Had a good day today, spent on a tour of a Livestock Exchange (Auction Mart) and Feedlot, as well as an opportunity to see Alberta farming country along the way, even though most is covered with snow.
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| Alberta Farmland |
The Auction Mart was great to see. We went to Nilsson Brothers Livestock Exchange in Clyde, AB (http://clyde.nbinc.com). A couple of major differences to Australian system being that cattle are rang through a sale ring rather then being sold in pens. Cattle are generally brought in 2 days foresaw to allow for sorting time and have access to feed. Cattle are weighed individually and sorted on weigh and type into pens which are multi vendor pens. The Auction Mart is owned by the agents and they are the sole agent at that exchange. Typical weekly throughput is 5000-6000 sold within 5-6 hours.
The feedlot was interesting also. It was Highland Feeders at Vegreville, AB (http://www.highlandbeef.com). Feedlot was very similar to Australian feedlots they feed a barley based ration and feed for approx 120-150 days. Feed from 500-600 lb until 1300-1400 lb. They have there own natural beef brand that is hormone and antibiotic free. The most interesting part of the feedlot however was the bio-waste digester and ethanol plant (http://www.growingpower.com).
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| Ethanol Plant |
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| Bio-Waste Digestor |
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