By Todd Hamilton
Sep 28 2006
Northwest beef ranchers have been hit with the proverbial double-whammy.
Not only has a poor hay crop forced ranchers to pay nearly double to feed cattle, a new age verification program is compounding the problem.
After borders were closed to Canadian beef with the discovery of BSE in 2003, major beef markets, including Japan and the United States, required all cattle be age-verified. The new law, scheduled to be introduced in April 2007, has ranchers shaking their heads.
Henry Dyck, B.C. Livestock Producers, Vanderhoof Stockyard manager, said if farmers age verify their cattle they do not get a premium just less money.
“It doesn’t sound fair but that is what the bottom line of it is now,” Dyck said.
The program, as it stands now, requires the rancher to pay as much as $3 a head for tags, as well as, associated costs for the process.
Next year, Dyck said, ranchers who have not age-verified their cattle will not be able to sell them at the stockyard.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Agriculture was at the stockyards to assist with age verification for calves to be sold in the Presort Calf Sale. All calves sold in the sale must be age verified with a birth certificate.
“Things are moving along so fast now,” Dyck said.
For Ken Rose of Burns Lake, who was in Vanderhoof on Tuesday as he delivered 222 head to Hay River, Alta., the program is just another straw in an ever-increasing pile on the back of Northwest B.C. ranchers.
“Most of the people I’ve talked to think [age verification program] is crap,” Rose said. “The tags cost three freakin’ bucks apiece and it all seems to be coming out of the cattle producer.
See RANCHERS on Page A2
“There is a limit to what cost you can put on [a ranch].”
Diana McIlroy, who has 50 head of cattle, said time is not the issue about age verification that bothers her, but rather that the system relies on honour.
“Really they have no way of verifying the calves were born when you say it is,” McIlroy said.
She also noted that as of next year, she won’t be allowed to sell beef from her farm. McIlroy will have to ship her cattle for inspection before slaughter and the closest facilities are in Quesnel and McBride.
“If they were testing every animal for disease I’d understand,” she said. “But they are testing for marble and grade.”
McIlroy said the BSE outbreak has hit Canadian farmers hard. She said while farmers were going under, in the same year the three largest meat packers tripled their profits.
“If you are in farming these days it is not to make money,” she said. “It is a lifestyle.”
Chris Yates, who runs a small farm near Quick, said she is in favour of cattle herds being traceable, but she is disappointed that farmers are expected to do the extra work without incentives. She said there are ways in which farmers could be rewarded for their efforts, for example making companies pay for farmer’s age verified cattle data.
“The people buying the calves are not offering any extra money, if you don’t age verify calves you get less money,” Yates said. “Basically we have everything to lose and nothing to gain.”
She said age verification could have been used as a marketing tool, allowing farmers to profit from the situation. Yates said some slaughter houses, such as Cargill, are paying feed lots $30 per head for age verified cattle, yet none of this money goes into farmer’s hands. She said farmers should be on an equal playing field.
On top of the costs associated with the new age verification program, ranchers are being hit hard on feed costs forcing some like Rose to sell cow-calf pairs, calves and replacement heifers.
“It’s pretty dried out right now,” Rose said. “There’s lots of hay in Alberta, but little out here right now.”
Alberta ranchers are paying between $45 and $60 per ton for hay while Northwest ranchers are being hit with hay costs between $100 and $120. Those costs have forced ranchers like Rose, who is selling half his herd, to take what they can get.
“Feed is the big thing,” he said. “Nobody is keeping calves or replacement heifers up here. The cost for feed and grain is just too high.
“Most are [cutting back operations]. We’re not making any money on them anyway.”
Sep 28 2006
Northwest beef ranchers have been hit with the proverbial double-whammy.
Not only has a poor hay crop forced ranchers to pay nearly double to feed cattle, a new age verification program is compounding the problem.
After borders were closed to Canadian beef with the discovery of BSE in 2003, major beef markets, including Japan and the United States, required all cattle be age-verified. The new law, scheduled to be introduced in April 2007, has ranchers shaking their heads.
Henry Dyck, B.C. Livestock Producers, Vanderhoof Stockyard manager, said if farmers age verify their cattle they do not get a premium just less money.
“It doesn’t sound fair but that is what the bottom line of it is now,” Dyck said.
The program, as it stands now, requires the rancher to pay as much as $3 a head for tags, as well as, associated costs for the process.
Next year, Dyck said, ranchers who have not age-verified their cattle will not be able to sell them at the stockyard.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Agriculture was at the stockyards to assist with age verification for calves to be sold in the Presort Calf Sale. All calves sold in the sale must be age verified with a birth certificate.
“Things are moving along so fast now,” Dyck said.
For Ken Rose of Burns Lake, who was in Vanderhoof on Tuesday as he delivered 222 head to Hay River, Alta., the program is just another straw in an ever-increasing pile on the back of Northwest B.C. ranchers.
“Most of the people I’ve talked to think [age verification program] is crap,” Rose said. “The tags cost three freakin’ bucks apiece and it all seems to be coming out of the cattle producer.
See RANCHERS on Page A2
“There is a limit to what cost you can put on [a ranch].”
Diana McIlroy, who has 50 head of cattle, said time is not the issue about age verification that bothers her, but rather that the system relies on honour.
“Really they have no way of verifying the calves were born when you say it is,” McIlroy said.
She also noted that as of next year, she won’t be allowed to sell beef from her farm. McIlroy will have to ship her cattle for inspection before slaughter and the closest facilities are in Quesnel and McBride.
“If they were testing every animal for disease I’d understand,” she said. “But they are testing for marble and grade.”
McIlroy said the BSE outbreak has hit Canadian farmers hard. She said while farmers were going under, in the same year the three largest meat packers tripled their profits.
“If you are in farming these days it is not to make money,” she said. “It is a lifestyle.”
Chris Yates, who runs a small farm near Quick, said she is in favour of cattle herds being traceable, but she is disappointed that farmers are expected to do the extra work without incentives. She said there are ways in which farmers could be rewarded for their efforts, for example making companies pay for farmer’s age verified cattle data.
“The people buying the calves are not offering any extra money, if you don’t age verify calves you get less money,” Yates said. “Basically we have everything to lose and nothing to gain.”
She said age verification could have been used as a marketing tool, allowing farmers to profit from the situation. Yates said some slaughter houses, such as Cargill, are paying feed lots $30 per head for age verified cattle, yet none of this money goes into farmer’s hands. She said farmers should be on an equal playing field.
On top of the costs associated with the new age verification program, ranchers are being hit hard on feed costs forcing some like Rose to sell cow-calf pairs, calves and replacement heifers.
“It’s pretty dried out right now,” Rose said. “There’s lots of hay in Alberta, but little out here right now.”
Alberta ranchers are paying between $45 and $60 per ton for hay while Northwest ranchers are being hit with hay costs between $100 and $120. Those costs have forced ranchers like Rose, who is selling half his herd, to take what they can get.
“Feed is the big thing,” he said. “Nobody is keeping calves or replacement heifers up here. The cost for feed and grain is just too high.
“Most are [cutting back operations]. We’re not making any money on them anyway.”