taken time to review the science both for and against gestation stalls and determined the cons outweigh the pros.

At the time they were introduced, gestation stalls were a simple solution to the complex problem of animal husbandry as the pork industry was rapidly scaling up production units. Keeping sows separate and contained enabled barn managers to prevent them from injuring one another or from weaker ones being deprived of feed.

New technology and new know-how are now available that says the same ends can be achieved while giving pregnant sows more freedom to move. The changeover is expensive, approximately $600 per sow. And the production end of the pork industry isn’t exactly rolling in cash.

But instead of seeking advice on how to communicate that need with the general public, or how to justify an increase in price to help finance the transition, the Manitoba Pork Council invited a keynote speaker that instructed them to tell consumers — their meat-eating customers — they don’t know what they’re talking about, and that anyone voicing concerns should be written off as one of those dreaded “activists.”

This when at the same meeting producers are decrying the decision by the Manitoba government not to support their latest effort at stabilizing the sector. That’s hardly the way to garner more taxpayer support.

It is sheer folly for the pork industry to spend its declining resources to hear the views of Rick Berman and his ilk. He’s telling them what they want to hear, not what they need to do.

If the current industry leaders really believe that the future of sow gestation stalls is up for debate and the likes of Rick Berman can help them win, it’s time for a change in industry leadership.

A true value chain

We were admittedly a bit skeptical when all the hype and holler about functional foods and nutraceuticals first surfaced a decade or so ago.

It’s not that they were a bad idea, just that their potential for adding value to the farm gate commodities seemed limited. These products tend to use small volumes and they are highly processed, basing their “goodness” on extracted components that are then sold at such elevated prices that only the wealthy health-conscious consumer could afford them.

But thanks to an ingenious plan crafted by the people behind the Manitoba Agri-Health Research Network, we have been proven wrong. There is an avenue in which farmers can participate in the value chain that truly brings value back to the farm — albeit in non-traditional ways.

By working with grower groups, MAHRN has been able to illicit matching government dollars to invest in functional food products that make the goodness in the commodities they grow accessible to the consumer in the types of foods they already eat, whether it’s buckwheat snacks, a pulse-based pizza crust or nutritionally enhanced desserts. The royalties from the commercialization of those products flow back to the producer groups, which are then investing them into research that benefits all growers.

Now that’s a true value chain — and we’re not talking hardware.

The post Time for a change appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

That was the message Rick Berman brought to the Manitoba Pork Council’s annual general meeting last week, in which he urged producers to go on the offensive against “animal rights lunatics.”

“Get your head around the fact you’re in an endless war with animal rights activists,” said Berman.

“Their goal is the abolition of animal agriculture. They want people to eat salads instead of eating steaks.”

The Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist, lawyer and PR expert has gained notoriety for aggressively defending the interests of a host of industry groups, including the U.S. food and beverage sector, big tobacco, and the alcohol industry (the latter involved opposing Mothers Against Drunk Driving). Now he is promoting gestation stalls on behalf of the American pork industry.

Moving away from gestation stalls won’t satisfy animal rights proponents, said Berman, arguing their real goal is to make livestock production financially inviable for producers and meat prohibitively expensive for consumers.

A host of companies — including McDonald’s, Burger King, Tim Hortons, Cargill, Costco, Sysco, Maple Leaf Foods, Olymel and Wendy’s — has announced plans to either phase out gestation stalls or stop buying pork from processors who use them.

But the issue isn’t settled yet, said the American lobbyist.

“That is the image the activists want to make, because then it convinces the people who haven’t got on board that train to think, ‘Oh well, the train has left the station.’ So it’s all about convincing everyone that the fight is over,” said Berman, adding the promises made by processors and retailers are “wishy-washy” and full of loopholes.

The public has been duped by a small group of activists into thinking gestation stalls are cruel, he said, suggesting pork producers adopt a more consumer-friendly term such as “individual maternity pens.”

Many in attendance applauded Berman’s message, but there was skepticism as well.

“Personally, I don’t agree that we shouldn’t be looking to change away from stalls,” said Laurie Conner, a University of Manitoba scientist who researches open-housing methods.

“There are, and will continue to be, increasing expectations from the consumer that animals are raised in a way that they see as humane.”

Encouraging producers to reassert control of practices in their industry is a positive message, she said. But Conner balked at the idea of waging a costly PR battle when the tide of public opinion on the issue is already turning.

“I think (Berman) would not be unhappy if $1 a pig was sent his way to help that cause,” said Conner, referring to a dollar-per-pig levy used by producers in Minnesota to fight demands for group-housing systems.

The Manitoba Pork Council has previously indicated the organization is committed to a voluntary phase-out of gestation stalls by 2025, but chairman Karl Kynoch said that’s not the case.

“Our board has never taken a position of phasing out stalls,” said Kynoch. “Our position is we encourage producers to look at alternative forms of housing by 2025. We’re not saying switch, we’re saying: Do the research, look into it, if there are better alternatives and it works for somebody, switch to it.”

Producers are concerned about animal welfare, said Kynoch, but is also worried their industry is being unfairly targeted by activist groups.

Last December, the group Mercy for Animals released undercover footage from a Manitoba hog barn sparking backlash from across the country.

“What we’ve got to do is push back on people who are trying to enforce regulations on us, or ways to raise our animals,” said Kynoch. “We have to push back on them and say, ‘No, you don’t understand animal agriculture. You don’t understand animal welfare. We do.’”

Bill McDonald, CEO of the Winnipeg Humane Society was invited to the council’s meeting, but chose not to attend after learning Rick Berman was on the agenda.

“I’m surprised the pork council would make the decision to poke animal welfare organizations in the eye like this,” he said, adding there had been common ground between the two organizations in recent years with the council’s previously espoused commitment to a voluntary phase-out of stalls by 2025.

“Why, when they have published documents stating they are in favour of phasing out stalls by 2025, would they take this step backwards?” he asked.

More than 10 years ago, the society launched a “Quit Stalling” campaign aimed at outlawing the practice in Manitoba. It has since worked with both government and industry to end the use of gestation stalls.

The stalls were first introduced to the pork industry to help combat aggressive tendencies among sows decades ago, but Conner said there is new information about them today.

Ongoing research has found sows suffer muscle and bone ailments as a result of stalls, leading to lameness, she said.

Research has also identified methods of husbandry that make group housing sows feasible.

“There are ways to manage aggressiveness with partitions, particular spacing and individual feeding,” Conner said.

And although it may not happen in the time frame people want, she believes the efforts of processors and retailers to phase out stalls are genuine.

“Change is a part of life, but it isn’t always easy,” she said.

The post Mixed messages on gestation stalls appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

New and young workers are most likely to be injured in ATV/ORV incidents. That’s why it’s important to train all workers and family members on operating these vehicles and in specific procedures related to their agricultural tasks. Farmers are responsible for ensuring all workers, including themselves, are appropriately trained in every aspect of their duties.

Most ATV/ORV incidents are due to drivers losing control, rollovers, collisions, carrying extra passengers and loads. The result may be injury, disability or even death for passengers and drivers.

A farm safety plan for using ATVs/ORVs as working equipment should include training, enforced rules about wearing proper safety gear, pre-operational checks, a no-rider rule on machines not equipped for a second rider, first aid kits and a working alone plan.

The post Assess your risk before operating an ATV appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Most incidents involving children happen when they play unsupervised, ride or play on powered mobile equipment, wander away from supervision and can access livestock barns and sheds on their own. The most common injuries are drowning, entanglement, being run over, falling and being crushed.

A farm safety plan that protects children should include creating a fenced-in, gated, safe play area, checking around equipment before operation, not leaving keys in the ignition, not carrying children as passengers and/or ensuring passengers wear seatbelts, and constant supervision.

When children begin helping out on the farm, it’s important to ensure they are physically, mentally and emotionally prepared and trained to do tasks suitable for their age.

The post Keeping kids safe on the farm appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Supplies:

• Baby food jars (or other small jars) washed and dried
• Painting mat
• Spray glass frosting
• Glitter
• Small shallow container
• Modge Podge (available at craft supply stores)
• Paintbrush
• Old newspaper
• Ribbon
• Embellishments
• Glass plate or tray
• Epsom salts
• Votive candles
• Matches

Instructions:

Place painting mat on work surface in a well-ventilated area and place jars on mat upside down, to prevent spray frosting from entering jars. Spray jars and let dry for five minutes or according to spray can directions. Spray again and let dry for one hour. Tie ribbon around mouth of jar. Embellish as desired. If the embellishments have adhesive tabs on the back, remove the backing and press against the jar. No adhesive tab? No problem! Use the paintbrush and add a dab of Modge Podge to the embellishment and press against the jar. It may be necessary to hold for a minute or two to ensure that it stays on.

If using glitter:

Cover work surface with newspaper and place shallow container on it. Pour glitter into container. Using paintbrush, lightly coat outside of jar with Modge Podge. Roll in glitter until coated. Let dry one hour then tap off any excess glitter. Embellish as desired. Fill plate/tray with Epsom salts and place jars on top. Put votives in jars.

Light up candles and watch the light reflect off the “snow!”

The post Winter wonderland candle display appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“There’s no doubt that’s where it is,” says Sawyer. “There’s going to be more talk. More focus. More questions and expectations for our industry to deal with. But there are also opportunities for us to manage this issue well and come out ahead.”

Sawyer, who was recently re-elected as chair of Alberta Beef Producers, has had the opportunity to develop a better read than most on the pivotal year ahead and the dynamics involved around the livestock welfare. The cow-calf producer has a long history of involvement in sustainability issues, including work on livestock welfare through his years of service — including several as chair — with Alberta Farm Animal Care (AFAC).

Always a straight shooter with a common-sense perspective, Sawyer took time from his ranch duties to discuss some top-of-mind thoughts. The focus was what he feels will be important factors to consider when looking at the year ahead – ones that have maybe flown a little below the radar or haven’t been discussed as much as others, but could just be the difference-makers in terms of what will impact producers.

The codes and what they mean at the farm level

Among the most significant developments underway in Canada is a new set of nationally developed Codes of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animals.

“The codes are a big step and there are a lot of important questions around them,” says Sawyer. “What impact are the codes going to have on producers? What may or may not they need to do with them? What’s in them? There are some unknowns until we see the final results. That can naturally make people a bit nervous.”

It’s an area that calls for patience and good communication to make sure these codes fit the role they are intended for and are a good fit with industry, he says. “That communication is not easy, but it’s important we recognize how important it is and do our best to get it right.”

Merging retail-level talk with on-farm reality

Talking about farm animal care at the retail level is a concept that is gaining traction among the Wal-Marts, Costcos, Sobeys and Safeways of the world. But it’s important the conversation at that stage also makes sense with what is happening and what is practical at the production level. Sawyer feels producers need to see the conversation as something that represents how they feel about this issue and is something they can stand behind, rather than as new rules or expectations dictated in a top-down way.

“As a consumer, when you see a product in the store that is marketed as welfare friendly, it’s an easy sell. It makes you feel good to buy that product. But as a producer, I see it bringing up questions. How does that relate to me? What’s my aspect of this? Am I comfortable with the expectations this is creating or what it implies about conventional production practices?”

The way Sawyer sees it, the more things can be done to make sure producers are on board and comfortable with this, the better and more sustainable it will be. “We need to be at the same table more often as producers and retailers. That is happening and we need to continue.”

The coming challenge: Reconciling different standards

As a beef producer, this one hits close to home for Sawyer. “For example, pain mitigation is a complex area we hear a lot of talk about in our industry. The dairy sector has included specifics around pain mitigation in its Code of Practice and they updated their code first. We weren’t involved in developing their code and how that relates to us has been challenging. You do something in one sector, and it creates expectations in another. It’s not wrong that happens, but it’s just a reality we have to be aware of and do our best to deal with.”

The most urgent example for Sawyer is at a global level. Specifically, the influence that overseas standards, particularly European ones, may have on the North American industry. “With the next trade agreements coming up, one of the biggest concerns North American agriculture has is that importation of overseas standards, whether it be animal welfare standards, environment, or other areas.”

Transport standards are a main area of concern, he says. “Our transportation is so different from theirs. If you drive an hour on a British road, it’s totally different than driving an hour on the road in Alberta, and we have totally different challenges.” Pain management is also an important area where there are significantly different approaches and challenges between Europe and North America.

Part of the issue is there are more global players who like the idea of streamlined standards, he says. “This includes some very key customers of our product. And I worry about them trying to sum up European and North American standards in the same sentence.” Uniformity has advantages, but these players and the sustainability initiatives they are involved with also need to recognize differences and find that right balance, he says. “We definitely don’t want to start importing European standards that have no application over here.”

Environment factor: Accelerating the learning curve

On a positive note, Sawyer believes the experience of agriculture in managing the environment file has helped to pave the way for faster and better management of the welfare file. “To me, environment was the issue that broke the ground on what we now talk about more broadly as sustainability. Livestock welfare has an easier path because of that. With environment, we went through the gamut of have our head in the sand, then get mad and fight it, then acceptance and then realizing this isn’t as bad as we thought, and then, how do we manage it.

“With welfare we’re a lot quicker to figure out we can manage this and that’s what we need to focus on. Because of that we have been able to move much quicker in terms of the industry uptake.”

Remember why we’re doing this

For Sawyer, there are two levels of reasons to do something on livestock welfare. “The first level of reason is for the animal side and what that does for our business. It helps us in terms of being able to export, being able to keep consumer confidence, have happier and more productive animals and just that it’s the right thing to do. There are a whole lot of reasons on this side.”

The other level is the defensive side, he says. “We’ve realized the big concern on the defensive side is not our own governments or regulations or even consumers. It’s from attacks from the more extreme activist groups that we’ve begun to realize are going to be relentless. We’re not going to be doing one thing and showing them it’s good and then they go home for a while. It’s never good enough. This is the side where we’ve had to draw some lines in the sand.”

The key to handling both sides well is to recognize this distinction and address each differently, says Sawyer. “The more we try to intermix them, the more screwed up we get. When it comes to production changes, we always need to be clear on why we’re doing this and it needs to make sense on the first level. This is where we can do what makes sense and keep the big consumer base on side.”

The post Five factors to add to your animal welfare watch list in 2013 appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

On the home front, a key big-picture development that also promises to hold substantial profile on the global radar is the activity of Canada’s own National Farmed Animal Health and Welfare Council.

This group, a mix of government and industry representatives and experts, was formed as an advisory council to the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Regulatory Assistant Deputy Ministers of Agriculture Committee. It has focused on co-ordinating the development of a national strategy on all aspects of farm animal health and welfare.

The original national strategy document, released in 2009, focused heavily on animal health. The new document proposes a new strategy specifically for farmed animal welfare. It was released in December 2012 at the forum hosted by the council in Ottawa.

The council is a major connection point between industry and government on the health and welfare of production animals.

“The idea behind the formation of the council was to have a high-level steering group to advise governments and industry on the implementation of national strategies for farm animal health and welfare,” says Fraser, who is a member of the council. “The welfare document represents two years of discussion and consultations. How that is received will have a strong bearing on how Canada will approach national co-ordination on this issue.”

FAW interest expanding

Less specific but equally important to these developments is a noticeable trend of increasing participation in livestock welfare initiatives and progress by parts of the world not typically considered hot spots of farm animal care innovation.

A couple of quick examples include the rise in participation by eastern European countries in programs such as the AWARE initiative, and by South American countries in similar education and awareness initiatives.

AWARE stands for Animal Welfare Research in an Enlarged Europe, a program designed to promote integration and increase the impact of European research on farm animal welfare. It accomplishes this through networks of scientists, lecturers and students who champion farm animal welfare knowledge transfer and implementation.

While attention to animal welfare is well established among the western European Union countries, AWARE has targeted and established specific participation by the new EU Member States that have joined in the past decade, comprising primarily eastern European states, such as Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and others.

South America is another example of non-traditional livestock players stepping up their game. Demand for educational resources and programs on livestock welfare on the continent has skyrocketed in recent years. Both examples indicate a fast-increasing world expansion of progressive-thinking states on livestock welfare.

“The ramping up of interest and expertise in both the eastern European countries and the South American countries is remarkable,” says Fraser. “And these examples are not isolated — the more you look around the world, the more you find.

If you go to most regions of the world that are agriculturally important, we’re seeing strong interest and activity that wasn’t there even five years ago.”

The post The world turns its attention to animal welfare (Part 2 of 2) appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“We’re working with the date of 2025, and we’re continuing to encourage producers to look at that date as well,” said Mark Fynn, animal care specialist with the Manitoba Pork Council.

Several major food chains have announced in the last year that they are moving towards gestation-stall-free pork, said Fynn, adding his organization recognizes consumers’ attitudes are driving the change.

“In general, the public doesn’t stand behind the current system of gestation housing,” he said.

Farmers believe gestation stalls are consistent with good animal welfare practices, but they also understand there is a need to provide what the market is seeking, he said.

So it makes sense for the council to work with researchers and producers to address concerns about group housing.

“You’re always going to have sow aggression, it’s just a behaviour you see between sows, but it’s a matter of trying to minimize that in a group setting,” said Fynn.

Sows often become aggressive during feeding and so one area of research is focused on the effectiveness of electronic feeding systems or free-access-stall systems, he said.

Environmental enrichment, such as the addition of hanging chains or tennis balls, is also used to lessen aggression between sows, but the jury is still out on that practice. In some instances, the toys may just be something else to fight over, he said.

“There isn’t too much research in the area of enrichment right now,” said Fynn.

The cost of converting barns is also being closely examined.

“We’re at the stage in our research where we’re trying to estimate the costs, but obviously it’s going to vary from barn to barn based on design,” he said.

The current ballpark figure is $500 to $600 per sow space.

“So that could be quite substantial depending on the size of your operation,” said Fynn.

Moving to open housing also means additional training programs for staff.

“It’s not a simple solution, you can’t just rip out the old stalls and put them in groups, it has to be well thought out and the design has to be bang on,” he added.

The silver lining is that this effort might create new marketing opportunities.

“There is a potential for some value,” he said. “But a lot of our markets, including our domestic market, haven’t really shown a strong will to pay more.”

And the thought of spending a lot of money with no return isn’t going down well at a time when many producers are suffering huge losses because of high feed costs.

“(Producers) see this huge capital cost coming and there’s this threat that there won’t be any real payback,” said Fynn. “There might even be an increase to cost of production, so it’s worrisome.”

The post Manitoba Pork Council prepares for end of gestation stalls appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The soldiers who left home to fight in a wartorn country?

The soldiers who came back from war, their bodies and minds torn to pieces?

When the doorbell rang and a messenger brought a message of death?

This Remembrance Day we need to remember, and never forget, what our fathers, grandfathers and forefathers did for the freedom of others.

There are still soldiers fighting in different parts of the world. We need to pray that they will know Who brought the ultimate sacrifice, so they can be free from the oppression of sin and be assured of the mansion that is waiting them in heaven (John 14:3), no matter what happens in this world. Our prayers can travel where no words can reach.

Let’s not forget to remember them.

The post Thoughts on Remembrance Day appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.