FORT QU’APPELLE, Sask. – BSE, drought and low prices have all taken their toll on the bison industry but a lack of slaughter capacity is the real killer.
Mark Silzer, president of the Saskatchewan Bison Association, said too much pressure was put on existing capacity when smaller slaughter plants began killing more beef after BSE closed the U.S. border last year.
Then, a fire last July shut down the federally inspected plant in Edmonton, which was designated to kill animals older than 30 months.
“Edmonton gave us an option to kill some of the older animals,” Silzer said. “All we have left is UTM (under 30 months) plants.”
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He said that isn’t working well because the dentition process used to gauge an animal’s age is “somewhat flawed.”
Using that age verification method, some 26-month-old bison have been incorrectly labelled as 30 months old.
“They’re popping their permanent teeth sooner,” Silzer said.
“We’re starting to lose more and more of these bison to dentition.”
The meat from animals older than 30 months could be sold in Europe if they could be slaughtered at an approved facility.
“Domestically, they just don’t have the value,” Silzer said.
Dean Andre of Carmen Creek Gourmet Meats in Alberta told a recent SBA meeting that the European market is on hold.
“All of the marketers are running into the issue of older animals and no slaughter space,” he said.
“Your margin is a bit reduced because of that.”
He said about 25 percent of bison are already older than 30 months because of this problem.
Carmen Creek has been looking at plants in British Columbia but volumes are small and meat processing isn’t possible in some of them.
Andre said bison processors also struggle with costs compared to beef. He said it costs large beef packers $150 to put beef in a box, which is half what it costs to process bison.
As well, bison processors can’t handle thousands of head a day to earn economies of scale.
Roger Provencher, marketing agent for the Bison Feeder Co-operative of Saskatchewan, said opportunities exist in the United States if more slaughter space was available for younger animals. The co-op recently shipped meat from 100 animals to New York.
“They come to us for consistency,” he said.
The North American Bison Co-operative has Canadian members and was killing bison on a custom basis at Winkler, Man., to accommodate them.
“The U.S. market is the place to be,” said NABC president and SBA past-president Doug Griller.
He said major retailers are approaching marketers to get supply, and U.S. supply is tight. The co-op killed $13 million worth of cows over the last three years and some producers have left the industry, he said.
“We’re going to be short of animals,” Griller said.
But some large customers don’t want Canadian product, preferring U.S. domestic product instead.
The plant at New Rockford, N.D., has capacity to kill 400 head a week on a single shift but is now doing 30 to 40 percent of that.
