Prices not that great?

[WiltonRanch]

So right rkaiser. We should take this situation and
turn it in our favour. Remember Alberta oats back in
the day. Its all about marketting what we have. The
USA is still the path of least resistance. We offer a
superior product into the states and brand it as
proudly Canadian.

[grassfarmer]

Problem with that WiltonRanch is that "we" do not
control slaughter capacity. One US plant, one
Brazilian - by ownership they get to call the shots of
what product, what branding, what markets and at
what price CDN beef sells. Until someone changes
that dynamic its all just wishful thinking.

[WiltonRanch]

That is right grassfarmer. What I am more afraid of
is this industry shrinking to the point of no return.
Numbers that do not sustain a meaningful feeding
or packing industry. This cool thing will shave off
another few hundred thousand cows. Grain and
land remains high, and there will be no new entrants
to the business. Just the same old folks as usual
busting their butts. Problem is these folks arent
getting younger. So yes maybe previous post was
wishful thinking. I guess I just have to be the lowest
cost producer.

[grassfarmer]

Why worry about large scale feeding and packing
capacity? Ranchers might do better without it.
Feed/graze fatten on family farm scale and get it
processed through a local plant.
As a business strategy the ramping up of production
to export into the global marketplace has been an
abject failure if you judge by the returns that accrue
to primary beef producers.
Time to try something different.

[sumdumguy]

They say we are what we eat. Then are cows
what they eat, and is there a marketable idea
there, like organic, fruit flavoured feeds, milk-fed,
Green oats, sprouted lentil fed, whatever works,
market the H out of it, cowboys.

[WiltonRanch]

Yeah maybe we gotta go beyond commodity beef.
Its a new world out there. If I run cows like my
grappa done it I could lose my ass, but if I forget
how he done it I could go outta business. Part in
parcel is to be less dependent on iron, diesel, and
chemical inputs, and more reliant on well managed
grass and lower cost feeding methods. The writing
is on the wall for the current infrastructure of the
industry. I like ranching because it suits my land,
and not as risky as grain. I am kinda glad there is
less cows but also lamenting the day when cows
were big.

[ASRG]

I wonder if the cattle business might have been more viable today if the "BSE bomb" had been handled differently?
How many young people who might have been interested were turned off completely, when they saw how the federal government refused to step up to the plate and make things right?
Maybe we wouldn't have a bunch of old men and women putting in their last days in the cattle business?

[rkaiser]

In some ways ARSG, BSE was the best thing that happened to this industry. Individuals --- no --- and we are working on that with a class action lawsuit. Industry - yes - by forcing people who want to be in the industry to look at an alternative to feeding the multinational players who will bite the hand that feeds them until they run outa hands and move to the next country.