Alternatives for Finishing Beef Cattle in the Bulkley Valley

The Smithers Farmers' Institute contributed to a project that: 1) documented current, available information with respect to  alternative finishing strategies for beef cattle in the Bulkley Valley, 2) conducted a gap analysis, and 3) proposed a study design for future work.  The project was spear-headed by the Pleasant Valley Cattlemen.

The gap analysis identified the following areas of interest:
  • introduction of genetic lines relatively uncommon in the Bulkley Valley to improve forage-finishing characteristics;
  • experimenting with the number of days on feed required to produce a high quality carcass using local forages;
  • development of local production protocols specific to this area;
  • trials run in cooperation with the local abattoir to investigate chilling, aging and processing techniques that maintain or enhance carcass quality of locally forage-finished cattle; and
  • conduct brassica and forage corn trials to determine the potential for pasturing on these types of high energy feeds in the fall.