Packers ?????????

[farmers_son]

So what does a battered ABP hopeful do when he gets his a%$ whoped in the delegate elections. Politicians form the official opposition, but opposing ABP only gets you a radical label here in Alberta.

What does everybody think about continueing to watch the Multinational boys **** the producers of our country, while our industry leaders, and politicians sit back and watch.

Does anyone else believe that some change needs to be made in the way that packers own cattle. Whether you believe it is accidental or planned, packers affect market pricing with the large number of cattle they own. Should we sit back and let this continue to happen?

How about continueing to advertise for our good buddies and partners in business. We sure have seen effort on the part of Cargil and Tyson to play fair now haven't we. Should we continue to treat them fair by advertising their BEEF for them with producer money. What are we up to now - seems like over 3 million for promotion and market developement from ABP alone. Last time I checked, producers produce cattle, Tyson and Cargil sell beef. If this industry was Integrated as our minister of Agriculture here in Alberta would have you believe, - fine - advertise the beef. If this is about survival at one level, and laughing all the way to the bank at another, - what -. Seems like a no brainer. At the very least lets call it a partner program, and link sales to contributions to B.I.C. and CBEF.

It has become pretty obvious that the beef industry in Canada will not be fixed over night. All kinds of ideas, scarce collusion, and a lot of fear.
But how can any producer, feedlot, or cow/calf person, not see the harsh treatment we have been given by the packers, and not want to see some changes?

The border will open before our Canadian owned plants will be built ---guaranteed. Desperate ranchers will seek the best price, and some of these new plants will fail.

If we leave the packer ownership, advertising, and other SAME old rules in place we will be even more responsible for the mess we are already mostly responsible for.

I guess my quest for ABP has stalled, but guess what, BIG C has now taken on an even larger agenda. We started with goals concerning less dependence on American markets and more emphasis on offshore markets. CBEF and to a lesser extent, CCA, ABP, and our governments are on this bandwagon. Great, even if it was all their idea. We've moved to plans for a producer owned, checkoff funded packing industry, and this will continue.
But those are portfolio's already assigned. What am I going to do.
Time to take on the "Packer Blamer" label, as our NCBA friends call it. Time for some emphasis on how we have been, and continue to be screwed by those who are supposed to be PART of the cattle industry in Canada.

See you all in Hanna on the 18th, and High River on the 19th.

By the way, our Deputy Prime Minister told us that there is a feeling in government that the producers are truely not being heard through the exisiting CCA, ABP channels. Lets hope that the new look ABP changes that.
She also lined up a meeting between BIG C and Andy Mitchell. Stay tuned.

[Horse]

I am with you all the way but you are going to have a hard sell . Do you know how many are making a good living just riding the tails of the packers, like the buyers that purchase the cattle for them, the feedlots that feed for them those that go to them for money for thier own cattle that they promise delivery to said packers.
I think first off we need to catch a few politicans with thier pants down ,you know when you got them by the balls the rest comes easy. As for Mis Mclelan I think she just goes the way the wind blows anyway.

[blackjack]

...ya have to give miss McLennan some credit she has came a long way from being secretary at the old Cereal Auction Mart...good luck rpkaiser with the BIG-C...I agree its because of you guys that made the government look at dismal packing industry in our country...

[wd40]

More disturbing news. At a ABP Zone meeting of the delegated in Southern Alberta 90% of them just feel that producer owned packers can't be done.

That's after rousing racus town hall meeting to the contray. The didn't get the message.

[kato]

What we are dealing with.....

A cattle buyer friend of mine says that the usual number of over age cattle in his loads is two. This is loads made up of farm bought cattle, who's ages are known. They still always mouth two as old. So now he sends them two old ones on purpose.

When the price goes down after he has made a deal, dark cutters will magically appear in sufficient numbers to drop the price on the load to the new lower price of the day.

From a veterinarian ... the packers have an employee mouth the cattle before they get to the CFIA vet. The CFIA never goes back and checks to see if young cattle have been slid off to the side with the older ones.

From a someone on the inside ... Most of us are aware of implants, and how some will work differently than others. The heavy duty 'finishing' ones will result in much greater gains, and more feed efficiency, but a bit less marble. The more moderate ones will result in a lower gain and feed efficiency, and more marbling. The high end ones make you more money.

Guess which implant the packer owned cattle get in the feedlot? Not the one that leads to the marbling. They get the high performance one. It makes more money.

Now guess which one the packers insist that the feedlots who are selling to them use? You got it, they must use the one that leads to more marbling. Or else they won't buy the cattle. This way the little guys feed the cattle in a less efficient way, in order for the packers to get their quota of triple A's.

The tricks of the trade. They've learned them well, and they are using them on us. One at a time, they are a 'bit' of money, but you add that up over a few thousand head, and you can see a difference.

I bet everyone here can find someone who has been on the receiving end of this 'business plan', if they haven't been themselves.

We need to keep our eyes open, and know what's going on if we are to protect ourselves. When the border opens they will unleash their economic clout fast and furious to stop Canadian packing enterprises as quickly as possible.

This is one reason why it's so frustrating to see Canadian cattle producers and American cattle producers knocking heads, when our real problem is not each other.

We are being diverted from the real problem. We should be working together. After all, we produce the raw material for their business, and it's time we made use of that leverage.

[farmers_son]

WD40: I think the wrong question was asked of the delegates in your zone. The question should have been is there a future in shipping live cattle to the U.S. and if not is there a future in seeing the big packers expand to control all Canadian production. If the answer was no to both questions then obviously the next question is what changes have to be made. I think necessity is the mother of invention and once we have reached the point where we realize that change is inevitable then our collective resources will find a way to make producer owned packing plants work. No one is saying it will be easy but many are saying it has to happen.

Kato: If I hear you right, you are saying that Canadian and American producers need to work together to forge a competitive alliance against the big packers. I think you are really on to something. I would much rather form an alliance with American producers so we can collectively extract a profit from the marketplace than see the big packers control my destiny.

[Joe-2]

Kato, I hear about the same antics you mentioned all the time,from reliable sources I might add. While most of these actions are probably not illegal,anyone that can't see how ruthless these guys are is truly brain dead.
Producer owned packing and processing is an excellent start but it takes time and tons of money.I fear that some of these ventures may not even get off the ground if the border opens to live cattle.I would hope that we are all smart enough to not let that happen.
Looking at the longer term,what does everyone think of this: SPAY EVERY FEEDER HEIFER THAT LEAVES YOUR HERD. Not enough people seemed to be in favor of a mass cull to choke the supply and bring prices up so how about tearing a page out of the play books of the Cargills and Monsantos of the world.They rig it so you have to buy seed from them so why can't we choke the supply of cattle by "installing a terminal gene"(spaying) like the big guys do??? Something to think about at least!!!!

OK everybody...let me have it now with what a dumb idea that is and why it won't work but producing more and more pounds of beef for less and less money will!!!!

[BFW]

RPKAISER, are you advocating removing or reducing the funds allocated to beef promotion and market development? There are many areas that require more funding that are of equal or greater importance to the industry at the present time. As a new delegate I would like to know what the general feeling of producers would be on this issue.

[BFW]

I realise that it would be improbable to think ABP could claw back money for advertizing beef. But the concept of advertising for Cargil and Tyson is reality, is it not?

How about something like what B.I.C. calls it's partners program for promotion.

Went in and discussed this concept with Ed Nabors last week. We are looking at some promotional material to help sell our Canadian owned, Canadian slaughtered, Canadian processed, and Canadian retailed product. The best they could help was to possibly pay up to half the cost of producing a first run of a brochure. This procedure will likely not be easy, but I am going to follow through.

My point is. If a Canadian Producer/Wholesaler/Retailer, like my group needs to pay 1/2 or more, why not the big boys. If CBEF helps Cargil land a contract with Macau for instance, what about a commision, or payback for efforts funded mostly by Canadian producers.

There are some programs within the B.I.C. and CBEF mandate which require participaction, but I don't think enough.

Do you realise that membership in CBEF is the same for Cargil(in dollars) as that of their newest member, BIG C.

We need to promote, and sell our product, but most of our product is cattle. If the people who sell beef want to be included in our industry and our checkoff dollars, they need to show us some respect. And maybe spend some of their hard earned dollars to promote their product themselves.

[farmers_son]

BFW: Congratulations on becoming an ABP delegate. I would appreciate knowing your views on important issues of the day such as producer packing plants, industry council, promotion, BSE testing, refundable checkoff. Tell us a little about yourself.