Bred cow sale

[cowman]

Caught the cow sale in Innisfail on Friday. Mostly a bunch of garbage but a few decent cows. One bunch of black baldy second calvers probably averaged around $950 with a top of $1020. Some decent red angus cows(1500 lbs or more) averaged around $800. Cheapest cows got down in that $400 range.
Not many heifers on offer but some pretty good crossbred heifers(1175 lb) brought just over $1,000, which when you think about it was pretty cheap?
Expecting the better cows will come later, Innisfails first bred sale this year.

[ALLFARMER]

Certainly now money in the cattle business when before BSE good bred cows were $1200 - $1400 & 900 pound calves were around a buck a pound were today they are about $1.10 correct?

[cowman]

I am sure some will see it as an opportunity to enter the business. Especially some grain farmers who are getting a triple whammy with bad weather, terrible prices and inputs rising insanely!
At the same time there is an exodus of older producers...on what scale, who knows? This isn't all about economics, although it plays a big part?
I think there is a general frustration within the cattle industry in Canada with how the whole BSE thing was handled by the government. The fact is our federal and provincial governments seem to think as long as calf prices are respectable then everything is A-okay! The continuing poor prices for cull animals drags down the bottom line.
The Martin Liberals seem to be fairly inept when it comes to trade? Do a lot of blustering but don't take much action? When Rice came to Canada Martin never even mentioned the illegal border closure to our over aged cattle? Too busy worrying about whether the Frenchmen would be able to sell softwood to the states? And hey who can blame him...nobody out here votes for him!