One day at a Time

[pandiana]

Open the Border.com reached 50,000 signatures yesterday. Good, but could use more.

I believe this new bumper sticker is a good idea, keeping the issue in front of the public with a updated message.

We are still lacking enough momentum to carry a strong resolution to our government that can't be ignored. Are the people on this forum the only ones hurting?



Thu, September 2, 2004
We're stuck on beef support
By CHRIS GERRITSEN, CALGARY SUN


Bumper stickers sporting pro-beef images and catchy slogans are one of the most popular ways Albertans have been showing their support of our beef industry. Another bumper sticker has hit the scene. This particular sticker is the brainchild of rancher Ken Iredale. Donna Bird, BSE In Motion marketing guru, helped him realize the idea. The stickers came available yesterday.

This time the message isn't so cutesy.

"BSE is not the problem. POLITICS ARE!!!" -- reads the sticker.

Ireland says they're still deciding on where proceeds from sticker sales will go, but he'd like to send some cash to the Beef Initiative Group -- a program to build a packing plant in Saskatchewan.

"This country needs to regroup and have our own processing facilities so this doesn't happen again," he says.

The new pro-beef bumper sticker is now available for order at www.bseinmotion.com. The BSE In Motion group will also set up shop to sell stickers this Labour Day Monday at the Cochrane rodeo.

[cswilson]

All these initiatives are excellent but we may as well face the fact that the border opening is a long way off. We need to get to work on PLAN B, whether that is building slaughter plants or reducing the herd or something. Winter is approaching and we will be into the '05' calving season before we know it !!

[grassfarmer]

emrald1, Yes it's true the border opening looks as far off as ever but many of us involved in these initiatives are realising that the border opening will not bring automatic salvation to our industry especially in the long run. If there was ever a time for producers to step up to the plate and take hold of their future this is it - unfortunately, too many producers have sat back all summer waiting for someone else to do something so they can achieve good prices for their calves this fall. The users of this forum seem to have been more active - it's been great to watch how the BIG-C campaign has been supported by forum users when there was a rally on in their area - shame all their neighbours didn't join them.
It seems plan B is proceeding as well, our illustrious "leaders" are in Ottawa holding out begging bowls on our behalf. Their plans for yet another band-aid solution to the crisis will surely fail because they refuse to face up to the reality that we are suffering now because of Packer price taking in a captive market.
The industry is already responding to the rumours of aid as feedlots hold back cattle until they see what is coming and they are also bidding harder on feeders assuming he who owns the cattle on the day the programs start gets the winnings. If the major component of the aid package is anything like the rumoured $150 per calf to feed them over winter I don't doubt many producers will take that option. What happens to these cattle next summer though? They will be grown out to differing degrees of finish/ frame thereby setting themselves up for even bigger discounts from the two big packers for being out of spec. Yet again the packers win - they will have no reason to bid hard to get them because we as an industry have accepted yet another stupid aid package to get us through a few months rather than taking bold decisive steps to secure our industries future.
Perhaps we should direct our "cull" towards the industry leaders and politicians who have let us down badly since this began.

[grassfarmer]

If producers were hoping for a good price this fall it is likely because they have good sized bills and loan payments !!!
For instance: My power bill averaged $98.00 per month four years ago, my last power bill for the month of July was $171.00 !!!!! Do I need a good price for my calves this fall, you bet your butt I do, but I have sense enough to know I am not going to get it !!
A friend sold 820 wt. yearlings yesterday and averaged $640.00 per head. Two years ago I averaged $856.00 for my steer calves in the fall.
This is the reality that all cattle producers are facing, and lots of them are getting discouraged.
As far as 'bailouts' go, I don't know the answer to that, and I really haven't met anyone who does.

[cakadu]

Bailouts, while welcome in the short term, amount to nothing more than giving "a man a fish". What we need are the solutions that will "teach the man to fish" so that he can look after himself in the long run.

What sorts of things the teaching entails is wide open. It could range from the government actually putting money in to packing plants (doubtful, but still a remote possibility), to assistance with opening up new markets, to creating the policies and infrastructure that will make it easier to do business in the global marketplace that we seem so bent on getting into.

It will also mean that new leadership will have to step up to the plate and some will have to let go of the old "wait and see" attitude and start to make things happen.

Not everyone is meant to be a leader, however, we can show support for new leadership and new ideas in a variety of ways, some as grassfarmer has talked about and that is showing up at rallies and doing behind the scenes work.

Never has the time been better to stand up and take control of one's own destiny. Or have we become too dependent on the fish?

[wd40]

cakadau - does your last paragraph mean you're finally going to back of the platatudes and put your money where your mouth is and buy a share in one of the producer packing plants?

[blackjack]

grassfarmer...you are pretty well bang on ...I just wished the cattle associations would have came out and backed the people that wanted to build the plants... the ABP have the money and the power to persuade the government to help build the infrastructure but choose to stay with the bandaid solutions...its no wonder groups like r-calf are formed because the leaders don't listen to the grassroot producers...

[wd40]

blackjack - ABP, CCA, CBEF all live under the armpits of the packers and beauicrats, and the elected statespersons.

[cowman]

The fact of the matter is no matter how much we might think the CCA/ABP/ CFIA are not doing the job, they are the ones who have the governments ear? Who does Andy Mitchel call when he wants to know what to do?
I think Randy has the right solution when he says to change the people who are elected to run these things? Because quite frankly if the CCA/ABP/CFIA aren't behind something then it just ain't going to happen?

[cowman]

How many of you are going to attend the ABP Zone meetings in your area and excercise your vote ?????

[grassfarmer]

I am, and we will be running an active campaign in this area to get everyone out to vote - but I imagine it will be a tough sell just like getting people to the BIG-C rally in our area was. Plenty of complaining in private but few willing to get off their backsides and help themselves when push comes to shove.

[cakadu]

Grassfarmer, I wish you well in trying to get people out to these meetings. It certainly is a head scratcher when it comes to understanding why people are quick to point out what's wrong, but not so quick to jump in and help with solutions.

The one thing I will say is that at least the cattle crisis has been kept on the front pages and in the fore of a lot of people's minds.

Here are some interesting facts with respect to the sheep industry. This truncated article comes from the Food Safety Net. The Canadian Sheep Federation announced net cash receipts had dropped 42 per cent for its producers, for the first quarter of 2004.
That's more than any other livestock group. Even cattle sales, which are usually making the front pages in regards to BSE, are down less, at a still- devastating 36 per cent. Like cattle farmers, sheep producers' portion of their annual production normally exported to the U.S. ($10 million in 2003, prior to the May BSE discovery) has been cut off. The prior year, 98 per cent of the $18.6 million earned from sheep exports was from sales to the U.S. Exclusion from the U.S. market has resulted in lambs normally exported there flooding the Canadian market instead, driving prices down. And it gets worse, says the federation. The unfortunate low-price, high- inventory situation is compounded by inadequate slaughter capacity in Canada for lamb. So even if farmers want to market their lamb domestically, they have limited places to get it processed.
Provincial marketing agencies have increased their efforts, to try to clear the backlog of lambs. But then along comes that most dreaded commodity to Canadian lamb producers -- imported New Zealand lamb -- which has long competed for their markets (some say unfairly), and still does so. Randy Eros, chair of the federation, calls the situation "quite desperate." He says all sheep producers are feeling the impact of the BSE crisis, and many believe that the industry has been overlooked. This is really a tough situation for the sheep industry. Sales were picking up before the BSE crisis hit, with producers getting more heavily into sheep production, to meet what was a growing demand both for domestic consumption, and export. Now, what?
___

To my knowledge, there is only one federal lamb processing facility in Alberta and it may even be Western Canada. Couple that with the largest feedlot in Saskatchewan just yesterday announcing that it will not be accepting any more lambs and that the feedlot will remain closed until the border opens and you have a huge crash waiting to happen in the lamb industry. Lamb producers pay checkoff just as beef producers do and it is captured when buying the mandatory i.d. tags. The lamb that is being sold into the Canadian market is from a far bigger carcass than what Canadians like because the Americans prefer a much heavier carcass than we do.

The sheep industry is now where near as big as the cattle industry, yet for lamb producers, it does look grim. We ourselves have managed to stay outside of the mainstream and direct market. Slaughter availability is now our biggest challenge among others.

Maybe we need to take a few notes from the cattle industry and start to change who is running the sheep industry. This should never have become an issue for the sheep sector and it would appear as though both the support and the leadership have been somewhat lacking. Maybe more has happened than what the average sheep producer has heard about, but I'm just guessing there.

[grassfarmer]

Cakadu, I'm sorry the sheep producers here are having a tough time. We always ran sheep/cattle on a 50/50 basis in terms of business scale in Scotland and they are a very profitable animal - in fact my Dad brought us up on the theory they were the only inherantly profitable farm animal better than dairy cows, pigs or beef largely because they were a low input animal.
It has struck me since coming to Canada that this is very much not sheep country, the long winter feeding period, possible droughts and predator problems all count against you as well as a total lack of sheep infrastructure. It looks to me like supplying a small local market might be the best option for sheep here. Why would you want sheep "feedlots" and then export the produce? It is a surely a case of being unable to compete with southern hemisphere countries with year round grass. Even in Scotland many sheep on the hills were carried through the winter without supplemental feed.
I don't want to discourage sheep producers but I think they will have a tough future trying to compete on the world stage in sheep exporting.

[cakadu]

It is basically a viscious circle when it comes to sheep production. We cannot get tarrifs on imports until such time as it can be shown that we can supply the domestic market. The domestic market goes and buys the cheap imports just because they are cheap.

You are quite right, grassfarmer, in that there has been no real infrastructure to deal with sheep in this country. We can't even rely on the wool end of things because the breeds that we use are not well known for their wool and there is an inverse relationship between wool production and meat production. (Bear in mind that here on our farm we raise a hair sheep, so wool and shearing are not a part of our management concerns.)

There has been some acknowledgement of the need for better infrastructure and marketing of domestic product and some groups are trying value chains and such in selling their products. Most of the schemes that I have heard of involve marketing to the higher end restaurants and they basically want the rack (biggest seller) or chops, with some wanting legs for a different type of roast on a buffet. If all one sells is those pieces of the lamb, there is still an awful lot left over - in a relative sense - that needs to be value-added and/or sold.

Where some of the money has been made in exports - up until May 20, 2003 - was in exporting germ plasm i.e. the semen or embryos of a few particular breeds.

It certainly is a steep hill we have to get up and direct marketing is one way to do it. Many Canadians do not eat lamb - one too many stories about grandad eating mutton in the war - so I don't know what it will take to increase lamb consumption in this country, much less increase the consumption of domestic lamb.

We need to sell it on much more than price because we cannot compete with the lamb that comes in offshore on a price basis.

I fear that we will see some of the bigger players in the sheep industry going out of the sheep business altogether. I don't know what that will do to the industry as a whole, nor to trying to make it more of a viable industry here in Canada.

[pandiana]

I agree, cakadu. We definately need to improve our market for lamb. I though Canada West was doing a great job and was really disappointed to see them give up. I observed that the price of lamb has dropped considerably recently as it was featured in our local COOP for something like $15.49/kg for shoulder roasts (chicken breasts were about $17.00 I think). This is excellent meat and one sought after by the restaurant trade.

I am very concerned about your statement that feeders are not taking any more lamb. We too are finding difficultly in getting lamb processed. We love lamb but we can't eat it all so need gov't inspected meat processors in order to sell to our customers who are waiting. Lambs can gain quite a lot faster when they are approaching market weight and you are waiting for a hook it would seem.