Australia

[cowman]

Hmmm...I wonder if they feed their kangaroos grain? Remember the Jack-in-the box deal? Hope they've cleaned up their act since then?

[farmers_son]

Did a little checking and found that "about three million kangaroos a year turn into steaks or stews on European tables - a significant part of Australia's 10 million kangaroo harvest. Australian exports of kangaroo meat so far in 2001 have jumped by 30 per cent."

Prior to March 2001 they fed their kangaroos to cattle. In addition to kangaroo it was permissisable to feed pig, horse, poultry and fish material to ruminants in Australia. Yummy.

And we thought they were grass fed!

See:http://www.meatnews.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&artNum=1813

[farmers_son]

Found this on Animalnet this morning and thought it would be of interest.

Australian outback cattle abandoned, 500 die of thirst
February 18, 2005
Reuters
Michael Perry
SYDNEY - Australian authorities, according to this story, took over a sprawling outback cattle property on Friday after its aboriginal owners abandoned it, leaving 500 cattle to die of thirst and a further 2,500 struggling to survive without water in searing heat in a drought-stricken land.
Animal welfare officials were cited as saying the cattle on Windidda Station in Western Australia state were living in hellish conditions in reported temperatures of about 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) and with only two of 13 water pumps working.

[greybeard]

What seems clear to me is that the Aussies have a much more developed marketing program and a good range of products that they have spent time developing.
Do Cargill and IBP have the ability to go back to Asia and regain market share from them? I expect Cargill can just designate different shipping points as they have product available down under too. They probably continued to ship to their customers right through all this. They will only replace that product with North American product if it is more profitable for them. They will not be “dedicated sellers” of our beef. It’s all just commodities to them.
I think Australia proves you can survive without having a supply balanced to the domestic market. But we can’t just go there and say” We sure like our beef and I’m sure you will to”. It's always hard to displace a supplier the customer is happy with unless they can't supply (BSE in N America). Or you have to be a lot cheaper. Why whould we be cheaper when we can just roll it on down to OT and his buddys.

[smcgrath76]

Cowman, had a chance to eat kangaroo over there too (knowingly). It's pretty lean, but not too bad when cooked properly. Puts a little jump in your step.

[rkaiser]

Interesting comment on Australian marketing greybeard. The problem with Canadian Marketing efforts is the complete marriage of CBEF and our American packing industry. There is very little interest on the part of the American packing oligopoly in Canada to market beef anywhere but the USA. CBEF's hands are tied with no say in what Cargil and Tyson want to do with their beef. The pressure by these powerful players opened the door to America for boxed beef 3 months after the border was slammed shut, and profits have never been better since. This whole debacle has been about money and power and the folks with all of that have called the shots.

Think about this OTM thing for a moment. If OTM boxed beef would have been allowed to cross the line in a box March 7, 2005, the other American packers who don't have the ability to steal Canadian cows from producers would have been at a disadvantage. We can all watch the media proclaim a victory for Rcalf, or NCBA, but this is a power move until the American packers all feel comfortable with the situation.

I predict that the next rule will include OTM cattle and beef to help save some American packing plants, and make sure that Canadian Industry and Government does not open their eyes long enough to adress the issue of fast tracking Canadian Infrustructure capable of boxing OTM beef, and sending it to the USA or elsewhere.

[Willowcreek]

Everyone of these posts just gave another reason why the US and Canada need Country of Origin Labeling.....unless you want to maintain the status quo and let the multinational packers pass off your beef as a worldwide generic product...Throw it all in the same pile along with the kangaroo and waterbuffalo meat......

[cowman]

I totally agree that we need COOL for both the USA and Canada. Nothing wrong with standing behind your product, in my opinion!
I actually think all meat packing companies should be doing this for their own benifit instead of being dragged kicking and screaming into complying? Quite frankly I don't want to eat Aussie beef...tried it once and it was tough as hell! Have ate some really good steaks over the years in Montana, Idaho,Washington, Wyoming but also got a really bad one that was advertized as US Corn Fed Beef! Looked really good, was tender and juicy, but had no taste.
The USDA stamp does not mean that beef was raised in the US. Just means the USDA has approved that piece of meat came from a plant that has their approval? Could be a Bramha from Mexico or some tough old boot from Australia!
I guess the packers aren't too keen on the idea of COOL because then they wouldn't be able to sell the garbage at premium prices?

[farmers_son]

No discussion of the Australian beef industry would be complete without considering Australia's number one competitor: Brazil.

See:
http://www.rabobank.com.au/knowledge_services/research_consulting/research_services/research/documents/global_focus_beef_aus_jul03.pdf

This site contains some interesting statistics about both Australia's and Brazil's beef industry.

Although we might look to Australia for its market development as the driving force behind its success in exporting beef, Brazil has set a goal to surpass Australia to be the number one exporter of beef in 2005. With the worlds largest beef herd and a lower cost of production including much lower wages for abattoir workers they are likely to succeed.

More importantly, Brazil is becoming more savvy about world politics. In the recent WTO agreement in the Doha round Brazil very wisely aligned itself as one of the key agriculture players in the negotiations - Australia, with the US, the EU and India.

[cowman]

Now I don't know much about Brazil or their cattle. I saw a picture once in an article about some big ranch there and the cattle were all Zebus or something? Do they raise other types of cattle or just those Brahma types? And how is the meat off those kind of animals? Would it fit into the steakhouse market? They looked kind of lean and mean in the pictures I saw.