Grrrrr

[WoolyBear]

My 2 cents on the Maple Leaf story....

I see the integration of the ML family of companies (Landmark Feeds, Elite Swine, and Rothsay") as just the makings of a very attractive package for some one to eventually offer to an American company. I think any of them would love to have the entire trough to table setup.

[greybeard]

I have spent a lot of time thinking about the BSE problem when I am out taking care of my pasture puppys .The conclusion I have came to is that BSE is not our problem .Consumtion is up in Canada . Our customers in Canada like the improved quality since we arn't shipping all the best to Japan .The price in the supermarket is good {read high }.
Live animals on the farm are low value to worthless .We don't have kill capacity for anywhere near our production capacity.If the packers drop the price they will still have lots of animals lined up for the next day .Maybe thier own if need be .They are running at full capacity as they can export . Sales don't seem to be a problem. Exports of beef were not far off last year considering they were shut down for months and none is going to asia.
The U S plants killed much of our beef.
That market seems to be getting further away due to an upcoming American election .R-Calf is gaining political power .
Some suggest that our only hope is to test all animals . I can't see how that will help at all . Japan is not going to import live animals . The packers can make more money on high end Japanese cuts but have no reason to send the money down to us as the supply is still almost unlimited to them .
Cull cows are the extreme example of lack of kill capacity . They are a disposal problem if you run a dairy . Yet at the supermarket they have traditional value. Fastfood is still choosing imported product which they obviously consider beter value .We are told ours don't meet the specs. The hamburger I eat at home tastes fine . Much better than fast food or pre-formed patties from the store .
We have to get closer to the end user. Those of us that do will survive . This may include the feedlots that have a good relationship with thier packers .The packers have to keep the wheel turning or pack up and leave when we all go broke . They probably want to keep it going as they are making windfall profits . We all can't survive with current kill capacity .
We will not return to pre - BSE times in the near future . Everone up the chain is realizing higher profits . Will they send enough money down for us to survive ?

[cowman]

Cargill and IBP in Canada made more net profit on two plants in Canada than on their combined total of plants in the USA last year! This was stated on the Rutherford show yesterday. Now do we have any reason to believe that they want to see the border opened?
There was one feedlot operator who phoned in with what I believe was a good suggestion. Limit the number of cattle that the packers can own or control at any given time. Enough to give them a very few days kill. Have all fat cattle competitively bid on a daily cash basis and have all prices made public. You might need to have a central listing agency to handle the paperwork/info. I believe this is basically what happens in the USA?
The government needs to agressively move to help smaller packers get in the game and protect them from the corrupt oligarchy of Cargill and IBP. And probably promote and help in any way a Producer co-op type packer(s). The government was the one who created this monster and it is their duty to help solve it.

[johnboy555]

cowman i like you a lot