Disappointed

[grassfarmer]

I attended an NFU organised producer meeting in Ponoka last night to discuss the BSE problem and the future of the industry. Some of the list of speakers failed to turn up - notably someone from CFIA(couldn't stand the heat?)However the one that really shocked me was the ABP spokesman - he gave a speech saying nothing and offering nothing. No leadership, no ideas - just the party line "just sit back, do nothing and wait for our US friends to open the border again" - is this what we pay a checkoff for?
One point that was raised was the fact that packer margins for the period Sept. 03 to Feb 04 were TRIPLE what they were in the same time period last year ($460 per animal was the figure mentioned I think)
When I raised the question with the ABP guy about what we could do to break this packer cartel that is ruining the industry he basically dismissed me with a few words implying I knew nothing and there was no problem with the packers and we shouldn't upset them!
Unbelievable that my checkoff dollars paid that guy to attend a meeting to treat producers like that.

[Horse]

The ABP or formaly ACC was fo put in place to look after the lease holders in this province and they do that very well. If they happen to do some good for the rest of the producers well that is a bonus. Most All the sitting delegates and the exec are lease holders. But with forced membership they can stand up and tell govmt they represent all the producers .

[rusty1]

ABP is a cult

[frustrated1]

The more I think about it, the more I like this idea of the new gen co-ops. Even taking away 40-50,000 cowsfeeders a year from the big packers and putting that money into our own dividends makes a lot of sense to me. We can't just sit and wait for uncle sam to treat us right out of the goodness of his heart. That's not going to happen. When the border opens it will be to the benefit of the afore mentioned. Let's help ourselves. Look for some new markets, take some existing ones. If it means designating one or two small plants as japanese and we test every animal, so be it. I have a pretty good idea how much I've lost per calf since christmas and it makes$20head seem awful cheap!

[rusty1]

I certanly support a producer owned BIG packing house. However one has to remember that Cargill's budget/finances is large than the Canadian Govt. So inorder to ensure that it will stay open our Govt. has to pass a law that tell IBP and Cargill that they can't feed any cattle of their own.

[boone]

frustrated1: When your thinking becomes engrained in the larger group then it will be time to move ahead, this has been a long time coming, but it soon must start. Only thing I wonder about is some way of transfering the value of the young herd that is being siphoned off by the packers now, back in a stream of money that will make the cull processing viable for the producers. Not the plant, as it would make it about 'choosing' one company over another, which in the long term will destroy biz climate. When the ratio of old and young stock (and farmers)comes back to normal then it should stand on it's own as well.

[ivbinconned]

On an other front...presure should be put on the federal parties now to bring in anti combines legislation such as the U.S. has had for 80 years. Also revisit those parts of the free trade aggreement that are designed to protect American investment, regardless of their activities.

American companies are under less scrutiny in Canada than with in their own country.

[kato]

On the news this morning I heard that there is an investigation going into this whole cattle stealing fiasco. I think we have been handed so much bull...youknow that it requires a manure spreader to handle it.

Someone should write a book.

[grassfarmer]

So if I'm not the only one thinking the packers are out of line what can WE do NOW as producers to address the problem?
I'm not an advocate of civil disobedience but when BSE was at it's height in the UK producers took direct action to get results. There the retailers were the ones with the clout not the packers, so when retailers refused to reduce their prices while farmers were getting paid peanuts for their cattle some stores were "held up".
By held up I mean a number of tractors and other farm vehicles arrived unannounced at dawn to park across the road and prevent supply trucks getting in to replenish stocks. This worked really well as even a couple of hours totally disrupted the stores for the rest of the day as they tried to restock while shoppers were complaining about empty shelves. It was the only sympathy and understanding of the crisis we ever got from consumers.

[johnboy555]

OK.......first of all the ABP does not get any funding from checkoffs or otherwise. The all mighty ACC gets all the check off along with the CCA. The Alberta Beef Producers Held their first meeting a week ago. There came to the floor a motion that said (packers should not own more than ten percent of the cattle being slaughtered). It went to a secret ballot for reasons that we are all aware of. The vote went like 48 for and 16 against. So the motion pasted. Now it will have to go to the govt. to see if they can do something about this monopoly. Lets keep our fingers crossed and please, lets all talk to our MLA's.

[rusty1]

In theoty it sound good to hold the packers to a maximum of 10%. There is a least 2 - problems with that.
1. How many "packer cops" - "meat cops" is it going to take to examine suspect feedlots who "MIGHT" be feeeding packer cattle. You put yourself into the shoes of a feedlot owner say a 12,000 head feedlot feeding some custom cattle and some (sh) who cattle are those in alley "B". PROVE IT. Can't be done. There are feedlot now who cattle are owned by the feedlot while they are in the pens, bough and paid for by the packer, but "owned" by the feeder while they are in the pen. This plan is unenforcable.
2. The packers only need too have around 15% of the cattle on feed at the right time to control the market. And because they are privie to a long range future look at demand, they don't carry cattle on feed when it's best not to.

The only answer is to prevent them from owning any cattle. Yeh they wine about a consistant supply, that's 2/3 BSE. All they have to do is pay for the cattle and the supply will be their.

[ValueChainFX]

Industry leadership is just not there at the moment, the government is lost in their own shadow, and the producers are just now seeing the fact that if it is going to be done they are going to do it!

Cattle ownership is hard to work with as there are so many ways to cheat the system, and these boys are good at that!

But as a producer I believe you will need to take advantage of the supply chain by owning more of it. As you own more of the supply chain it is more difficult for the government to brush you off, or offer the so called trickle down funding plans!

[cowman]

johnnyboy: I believe the ACC became the ABP? I think it was basically just a name change so they actually do collect the checkoff?
I heard the other day that some of the feedlot owners, putting money into Sunterras venture, are being pressured(gently) by Cargill to rethink their committment! You know...if you go ahead with this don't expect Cargill to be buying your cattle?
I also heard that the recent rise in feeder cattle prices was mostly due to Cargill wading into the market? I would think they might know something?

[cowman]

This is just a thought...Why couldn't the whole fat cattle situation be set up like the "marketing board" they used to have for hogs in Alberta? All market hogs were listed for the day and the packers tendered their bids on them? I believe the marketing board set a floor price by what they could get for the hogs in the USA.
So here is how it would work(this only works if the border is open). You, the feedlot have 1000 fats ready to go this week. You are required to list them with the marketing board. The marketing board determines they can get 90 cents net in Washington so sets the floor price at 90 cents plus the freight...say 92 cents? So that is where the bidding starts. The packers bid on the daily or weekly offering and if they don't like the floor they don't need to kill...the cattle go to Washington.
The brand inspector at every plant would require paper work that showed the cattle were submitted to the marketing board before they would be allowed to enter the plant.
This system worked quite well for the Alberta hog producer, until the packers and some very large producers conspired with Tory politicians to get it scrapped(and incidently it worked well for the smaller packer). It was a fair system where everyone got a kick at the can.

[johnboy555]

ABP = alberta cattle feeders ass. alberta auction markets alberta packers alberta orders buyers = no check off

ACC = alberta cattle com. = check off

do you now understand? cowman