Plants for Culls

[pandiana]

More and more we are coming around to testing all older cows. However, testing is one thing but its another to pull out of thin air enough kill capacity to handle this number in the short term. It is obviously not profitable for the big existing plants or they would be doing more and paying more for it. It will take time to develope markets in order to sell this 'guaranteed BSE free meat'.

I talked to a person who is on the committee that is reviewing application for 5 new or refurbished plants that would kill cull cows. This person was very pessimistic that more than one or two would be approved. In order to justify 20M$ startup cost they have to show where the market for these cows would come from. Up to now, apparently we do not produce the kind of beef that is wanted in order to replace the imported beef that is now coming into Canada. Probably price has something to do with it too, I don't know. Maybe value-chain can enlighten us a little more.

[ValueChainFX]

Just a short note in answer, I believe there is a good portion of what is being imported that our Canadian Cull cows could fill (price does have something to do with it, but we wouldn't complain if they paid us what the importers got, it's better than paying to sell them at the sale yard!). Marketers are telling me the same thing! We just reviewed an application for government funding, and they still are living in their world of beauracracy and BS! They not only want you to tell them all the information like where the markets are, but who the marketers are going to be, individual customers (with signed letters of commitment), how many animals are in our Canadian live inventory and on and on and on! (makes me wonder what they have been spending the so called money for agriculture on!) They have studied things to death and when a producer group comes to them, they send you to a consulting company that charges to much, delivers only what the government wants to hear and the trough gets deeper!

As I have said many times before we cannot count on government, the producers need to step up to the plate and swallow a lump of independence. I believe the producers can do it as they pretty much have to at this point. Now is a good time with the public more on our side than ever. A "Rural Rennacance" that will work for the primary producers and maybe hold some of these government dudes accountable. As far as opening the old plants I would say that you would need to build new to build in the components to meet the regulations of today and the ones we see coming in tomorrow! We need Federal kill capacity but it needs to go hand in hand so the producer gets a bigger slice of the pie!

I still believe the producers can make some gains but not by being the loneranger and not by depending on government but by doing what producers do best, build it from the ground up and make it work! If I sound a little POed probably cause I am, the time to act is now, no more fence sitting!

[Junebug]

Since there seems to be No Canadian Dog Food. Why can't we market these cull cows for pet food. It would be high quality at that.

[gwf]

Does anyone have any idea of what it costs to build a 500 to 700 head a day slaughtering plant?

[pandiana]

The figure I keep hearing is a minimum of $20 million. ValueChain would be the expert.

[ValueChainFX]

gwf calculate the building at $200.00 a square foot!

[ValueChainFX]

Building a single plant to handle all the cull cows in my opinion will do little for the primary producer!

The concept of building smaller plants in the rural areas that are networked together makes more sense! We have had the experts tell us that the plants need to be in the big city where the infrastructure is! Well the infrastructure is there because they took it out of the rural areas to start with!

Smaller Federal plants strategically placed would give the primary producer more access to kill spots not only for cull cows but also for other cattle as well! This would give the primary producer access to markets outside the province!

A plant that can kill about 12 head an hour would cost around 2.2 ML. Putting up a building is a small part of the challenge! Making the complex systems including regulations, marketing, testing, etc. come together are the bigger side of the challenge. You can find all kinds of questions to be for building smaller plants or against smaller plants! I still believe the producer will be the one at the end of the day to figure out that they will be the ones to make it happen. It makes more sense to build infrastructure back into the rural communities and stand behind your products than ship your live animals to the city.

[boone]

Value chnfx, sorry but Saskatchewan only does mega projects, Co-op upgrader,(Regina), Saskferco, stones throw (Regina), Light source (Saskatoon), Husky upgrader (Lloydminister) Pulp mill stones throw (Prince Albert) Cargill crusher (Saskatoon) Gainers (North Battleford)so here's the deal you get us the plant around Regina and we deliver a considerably educated group of workers when we erase the provincial border with Alberta. We will have to dress up the lunch rooms for our workers as they are used to expense accounts.lol

[cowman]

It makes more sense to me to have more smaller plants that do a lot more processing that these huge American kill plants. Fine to keep the big plants that kill the young stuff but wouldn't it make more sense to have 2 or 3 cow type plants in each province?
If we go to a mega cow plant we all know where it will be built? Alberta. So how does that help the guy in Manitoba? The freight would kill them?
I wrote a while back about how my neighbor got a first calf heifer butchered and how he got $1150 worth of meat from her after deducting all cutting costs? Well he recently had an old 12 year old cow done. Had her made up into farmer sausage and jerky. He knows just about everybody around and he has pretty well peddled it all off. Says he should net close to $1500!!! And he said the processing fees were a scandal!

[gwf]

Thanks for the response on this topic.

I was not thinking of a plant for cull cows. There is only one place for all animals that were born prior to 1998, and that is not a packing plant. The beef industry is in a very dire straight and is facing a milestone in its survival. We are seeing the ripple effect throughout the whole agricultural sector including towns, municipalities and counties. The recovery becomes everyone’s business and it has moved beyond each agricultural sector wanting a leg up on the other. The science of BSE with all of the related health issues directly and indirectly is loosing its momentum. In my opinion, all animal by-products should be removed from the food chain. If Mark Purdey’s theory is right, it doesn’t take much effort to have your soil and feed tested to ensure that the livestock are not being deprived of essential nutrients. This is a no brainer. If there was total agreement with the science, it would go a long way in reassuring the food safety to our export customers and to the public, but there does not seem to be agreement.

I am getting a little tired or hearing that our beef is safe. It might be, and I am sure it is, but I am not convinced it is as safe as it could be.

In Canada, we slaughter about 9,300 head of cattle a day, we consume about 5,500, and we have to export about 3,900. We have to find new markets for our beef. If the US border were open today, we would still be faced with the reality that the US has been shutout of their traditional export markets and they really don’t need our beef.