Alberta Ag minister?

[cakadu]

KPB: I think you are reading the situation very well and I believe we are entering a phase that the hog farmers have already gone through? I really don't see any solution? I just don't see anything changing?
I have no problem with any farmer entering into a system of marketing collectively...on a volunteer basis? I do have a problem with being forced to join that collective!
Highland feeders has a marketing plan to add value to individual cow/calf producers? Bern Kotelko has taken this plan quite a ways? There was a write up about this system in the Red Deer Express last week? Apparently it adds quite a premium(he says 10%) for naturally raised cattle that will fit their system!
Now for the kicker! In talking to a local feedlot owner about the biodigester at Highland feeders(36,000 head) I was commenting on what a smart cookie Bernie Kotelko was. This feedlot owner said "Well he should be. Cargill owns him"! Now this was news to me! This guy claimed Kotelko was just a front man for Cargill! I have no idea if this is true or not...just what he told me!
But that doesn't detract from the marketing plan Highland has set up? I think in the near future, if you want to stay in cow/calf you will have to become integrated up the value chain? As the feedlots become more entwined with the packers, they will be cutting deals with individual cow/calf operators to produce cattle that fit into their system? Raised a certain way with genetics that fit the system?
In the big picture this is a more efficient system? Eliminate the auction mart system for marketing calve, eliminate the razzle dazzle of the purebred business, put a real value on calves based on their ability to produce the desired product?
It won't be easy and many people who can't adapt will have to go, but it will be a better system that will be better able to compete with pork and poultry.
One last thing: Eugene Whalen offered both the beef and pork industry supply management? Both industries turned him down...and it wasn't just the beef or pork "organizations" it was the individual producers! Now maybe that was a mistake...or maybe it wasn't? How long will supply management last? I would suggest...not much longer...if we want to be able to trade with the rest of the world!

[cowman]

I have no problem with any farmer joining a collective marketing system...if it is voluntary? I do have a problem with forced participation!
Highland feeders(36,000 head) has a voluntary value added program for cow/calf producers? They claim a 10% premium! Of course your cattle have to meet a certain criteria...which is pretty common for a branded beef program?
Now rumor has it that Highland is really owned by Cargill and the Kotelkos are just front men...but that doesn't detract from the fact they have a "collective" system that will produce more money for the cow/calf operator?
I agree with kpb that the beef industry is just about where the hog industry was around ten years ago! I do believe we are going to see an integration up the value chain? As packers and feedlots become more entwined the system will extend down into the cow/calf operators...just like the Highland system?
In the big picture, this is probably necessary, if we hope to compete with poultry and pork! And in the big picture...it will be much more efficient? Eliminate the auction mart system, eliminate the razzle dazzle of the purebred industry, and reward the producer who can produce the calf that will meet the industries needs?
Now to take advantage of this type of system you will have to use a certain type of genetics, a certain health protocol, a certain feeding regime, and probably certain animal husbandry ethics!...actually just like hogs and chickens!
Now a lot of people won't be able to change or won't want to? Just like a few hog farmers tried to buck the trend? Very few are left.
We may not like it...but it is coming! Just my opinion.

[blackjack]

...with the power the cargill's and tyson's have cowman you are probably right...but the hog industry is already predicting they cannot compete if the the grain prices stay high...so how stable is that...if govt want to have corps monopolizing agriculture they will have one major problem ...labor which is us...unless the plan is to import it which may also be the case...

[grassfarmer]

Great theory Cowman, the problem with "reward the producer who can produce the calf that will meet the industries needs?" is that with monopoly you don't need to reward the producer for anything. I am already selling cattle that meet Highlands specifications exactly - through the auction ring and feel I am still getting a small reward for doing so. In future I think calves produced to this specification will be the norm - all others will be severely discounted and even at that there will be continued downward pressure on the price a primary producer receives for either type of calf. I don't believe that we will get to a point through monopoly control of the beef sector when the monopoly players will suddenly decide to throw some extra cash the cow/calf producers way - why would they do that?

[cowman]

Well I agree in the end the "survivors" didn't get much of a deal and the last few are probably on their way out!
I wonder though if the beef industry is going down the same road?
If this grain/oilseed bio fuel thing is real, I suspect there could be a lot of silage/hayland going into bio fuel production? Especially if this cattle situation remains static?
It seems to me there are a lot of cow/calf guys packing it in? Now maybe that is just my area or something? Probably the largest cow/calf producer in my area (1200 cows/Kent Olsen) is dispersing this spring. Another large cow/calf operation(1200 cows/Purdys) dispersed in 2003 and now run contract yearlings. I think a lot of the 50-100 cow guys are already gone? Most of them were into grain anyway and not too hard to rip up some of the better land.
I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not? It should get our supply back in some kind of balance with demand, but it is getting awful lonely being in the cow-calf business!