A permanent duty on Canadian cattle would have sent shock waves through the industry for years to come.
“We would have been on the hook for five years,” said Cor Van Raay, owner of one of Canada’s largest privately owned feedlots in southern Alberta.
“It was scary.”
He feared the industry would be upended by continued investigations and costly appeals.
Last week’s news from Washington, D.C., that the duty was rescinded drew a collective sigh of relief among Canadian producers like Van Raay.
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“There was a lot of political involvement and a lot of political pressure to go the R-Calf way,” he said.
Ten American senators lobbied the International Trade Commission, which is an independent but appointed body dealing with trade issues.
Van Raay’s company was one of six operations investigated by the ITC on charges of selling live cattle to the United States below production costs.
Must ship south
Feedlot owners say they are forced to ship to the U.S. because Canadian packing plants cannot kill all the animals fattened here.
Besides paying thousands of dollars in tariffs, Van Raay bought American calves in the fall. He was short on yearlings this year and the bid price was reasonable.
“A lot felt obligated to show the Americans we not only sold cattle down there, we wanted their cattle here to show them we are fair traders,” said Van Raay.
For British Columbia feeder Bill Freding, the levy forced him to make the toughest management decision of his career.
He emptied his feedlot at Oliver and decided to wait out the investigation. If the duty became permanent, he and his wife Darlene would have downsized the feedlot and found another use for the farmland.
His lot in the southern Okanagan Valley has a one-time capacity of 7,000 head. Most of his animals are slaughtered in Washington state because those plants are closest.
Now that the duty has stopped, he is shopping for calves in the U.S. as well as in B.C.
“It’s a relief that it’s over,” said Freding.
“Politics didn’t completely prevail, but it certainly cost the Canadian cattle industry a lot of money.”
