2024 at the Green Beach

To begin our recap, I actually need to go back further than January 2024 to the spring of 2023.  You may recall from some of our previous updates that we decided to try our hand at buying & selling in the cattle market.  We bought just over 40 bred cows in the spring of 2023 to take advantage of some extra grass on the farm.  This was a very positive experience that we rounded out in January 2024 by selling bred cows into what was a very good market.  Little did we know what was to come with cattle prices for the remainder of 2024!  January also included a trip to Winnipeg to speak about our farm at an event called ‘Agrarians After Dark’.  This was a really neat experience that was intended to connect Manitoba food producers with consumers in the heart of Winnipeg.  There were many great questions from the audience about Regenerative Agriculture, grazing livestock & marketing of pasture-raised proteins.

            February saw Mom & Dad off to Roatan for a much deserved 2-week vacation that included lots of R&R, making new friends and time spent in the water. Kenny & I did our best to keep things ticking along on the farm!  After sticking close to home for February, March was a busy month for presentations.  I had the privilege to speak about our farm to a group in Steinbach, we hosted a short tour for members of the National Farmer’s Union at the farm, and to round it out I spoke to a number of students at Niverville High School about Regenerative Agriculture and some of the benefits to the land and our bottom line.  I enjoy sharing our experiences on the farm with folks who are interested.  The Steinbach presentation was particularly special as one of the other speakers was Michael Thiele, who consults for Understanding Ag and has been a mentor for me.  It was a neat experience to present along side someone as wise in the regenerative ag field as Mike is.  And as if that wasn’t busy enough, our guard dog Meggie had a very large batch of puppies in March!  She did very well, and we were able to find new homes for them all and continue to get updates from the new owners on how the puppies are doing.

            I think I can pretty safely speak for all at the Green Beach when I say April is our favourite time of year.  Spring has usually sprung and we are into calving season!  We had several early arrivals for calving 2024, which had made us nervous as there was still quite a bit of snow and the nights were quite cool.  But the mama cows knew how to look after their babies & there were no major issues.  We were nearly half-done calving by the time our April 10th due date rolled around – something we have never experienced!  Our theory is that the bulls we are using now, from farms selecting for forage efficiency and pounds of beef per acre rather than weaning weights, are prone to shorter gestations.  This may allow us to move the breeding season a little later into summer going forward.  We will see what 2025 brings!  As we finished off calving, we rolled right into seeding 2024.  Things went smoothly this year, but we didn’t quite get done before Harvie Roy arrived!  The 6th generation at Green Beach Farm & Food arrived a month earlier than expected on May 30th, just as we were finishing seeding, and on the day we were expecting arrival of our 60 head of custom cattle.  While it made for a hectic week, Harvie had no major issues and has been growing like crazy since.  He is definitely everyone’s new favourite chore buddy around here.

            As spring rolled into summer, calving came to a close but we welcomed 850 broiler chicks, 100 layer chicks & a dozen new piglets.  As the growing season progressed, moving the various animals to new pasture daily or weekly took up most of a working day.  This was our first year custom grazing cows on a significant scale – many lesson’s learned for 2025, but we enjoyed having another herd of cows on the farm to help us regenerate our pastures.  We were able to free up some time in the summer by not making very much of our own hay.  We purchased the vast majority of our hay in 2024 for a couple of reasons – freeing up time to focus on better grazing and to enjoy some time off at the lake, as well as importing carbon & nutrients that will help to kick-start some degraded areas of pasture via bale grazing.  The change in labour was enjoyable at the Green Beach – more time spent walking through pastures moving cows rather than in a tractor cab cutting, baling & hauling hay.  Off the farm, Mom spent 2 Saturdays per month at the Riverbank Discover Center in Brandon selling Green Beach pork & beef at the weekly farmer’s market.  We were able to connect with many new customers, and with help from mom, we will be able to attend again in 2025.  In early August, we were able to attend a presentation in Deloraine given by Ian & Dianne Haggarty from Australia.  The Haggarty’s have been on a Regenerative journey on their farm for most of 20 years.  They farm at quite a scale (20,000 hectares give or take I believe), and have been able to achieve incredible production & profitability while eliminating the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.  They have some fields going on 18 years with no synthetic inputs.  What is most incredible to me is that the soils they work with are quite degraded, and after more than a decade, or nearly 2, of Regenerative practices their ‘good’ fields are sitting about 1.5% organic matter.  This was an eye-opener to me, as I assumed that the path to being able to achieve exceptional production & profitability of grain crops without synthetic inputs required high levels of organic matter & an active soil biology.  Apparently, one can achieve a very active soil biology with very little organic matter.  Needless to say, this was a very inspiring presentation.

            September & October saw the conclusion of harvest, sowing of cover crops & the beginning of grain cleaning season.  Although a little dry, we did have wonderful fall weather that made for green cover crops well past October.  We also had the opportunity to tour Nerbas Brothers Angus in September.  This family farm is located near Shellmouth, Manitoba and have been focusing on forage efficient cattle for several decades.  It was a great learning experience for the Green Beach crew, and led to us purchasing a Red Angus bull from them this winter.  We look forward to getting an NBA bull into the herd this breeding season!

            November tends to be a busy month both on and off the farm.  We started the month by sorting & selling our steer calves.  We were blown away with prices of calves this fall, receiving just over double the price per calf we may have budgeted on other years.  The Canadian (and North American) cow herd has been declining in size for a number of years, and appears to have reached a tipping point that has feedlots & packers concerned about finding enough beef for their markets.  As a cow-calf producer, it is nice to have good prices for calves, but we are well aware that what goes up, must come down so we are preparing for the inevitable decline in cattle prices over the next couple of years.  We are planning to use the longer-term market cycle in cattle prices to improve the profitability of our cattle enterprise, while also watching for opportunities to buy or sell on an annual basis.  Also in November, Green Beach Farm & Food was out in full force for the Regenerative Agriculture Conference.  The Manitoba Forage & Grassland Association did a tremendous job yet again, with a great speaker line up that allowed for a great learning opportunity for all in attendance.  To round out the month of November, Harvie got to go on his first plane ride, as he, Kenny & I made a trip out to Victoria to visit some family.  We enjoyed the much milder weather and the chance to catch up with family.  December was a time to finish off a number of jobs, including grain cleaning, bale graze prepping & book work.  Things went smoothly this year & we were able to relax for most of the holiday season with family & friends.  We are always grateful that so many of our family & friends are close enough to visit over the holidays and we enjoyed every minute of it.

            As we are just nicely started into 2025, we have begun to set some goals for the farm for the coming year that we hope will allow us to continue regenerating our land & improving farm profitability, while also finding ample time to relax and enjoy some family time. Here are a few goals for the Green Beach this year:

·       Continue to improve the profitability of our business – including Gross Margin & Overhead costs, as well as using ‘Sell-Buy’ marketing to capture appreciation of breeding females in our cow herd

·       Continue with regular farm meeting for planning farm jobs & days off

·       Continue the pursuit of improved genetics in our cow-herd – excited to have our first NBA bull this breeding season!

·       Dip our toes into the Agri-Tourism world by signing up for Harvest Hosts & providing a place to stay for Camping Enthusiasts interested in Regenerative Agriculture

We would like to thank all of our customers for the continued support through 2024.  We hope you had a great year in 2024 and we look forward to working with you in 2025!