CANADA-CATTLE HERD DECREASES.
Saskatchewan’s cattle herd shrank last year as farmers dealt with higher costs and uncertainty over new U.S. meat labelling rules.
The province’s beef herd alone is estimated to be down eight per cent year-over-year, while the number of farms that reported having beef herds declined by about 700, according to Statistics Canada data released Tuesday. The total Saskatchewan cattle herd, including dairy, decreased by 220,000 to 2.65 million as of Jan. 1.
Producer groups that anticipated the drop are worried about the lasting impact on the industry.
"People are just getting tired of working for nothing," said Jack Hextall, president of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association.
"We’re hoping there’s going to be some decent times coming in the industry. However, the real problem is that people that don’t want to exit the industry are being forced into doing that. We really hate to see that," Hextall said. "It’s hard on rural Saskatchewan, and hard on the infrastructure we built up here."
Overall beef herd numbers also fell in the other major beef producing provinces, with Alberta down 3.3 per cent, Manitoba 6.1 per cent and Ontario 14..5 per cent.
But as cattle numbers contract, export markets are expanding. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz on Tuesday spoke to reporters in a teleconference from Jordan after striking agreements to resume beef trade with that country, and to reopen the Saudi Arabian market to some boneless beef exports for the first time since 2003.
"Our beef herd may be a little smaller, but it’s still higher than historic numbers," Ritz said. "Certainly the vast majority of what we produce is exported (and) that’s why we’re out here opening these markets."
Ritz said he’ll also consider reviving a challenge of American country-of-origin labelling rules Canada considers detrimental to its cattle farmers, if President Barack Obama ultimately doesn’t proceed with revisions hammered out under the previous administration.
Nationally, producers reported having 13.2 million head of cattle at the start of 2009, down 5.1 per cent from the start of 2008. Canada’s cattle inventory, which spiked in the months following the discovery of mad cow disease in May 2003 as export markets shut down, has now been in decline over the past four years.
Statistics Canada said the beef herd "shows no signs of rebuilding," citing the national 6.6 per cent decline in the number of cows in 2008, and the nearly 10 per cent decline in the number of heifers that would normally be kept for breeding.
"The rebuilding will not happen in the next few years," predicted Kevin Gilbert, chair of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan’s livestock committee. Gilbert also questioned whether the steeper drop in Saskatchewan’s herd size compared to Alberta’s reflects the additional money the Alberta government has put into the livestock sector.
Brad Wildeman of Lanigan, president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, said there are likely a number of contributing factors to the decline, including a stronger grain market that may have pushed some producers out of cattle, the aging demographics of farmers, continued market uncertainty and dissatisfaction with federal risk management programs.
