CCA: WTO Rules In Favour Of Canada On US COOL.

[perfecho]

I will likely get blasted, (hey Kato ;-0 ) however I was actually in favour of COOL. I believed we could have it used to our advantage in marketing our "Canadian Cattle", if we got our act together. I do remember a time when Canadian cattleman were looking at how they could make consumers aware of the cheaper Australian beef that was being sold......just lately a post on cheaper beef from south America could hurt our industry......we can't have it both ways.
If China starts sending the pieces to manufactured goods here for assembly, does this make it a Canadian product? Do they bet to benefit from our "good" name for some of their inferior or tainted product......just something to think about.

[kato]

The situation is different in Alberta than Manitoba. Manitoba at one time, had at least three big packers, but when Cargill moved to Alberta, they fell, one by one, until we had none. There is not enough money in this province to ever bring them back. It's been tried, with no success.

Because of our lack of processors, pre-BSE, we had as many if not more fats leave this province to go south rather than west. The distance was the same, pretty much, and the prices were better.

We were hurt the most in all this debacle. BSE was a horrible slam, and then MCOOL came back and bit us just when it looked like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. Because of this, our fats, which used to be close to, or even better than Alberta prices, now became close to 10 cents a pound less. It's still like that. We've lost a bundle due to MCOOL.

And it's not just the cattle that were hurt. The hogs in this province were slammed pretty hard as well, and at a time when they couldn't afford it either.

[farmers_son]

I agree. MCOOL hit Manitoba hard.

There is nothing to stop Canada from voluntarily promoting a Canadian product in the U.S.

What MCOOL did was create a technical trade barrier that kept some U.S. packing plants from having anything to do with Canadian cattle and others only on a very restricted basis. The same with U.S. feedlots, there were just too many hoops to jump through to feed Canadian calves.

The challenge now is to counter the RCALF rhetoric and talk to responsible U.S. cattle groups and decision makers to accept the WTO ruling and not appeal. MCOOL did nothing for the U.S. cattleman but raise costs. And MCOOL raised questions about the viability of those U.S. packing plants that depended upon Canadian cattle to have enough volume to keep the doors open. Canada and Mexico are the U.S. two major export markets for beef yet those markets were threatened by the very protectionist measures contained in MCOOL that the U.S. implemented itself. Frankly MCOOL held no upside or benefit for U.S. interests. It was a bad idea from the start and needs to be fixed.

And no one is trying to get rid of labelling in the U.S. Just trying to get rid of the technical trade barrier part of COOL to help maintain much needed infrastructure and markets in the U.S. that benefits both countries.

[kato]

Heartland livestock market report for Manitoba.....

slaughter steers .98 to 1.04
slaughter heifers .96 to $1.02

Alberta Beef Producers market report for Alberta....

slaughter steers $1.14 to $1.15
slaughter heifers $1.15

That says it all. Welcome to Manitoba.

[grassfarmer]

Yet Ontario prices show:

Fancy Steers 115.00 - 120.00
Good to Choice Steers 109.00 -114.00
Fancy Heifers 115.00 - 120.00
Good to Choice Heifers 109.00 - 114.00

Don't Manitoba cattle go east anymore? Is this a Manitoba problem or is it a Heartland (Nilsson)problem?

[burnt]

Add at least 10 cents/lb. freight plus extra shrink and you see why they don't come east very easily.

[kato]

Let's do a bit of math here.

A pot load of fat 1200 pound heifers loaded in Brandon. Say it's a 60,000 pound load, for easy calculation. That would make 50 heifers.

So a 1200 pound heifer, calculated after auction mart shrink, for easy figuring, is worth $180.00 less here in Manitoba.

Times that by 50 heifers, and that load cost $9000.00 less than Alberta price.

Does it cost $9000.00 to take a load of cattle from Brandon to Brooks, which is 997 km? That works out to $9.00 per loaded km. The long haul guys like to keep their charges a secret, so I really don't know what they charge. I do know that our local trucker charges us $3.50 per loaded km. to haul cows from the pasture in tri-axle trailers.

Maybe someone here has an inside track to the actual costs of moving those cattle. I'd really like to know how much of this discount is real extra expenses, and how much of it is there just because they can do it. I suspect that with $6.00 a loaded km, to work with, that there is some fudging going on.

[ASRG]

kato: I agree they are probably shafting you on the price. However........A few locals have moved to Manitoba and the costs are less....not necessarlily the feed or other things.....but the price of land? I have a friend who sold 1/2 section here and bought 9 1/4s at Virdon for the same money.......so maybe things work out?

[kato]

The price of land has less to do with day to day operating costs than the price of other inputs. Land is a long term spread out sort of expense. It's the day to day stuff that hurts. Tractors, trucks, fuel, fertilizer, and all that cost the same here as anywhere else.

But you will notice that it's someone from Alberta who bought the land you speak of in Virden. By Manitoba standards, it must have been too high priced for locals to buy. This province has a lot of farms that have been bought by people from Great Britain, Europe, and Alberta, and as a rule, after about 5 years, they're reduced to the same level as the rest of us schmucks. ;-)

So, to get back the the MCOOL subject, the sooner it's gone, the sooner we will have a chance to get back on track.

[grassfarmer]

I don't know the current trucking rates either Kato but that looks kind of suspicious. If Brooks is 1000kms from Brandon it would be about the same distance as Dakota Dunes - not sure what US plants Manitoba shipped to historically? I can certainly see how COOL is affecting Manitoba badly. From Brandon the Guelph,ON plant would be over 2000 kms. In your example with $9000 to haul a load of 50 fat heifers to Brooks equating to $9 a loaded km, they could equally be going to Guelph at $4.50 a loaded km - why isn't the Ontario plant bidding harder on MB cattle? are they running close to capacity with ON and QC cattle?