The New Beef Paradigm

[cakadu]

Let's say that the year is 2005 - the beef industry has to start from infancy again because the historic system suffered a collapse.

What would the new beef system look like?

Suspend judgment on which breed is best because collectively producers have agreed that at the end of the day, what they are selling is beef to consumers who want it a certain way.

Payment for your product is based on it meeting certain specifications that have been given back through the value chain to the producer, who is now regarded as being one of the key links in getting this system to work.

Management sytems are therefore left up to the discretion of the individual producer who if they wish to partake in this marketplace has to meet the consumer specifications. Animals that don't meet the specifications are funneled into other channels.

For the sake of the discussion, lets presume that producers have agreed to work together to the extent that they have to in order to enable this system to work.

Let's also take the age factor out of it - this is a new day and each of you has a chance to participate in it.

What does it look like? Let's brainstorm a little and see what the possibilities are.

[magpie]

My comments might be wrong or right but I’m flexible as we are working towards the same goal. I think we would all agree that the cow/calf producers should have a stake in a packing plant or plants in order to control the end product. In doing so reaping some of the rewards. A co-op seems like a logical solution. How do we accomplish that? Perhaps a check off to secure start up money for plants to obtain loans. We give money now and what have we really accomplished. All producers in western Canada need to be on board as we will need numbers to work with. Establish a task force of some sort that will compose of some very knowledgeable, market driven, out of the box thinkers, that come from the corners of western Canada { equal representation working towards common goal }. Find people that are market seekers, trade mission sort of people, send them out to find out what kind of markets that are not being filled by large packers or better yet ask what they need to open up markets. Provide what the consumers are asking. Establish a premium for the assurances. I’ll take a page from the canola industry, we want identity preserved beef. With the ID cattle registration it becomes much easier to do Set aside certain feedlots designated for this type of segregation. We won’t be going hd to hd with large packers, will be providing what they are not. Canada is still regarded in the world today as a pure unpolluted, wide open spaced country which it is compared to some other places. Put the label on it {Proudly Produced by Canadian Farmers }and stand behind it. Put pictures of mountains or clean rivers or wide open green grasspraire or whatever it takes to show the consumer where the product is from. There are hormone free, BSE free and other markets that will be needed to seek out by above task force. Producers will provide designated cattle for designated plants bound for the right markets under contract . I don’t see us competing with countries like brazil with there cost of production and huge production capability. We will need to find the lucrative niches of the world. I don’t know if I’m on the right track or not but everyone should throw their thoughts out there ,we might just come up with something that works.

[cowman]

While I can generally agree with your way of thinking Magpie I hope you aren't promoting another "compulsory checkoff" to pay for all this? Now if they took the one already imposed on us and used that, I would be all for it because frankly, my checkoff dollars aren't doing very much for me right now! In fact I would suggest my checkoff dollars are being used to fund things that are not in my financial interests...lobbying for the packers,bluetongue cattle, the grazing lease welfare to name a few?
It makes no sense, in my humble opinion, to build new producer funded plants until the governments get some rules in place to keep the pirates(IBP/Cargill) at bay? Otherwise you know what will happen? We'll pound in $25 million to build a plant, Cargill/IBP will break it, it will be sold at a fire sale price, and Cargill or IBP or maybe Swift will get a state of the art plant for peanuts!
We need some anti-trust laws up here and some tough laws to stop predatory business practices!

[magpie]

I’m not thinking of new check off dollars, I’m saying use the dollars they are using now, scrap those that are in the way of our thinking and replace with people that truly represent the cow/calf sector. Then lobby for exactly what you have mentioned. With the US feeders crossing now we are definitely in need of a stronger voice. I realize that all ducks must be in order before any of this will fly. Now looking back, had the crow rate not been place a lot of this infrascture would have been built for a lower cost.

[Horse]

Can anyone tell me how the slaughter system in europe or asia works I see in the producer that 400 plants in poland wont pass inspection in the EU now that # sounds like what I would like to see here in canada this mega business of what 5or6 plants in canada and all the packaging that goes into boxed beef what would be wrong with local butchers shops work for locals and moderate size operations that are owned by a sole propritor.
Dreaming I know but if purecountry can dream so can I.

[PureCountry]

I don't know if you can rub off on someone over the internet, or infect them with optimism, but I'm glad to see your post, Horse. I couldn't agree with you more. What happened to the days Grandma and Pappy used to talk about, where the countryside was littered with butchershops in every town? Just today on our local radio staions 'Trading Post', a lady called in saying they have cut and wrapped beef for sale for $1.45 PER POUND, and they could deliver it at that price! So this is in direct competition with a host of small abbatoirs in the area, because those butchers can't take any more meat. They are all booked solid. It wouldn't be so bad if there were a few more of them around. Hell if I knew a lick about cutting meat I'd be tempted to try my hand at an on-farm shop.

[cakadu]

Part of the reason for the disappearance of the smaller abbatoir is that in 2005 they are all to be at a certain standard, which for many is too cost prohibitive to undertake.

There has been an ongoing push to have the small to medium packing plants harmonized across not only the province, but the country as well.

You ask a good question fellas in that we should be thinking locally. I think of Australia and the fact that almost every town - no matter what the size - has a butcher shop in it and they are generally hopping.

Imagine the concept of local product and as a consumer you know for a fact hat it is local and you are supporting your local producers. As a producer you might even be able to get a little something going with the abbatoir so that you are making more money and the butcher is making a little and everyone is happier because they are getting what they need.

Food safety is reaily controlled, food recall is easy because it goes from you to the abbatoir to your customer. No need for big federal plants, no need for feedlots unless you as a group have one outfit doing it. Yes, the possibilities are endless.

[cowman]

Actually Linda, every town in Alberta used to have a butcher shop/abbatoir, and they were hopping! How many more small abbatoirs are going to go in the next year or so? We are actually decreasing our slaughter capacity, not increasing it.
The new regulations make it virtually impossible for a lot of the existing plants to keep running...including your own local plant in Innisfail? The old owner sold it because he knew what was coming and I suspect the new owner didn't realize what he was getting in to?
I brought this idea up once before and I truly don't understand why it can't be done...a portable packing house! Not a truck type of deal but buildings on skids, built in a factory, certified ready to go. You buy it, you haul it in, hook it up and you are in business the next day! It's become the norm for gas plants...the field plays out you haul the gas plant twenty miles down the road! An abbatoir would be a piece of cake compared to a gas plant! All it would take would be some initiative from Alberta Ag and the provincial government, but then I doubt they really want any competition for their big friends? If there was a market for them ATCO could be cranking them out right away.