Ont. producers reflect on 2019

Dec 10, 2019

A vacation is in order after the year the industry faced, one farmer said

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

As the calendar inches towards 2020, many people will take some time to reflect on the year that’s ending.

With that at top of mind, Farms.com reached out to members of Ontario’s ag community for their thoughts on how the 2019 growing season played out in their operations.

The wet conditions during the planting season set the year off on the wrong foot, said Tracy Dafoe, a cash crop and dairy producer from Havelock, Ont.

“We had a difficult time getting onto our land because it was so wet,” she told Farms.com. “There was one piece of land that we were unable to plant.”

Despite the planting challenges, Dafoe’s corn tested well and yields were good, she said.

The wet conditions provided opportunities to make new decisions on the farm as well.

Dafoe and her husband, Jim, had to find different forage mixtures for their dairy herd.

“We had to think outside the box to try to make feed for our animals, so this year was the first time we planted fall ryegrass,” she said. “We’re hoping now for a good winter and spring harvest.”

The Dafoes also changed their dairy herd management practices to better track which cows produce the most milk.

“We are now on DHI testing, which we weren’t before,” she said. “It’s been a valuable tool to help us weed out the good cows from the not so good ones.”

Other producers would like to forget about 2019 and focus on the future.

Bruce Hudson, a cash crop and hog producer from Huron County, hopes he can be finished harvest in time for the holidays.

“It would be nice if we can be done everything by Christmas,” he told Farms.com. “Then it’s all about maybe planning a vacation and looking ahead.”

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.