Whats the difference

[Horse]

All summer butcher cows were trading at 10 20 cents now with no defference in the border situation cows are 22to35 cents why the diference is it all the publicity over packer margins.

[kato]

The packers are also finding that for 10 cents they won't get the cows. They are really whining now about being short.

Now all we have to do is convince them that it will take 60 cents to get them!

[rsomer]

Canadian cattle slaughter is up across all classes from this time last year. 3270 cows slaughtered this week versus 2900 a year ago. This time one year ago 2,567,181 KGM of supplementary import quotas were issued for the importation of Non-Nafta beef, affecting Canadian cow prices and slaughter levels.

Cow prices will be supported by changes in the Quota Allocation system implemented made last year. See:
http://www.cscb.ca/archive/archive-preview.cfm?ID=6677

See also, this is very important information that all cow producers should be aware of:
http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/trade/eicb/agric/beef-en.asp

Although the price of imported Non -Nafta beef has risen since the new year I think the best explanation for the increase in the price of our cows is that there is a very significant reduction in imports of Australian beef, probably due to Japan's ban on U.S. beef resulting in a redirection of Australian beef that used to come to Canada now going to Japan.

[cowman]

Also consider Canada was the pipeline to get Aussie "beef" in the backdoor to the US. No more of that!
I would think under WTO rules Canada should be able to keep out ALL beef from countries that don't allow our beef in. However that will not happen because the Canadian Government does not really care about the western cattle producer. They are more interested in keeping the meat merchants in Toronto/Montreal happy?
The fact is there is still a ton of money to be made in cow meat. Do you think the packer likes to have to pay more for the cows? I would suggest that the only reason they have upped the price was the farmers refusal to give his cows away for nothing?

[greybeard]

I hope the Japanese enjoy those tough little Aussie steaks we used to get when we ordered a steak sandwich.Since BSE our beef quality has realy improved. I'm sure quality is part of the reason for increased demand. Japan is replacing the best we produced with Aussie grass fed.I hope they don't aquire a tast for grissel.

[grassfarmer]

greybeard, I'm always cautious about running down other countries beef. Fair enough if it really is worse but don't fall into the trap of every beef producing country in the world that claims they have the "best in the world". I always think it is dangerous to assume you have the best without having tried some of the rest. I had an outstanding Angus steak in Alberta last fall that really stood out but no more than "brai" steaks I had in South Africa several years back - made from cow beef from Botswana!

[nerves]

There is something that has always puzzled me and maybe you guys can help me out here. I do not know the exact numbers so if I am wrong please correct me. It seems to me that USA has a population of 300 million people, and 100 million head of cattle. We in Canada have a population of 30 million people and 10 million head of cattle. The human to cattle ratio is the same yet we cannot eat enough meat to get us out of this mess. The Americans human to cattle ration is the same as us yet they have a shortage. Now are we Canadians mostly vegetarians or is there a Huge pipeline of beef still coming here from the states. Now I am not certain about my numbers but you understand what I am getting at.

[almoy]

Nerves, I just looked up recent figures. US population is 292,827,472. Cattle numbers are 99,501,000. This is .32 animals per person.

Canada's population is 31,822,098. Cattle numbers are listed at 14,700,000. That is .46 animals per person. It does make a difference!

[almoy]

We are a household of 3 adults and we don't come close to eating one beef a year. I didn't look up the numbers of beef for slaughter a year in Canada but I imagine it is more than we can eat.

The US was exporting beef until the end of 2003

[nerves]

Thank you for the exacy numbers I still do not see that cattle to human ratio as enough to feast or famine between our two countries. My wife came home from work yesterday and said that Canada was letting in boxed beef from Argentinia. (was on the radio) I can"t believe our goverment to be so stupid is this their back up plan when we are broke. Direct marketing maybe the only answer if they want a fight they are going to get it.

[grassfarmer]

A letter in the Canadian Cattleman magazine this week quotes different figures on the same topic. The writer claims 293 million Americans have an annual slaughter of 36.6 million cattle which equates to 8 people per animal slaughtered. Canada has 31 million people and slaughters 3.5 million cattle a year or 9 people per animal slaughtered. I don't know if these figures are accurate but it certainly looks kind of interesting.

[almoy]

I was just comparing the size of herds for each country. As we all know a lot of our animals used to be slaughtered in the US so past slaughter rates can be deceiving.

[magpie]

We might also consider that avg consumption of beef per person in Canada is 49lbs compared to 67.8 lbs in the United States.

[nerves]

You might have a point magpie but is that before BSE or after? I know there is also a lot of Americans who can no longer afford to eat it.(I have some American relatives and friends). After last summer we must have boosted consumtion a little.

[magpie]

Monday, February 2, 2004

Poultry, red meat consumption record high predicted
Chris Hill
Poultry Times Staff chill@poultryandeggnews.com


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON -- USDA's Economic Research Service expects total poultry and red meat consumption this year to reach a record 221.7 pounds per person in the U.S.

The agency, in its latest Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook, forecasts per capita broiler consumption at 82 pounds this year, compared to the expected 81.4 pounds for 2003. December totals have yet to be calculated.

Broilers, at 37 percent of total poultry and red meat consumption, represents the largest share of meat to be consumed next year. By comparison, per capita consumption of beef is expected to total 67.8 pounds (30.6 percent of the total) and pork consumption is forecast at 51.6 pounds (23.3 percent of the total).

Turkey and egg consumption, however, are expected to decline slightly. Per capita consumption of turkey is forecast at 17.3 pounds, compared to 17.6 for 2003. Egg consumption is expected to drop to 250 total eggs from 252.2 last year.
The 49lbs per person in canada was mentioned on ag vision this morning. I'll dig deeper to see if this is a recent number