What will save this turn of cattle feeding?

[jensend]

went to brandon yesterday to the manitoba cattle enhancement council forum. todd churchill was interesting explaining how he developed thousand hills and what he learned about consumers and cattle in the process. charlie gracey and ted bilyea made the 400 km drive each way worthwhile in the hour and a half they had together. they said what a lot of cattle producers have been thinking and explained in depth what will work. canada has to go on its own. there are other markets in spite of what nilssons' and the cca will tell you and they are acceessible (specifically europe and japan and china as time goes along). the market and more processing opportunities have to come simultaneously so the canadian govt. is going to have to learn from alma and people who have real knowledge. gracey and bilyea have so much knowledge and experience to offer i hope their ideas will be pursued at least by the alberta govt. so ottawa and the cfia can get into the real world.

[perfecho]

I do agree that the packer monopoly is the major factor in a good deal of our woes, however I do believe we are also at fault.
At fault for not stepping up and educating the consumer to what is happening......at fault for not storming the legislature for allowing the packer monopoly.....at fault for not getting rid of our older cows during BSE and fighting for a "Premium Label.....at fault for not making sure the Acheson Plant was kept for slaughter and not "file storage" by the AB gov......etc etc.
A few Gays were able to persuade major legislation to change, a few "sex change" candidates were able to alter the AB gov's spending changes. It is not only bankrupt corps and banks that are able to get "bail out" money....the one common thread amongst all of these imitatives is that they "stood up".........
Something I believe we are lacking.
But that is why "they" are able to continue......we can't get our sh together!
But then....I could be wrong ;-)

[jensend]

i think you can say producers are partly to blame but then you have to blame consumers for concentration in banking and financial services, farmers for agrium buying up every independent fert dealer, producers for concentration of ownership of machinery dealerships and on and on. the business strategy for the past forty years has been to get bigger to have more influence on markets. the governments have been bought out so that their is no competition legislation to keep a small group from controlling large portions of the economy. all the efficiency, innovation and creativity has disappeared from north america and that is why our economy is screwed. i don't know how much worse it will have to get before it gets better.

[shaney]

I may be on an island but I think you guys are
missing the point. The beef industry in North
America has some major systemic issues. If you
think that the packer is on easy street and thinks
the business is a licence to print money you are
wrong. Whether you are a rancher, feeder or
producer there are huge challenges staring the
industry in the face. I agree that it would be nice to
have 6 packers in Canada but that would not make
people eat more meat.

Having 6 packers in Canada would also not allow us
to produce beef at the same cost of production as
South America.

Don't fall into the trap of hating the larger
corporations of the world. Their consolidation is a
concern but not the elephant in the room which is a
trend of decreasing beef demand.

[grassfarmer]

And I think you are missing the point - if we did have 6 (but preferably 10 )packers in Canada and people ate the same amount of beef producers might be substantially better off due to some competition in the marketplace. Conversely if we increase meat consumption and only have 2 packers, or one, the benefits will not accrue to the producer.

The problem that affects us producers most is not declining demand for beef but our declining share of retail dollar. When our share dropped from 24% to 16%(and not likely lower still)in a space of about eight years that lost us substantially more money than an overall decline in beef sales.

When you talk of declining beef demand where are you talking about anyway? N. America? By all accounts the world demand for beef is increasing as people become more affluent in developing countries. I thought Canada aspired to be a beef exporting nation? Truth is it does but the beef is largely kept captive on this continent by the packer monopolies influence over Government, CFIA/USDA and cattle organisations. Once again the stupididy of targeting the US as our "best" and "only" beef market comes back to bite us in the ass.

"Declining beef consumption" - another false cause of the cattle crisis.

[perfecho]

Shaney, packers speak with forked tongue....they are not going to let a good thing get away on them!!! It's their job!
Why is it that some of us make damn good money on "Farm Of Origin Labelled beef".....Kato, this is for you...FOOL..not COOL ;-).....and yet we cannot process nearly as efficiently as the big guys can.

Remember when Shirley said " I had coffee with the majors and they assured me they weren't making much off of BSE animals"...(not word for word, but certainly the jist of it)...and later the Feds, after major hassle in getting processors to open books, found to have profits increase over 600%.

So you believe, who.......?

[perfecho]

And as GF pointed out, it it were truly an oversupply, retail prices would lower to move "more" in a true free market system........could it be that both producers and consumers would benefit from a competative market?

[shaney]

In my opinion lack of packers is an issue but not
whats hurting the industry right now.

By the way if the Canadian meat packing business
is so lucrative why did Tyson sell Lakeside?

The industry is really unhealthy and changes are
needed. But ask your self if we had 10 domestic
packers would we be saved from $250 per head
feeding losses right now? Or would the cow kill be
slowed?

[vagabonddreamer]

well...prolly if you look at it closely...you will see the retail stores are actually subsidiaries of the companies that own the packers...pretty much tyson and cargill own anything to do with food in north america....so...i guess they can decide who will make the profit at any given time...

i am curious though Shaney...we know that as producers WE arent making money...and if the packers and the feedlots arent making money...who IS making money when you look at the price of beef in the stores?? vs

[blackjack]

That seems like a fair question vs.Shaney what part of the beef industry are you in? Do you think it has been fair for ranchers to lose thousands and thousands dollars of equity? Shaney let the packer go broke beleive me someone will be there to start a new one.Thats how true capitalism should work.Not thousands of taxpayers dollars to propt up their bs.