US ranchers-get real

[rkaiser]

Where you at Willowcreek?

Don't you want to tell me how Rcalf had nothing to do with the gains Cargill and Tyson have made in Canada, and soon to be in the North West States as well?

[Willowcreek]

Randy- I don't know what plants closed and what ones opened...Definitely none in my area- they all closed shortly after NAFTA went into effect and the Tysons/Cargils sent all the cheap Canadian beef south...They couldn't compete.....

Much of what was being said by the Packers about the Border closure causing US plants to close was just BS and hype to try and get the border reopened..

I am friends to a couple guys that are cow buyers for the packers...They said that these slowdowns and closures, moving locations, and reopenings are every day business...They did not put any of it on the border closure...

As one buyer told me he had bought cull cows for one guy for 20 years--who has operated under 4 different company names at 5 different locations in those 20 years..Things get tight, he just goes belly up, shuts down-sometimes leaving the investors holding the bag--then goes to somewhere else and gets a bunch of govt. concessions and tax exemptions-picks up a few more willing investors and reopens- each time making sure he pockets a tidey amount...In fact as he was telling me this about 6 months ago, the guy was closing one plant in one state while he was reopening another in another state...Just part of the ripoff game they play....

Haven't you heard Kaiser- thats the business practice of today thats being taught?

[cowman]

willow creek: Might just ask you which plants closed after NAFTA? I really doubt any closed...because I doubt you ever had any? Lets face it you are basically "dogpatch"...always have been..probably always will be?
Not trying to be ugly here...just stating the truth and the facts of the matter?
In fact despite your large cow/calf numbers you can't support a large scale packing plant? It just doesn't work?
Consider this: Your nearest large packer/feedlot is in Canada? You sell feeder calves?...Is it in your best interests to alienate that market?
It is just dandy to get on the bandwagon with all the other goofy radicals, but one day the truth will hit you right in the teeth...your market might just lie in the north...with the guys who you have been calling sons of *******! Will that be an "AHA" moment?

[cowman]

Interesting to note that a friend of mine is an business person in the livestock industry. His work takes him to both sides of the border. He was at a trade show in Montana last year right in RCALF country.
He said that many of the attendees were ranchers and many of them took the opportunity to tell him they did not support Rcalf, that they NEEDED the Canadian beef in their country and as far as they were concerned the industry should be integrated.

So a question for you willowcreek, do you speak for your entire industry ???

[cowman]

Also Willowcreek I wonder if you have ever attended a sale where some poor deluded soul donated a calf for R-CALF? Or maybe you were one of those poor deluded souls!
I wonder how that rancher feels when he finds out R-CALF is taking out ads telling the American consumer the American steak he is eating is not safe? Or his R-CALF veggie loving lawyer standing up and saying how eating meat is evil? Do they ever wonder "What in the hell am I doing"?

[Willowcreek]

emerald 1- I speak for myself... I break up laughing everytime Canadians say we should have an integrated market--but for over 10 years when many in the US were working for that- Canada called all US cattle diseased and kept border restrictions on the US cattle as a trade barrier- even cattle that ran side by side Canadian cattle...How come it wasn't a North American herd 10 years ago? You Canucks need to go back and look yourselves in the mirror.....

Now you come whining crawling for help and wonder why some aren't sympathetic...

[grassfarmer]

So were you in the posse that shot up the VJV bus in Billings for the world auctioneering championship last year Willowcreek? Which was is - couldn't stand the competition or just hate Canadians?

[grassfarmer]

I have to wonder who will be whining to whom.

I have always found that when someone has their mouth open running down their neighbour they tend not to see some of the undesirable things that are going on in their own backyard.

Something like pointing to your neighbours manure pile and holding your nose when you have a pile twenty feet higher in your own corral !!!!!!

[grassfarmer]

This Hate Canadians mentallity is so non productive it makes me sick. We have the longest undefended border in the world and a few idiots in RCalf are trying everything in their power to start a range war for God sakes !!!

[Willowcreek]

emerald- Like I posted above, Do you really believe the border will or even can go back to as it was before?

You talk of unprotected border- but at the same time we have 10 times the border patrol agents on it as we had 5 years ago--New border "forts" going up all along the line- that little barb wire fence along the line has been all rebuilt and is now a maze of electronic and satellite imaging sensors..I just saw in todays Great Falls Tribune where the Border Patrol have a new "air wing" that will start flying the border this summer- over 70 people in the air wing...Probably all justified since Canadas Intelligence Agency admits they have more terrorist cells operating in Canada than anywhere else, outside the Middle East!!!

I used to go to Canada quite often- only live 50 miles from the border-- run cows as close as 20 miles from the border- but with the new international passport requirements I doubt if I'll go again- isn't worth all the bother...

And as far as cattle- I don't think that will ever obtain the old status quo..The record US cattle prices during the border closure have shown even many of those that were skeptical, what a negative impact the Canadian cattle have on the US prices and markets..Even if they agree with opening the border that knowledge will always be in the back of their minds- especially during times of tough prices....

It will always be in the back of many producers minds from this part of the country that will remember that Canada and Canadians were the first to put up trade barriers to protect their own cattle prices and called ALL US cattle "diseased"...Even those that used to crawl fences back and forth to either side....And to my knowlege Canada has done nothing to drop those barriers- altho they were promising it when the border was closed....

And there is a bigger and bigger backlash building in this country against the US governments globalism policy giving jobs and industrys to the foreign countries- it is already becoming a major election issue this year......I don't see things ever being like before....