someone tell me

[jensend]

don jensen, cupar, sk

Can somebody tell me (pretty sure jeff can) what is abp's stance on giving slaughter plants the option of 100% testing? this ties in to what i said here after the moose jaw meeting. if the wrong guys go to the govt. with an idea it will be rejected almost out of hand. if abp says testing should be allowed it will carry more weight at least with the ab. govt. if we're going to move the product we're going to have to sell it and not wait for the americans to come and buy it. if it takes testing for a period of time it won't be as expensive as the last 15 months have been and it would be a strategy required to set this industry up for the future. we need diverse markets; the americans will be launching trade actions against us the same as they do against other sectors of our economy whenever the opportunity arises. if bush gets back in he may not be that protectionist but with his foreign policy he will be somewhat isolated and we'll be hit whenever a lawyer comes up with an idea. too verbose here, time to go.

[CattleAnnie]

Here's what I've heard from a couple of people actively involved in the Tender Beef Co-op.

Originally slated for Beaverlodge, at the last minute the owner of the land that TenderBeef was dealing on jacked the price. Significantly.

There have also been some difficulties in dealing with the AB gov't. Apparantly the provincial powers that be have been less than encouraging to a new slaughter/packing facility. Draw your own conclusions on why this would be.

If the plant receives a more favourable welcome from the BC gov't,it is extremely feasible to be in full operation by 2005. You see, I'm from the area, and a few years back there was a lot of talk about new job opportunities on the horizon when Louisianna Pacific was going to build a Veneer Plant on the outskirts of Dawson Creek. And they did. And it never was put into operation.

So when you're about two km east of Dawson Creek you'll see a huge tan building standing vacant. And from what I'm told it has more than ample square footage for what they need. They would just have to provide the infrastructure.

Add to this that the city counsellors of Dawson Creek have over the last ten years finally realised that accomadating and encouraging new businesses is far more profitable for the city than driving them away, I think it's very likely that it could end up based there.

Take care.

[CattleAnnie]

Lets hope that politics doesn't stand in the way of getting this plant up and running !
Anyone heard anything about Ranchers Own near Stony Plain or the one at Fort Assiniboine ?

[CattleAnnie]

Good news Cattleannie.
Every individual person (at least 10) that I have spoke with in ABP is in favour of Testing for new and expanded export market. As individual producers, I would expect that they would have to be extremely disconnected to the real world not to be.
This is however, a group in general, led to believe that there are no new markets for export even if we do test.
Thorlackson and Haney with the CBEF are finally starting to talk about more and new export markets, and have not dicounted the notion of testing for those markets if the need arises.

I beleive that time is turning the tide. This lengthened border opening process is beginning to get to the Industry leaders, and I can see a groundswell of support for testing.

Establishing new off-continent markets for our beef is the best long term solution I can see. The only Americans that are pushing for the border to open are those that see opportunity for America,,,,,not the Canadian Rancher!
This is our problem, and we need to find our own solutions. I only wish we had half a dozen proposal's as far along as that of the Peace country folks.

[kato]

Rancher's Choice in Manitoba is still in progress. The city of Dauphin has decided that it really wants the plant, and is going to help in whatever way they can.

The MCPA came out quite a while ago in favour of testing, and our provincial government seems open to the idea too.

Our friends down south really don't want to hear all this, either.

[cropduster]

Randy,how are Thorlakson and Haney paid by their organization? Per diem or annual?Is this public info? Are their wages paid by checkoff?

[grassfarmer]

emrald1, Last I heard the Ranchers Own intend to start building in September - a month later than they hoped originally but I am still waiting to get official word on this through a shareholders notice. This was tied up at the lawyers office as of three weeks ago. Time will tell - once the snow flies we will know who will be in business by next spring.

[grassfarmer]

Thanks grassfarmer. It may be a long winter for a lot of folks in the beef industry by the sound of things .

[BFW]

Don, unfortunately (fortunately?)I am not as close to the politics of the BSE situation as I was earlier on. However from what I can gather I think the official position on testing is that we don't need to do it which happens to be the position of the Alberta gov't so you can read in to that what you want. Personally, I don't think whether we test or not is the issue at the moment although I believe that it is wrong that private companies are being blocked from doing it if they believe that it will open some new markets for them. I believe our focus as industry should be on increasing processing capacity and marketing the production from this plants effectively and profitably and in the meantime finding a way to alleviate some of the financial presssures that all are experiencing until this new capacity comes on line.

[cakadu]

Listened to Neil Peacock of Tender Beef this afternoon and it is definitely a go for Dawson Creek. He said that the news articles had that part right. What the articles did not have right was that the testing was being done for markets in Korea, Japan and even the U.S.

The testing is being done for animals for domestic consumption ONLY at this time.

Please help me to understand how this is going to help us in the long run. They are gearing up a plant to provide domestic supply, when we are already extremely oversupplied in our own market. Another thing that I can't figure is that the Canadian consumer has not asked for 100% testing to any degree that I'm aware of, but some of you may be more aware of that than I.

Obviously it will be a federal plant because he talks about going east/west and you need a federal kill for that.

I am not suggesting this is wrong, just having a bit of a hard time understanding why they wouldn't be looking for new markets before this plant is even operational. I can't quite see how having more product available for the Canadian consumer will help the producer much either - beyond helping to diminish the backlog that currently exists and is growing day by day. I don't know how much more the consumer is prepared to consume beef beyond the current per capita consumption.

[dsinclair]

emerald 1, We are very much involved with Ranchers Own. I am not sure about the ground breaking in September, but we are beginning our final push for members later in September. All the necessary forms and legalities have been accomplished, now we need to build the producer numbers. The deadline for becoming a member is Novemnber 30, 2004, according to the website ranchersown.ca.
Personally, I think it's a great opportunity. $500 gets you through the door, the other $4500 can be written off against your cattle as they are brought in. There are alot of details to be worked out yet, like feeding, marshalling yards... but at least there seems to be a small light at the end of the tunnel. I would encourage all producers to take advantage of the opportunity, if you own one cow, or hundreds.
What I can't believe about the whole CCA proposal and all the talk by our so-called industry leaders is the amount of support they are throwing behind the Big 3 packing plants. They are all American owned, some more than others, but American none-the-less, and our leaders are just so excited about their expansion. Fats dropped $.10 a pound when Lakeside announced its expansion. A quick logical deduction tells you who was paying for the construction, and it's not their investors. Why aren't we getting more support for our cooperatives?
Last we heard from the Peace was that their plant was having difficulties finding a good spot to build and with funding. They were then going to go to Dawson, and get some money from the BC gov't, but they're tapped because of the fires. It looks like they may join forces with Ranchers Own.
The other plant near Calgary ran into trouble too. Calgary doesn't want them now. Last we heard they were looking at Vulcan, but then they have to bus their people, added expense.
Did you hear the best one so far? (I think anyway). A number of slaughter plants in the USA are closing their doors. One put 5000 employees on the food line. So some brainchild came up with the idea that we should ship all of our excess cattle to these plants, have them slaughtered, then ship back the hides and everything. That way it would keep the US people working. Come On Now!!!
Anybody know where we can sell 28, 1200 pound steers for more than $.50 a pound?

[jensend]

bfw - i agree we need more capacity as soon as possible. i just hope we adopt a plan that is far reaching enough to give us future opportunities. i hate the idea of a mass cull. if we start shrinking an industry it can turn into an implosion. freedom to test is key to the future of the industry - it gives us more options and we're feeling the effects of limited options now.

cakadu - if the plants doing testing can only do it for domestic consumption cfia is only allowing the testing in order to get a large enough number to get up to oie required sample numbers. this way the cfia has us paying for their program. hopefully the pressure to export will build enough that cfia can shake loose from its 'sound science' arrogance and get out of our way.