Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Founded in 1909, UFA Co-operative Limited is an Alberta-based agricultural co-operative with more than 125,000 member-owners. UFA’s network comprises more than 121 bulk fuel and Cardlock Petroleum locations, 35 Farm & Ranch Supply stores and a support office in Calgary, AB. Independent Petroleum Agents and over 1,200 UFA employees provide products, services and agricultural solutions to farmers, ranchers, members and commercial customers in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.
EP Production Team (00:17.09)
takes a certain kind of ambition to do what farmers do. Between the hours and the hard labor, to the public scrutiny and bureaucratic maze running, it's not an easy task. While the agriculture industry feeds millions quietly tilling and producing behind the scenes, many forget that our food comes from the hands of real people with real stories.
Join us as we share stories from those with boots on the ground and unearth unique perspectives on agriculture's biggest conversations. It's time to grab your shovel and get to work. I'm Don Schaefer and this is Digging In with UFA.
EP Production Team (01:04.013)
On the farm, the health and well-being of your animals is oftentimes the primary focus. For ranchers and beef producers, their animals are, quite literally, their livelihood. From the outside looking in, there are some big misconceptions about the treatment of animals and agriculture at large and how the treatment affects the consumer. Today, we dig in on animal health and welfare.
EP Production Team (01:32.982)
It's been said time and time again that laughter is the best medicine. In the world of agriculture, sometimes it takes a deep-rooted and down-to-earth sense of humor to make it through the frustrations that producers face. Hearing the voice of someone who knows their struggle from first-hand experience brings the gift of recognition. Famously alluded to on his successful YouTube channel and comedy tours as Quick Dick McDick, our guest uses his experience on the farm to teach and form.
and joke about the boots on the ground experience. This is Dixon DeLorme. Warning. This video contains foul language. that offends you, you're not going to want to watch.
You want a workout program? You want to talk about your flex appeal? Well, I mean, we talk about the chisel flex too. Get the peas, Dodgers, laying down on the ground and dirty! My name's Dixon DeLorme, otherwise known on social media as Quick Dick McDick. I am from Tofinal, Saskatchewan, and I am a farmer slash rancher. I've got a small operation of my own and my own small herd of cattle. And then I work with a larger operation named Barra.
just outside of Foam Lake, Saskatchewan. We farm and ranch together. We plant 4,200 acres and cav out about 400 head. I worked the oil and gas industry for 19 years and came back home to Saskatchewan here in the fall of 2019. And I was going to head somewhere else and actually continue my career in oil and gas. And I just kind of accidentally fell back in love with being home. And I decided that it was just where I was meant to be.
decided to stay and dig my heels back down into cattle. It just kind of hit me at the end of the day. was like, why have I spent the last 19 years of my life not being at this place where I'm happy, you know? So I just kind of started chasing happiness versus a buck kind of thing. And I think a lot more people should do that.
EP Production Team (03:37.646)
There's always something that drives those to agriculture, whether by lineage or by calling. There's something special about the ability to nourish the land and its people, a collective swell of hard work, dedication, and pride.
Number one, I think, is the sense of community in it. It's crazy to say, but technically, your neighbors, your competition in the egg industry, right? Because it's another producer that you're, quote unquote, competing against. But it's not how it's taken here in agriculture. Everyone's there to try and help each other out to the best of their abilities kind of thing. And that's what I'm really passionate about is people help each other here and people talk to each other.
You know, if one person's combine goes down or somebody gets hurt or they have a family emergency or something in an agricultural operation, be it grain or livestock or whatever it is, you have a community of people that get together and help those people. It's one of the only industries that I've seen in the world that that really truly exists, that you're there to look after people that are in your industry and you will stop what you're doing to go help somebody else out. And I think that's one thing that's kind of slowly being lost.
in corporate Canada or corporate world kind of things, it's survival of the fittest. Whereas here, sure it might be survival of some of the fittest, but at the same time, it's everybody looks after each other in a different way and I just think that's fantastic.
EP Production Team (05:00.014)
As far as the videos go, I mean, it was just a complete accident. I didn't mean for any of it to happen. I just kind of posted a story on Snapchat one day and it just kind of took off from there. A few people started asking questions of what was happening in the background of these videos. And I was just like, well, why don't I explain a few of them to you? The channel, if you want to call it the channel or...
whatever you want to call my social media platform. It kind of turned into like a mixture of sometimes we'll do educational videos, sometimes I'll do political videos, sometimes I'll just do straight up rural Saskatchewan humor and just try and keep a mix of it and try and keep people laughing and having a good time. And every now and then we just dive into some things that maybe people don't know a lot about or that people maybe should pay more attention to, right?
But you've got to try and explain it in a fast manner because if I was to take my camera and walk around all day and just do everything that I do, people would get very bored and also hear a bunch of other language that I use that's inappropriate for the viewer, right? Life on the farm is no easy feat. You've got to keep your wits about you and understand both the fragility of and risks associated with being around these prized animals day in and day out.
As feedlot veterinarian, lead consultant for the Beef Cattle Research Council and Western Canadian Animal Health Chair, our guest today is no stranger to the skill and patience it requires to keep livestock safe and healthy. This is Joyce Van Donkersgut. My name is Joyce Van Donkersgut. I am a feedlot veterinarian. I am an independent businesswoman, have been for over 30 years. Used to have a feedlot practice, Southern Alberta, Petribute area.
sold it a few years ago. And I'm one of those dreaded consultants. So I do research and I work with other industry partners to try to solve problems for the beef industry.
EP Production Team (06:53.454)
Well, I grew up just east of Coldell on a mixed beef cattle and grain farm. So I was always working with my mom and dad with the cattle and moving irrigation pipes. My dad gave me my first heifer, and I had my first calf called Tuffy. Like, I really liked being with the cattle. Like, whenever I get into a fight with my mom and dad, I would go to the crowds and sit in the upside down water tank, and I would talk to the cattle. And cattle would all look at me and go, mmm, yeah, you know, like they understood. Probably thought, who says lunatic sitting here? But...
I just love that. So, you when I was 12 years old, I decided I wanted to be a vet. And I was lucky. I did two years pre-vet in Lethbridge, and then I got into vet school in Saskatchewan. And I love to solve problems. So it always makes you feel good, you know, when you can solve a problem for a producer in the best interest of the animal.
As farmers and ranchers, there's a delicate balance between the business of rearing livestock and caring for the wellbeing of the animals you raise. Given the large swaths of misinterpretation as to what farmers and ranchers do, as well as how animals are treated on the farm, where do you think most of the misinformation comes from? I think social media plays a big role in how people perceive agriculture.
There's a lot of content out there, guess nowadays is probably the best way to put it and it's turned in to be a hard thing to vet your content to whether what you're watching is something that's actually happening or whether it's not. But you know, people have a bad conception of, know, big agriculture is the devil or emissions from cattle are destroying the world. And you know, there's all this stuff that exists out there and it's just a matter of trying to.
Not overcomplicate what you're doing to try and make it fast and simple for people to see that maybe some of the things that you're doing isn't the worst thing on the planet and that maybe we do have the best interests of the farm and the animals that we have on the farm in mind. Yes, we need to make it a profitable business at the end of the day, but at the same time, farmers farm for tomorrow and for the next generation. And same with your herd, with whatever livestock it is that you're running. You're not specifically focusing all the time just on what's happening right now, but how can you make things better and your herd better for next year?
EP Production Team (09:00.992)
and make it run more efficient, make it better for your animals, improve your facilities so that they're better and easier on your animals. Because at the end of the day, you want the least amount of stress on them because it's better for them. And when your animals are better and have a better temperament, they're going to do better health-wise and you're going to see returns off that in the business. it's just, people watch one video and automatically assume that that's what we do in Saskatchewan on a cow calf operation, which can be farther from the truth, right?
I think some of our biggest challenges are, we're veterinarians, to deal with the animals, you actually have to deal with the producers, because the producers own the animals, right? And so just like there's lots of different breeds of cattle, there's lots of different, I won't say breeds of people or producers, but there some that they're in the business, you know, because they love cattle, they like cattle, they like the way of life. You know, a lot of ranchers, it's the way of life that's really important to them.
When you get more into the feedlot industry with more commercial size yards, I mean, it's business, it's big business. And so you've got to balance decisions always with economics in mind. That's very important. So as a vet, you're trying to deal with a client, also trying to do what's best for the animal, bearing in mind economics. So it's always a balancing act, trying to get something that's a win-win for everybody involved. When I say a win-win, it's for the producer of the animal, it's the balance between the two.
In general, it's not uncommon for consumers to have no idea how their food gets from a farm to their table. Within this general understanding, it's possible that they also don't know what animal care on the farm looks like. When videos of cooped-up chickens in cages and birthing pigs in farrowing crates begin circulating and showing a seemingly cruel visual of a snapshot devoid of context, it's easy to see why people become upset.
They don't see the reasoning behind these small moments on the farm or how these decisions are in the best interest of the health of the livestock. They don't see the rigorous animal welfare regulations put in place by the Canadian government. They see a cage, but not the flock. They see a mother in a crate, but not the safety mitigation of piglets being crushed at birth by their mother. Without context, we don't know the story.
EP Production Team (11:21.186)
When I went to work oil and gas, was just turning 18 years old at a high school and like I thought oil and gas was just there's a whole bunch of guys with cowboy hats in Alberta that climb on top of a drilling rig and they ride it like a buck and bronc and when the oil squirts out the top, they're like, yeehaw, we strap oil. But when you go out and experience the amount of different industries and businesses and everything that exists just to get energy to our houses, it's mind blowing, you know, and I got paid to see all of Northern America, Northern Canada up into the Arctic and different places.
And you know, how they're intertwined with forestry operations and you really get to see you working in a lot of these areas, how everything's all interconnected. And it just gives you a whole new appreciation for when you walk into your house and it's 30 below in the middle of the winter and you just get to turn your light on and it's warm inside your house. Well, I've seen what it takes to get that natural gas out of the ground and deliver it to your house. And it's nothing short of amazing.
live a very lucky life that I've seen it and I have deep appreciation for the amount of effort and work that everyone puts into this country to make it work. I didn't realize how many people didn't understand what was happening with agriculture specifically even like on the North American continent. For example, I did a Ode to Oats it was called and it was just a two part episode, 10 minutes each where I just went through planting, growing and harvesting oats in one and then processing oats. And I got sent the most random message from someone. It was a lady in California.
who sent me a picture of her kids laying on the living room floor, eating a bowl of oats, watching a Quick Dick episode. And this one, like it stands out in my memory. And she said, we had no idea that this is where our oatmeal came from every morning that we eat and the kids loved the episode. And like that, like that hit me. I was like, I never would have thought that no one had any idea, but that really hits you that there's a lot of people that just have absolutely no idea and have grown up in an urban setting their entire lives and just think that.
you know, oats come from the store or that beef comes from the store, you know what I mean? And I'm not sure how many actually want to know where it came from, you know, sort of like your milk in the milk carton. They don't necessarily want to know. And in the industry, I would say, well, you know, people have concerns. We'll just educate them, you know, about the issues so they understand. But I'm not sure that's always the solution, you know, if they're not willing to listen. So I think they need to understand agriculture is hard work. People that are in it, they enjoy it or I say wouldn't be in it, but it is hard work.
EP Production Team (13:40.302)
It's not an eight to five job with weekends off. It is 24-7, especially with ranching because, you know, cows like to calve in middle of the night. Then you call the vet in the middle of the night. And so both as veterinarians and as producers on the cow-calf side, you have to be passionate about what you want to do. You know, you have to get yourself out of bed at two in the morning and go deal with that calving. It is harder and harder, I understand, from practices with some of the new generation of vets coming up. They don't want to work weekends. They don't want to work nights.
Well, the cows don't clock, time clock. And so to me, that's where if you're not passionate about what you do in the industry, you are not going to get out of bed at two in the morning. Whether you're a rancher, you know, or a feedlot guy, if something goes around, the power goes out and you got to get that backup generator working because of a snowstorm. Like you got to be passionate. And that's for the best interest of the cattle because cattle need feed. You know, they need water all the time. And if they're in distress, whether it's a calving or somebody's got their head stuck in a gate.
You need to be there right away to help them. And that's need to support their clients.
Even from the moment a calf is born, ranchers are there for it all. Prepared colostrum for the newborn to make sure they receive their antibody-rich milk to help them survive at their most vulnerable moment. Antimicrobials to keep common illnesses at bay. Hoof maintenance and proper dietary implementations. All of these rigorous standards for the simple sake of the animal's well-being in practice to ensure a healthy life and a healthy product.
The world wants us to reduce antimicrobials or antibiotic use, yet they don't take into perspective animal health and welfare. Like cattle can get sick just like you and I can get sick, right? And there are diseases that are caused by bacteria that require antibiotics to be given in a timely manner, the appropriate antibiotics, know, with a producer works with their vet to make sure they use the right drug for the right bug at the right time, at the right duration and dose.
EP Production Team (15:43.278)
And so that's one of my big concerns. Everybody wants us to reduce any microbial use because there's a misconception we're using them inappropriately. And I think there are cases where we can do better and find alternative products or research. But, you know, to have a healthy food supply, you need healthy cattle. And from an animal welfare perspective, when cattle get sick, whether you're a producer or a veterinarian, our job is to try to get those cattle healthy again. So that both from an economic perspective for the producer, there's value there.
But also that if you have a cow that she's going to have a calf because she's healthy, the calf is going to be healthy. That calf is going to grow. And if it's commercial producer, hopefully end up then as a feeder calf in the feedlot. And we need to keep it healthy in the feedlot. So then it ends up so you have a nice juicy steak. might be a good example for people that might not know much about livestock operations. Made a few different moves here this year and we're looking to get some actual watering systems brought in. It was a damper and cooler year to start the year off here. And obviously like we run cow-calf pairs on path.
A lot of places we're using dugouts and maybe some well-developed low-lying areas in some of our pastures noticed predominant strains of foot rot coming through the herd this year and wound up having to treat for a lot of it, obviously, because they're doing a lot of walking in some saline wet areas. We've made some moves to get some waters so that we have better footing for our cattle. They don't have to wait in and get into some different places. And it's a significant investment, but we think we're going to see the return on it. Foot rot is an infectious disease of the foot caused by various bacteria.
And in feedlots, it's the same thing. If you have wet, muddy pens and cattle are standing in there, then you get soft feet. And then if cattle go on hard ground, if they get trauma to the feet, like lesions, that's when the bacteria can penetrate and cause infections, right? So in feedlots, we focus on pen maintenance, right? You know, keeping pens clean and dry, which is hard, as you said, when you have a lot of moist conditions on pasture, it's the same thing. So I think your offsite watering is great.
for many different reasons, not only infectious foot rot. I'm working actually with Veto, the Vaccine Infectious Disease Organization, South Tune. I used to work there as a scientist years ago, and we're actually trying to build a foot rot vaccine, because there isn't a good vaccine out there, but it's tough sometimes to get a good vaccine. There have been a few on the market and they didn't work. But when you don't have a vaccine, then you've got to go back to what you're doing, basic animal husbandry. So what are the risk factors that increase the risk of foot rot? Well, wet money conditions.
EP Production Team (18:07.852)
So your offsite watering is a great idea. And cattle need clean water. That has been shown on ranches and in feedlots, know, ample supply of clean water for good health and productivity. In grocery stores and in fast food chains, you know, everybody's on the anti-hormone, antibiotic, all this anti-anti stuff. A lot of what we do in the Canadian beef industry, some of what these people advertise for, it's anti-hormones. say, there's certain instances where it's actually illegal to do that and nobody does it. So why are you advertising that it's anti-hormones?
You're talking like everything that we produce in Canada? Yeah, congratulations. Thank you very much. Our goal is to have the healthiest herd that we possibly could. And I mean, that's where we use technology and medicine to ensure that we have the healthiest, most comfortable herd that we can. It happens at beef. It happens when you even like there's the anti-GMO crowd as well, you know, where you go to buy, say flour at a grocery store and it's got a little sticker on the side of it that says made with non-GMO wheat. And you're like,
All wheat is non-GMO. They are developing the first string of GMO wheat, which is drought resistant that's happening right now. But I mean, the rest of it's already non-GMO. So I think branding has a lot to do with how there's a misconception. And what Joyce says is absolutely right as well. There's maybe a few people that don't do it quite right that could do better or we can always do better. But we can look at any industry that exists in the world and you're always going to have a few players that aren't the best players on the planet. But that doesn't mean that you should brand the entire industry of all of them
having bad practices in animal health or herd health. There's definitely more people that do good than do bad. And I think we just need to continue to promote people that are doing good and we need to work with people that aren't doing the best and try to help them get there. I like your comment on the hormones because as you and I know there had been for quite a while on TV that, so I would say that fast food chain that was saying, yeah, our beef has no hormones.
Well, you're full of it because all animals have hormones, humans have hormones. Like that's just a natural part of your body, you know? So females, whether it's two-legged or four-legged, you know, you got estrogen, you got progesterone. Yeah. Like science and technology is a big thing that I think there's a small crowd of people out there that are, depending on what the topic is, they're either for science and technology or against science and technology. But I mean,
EP Production Team (20:22.43)
I think people need to understand that we use it the same, you know, in our phones and the devices that we're doing this podcast on and everything right now. I mean, this is an example of science and technology and how fast it can bring us together and make life better for us as humans. But we do the same thing with science and technology when it comes to, you know, personal health in humans or health in animals and crops as well. Right. And that's what allows us to feed the amount of people that are on this planet based on the arable land and marginal land that we have available to do so. Right.
And one of my biggest things when people are asking, you know, is this the right way to grow your food? Are we doing the right thing for our human bodies as well? Like we're obviously, all of us are still here on planet earth. So I think we're probably doing it right. But the other part of it is to people that are worried about the safety of food versus price, safety is not a thing. We've got some very strict regulations in Canada here that make sure that we do grow safe food. And we're actually one of the best in the world that do it according to food regulations with CFIA and a lot of different things that we use, especially in beef cattle.
But just go to the grocery store and tell me which aisle we can afford to shop in. Like, can you afford to buy everything that you're getting from the organic aisle or do you need to go down some of the other aisles if you're feeding four kids at home kind of thing? There's a big cost that comes to just growing things without a little bit of help from science and technology. And if everybody started doing it the way, like Joyce was mentioning, that it comes down to dollars and cents, if we have to do it all organically, there's going to be a big gap in some prices and we're to have to make that up as producers.
to be able to continue to produce food and that's unfortunately going to fall on grocery store shelves on the consumer. So there's a balance that needs to be struck between using science and technology and making sure that we can affordably feed people on the planet.
EP Production Team (22:03.214)
Beef is a dense source of nutrients, vitamins, and protein. We grow it right here in Saskatchewan and we integrate beef with a farm to make the environment better, not worse. So you're helping the environment by eating beef. Beef producers are hard workers and they care about their animals. They have a passion for it and they're working hard to give you a safe, high quality food.
And I wish my parents were still alive. I know they were, I think, happy with what I did. You know, I told them when I was 12 I was going to be a vet and they went, oh yeah, and tomorrow you'll be a fireman, then you'll be a nurse, then you'll be a doctor. You know, I was like, no, I'm going to be a vet. Oh, you're going to be, you know, for little cats and dogs. No, I'm going to be a cow vet. And so it makes me feel proud that I stuck to my guns, worked very hard. Yeah, I'm proud of what I've done and I hope I've helped the industry.
When I'm six feet under that, you know, they'll say, well, here was Joyce. She did help the industry build these programs and continually improve. I'm a believer in continual improvement, both for the best financial interests of the producer, but also for the health and welfare of the cattle, as well as performance efficiencies. Because if you don't have those, you'll be bankrupt.
EP Production Team (23:31.566)
At the end of the day, we look to our resiliency within ourselves and our communities to make our collective futures as bright as possible. All it will really take is conversations like these, some vulnerability, and a little digging.
EP Production Team (23:50.466)
Thanks to the support of UFA Cooperative, we're able to share stories from those who live and breathe agriculture. We'd like to thank our guests for sharing their insight into the future of agriculture and for being with us today. For more information and a new episode every month, visit ufa.com. With listeners like you, we'll continue to dig a little deeper here on Digging In with UFA. I'm Don Schaefer. Thanks for listening. Another Everything Podcast production.
Visit everythingpodcast.com, a division of Patterson Media. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast. The views expressed in this podcast reflect opinions and perspectives from participating guests and not necessarily those of UFA, UFA Cooperatives membership, elected officials or stakeholders.