Wheres the Beef

[ValueChainFX]

I would like to know where everyone is selling their beef these days and at what stage.

Also it would be interesting to hear how you rate the market out there, in that I mean who is the biggest consumer or the best market to go after? US, Canada, EU, Japan?????

What are your thoughts

[cowman]

For the average producer the market has always been the domestic market or the US(which in reality is the same market). Our share of beef going to Japan was always small and to the EU almost non-existent. I doubt this will ever change. We actually have a better market in Mexico than the Asian market or EU.I will note that in this time of so-called glut of beef New Zealand and Australian imports are way up...almost double last year!
I've always sold my big steers off the cows and taken the heifers and smaller steers over the winter. I don't like the fact that my heifers are worth 10 to 15 cents less than a steer as a calf but mysteriously get up to par at about 900 lbs. usually I sell the small steers in April but not this year as the price bombed. So its out to grass and hope for a better price in September. Maybe I'll lose my shirt on them?
Sooner or later this thing has to turn as the cow herd has taken a pretty good hit, both here and in the States. The statistics say cattle numbers are up but I am getting pretty leery of government statistics. I think they lie and try to manipulate markets...sort of like the Soviet Union used to do. Propping up a rotten house of cards?
The future in the cattle business might very well have a dramatic turnaround if we get some decent weather and a decent barley crop. But right now there are so many uncertainties that it is a risky business.

[pandiana]

I have some of the same concerns. If there is money to be made, it will gravitate to the Corporations. If there are loses, or risks, the farmer will absorb them.

[cakadu]

Out of curiosity, where can one find this article? I'd like to read it if at all possible.

[cowman]

Linda: I'm not real sure. It was either in the National Post or the Calgary Herald. I read it in a coffee shop out in the boonies one morning. Sorry I can't be more specific.

[cakadu]

I was at the biotech conference and it was HUGE to say the least. There is so much more to the biotechnology picture than meets the eye and it certainly is much more than growing more food. The pharmaceutical end of things has had much more acceptance than the food/agriculture side of the equation.

The ag side of things encompasses using less inputs like fertilizer etc., is safer for the environment because less spraying is required, grows foods that have some health benefit i.e. nutraceuticals or functional foods, being able to grow crops in areas that are currently unable to sustain crops and the list goes on. It's not solely about growing more food.

It can be about growing a crop that leaves you with more money in your pocket because it has some property or attribute that people are willing to pay for. One example is licopene that has been found to be successful in fighting certain cancers. Right now licopene is found in fruits and vegetables that are red - what if you could produce something that had higher levels and amounts of licopene that would be useful in fighting/treating cancers? I don't think it is meant to grow more of the same old same old.