Cows are down again?!!!

[JD6320]

Willowcreek,
When/if cool is implemented in the states,the consumer will be the big winner because you will be Walmartizing the meat case. I think in the long run consumers don't care were there foods originates as long as it inspected and safe. If two products are relatively the same, price will rule-Walmart proves this every day-How many American made products does walmart sell?

[InAHurry]

Willowcreek, I can't get into a debate about COOL, I don't know enough about the guts of it, it's the US's baby. At a glance though, you might have a positive response if it implemented as Patriotism right now, would be working in your favor. And if R-Calf keeps up the negative (mostly false) comments about Canadian (all imported) beef without being corrected this also would work to your favor. But the glory could be short lived as consumer's shift their thoughts and $ elsewhere or domestic beef suddenly is put into the same light as R-calf is protraying Canadian Beef.

Responding to your other post - "You are right that the US packers bought the Canadian cattle and beef- but then they cut off the Canadian markings and put a USDA stamp on it and passed it off to all consumers- US and foreign as a US product........Canada has totally lost the identity of their product..

I wouldn't say we lost our identity - the buyers of our beef (and cattle pre-BSE) were 'repeat' customers - they knew it was Canadian, still had our sticker on it, so to speak!

[Willowcreek]

inahurry- I think the time will come when Canadians are screaming for COOL...After AFTA, CAFTA, and a few more trade agreements go into effect and packers can access beef way cheaper in Brazil or other country, run it into and thru the US and send it into Canada to drive down cattle prices for both of us....Canada doesn't worry me- we need to look further down the line......

[ALICIA]

It was my undersanding that replacement cattle are not included in the rules for crossing the boarder.

[15444]

I have seen a few references in US ag papers online that say the American cowherd is in expansion mode.

What do you guys think is going to happen to the cowherd expansion in the US, based on the potential border opening rules, proposed by NCBA?

My thinking is that the extra feeder steers going south will negatively influence the prices enough that guys will go into major expansion mode to pick up what might be lost per calf.
With no breeding heifers or cows heading south, I wonder what the going rate for bred heifers and young cows will hit in the US?