US Feedlots

[ddniak]

With the high Canadian dollar and the high cost of feeding in Canada, I have a friend who is thinking about sending his calf crop this year to American feedlots. Would appreciate any thoughts or feedback Thanxs

[grassfarmer]

I heard of one Alberta feedlot family that is doing this already. They are feeding 8000 head in the US at the moment, cost of gain is around 68 cents as opposed to 84(?) in Canada. Theory is they will make a lot of money feeding the first bunch of cattle (early fall to Feb.) then when they turn around to fill up again they will have more money to pay for calves. That's what i'm hoping for by retaining my calves till spring!

[Cattleman]

I also heard of one feedlot doing this, and as the Canadian Dollar was increasing the Custom Feeding costs were even going lower. If the dollar drops at selling time then they will be even bigger winners, depending if they have not hedged the dollar at all.

[brian99]

Just tell your friend to be careful. How does he check on his cattle? If there is a problem, how does he fix it? Does he have options to move the cattle if necessary?
Unless there's a history there, there's very real risk with the US feedlot idea.