Year Of Volatility For Dairy Farmers

Dairy Farmers of Canada says 2020 was a year of volatility.

 

Vice President David Wiens made the comments during his year-end interview.

 

"It started off back in March, when they first started to close things down," he said. "When that happened, there was this immediate spike in demand, especially for fluid milk right then, and then a couple of weeks later, the demand started to go down and as we learnt, a bit later, was because the food service industry was shutting down as well, particularly restaurants and hotels."

 

Wiens says demand for dairy picked up later in the year.

 

"Over the summer and into fall now we've seen a steady increase in demand. It's been a year of volatility for us, especially earlier on. Back in spring we reduced production very quickly to match the demand and since then we have been increasing our production and of course that all takes a while because with cows, when you reduce production, you can not just immediately, on the spur of the moment, go back to where you were."

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.