One legacy of the BSE crisis is Canada’s increased capacity for domestic slaughter as evidenced by the growth of processing facilities of all sizes in recent years.
Added to that list is Dennis Lane and his new company North 40 Meats, of Neilburg, Sask., who broke ground this spring on his farm and expect to be running within a month. Projected slaughter capacity is expected to be 1,000 head of large animals per year, with most of the company’s business being custom processed meat for local customers.
Although it cost the industry untold amounts, Lane said the aftermath of BSE created a good environment in which to start his business.
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“It’s not all bad, what happened,” said Lane. “The end result is it’s going to improve Canada by a considerable little bit, and the people, it’s going to change their attitudes.
“For our family, this is a silver lining.”
Lane said there has been more demand for custom processed meat because of the BSE crisis. He said besides farmers having an inflated inventory of animals to get rid of, urban residents are buying meat directly from producers and using a local processor to butcher it. This is likely due to the fact that beef’s price in grocery stores has stayed constant or risen in the face of BSE, despite farmers receiving a lot less for their product.
Lane had owned a grocery store in Neilburg that included a small retail and custom meat processing facility, but it was destroyed by fire in March 2004.
During BSE limits, there was a shortage of prime cuts, so his store had to charge more for beef, even though cattle weren’t worth much, Lane said.
Initially urban dwellers were upset that farmers could claim they were in a crisis situation when meat didn’t drop in price at the retail counter. Lane recommended his customers buy cattle from local farmers and bring it to him to process. That concept has now turned into a trend.
“People had just never ever thought of it before,” he said.
Now, there’s a waiting list of people wanting Lane to process their beef when his new company opens due to what he believes is a lack of slaughter capacity in northwestern Saskatchewan.
“Right now, if you had your beef and wanted to take it some place right now to have it processed, you may, if you’ve done enough phoning, find something in October, but you’re probably into November, to get one done. That’s just how much of a backlog there is,” said Lane. “So all I’m going to do is shorten that up a little bit.”
But Robert Lundquist, president of Diamond 7 Meats, in Lloydminster, Sask., said that with reopening of the U.S. border to live cattle and with Lakeside Packers now killing cows, some of this backlog has been lifted off the shoulders of smaller processors, although the retail price of beef hasn’t changed.
Lundquist said his company isn’t having trouble meeting the needs of its customers.
“Because we kill five days a week, we can accommodate people within a week.”
Fluctuating cattle prices and how that translates into consumer pricing at the meat counter remain a “crazy thing,” said Lundquist. He cited cull cow and bull prices that have come back down to a BSE low after an initial spike when the borders opened and fat stock prices that have fallen to less than they were a few weeks ago.
“It all comes back to the basis of supply and demand,” he said.
“When there’s lots of supply, obviously the big packers can set the price at whatever they want to pay and that’s it.
“It’s an unfortunate situation.”
