Farmers need to adapt, says Harold Unrau
By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com
Consumers shape some aspects of agricultural production, according to Harold Unrau, a cattle vitamin and mineral supplement salesman from Grunthal, Man.
“The consumer dictates what farmers need to produce, quite frankly,” Unrau told Farms.com today.
As people become increasingly interested in where their food comes from and how it’s produced, farmers are having to adapt their operations to meet those demands, he says.
Unrau owns HU Livestock and is the manager of the livestock auction house in the Grunthal community. He recently started selling Boviglo, a vitamin and mineral supplement formulated for livestock.
Animals absorb the product once it contacts their mouth. It can also help build immunity and help cows with first-time conceptions, he told Steinbach Online.
Harold Unrau
Photo: Steinbach Online
Selling the product to farmers allows them to sell “more naturally raised beef,” he said.
Part of his decision to sell the product, aside from seeing favourable results from tests conducted on his brother’s feedlot, comes from feedback he’s overheard.
“I go to a lot of meetings and I hear a lot about what consumers want,” he said.
Another factor in Unrau’s decision to sell Boviglo stems from messages in fast food advertisements.
He recalls seeing ads for A&W, in which customers are told its beef and chicken are raised without the use of hormones or steroids.
“I’ve been seeing the ads from A&W now for quite a while. A lot of people are frowning against the ads but that’s what our customer wants,” he told Steinbach Online on Nov. 18.
It’s a far cry from years ago when nobody questioned a farmer’s methods, he says.