Opportunity?

[kato]

The near future is bound to be brutal for all of us. That goes without saying. In spite of that, I think this industry has perhaps the most resourceful and innovative people you will ever meet.

There are avenues that I think are worth pursuing. Europe...maybe someone else can help me out with this, but from what I know, the main reason we are out of the European marketplace is our love affair with implants. Is this true? If so, I would be more than willing to give them up if it means opening opportunities.

The other thing is Japan. We are angry at them now, but I can't help but think that they are using us to put pressure on the Americans to start their own national ID program. At the moment they can't trace back cattle with any kind of accuracy. The Japanese have been pressuring them for a long time, and have gotten no results. We are leverage, (or a pain in the neck if you prefer) We are also paying the price. Big Time.

My thought is that we are already literally years ahead of the States in traceback ability, and it looks like our slaughtering methods and feeding practices are about to jump light years ahead of them. I wonder if it would take much more adjusting to our system to put us at par with Japan. (now don't get excited...) Think what would happen next, would Japan buy their beef from a country with no traceback, no byproduct bans, and no BSE prevention practices in slaughterhouses, or would they buy beef from a country with a lower dollar, (aka cheaper) and the highest standards in the world?

It's a thought.

[ValueChainFX]

kato How right you are. the EU has more than just the implant issues, although that is one of the main ones. They will also soon be asking that we trace back feeds and add some security measures (which they sort have got now). In Canada we do have the technology and ability to take us far beyond any other country in the world. (We are working to implement this very system right now)

Japan is a very good country to import into; they want their products to be exactly how they ordered them. They are good business people and are careful with whom they deal with. I believe that there are politics going on their that need to be sorted out at the government level but if we surpass any other country in the world and meet their requests, than we have a more value added product for them. (See there is value in things other than your product directly)

Even in the US our product would be so much more widely accepted if we made sure the trace back, security and checks and balances were in alignment with the high quality product we put into the market.

kato I like your thoughts, I would like to see more producers with positive ideas join the team and build the industry!

Feel free to drop me a line avcc@telus.net

[grassfarmer]

Kato, The problem I see with the European market is that,talk aside, they don't want a high price,high quality product - they want cheap. That is why they happily buy from South America at prices US or Canadian producers could never match. Forget the European market it is not worth the hassle - border bans and petty politics would be a daily occurance in trying to trade there.

[Bruce14]

Yes the beef industry is full of resourceful and innovative people but I am having a hard time seeing the opportunity in this. As an actual producer one thing is for certain, unless a miracle happens our exports are shut down for SEVEN YEARS. If this happens the beef industry in Canada will take much longer than that to recover.

[countryguy]

This may be an opportunity to take a long hard look at what we've been doing with our industry in the past and make some corrections.
I for one believe we should be getting our cattle out of the feedlots and feeding them a ration of grass,grass,and more grass.The cattle feeding industry is one of slim margins,one with the goal of raising the most pounds of beef for the least amount of dollars with the temptations to put some things through them that maybe shouldn't ever be near a herbivorous creature.In a grass based system there would never be any doubts as to what the animal has eaten.It has also been proven that it produces a healthier product which in turn could take some of the strain off of our ailing health care system.
This system could also help the ailing grain industry by taking acres out of grain production.It could also lead to more organic grain production through the rotation of pastures and crops.I kind of have a hunch that this was what our gov't had in mind for agriculture in Canada before this little catastrophe.
They say that the darkest hour is before dawn and I have a hunch our dawn is coming.

[ALICIA]

countryguy- Do you not realize that by just feeding grass, It takes a least one more year to but the same amount of weight on a steer as the feed lot can do in 120 days after weining. Plus the grain is want gives the meat the finishing grad, You can not get AAA grading on a carcass with out the grain.Plus the taste test is your best insight. gass feed over grain feed. Plus look in the stores and beef from New Zealand and Australia do not have a grade or I have never seen any and I have looked, That is way its so cheep its grass feed. Were as our is graded and is the best in the world. GRAIN FEED TRIPLE A is the top product. So way would you want to lower your standard and put the cost of production up, to get a product that will not even grad.

[ALICIA]

Your dawn will put us back into the dark ages.
Plus I was told by a friend that happens to be a city girl that Organic farmers were lazy farmers because they let the weeds take over. I was shocked because I didn't even know she had even hear of the word, let alone it was her father that told her that. So I guess Organic farming isn't soomthing new.
Plus if you have a bushal of apple the apple with the spot on it is the one left in the basket. Talk is cheep but if you got to pay, you only buy the best, and thats the one with out the spot.

[grassfarmer]

Alicia - You make some pretty bold assumptions of the advantage of grain versus grass fed beef. First of all you can get AAA carcases off grass - it just takes the right breeds to achieve it. Real connoisseurs of beef will tell you that grass finished beef is far more tasty than grain fed.That is why the top resteraunts are trying to source grass fed beef. Feedlots are an unnatural way of feeding cattle developed in North America in relatively recent times. Most of the human race has lived for hundreds of years on grass fed beef with none of the health and obesity problems encountered in North America in recent times. I enjoy Alberta beef, it is a very consistant product and that is something that can be lacking in grass fed systems unless the management is good. Grass fed beef from South America or Australasia is cheap because they don't have the artificial costs of feeding grain to confined animals not because it is a poorer product.I asssume it isn't marked AAA beef because they use a different grading system - the Australians are certainly ahead of us in terms of producing an exact product specification that their customers (Pacific rim countries primarily)demand.

[15444]

Just thought I would make one little correction. Canada AAA is not the best beef, Canada Prime is. Prime is top on the rail and is the beef sold in restaurants and export.

[15444]

Yes, in every situation, there are oporttunities ............ if a producer arranges and manages his production systems correctly and he is a marketer of some skill ......... grass fed beef is a viable product.

The way that I see it, he will have to have British influenced cattle, calve late in the spring if not carry two herds calving at different times, over winter all of the calf crop and manage his pastures correctly to produce the gains required to be profitable, slaughter and process his own animals through a federal or provincially inspected facility, create his own labels and packaging (to todays standards cryovac not brown paper wrapping), provide cutomer service and sell product in 100 pounds packs or less!

Not many producers have the knowledge base, skills and talents to do all of the above, let alone the economic wherewith all to do so!

[ValueChainFX]

Just as a point of clarification, the following information is from "Beef Carcass Grading Reference" of the Canadian Beef Grading Agency".
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Canada Grade Standards for Canada A, Canada AA, Canada AAA and Canada Prime

31. The standards for a beef carcass of the grade Canada A, Canada AA, Canada AAA or Canada Prime are the following:

(a) the maturity characteristics set out in Schedule I to this part;

(Maturity I)
1. Cartilaginous caps on the thoracic vertebrae that are no more than half-ossified.
2. Spinous processes that are generally porous and red when split.

(Maturity II)
1. Cartilaginous caps on the thoracic vertebrae that are more than half-ossified.
2. Spinous processes that are generally hard, white and flinty when split.

(b) muscling that ranges from good, with some deficiencies, to excellent;

(c) Longissimus muscles that, 10 minutes after being exposed by knife-ribbing, are firm and bright red in colour;

(d) the refined marbling level set out for that grade in the table to this section; and

(e) a fat covering that is
(i) firm and white or slightly tinged with a redish or amber colour, and
(ii) not less than 2 mm in thickness at the measurement site.

---------------------------------------

This is the basic info and does not talk about quality of carcass although this reference seems to be inferred throughout. Also colour is a big determining factor for our grade system as is maturity and conformation.

Very few animals are actually graded prime most of these animals go into Canada AAA, export product is usually taken from Canada AAA.

When we discuss Quality you need to define what quality is! My definition of quality in the meat industry is simply this.

1.) Quality has to be defined as conformance to requirements, not as goodness.
2.) The system of causing quality is prevention, not appraisal.
3.) The performance standard must be zero defects, not "that's close enough".
4.) The measurement of quality is the price of non-conformance, not indexes.

What this means to me is there are customers that want grass fed, organic, natural and feedlot product. Each has a standard they believe will fill their needs. Conformance to the standard a customer requires is the quality they are after.

The question remains can we agree that the foundations of the system need to be improved. Issues surrounding who or what make the "BEST" do not help in moving us forward (although they are important to individuals) Our focus is how do we overcome the situation we are in today, and build a stable foundation for the future. To do this an industry focus is needed and the basic foundations need to be put in place today.

[charliep]

Foolish questions from a grain guy.

What percent of animals that are killed at a federally inspected plant are graded? All (like wheat). Less - some like oats where more emphasis on valuing quality characturistics that grade? (As a tongue in cheek comment on the grain, grade has everything to do with price and very little to do with value) Why have a grade at all and rather rely on contracted specifications/value grid or premiums and discounts for quality characturistics?

Reasons might be 1) food safety, phyto sanitory, etc outside quality needs, 2) branding if representing a regional, provincial or federal promotion program/defintion or 3) providing a standardized reference for establishing pricing between buyers and sellers.

[charliep]

Virtually all of the youthful cattle A and B grades are graded in federally inspected slaughter/processing facilities - the grading system provides a both a quality indication and a marketing service to the system.

Many of the branded programs have a minimum grade to them - Canadian Angus Beef - AAA for example!

The branded beef programs are all about market niche development in order to generate greater margins for that specific product.

[grassfarmer]

Yes, cjc, the hoops that a producer would have to jump through to sell grass fed beef in North America look daunting as you well point out. On the other hand it's a matter of perception as this complex looking system runs well enough in "backward" countries like Argentina. Difference there is that grass fed is the majority market so their packers are set up to package and sell this beef so the job of rearing fat cattle for their system is "easier" for the rancher than it is for us here. It's another case of how complicated we like to make things!

[ValueChainFX]

Charlie in actual fact the majority of cattle in a federal plant are graded with the exception of those that may be shipped as carcass beef down to the American breaking plants and only when the money is right.

Grassfarmer there are some markets for grass feed beef they have really not been pushed into the main stream part of this is due to the challenge of getting them processed with any kind of consistency.