Everything seems back to normal at auction barns this fall. Sales of cattle are brisk and calves are fetching good prices.
But beneath the surface, the effects of BSE linger like a hangover.
“It’s back with a vengeance,” said auction manager Rick Wright, describing the fall run of cattle at Heartland Livestock Services in Brandon. “But I’m not sure it’s normal.”
He was busy Oct. 31 helping sort calves for a sale the following day. With a front row seat at the sales ring, he hears and sees things that make him uneasy.
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“This year, we’re seeing guys selling everything lock, stock and barrel,” he said. “They’re liquidating everything.”
The size of the calves coming to market are another striking feature. Weights range from 300 to 700 pounds. Producers are not holding back lighter weight calves as they normally would.
Meanwhile, there are record numbers of bred cattle coming to market in Manitoba, partly due to producers selling off herds. Some are older farmers who feel it is time to retire, but there are also young farmers who want a regular paycheque, even if it means moving to the oil fields of Alberta.
“We have so many producers throwing in the towel and quitting,” said Wright, above the din of bawling of calves echoing from pens near the sales ring. “These are legitimate good, big herds.”
Auctioneers have also noted less enthusiasm among local buyers. The appetite to background calves in Manitoba is not as great, for example, and feedlot operators in the province are still trying to shake off the effects of the past two years.
Many calves sold in Brandon are going to other provinces or to the United States. American buyers are setting the price.
Despite the unease, auctioneers are relieved to see some semblance of order return to the industry. Cattle sales were erratic during the past two years due to uncertainty among producers about the best time to sell. Everything hinged on when the U.S. border would reopen to cattle imports.
“Everybody’s getting back into their normal type of delivery times,” said Gene Parks, president of the Canadian Livestock Markets Association and owner of livestock auctions at Pipestone, Man., and Whitewood, Sask.
“When the BSE issue hit, everything went right out the window,” Parks said. “The days you would have thought you would have 2,000 head, you had 200. The days you might have expected 500 head you might have had 2,000. It threw the whole entire industry into turmoil.”
Parks said the industry is on firmer footing now.
“It’s nice to see good cattle numbers coming to town. As a market owner, it’s very nice. We’re like everybody else. We have a great deal of expense, we employ at lot of people at each market and for the last 21/2 years there’s been some pretty lean times.”
At the Calgary Stockyards, the fall run of cattle was delayed slightly by inclement weather, which kept producers harvesting. President Don Danard said last week volumes were returning to what they were three years ago. However, like Wright, Danard has noted less enthusiasm among buyers.
“It’s good to see it come back, but it’s not the same. We’ve got some American interest, we’ve got cattle going south, but the red tape and the testing and all of the rest of the things you have to do to get them there is tedious.
“We’ve lost a lot of our truckers. The trucking thing’s a nightmare. It’s not as free and fluid as it used to be.”
Wright predicted the effects of BSE will linger for another two years. Some of the other effects include the continuation of depressed demand for cull cattle and more rules for shipping cattle into the U.S.
Despite those challenges, cattle producers are at least enjoying better calf prices. Wright said calves at Heartland Livestock Services in Brandon are selling for 20 to 30 cents per lb. more than they were last year. The average price for a good quality 500 lb. steer has ranged between $1.30 and $1.38 per lb. in Brandon recently.
“Producers are happy. Absolutely,” said Danard. “They’re getting considerably more than they were a year ago. It’s almost back to the levels pre-BSE.”
