ASHERN, Man. – For a short summer holiday, a group of more than 70 Quebecers spurned the delights of Paris and came instead to see Winnipeg and a dozen feedlots and farms.
It was a natural choice for these Quebec feedlot operators, because in a few weeks they’ll be doing business over the phone with farmers, auctioneers and truckers on the Prairies.
“It costs the same money to be in Winnipeg as to be in Europe, but this is a farmer’s holiday,” said Michel Daigle, the president of the Quebec feedlot operators association.
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“We met a lot of people who are happy to do business with us.”
Quebec has a small feedlot industry producing 150,000 slaughter cattle per year, but half of its feeder calves have to be imported each year because Quebec also has a small cow herd.
It is an expensive place to finish cattle because the wet winter weather means most animals must be fed under roofs. But there is a big market on its doorstep. Quebec produces only one-quarter of the beef its consumers eat each year.
Because of phytosanitary rules, Quebec feedlots have been unable to import American feeder cattle except during a period in the winter. Since BSE, they have been able to import none, so they’ve had to rely on prairie cattle.
Most of the feeders were coming from Alberta, which meant several rest stops along the route when transporting. Only recently have Quebecers discovered that Manitoba farms produce good feeder calves that are much closer.
St. Malo, Man., cow-calf producer Rene Catellier said he hadn’t thought much about the Quebec market until he started selling a few calves to it.
“It started one load at a time,” said Catellier, who produces Red Angus.
“But it’s a huge opportunity. A huge market.”
Apart from the transport issue, Manitoba has a marketing factor that should make it attractive to Quebec buyers: language.
“A lot of people here speak French. That’s the one thing that strikes them the most,” said Catellier, who lives among the string of French-speaking towns that runs along the Red River valley south of Winnipeg.
“They cannot believe there is somebody in the West who can speak French. They didn’t know that at all.”
Many of the feedlot operators on the tour spoke no English, so finding cattle producers in towns such as Ste. Rose du Lac, St. Pierre or St. Malo who can do a deal over the phone in French makes business much easier, Daigle said.
Eric Provencher, who manages Quebec cattle feed business for Purina, said he was struck by the similar problems faced by Manitoba and Quebec cattle producers.
Since the U.S. border closed because of BSE, Quebec cattle producers have relied on one Ontario slaughter plant south of Toronto for more than 80 percent of their slaughtering. Before the border closed they also used a Pennsylvania plant, which made for a more competitive market.
Manitoba cow-calf producers have also been cut off from U.S. buyers and are at the back of the queue for feedlot spaces in Alberta.
“We have the same problems as you,” said Provencher.
Daigle said Quebec feedlot operators are in favour of a $10 per head provincial check-off levy on every slaughter animal in order to raise money for a Quebec-based slaughter plant.
But he said he thought Winnipeg would be an ideal place for a cow cull plant and that one should be built even if the U.S. border opens.
“Everybody’s waiting for the opening of the border, but we should act now as if the border never opens,” said Daigle. “We have to find solutions within Canada by Canadians.”
Catellier said some Quebec feedlot operators are worried that once the American border opens, Manitoba calf producers will forget the Quebec market. But he expects Manitobans want to continue the relationship to spread their risk.
And there’s going to be lingering resentment over the border closure.
“I think a lot of producers here are getting a sour taste in their mouths from experiences with the U.S.,” said Catellier.
“Whether its cattle or hogs or softwood lumber or wheat board grains, anything we export gets subject to this hassle.
“Even when the border opens, I think we should give priority to our eastern neighbours.”
