Feedlots and bankers

[cowman]

Cows have been getting scarce in my neck of the woods for quite awhile but they are thick as fleas in west central Alberta. They had a tough year last year and the word is they need some feed.
A lot of cow herds disappeared around my area in the drought of 2002. Like an idiot I culled them back hard but didn't get rid of them. The winter of 02/03 was fairly tough and we were scraping the bottom of the barrel to pull them through. Just made it and presto...Mad Cow.
The guy up the road had about 20 cows that he unloaded in Nov. He never got much for them but he never had any feed, so figured he'd had enough of cows! Now with those cows gone I have to drive about 5 miles to see a cow! All the little acreage type guys who owned a few head are cowless now.
There was a guy who lives up on the river who ran close to 1200 cows a few years ago with two sons. Now they have 150 somewhere in Manitoba(sent them out during the drought) and they are all hauling manure for a custom outfit. Rented their grass out to Weiller and Williams(cattle buyers).

[gopher]

I share some of the opinions that are expressed here regarding the effect of mega feedlots on the industry. The feedlots in this area (feedlot alley) have become so large that the general public thinks that feedlots are the whole cattle industry. The feedlot owners are always crying about their losses and how many jobs their creating and how they are the back bone of the economy here. It's no wonder the public know very little about the cow/calf producer or back grounder. That's also why most of the support programs favor the feedlots. One has to ask " are feedlots necessary? " They are not very friendly to the rest of the cattle industry because they are so large and organized they get together and control the price we get for our calves and what they will pay for silage each year. Some of you said change is in the wind ---- lets hope so, maybe back to good old times when the buyers came to the ranch to bid on a pen of steers and business was done on a hand shake and the whole cattle industry was alot better off!! I know this will never happen but I can dream --- so reply and give me the gears.

[Horse]

Gopher I cant agree more I am like you and the old indians that say I long for the old ways.
There was a time when you seen cattle you knew who owned then it was the farmer but we have let the money men in (ie) bankers and big money. Now we have nothing but intrest and contracts to keep us leaning into the grindstone.

[cowman]

Well I remember the old days and I'm not too keen to return to them. Seems like it was a whole lot of work?
My grandfather would have been considered a fairly large farmer in his day and it seems like they worked from dusk to dawn 6 days a week. All pail and fork work! Now I don't know about you but I don't even like forking the bulls some hay anymore! I guess I've gotten pretty lazy?
It was a good place to grow up though. We had about 200 cows(plus 12 milk cows) fed out all the yearlings, raised about 30 bulls, had a whole slug of hogs, chickens, turkeys, ducks, dogs, horses, cats! Grew seed grain and grass seed. In fact I guess it was just about as diversified as you could get! Five families lived there...it was just about like a hutterite colony!

[cakadu]

I would hazard a guess that most of the general public has no idea at all about how their beef is produced and who is doing it or controls most of the marketplace. The same would apply for other meats as well.

All the general public pretty much cares about - or at least cared about - was that it showed up in the store on those trays at a price that was considered reasonable.

It could be that more of them are beginning to care about the safety of their food, but the majority seem to be buying anyway.

[cowman]

Actually Linda if they knew how their meat was processed they might all become vegetarians! All the things we hear about food safety is mostly drivel. Packing houses are probably more unsanitory today than they were 30 years ago despite all the new and improved technology. The line speeds are just too fast to do a proper job and the work force has become pretty well the dregs of society. If you don't believe this just go down to Cargill or IBP and have a look. Want to buy drugs...just visit your local large packing plant! It is a major problem.

[ValueChainFX]

Well, I tend to agree partially with you both! Food safety is a concern (at least at the Federal level in Canada). The provincial plants have a long long way to go .... YIKES! Our consumers today seem to be of two groups, we are seeing increased awareness of the how what and whys' of food safety and consumers making choices based more and more on this aspect and not on price alone. So called natural and organic sales are still a growing market and retails and wholesales are scrambling to find a supply!

[cowman]

Now valuechain you know you shouldn't be pushing organic or natural food! After all our experts have all said chemical/hormone food is perfectly safe! I wonder why more and more people aren't buying the story? Maybe it is because the so-called science is little more than drivel meant to sell the chemical products?
Personally I don't want to eat hormone beef, or Ivomec, or roundup. Hormones turn baby beef into sex maniacs, Ivomec kills all the bugs in or on an animal, and roundup(preharvest) renders the seed sterile!
But have no fear it is totally safe, we are assured! From the same people who tell us all this junk science about BSE?