Okay, I'll dmit it AGAIN

[rkaiser]

The new owners of Agriville are as American as you can get. They offered me 1/2 cent per hit if I could dream up a way to bring more trafic over to agriville.

[farmers_son]

Re your comment that the new owners of Agri-ville are Americans.

Check out:
http://www.hoovers.com/farms.com/--ID__99014--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml

What difference does it make if Farm.com is Canadian or U.S. based? We really do live in a global age where international borders for business do not exist, especially between Canada and the United States.

I can remember when I was a kid that there was a rivalry between the two neighbouring small towns. People from one town did not mix much with people from the other town, sporting events were hotly contested between the two towns. If you happened to live somewhere in between the two towns your allegiance was determined by your choice of post office and which hall your weddings and funerals were held in. These were towns of about 25 people each.

That rivalry does not exist to the same extent now, the two towns are still there but people go back and forth between the two easily. People from one town will assist at public events in the other town, back and forth and so on.

The point I am trying to make is this Canadian versus American thing is really old and really small town. It does not matter if Agri-ville is owned by Americans or Canadians. It also does not matter if beef in a U.S. retail cooler is from Canada or the United States. Or if a packer in Washington is slaughtering live cattle from Canada or the U.S. They all end up just as dead. There is a very low incidence of BSE on both sides of the border even if producers on the south side of the “tracks” claim their wash is whiter than ours.

There is a North American market for live cattle and beef. Not Canadian or American. And who cares who owns Agri-ville.

[cswilson]

I don't think Master Kaiser would sell out for 1/2 a cent a hit lol.

[coppertop]

Well, if Randy is getting paid so much a 'hit', then he darn well better start forking over the Lion's share of his windfall to the rest of us, because without our responses to his most recent posts where would he be ???

We have made him what he is today, and he is reaping the monetary benefit !!!

[rkaiser]

Lighten up farmer_son.

I love America --- especially now that I know GW is going to get punted out of his position as the head of the KKK.

[rkaiser]

By the way farmer_son, I agree with your post and mine was simply trying to point out the respect that I have for grassroots American capitalism. You gotta admit; in general those Americans do a hell of a lot better job selling themselves than us Canuckleheads.

Which brings me to another question? Not that I don't respect the right of anyone to privacy, but why do most Canadians hide out here on the web with these code names? Even Old Willowcreek has shown us his website with the sign on the big building in the background whited out. You know that building Willowcreek, the one with the words ----tal health facility across the top of the door.

Being a "hold the party line" ABP/CCA man or women might hold you back from exposing your true identity here on agriville, but even those folks should not be afraid to take one on the chin from time to time.

[DiamondSCattleCo]

I think one of the first things that Agri-villes new owners could do to increase traffic is get some decent forums software. Something that shows new posts would be a welcome addition and would certainly increase the number of times I hit here.

Rod

[farmers_son]

rkaiser: I guess it depends upon what is being sold.

In case it sounds like I am pro American that would not be the case. I do see that the packers we sell our product to are global players even if the head office is in the United States. Cattle producers need to think out of the box if they ever hope to capture their fair share of the consumer’s food dollar. This Canadian versus American thing does not advance the cause of producers in either country.

In another thread I posted an article on how the producers in Australia are getting paid low prices at the same time as retail beef prices in that country are at all time highs. The problem is everywhere. The packers will buy live cattle from Canadians, Americans, Australians, or from whomever at the lowest price possible. The Americans are pushing for MCOOL thinking it will force up the price of their live cattle. Not likely, it will just further split the North American live cattle market and create opportunities for the packers to divide and conquer.

It is good to be a proud Canadian, or a proud American, proud Australian, and so on. But business is business and live cattle producers need to realize their competition is not the producer next door or the producer across the border rather the competition is the packing plants who compete for all of the consumers food dollar they can get their hands on. Primary producers in all countries need to start thinking in terms of how they can work together to get a better portion of that food dollar.

[rkaiser]

I would not ad much to that post farmer_son, except to say that BSE testing for export markets would help to stop this captive market drivvel that we are currently experiencing and help packing competition and producers on both sides of the border to survive.

Come now farmer_son, I agree to ever word in your post, how about something back.

[farmers_son]

Rkaiser: As always...an interesting statement. Now to be fair, you did not agree to every word in my post. You added a little exception about BSE testing.

You said “BSE testing for export markets would help to stop this captive market drivel that we are currently experiencing and help packing competition and producers on both sides of the border to survive.”

If we look at Australia which is not testing for BSE and has great access to export markets we would see that their producers are still subject to a captive market the same as we are. The packers are ripping off the Australian producers even if the Aussie government denies it is happening; just like governments in Canada and for that matter the United States will deny the packers rip of their respective producers.

I thought the post on the Australian packers ripping of their producers would have gotten more interest. Our industry problems run much deeper than disagreements over BSE testing.

[rkaiser]

I agree once again farmer_son, but still contest that BSE testing could start the ball rolling along with a bunch more balls that ABP/CCA has shown that they have LOL,to help stop the mutinationals from taking control of the entire beef business WORLD WIDE.

Long enough sentence for you?

[farmers_son]

In Canada, we still remain dependent upon live cattle access to the U.S. market otherwise there is not fair pricing of our live cattle from our two packers.

Therefore BSE testing or no BSE testing, it will matter little what beef is exported by the packers or to where it is exported. The price of our live cattle does not reflect the value of the beef product, only what the packer is required to pay us to avoid having the live animal go elsewhere. There is nothing wrong with the wholesale/retail price of beef. The price of hamburger in Canada is at an all time high; that is not the problem. The problem is we have no where else to go to sell the live animal and our prices reflect that.

If we do not have an alternative market for our live cattle, for example cows, then the packers can pay us almost nothing and we have to take it. In Canada, that alternative market for live cows is the United States. And for feeders from the Northwest U.S., prior to May 2003, our Alberta feedlots provided an alternative market for their calves. Without those alternative markets producers are at the mercy of those further up the value chain who will gladly profit from our situation.

As a primary producer we raise and sell live cattle, not beef. I am sure you would agree with that. The only thing that will put more cash in my jeans is more markets for the live animal.

[rkaiser]

BSE testing COULD open doors for those new markets farmer_son. Ask The manager of Ranchers Beef in Calgary if you don't believe me and the good old BIG C gang.

[farmers_son]

I know what you mean and I have spoken with the Ranchers Beef people.

I guess my point, which I must have not communicated clearly, is it does not put cash in my jeans when a packer finds a new market for beef. I sell live cattle and the price of live cattle does not track the price of beef in this country at this time.

I respect the Ranchers people but they have not offered my any more for my live steers than Cargill. Cargill and Tyson are the price setters. They pay me as little as they possibly can. Competition for live cattle is what sets our price, not the wholesale price of beef. The packers who would pay us a better price for our live cows are on the south side of the border. We have to get the border open to live cows before we will receive a fair return on culls. The U.S. is not asking for BSE testing and in fact every time we find another positive the process is set back.

However I have been told Rule 2 is moving along well in spite of what Willowcreek might have us believe. The U.S. realizes their unscientific blockade of our cattle and beef is delaying other nations resuming trade with America.

[DiamondSCattleCo]

"I respect the Ranchers people but they have not offered my any more for my live steers than Cargill. Cargill and Tyson are the price setters."

But with BSE testing, we then gain access to more lucrative markets. A $9/kilo beef market would be nice to sell into versus the $3/kilo markets we have right now. Suddenly Cargill and Tyson won't be the price setters and they'll need to cough up extra dough to get some of those stolen steers.

Rod