Ontario beef farmers saw record cattle prices in 2023, a trend that is expected to continue into 2024. Beef Farmers of Ontario president Jack Chaffe and Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs chief economist Steve Duff who also farms in Northumberland County provided a market update as part of Beef Day at Grey Bruce Farmers’ Week. 

Duff called it “quite a year” for the beef industry. 

What their data showed is that Ontario reached a new record last year among all weights and classes of cattle. For example, the average rail price was $377 per hundredweight was up 24.3 per cent compared to 2022. 

While the beef cow herd decreased by 4.5 per cent last year, there was an increase in 2022. Duff said while there’s been a decline in numbers, he predicts that it will remain relatively stable. 

“On the cattle side of things, we don’t have a lot of cattle around, so prices are up," explained Duff. 

The verdict is still out on whether beef farmers will continue to see high prices in 2024, but Duff predicts that it is unlikely that prices will decline. 

Duff provided several factors that have helped contribute to high prices for beef farmers here at home. In the U.S. about 40 per cent of grazing land and hay ground were hit by drought, coupled with the competing demand for cash crop acres, and rising input costs have also compounded the situation. 

Increased beef prices at the grocery store are a trend that the industry is closely monitoring. 

“That is what is going to be the limiting factor as there are only so many dollars the consumer has,” said Jack Chaffe, Beef Farmers of Ontario president. “That is why it is key to have our export markets and be diverse throughout the world.”

Chaffe, a sixth-generation beef farmer raising beef cattle outside Mitchell, explains that Ontario is the only province in Canada that is currently exporting beef to Saudi Arabia, but Japan remains the province’s biggest export thanks to the Ontario Corn Fed Beef program. Since the program’s introduction to the market in 2001, it has provided consumers both domestically and internationally with a recognizable brand and logo that assures them of a consistent, premium, and locally-raised product.

Chaffe also provided a “top issues” update. Beef Farmers, the voice for the province’s 19,000 beef farmers have lobbied on several industry issues including: 

● Advocating for updates to the PAWS ACT - an enforcement body responsible for animal welfare services within the Ministry of the Solicitor General.

● Have an ask into the provincial government for market development dollars.

● Continue working with the provincial government on expanding veterinary training for large animal care in Ontario – a file that has seen some movement because for the first time since 1988 programs have been expanded with the University of Guelph and Lakehead University.

● Pushing for more community pastures and trying to get access to more land through Crown Land.

● Trying to expand the deadstock zone with Atwood Resources for deadstock collection services. 

● Working on the updated Beef Code of Practice that is up for review.

Keeping Cows on the 

Ontario Landscape

Following Chaffe and Duff, there was a panel discussion about keeping cows on the landscape moderated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs livestock sustainability specialist Christoph Wand, beef farmer and veterinarian Dr. Peter Kotzeff and beef farmer and Beef Farmers of Ontario producer relations specialist Robert McKinley. 

The panelists highlighted the challenges with raising beef cattle (cow-calf) in Ontario - Canada’s most populous province with pressures of losing pasture land due to high cash crop price and urban development. 

Kotzeff kicked off his talk with a question that he answers, “why I run beef cows on some of the most expensive land in North America.”

“I identify the best use of my land and keep the soil on my land,” he said. “My responsibility is to integrate cattle grazing using minimal tillage, cover crops and a sensible rotation.”

On his operation he calves in May, then weans the calves the following March with no facilities of any kind. 

“I think grazing is the best land use in some of the areas on my farm,” he said. “Grazing steep land and having that under grazing management is the best use of that land.”

His number one grazing cover crop mix is turnip, oat, and peas. 

McKinley kicked off his presentation with a saying that his dad always told him growing up - “do it cheaper or do it better than anyone else or do something that no one else wants to do.” He said that phrase lends itself well to farming and raising beef cattle. On his family’s farm he says that he likes to break it down into three sectors - cow calf, soil, and cash cropping. 

“It’s better to maintain than rebuild,” he said. “Cows are a way to add value to our crop land.”

He went on to say that he sees the biggest threats to his operation are planting corn and soybeans, so the cows need to pay for themselves, he explained. 

On his farm they graze corn stover and have started wintering cows on corn stalks with success. He said that he tries to integrate cows and the crop land together by utilizing cover crops. 

During the question-and-answer period, a farmer from the audience asked about beef on dairy crosses and whether that is a threat to the beef sector. Wand responded by saying “Ontario will never be a low-cost producer,” adding that the feed conversion isn’t the same compared to pure beef and the extra input costs with medication is something that pure beef has an advantage over beef on dairy. 

With respect to sustainability, Wand encouraged farmers to look into provincial and federal programs as he said there are “funding rich programs available right now.” 

Adaptive Multi-Paddock Grazing Affects both the Quantity and Quality of Soil Carbon in Ontario Pastures 

Rotational grazing is often touted for its many environmental benefits including carbon sequestration on pastures, however little Ontario data has been available until now to support this claim. 

Dr. Kim Schneider, Assistant Professor in Forage and Service crops with the Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph presents some research on this topic with the bulk of it being funded by the Beef Cattle Research Council. 

“Agriculture is in a unique situation because it's based off of the soil which is a huge carbon sink,” said Schneider. “Rotational grazing is fine as a term but there's a big variance on what that means,” adding that the quality of the carbon in the soil matters. “The amount of carbon that can be captured depends on how the land is managed.”

Not surprisingly, pastures have the highest organic matter because of the importance of root systems.  “The roots are critical to forming stable soil carbon,” said Schneider. 

The research was conducted at several commercial beef farms located in Southern, Ontario. The sites were able to be compared to continuous grazing systems from across-the-fence comparison. There were five sites analyzed that had rest days between 25-30. Deep soil cores for sampling were taken. Research assistants tried to go 60 meters deep, but often hit rock. 

In non-continuous grazing systems, the results found that about 30-40 per cent of fixed carbon could be found. 

“The good news is that the findings support some of the [government] programs out there on rotational grazing,’ said Schneider, adding that it allows these programs to be put forward with more confidence and hopefully more farmer uptake in the future. 

Schneider says more research needs to be done on the mineral association with carbon chemistry. 

During the question-and-answer period a farmer asked if there was any evidence of extra beef being produced on those acres. Schneider said that while this study didn't investigate that, as you manage pasture, you get more yield overall and the greater number of days out on pasture helps the bottom line. ◊