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Research Committee Members
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John Adema, OCA, Chair
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Dr. Ira Mandell, University of Guelph
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Ralph Eyre, OCA
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Dr. Ken Bateman, Ontario Veterinary
College
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Dan Darling, OCA
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Dr. Jock Buchanan-Smith, Advisor
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Ken Mills, OCA Don Blakely, OMAFRA
In 2007, the OCA Board of Directors
allocated $250,000
to the OCA Research Committee from the Toronto Stock
Yards Land Development Board Fund for research and
development in the Ontario beef industry. It was determined
by the Committee that the 2006 priority areas
would fit for 2007. The priority areas for 2007 were:
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Quality product
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Safe product
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Improved animal health and welfare
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Improved feed efficiency
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Intensive beef operations
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Marketing (strategies) opportunities
for Ontario beef
The OCA Research Committee allocated $61,806.68
for two new 2007 projects. The Committee also
agreed to allocate $149,832 to Year Two of the 2006
approved projects. The OCA Board of Directors
approved these allocations, for a total allocation of
$211,638.68 in 2007.
The new 2007 projects are:
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Influence of feeding increasing levels of corn
distillers grains plus solubles
> University of Guelph, Dr. Kendall Swanson
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Use of antimicrobial peptides as adjuvants for
vaccines against mycoplasma bovis
> University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Jose Perez-Casal
The 2006 projects that were allocated a second year of
funding are:
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Development of an edible plant-based vaccine for
bovine pneumonic pasteurellosis
> University of Guelph, Dr. Patricia Shewen
Improving the innate resistance of beef cattle to
bacterial pneumonia
> University of Guelph, Jeff Caswell
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Survival of pathogens during storage of
livestock manures
> Soil Resource Group, Dr. Ann Huber
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The effect of transportation dynamics on cattle
welfare, performance and beef quality
> University of Guelph, Dr. Ira Mandell
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Mycoplasma bovis pneumonia and arthritis
in feedlot cattle
> Ontario Veterinary College, Dr. Ken Bateman
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Does BRD treatment strategy influence CPPS expression?
> University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Steve Hendrick
CANADA-ONTARIO RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Through the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF), the
federal and provincial governments agreed to provide
“wedge funding” for the provinces. In 1996, the
Canada-Ontario Research and Development (CORD)
Program was started. The CORD program was intended
to invest up to $35 million until December 2007.
CORD funding has been administered by the Agricultural
Adaptation Council (AAC) on behalf of the federal and
provincial governments. OCA was responsible for coordinating
research and development priorities and projects
on behalf of the Ontario beef industry.
Since the inception of CORD there have been 125
beef projects funded, totaling $6,211,246.80 in
Ontario alone. Almost half of that was used in CORD
IV, the last component. In addition to the beef projects
there were many other livestock projects that received
funding under the Red Meat umbrella. The CORD IV
Program came to an end on December 1, 2007.
CORD OBJECTIVES:
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Improve the long-term competitive position, and
increase the diversity of the Ontario agriculture
and food sector
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Increase industry self-reliance, self-determination,
and to help reduce the need for government income
support measures in the future; and
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Build on the close working relationships between
the agri-food and research communities to ensure
that limited research and extension funds are spent
in an optimal fashion
We wish to extend our sincere thanks to AAC for their
hard work and dedication towards the many projects
to help move our industry forward.
OTHER PROJECTS
The following project was approved for funding under
the $3 Million Cull Cow Program:
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Effects of skeletal separation and injection
processing on enhancing the eating quality
of cull cow beef
> University of Guelph, Dr. Ira Mandell
> The overall goal is to increase producer returns
from marketing cull cows by developing postmortem
processing procedures that enhance the
eating quality of cull cow beef. The objective
is to examine the additive effects of combining
skeletal separation and injection processing
procedures on enhancing the eating quality of
cull cow beef including objective measures of
meat quality and sensory evaluation of
tenderness, juiciness and flavor.
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The $3 million Cull Cow Program was part of the $10
million Ontario Cull Animal Strategy that was announced
at the 2004 OCA Annual General Meeting. This Program
came to an end in 2007.
The following project was funded for one year under
the CORD IV Program and the remainder of the project
is being funded by the Toronto Stock Yards Land
Development Board Fund.
It will explore carcass and beef quality attributes
that can be changed by genetic or nutritional
means (such as tenderness and healthfulness)
and then try to develop tools that can be used
by value chains to change these attributes.
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