CAIS Program

[almoy]

Has anyone heard how they are going to value cattle for the 2003 year? I presume we will be able to use the price drop from the beginning of the year to the end in calculating our inventory. Does anyone know if they have published tables to use?

[Harper]

Last time I inquired which was some time ago before Sask. signed on to the program, I was told that they would use the same value for the beginning of the year inventory as for the end of the year. I argued that this is completely unfair as it would not reflect the disaster that the livestock industry has endured because our disaster is mainly a decrease in the value of our inventory. Didn't get much sympathy - was basically told that they couldn't design a program just for the cattle industry! Think that when we attend the meetings to explain how the program is going to work, we better be asking this question and ask them to explain how their values for Dec. 31/02 for the CFIP program could be one thing and then on Jan. 1/03, show a big decrease if that's how they are going to do it. I am really sceptical with any program they come out with after AIDA and CFIP.

[almoy]

Harper: If they are not going to allow the change in value of the cattle then in my opinion it is just another useless program.

[smcgrath76]

Here is the CAIS website. It contains a lot of useful information, and also has links to when/where the information sessions are going to be.
http://www.agr.gc.ca/caisprogram/main.html
I am definitely not a CAIS expert, however I understand that it is possible to challenge your inventory valuation. Please be sure to ask your questions at the information meetings, and feel free to post the responses, as I am sure that there are many people with the same question.

[almoy]

I spent last night going through the site, using their calculator. I figure the program would probably payout this year for 2003 for the cattleman IF they allow the change in price of inventory. They keep saying that CAIS is supposed to work but they haven't too much information on calculating the inventory. (The one year AIDA or CFIP allowed a change in grain prices during the year)

[almoy]

I just emailed the site. I will see if I get a reponse to my question.

[rsomer]

As I understand it, if you had a 100 cows Jan 2003 and 100 cows Dec 2003 then there would be no change in inventory and no adjustment to the 2003 margin, even though the value of your cows had changed during the year. If you had a 100 cows Jan 2003 and 110 cows Dec 2003, perhaps because of BSE, then the increase in inventory of 10 cows would be valued at the year end price. This would actually reduce your CAISP payout.

[almoy]

And they are saying the program should take care of the beef producers !! What a laugh!

[topper]

Rsomer: I wonder how they are going to go about getting accurate information on a farmers herd inventory for Jan. 2003. As far as I know we don't put that information on any government forms. Are they just going to take our word for what we had last year.

[grassfarmer]

Why does it make a huge difference if they value cows less at year end than year beginning? If you owned 100 cows at both points they are still worth the same. In my case,yes, calves are worth less and culls a lot less by my herd cows are not for sale hence any drop in valuation doesn't affect me in a real way because I'm not selling. If the Gov agreed to reduce the yearend values and trigger a big payout from CAISP wouldn't you just lose the benefit in the future when cows gain in value again?