It appears the sheep industry’s difficulties will worsen this summer, with one prominent prairie buyer saying he wants to shut down his feedlot operations.
Roy Leitch is feeding at least 7,000 lambs in feedlots he owns in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. He used to sell the lambs to the United States but exports ended last year due to ruminant trade restrictions imposed after BSE was found in an Alberta cow.
He is losing money every day that he feeds them and said he wants to shut down the feedlots until the industry turns around. He would, however, continue as an order buyer, which would include buying for customers in Eastern Canada, an important market for lambs.
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“The sheep industry is a good industry,” Leitch said.
“It would be just un-believable if the border was open. You’d have to hire somebody to carry the money to the bank.”
The price for prairie lambs began to rally last fall when there was hope that the U.S. border would soon reopen. Prices fell again in December when it became apparent that the reopening would not happen as early as expected.
John Hamerton, vice-chair of the Manitoba Sheep Association, said prices are about half of normal and will fall even more in the months ahead if the border does not reopen.
He said it would be disastrous if Leitch shut down his feedlots.
“He probably buys more lambs across Western Canada than anybody else.”
Sheep, goat and elk producers continue to question why their industries were lumped in with cattle when the ban on exports to the U.S. was announced last spring. The U.S. was an important market for heavy lambs and cull ewes.
“Our industry has been hit for absolutely no good reason,” Hamerton said. “There was absolutely no justification for closing the border to sheep.”
An increasing number of sheep producers have tried to process their lambs locally so they could sell the meat themselves.
However, it is a challenge getting access to inspected abattoirs, since many abattoirs are already pressed to keep up with the demand for cattle slaughter and processing.
