Park your keister on any fence rail and the talk among farmers will quickly turn to another hashing of the old debate: growth implants, creep feed, or genomics? The goal of course is to increase livestock weights so farming profits are higher and more people in the general population get fed. The problem is that consumers are not all that keen on one of those choices and farmers themselves are split on the issue. Here’s how that debate is going now…
Some farmers are for the more expensive creep feed for calves not yet weaned believing it to be both a natural approach and a provider of sure results. Just how sure those results are is still up for debate. Not all of the hungry little calves gobble as much creep feed as farmers would like them too, leading to fluctuations in weight gains between individuals. Even so, supporters argue that despite the higher front end costs, profits are sure to follow. See the video below for a humorous presentation of that argument wrapped in a song.
Other farmers -- such as Steven Pylot, a ruminant nutritionist by profession, a member of the Saskatchewan Forage Council and the Saskatchewan Cattle Feeders Association, and speaker at the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference -- swear by growth implants.