Sarah Rennie – LJI reporter
The first Chateauguay Valley Dairy Day conference will take place at the Agri-Culture Centre at the fairgrounds in Ormstown on March 18.
The idea of holding a public day event for producers was brought forward by members of the Livestock Breeders Association’s (LBA) cattle and forage committee, who were looking for ways to help area farmers.
The event will be the first bilingual conference of its kind available to all producers. “It is in our best interest to educate everybody to be the most profitable and to do the best job on their farm,” says veterinarian and dairy producer Jodi Wallace, who is organizing the activity with Simon-Pierre Loiselle of the Uniag Cooperative.
“The theme for all of the conferences this year is profitability and trying to help farmers stay in business for years to come,” Wallace explains, noting all of the expert speakers are focused on ensuring producers remain on the farm despite challenging times.
The speakers include Nicholas Marquis of Sollio Agriculture, who will discuss breeding rates and the profitability of cow purchases. Loiselle says Marquis is a numbers specialist. “His presentation will help a lot of farmers to make choices on their farms,” says Loiselle.
Heather Dann of the Miner Institute will focus on management outlooks for 2025, while Chris Gwyn of JEFO Nutrition will share ten common practices for farm profitability. Alex Venne-Balchem will also talk about reducing heat stress in dairy cows.
“Everything is linked to cow health and cow welfare,” says Wallace. “Even if producers just pick one thing from each of the four speakers, they’ll go home and they’ll make improvements on their farms,” she adds.
Loiselle says the speakers will also focus on economics, as today’s farms are under extreme pressure to keep going. “We have to keep the farms here,” he says, noting the area is losing hundreds of kilograms of dairy quota per year as farms are sold or closed. “It is an underlying economic issue,” he explains, noting the quota being sold from local farms is leaving the area.
“We are really focusing on bringing positive news and to give little tricks that can help farmers to be more profitable,” says Loiselle.
This is the first time the LBA will host this type of event. “The LBA’s goal is to expand on conferences such as this one,” says LBA manager Sue Morison, while explaining that part of the role of the Agri-Culture Centre is to ensure local farmers can access informative conferences locally. The event is also being sponsored in part by the Réseau Agriconseils Montérégie network.
A silent auction will take place that day to raise funds for the LBA’s scholarship fund, which awards a $500 scholarship to a CVR graduate pursuing studies in agriculture.
Producers are asked to register for the event by March 14. More information is available on the LBA’s Facebook page.