speaking of where to put tariffs..

[kato]

Had an interesting conversation with a fellow at the fleece show this week. I knew the price of lambs had dropped like a stone in the last year, but wasn't sure why. According to him, and he's a person who's in the loop on this stuff, American lambs have been absolutely flooding our market ever since last fall. Apparently one particular packer in Alberta is not even buying Canadian lamb because the American ones are cheaper.

Why is lamb not on the list of products to be tariffed over mcool? The sheep producers lived through the same closed borders as we did.

I looked up on the net to see if I could find more information, and came across this very interesting article. Pay attention to the parties involved in this. You will recognize one for sure!

And yes, grassfarmer, I'm selling my lambs direct to consumers this fall.

http://www.peacecountrysun.com/2012/11/01/drop-in-lamb-prices-perplexing

[perfecho]

When Ritz and our MLA came for a round table, I mentioned in a casual conversation, there could be a time we may not be able to even feed our country. I was scoffed....but there will be a time, people will give up. When you can make the kind of money people are currently getting paid, why are we dicking around with the type of profit we make? And then there is the processing...could have thousands of cattle/animals around, but if you can't process or transport...remember the diesel shortage a few years back.....how do you feed our nation?
Just a rant.....I feel your pain Kato!

[kato]

I've been ranting about food security for years, and heard the same scoffing as well.

I guess they think we are all safe if we just put our futures in the hands of Monsanto and JBS and Cargill. Yup, they all have our best interests at heart. We can sleep easy knowing they'll make sure we get fed. And they'll probably do it by getting all the producers out of the way so they can control the whole thing from bottom to top.

Control the food supply, and you control everything. Why are our politicians so intent on ignoring this? Have they been bought? Or are they just too dumb..... Either answer is scarey.

As for lamb, just check out the price of New Zealand lamb in your local store's freezer. We're talking $20. plus per pound. You can buy an entire lamb live for about $80. Something is wrong with this picture.

[grassfarmer]

With the lamb its the same old story.... The fellow I
mentioned in the sheep forum getting into sheep in a
big way works in sales for the AB packer you mention.
He is a big enthusiast for the sheep industry here -
tells me of the huge demand across the country and
how we need more sheep. When I mention this to
friends with sheep they just laugh as they can't afford
to sell sheep direct to that packer - they take them to
auction to force them to pay a reasonable price.
I've asked the guy how he hopes to compete with NZ
imports given the climate limitations here and he says
they aren't a threat because this AB lamb is a unique
product, barley fed etc (sound familiar?) then on the
other hand they turn around and buy sheep out of
Texas and New Mexico that sure aren't fed Alberta
barley.
We can talk about food security but in reality given
our export dependance we can lose an awful lot more
cattle producers before we don't have enough cattle
to supply the domestic market.

[kato]

But we don't have to lose nearly that many before we lose the few processors we have. One of those big boys shuts the door, and we will have a few pretty lean years to live through before we have plants up and running to process what's left. In the meantime, we lose even more producers. The transition would be as painful as BSE was.

The question is, do we want livestock producers in this country or not? I suspect sometimes that lots of people who have more power than they deserve think we are pretty expendable. When I think of how much cattle used to contribute to the economy of western Canada, and how it was all thrown away like it didn't matter, it just amazes me.

[grassfarmer]

I don't really believe that kato, I certainly don't fear
losing one of our two big packers. Truth is they can
be shipped live across the border either as feeder or
as fed cattle. Not saying this would result in great
prosperity for producers but the current set up
doesn't either.
We lost the element of competition when we dropped
below about 10 packers, not when we dropped from
3 to 2. Even if we "lost" one of the remaining two (I
don't think lost is the right word - it makes it sound
like some kind of tragedy) I don't see smaller
producer plants springing up all over as history
shows there is no appetite for that. Besides the
market depressing effects of corporate control could
still be exerted from across the border through their
bids for live cattle/captive supply arrangements etc.