RED DEER – For the first time in the history of the modern elk
industry, elk meat is cheap enough to put in the freezer.
During an auction sale on Jan. 24, 34 people bought elk specifically to
eat, said Norm Moore of Moore’s Auction Ltd. in Alder Flats, Alta.
“It’s now at a price you can afford to eat. It’s going to be cheaper
than beef.”
Some buyers came to the auction to pick out their own animals for the
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freezer. Others put in their meat order through the auction.
“Finally, we’re able to have a meat market,” Moore said during the
Alberta Elk Association annual meeting, putting a bright face on the
collapse of elk prices.
During the sale, 44 bull calves born in 2001 sold for an average $305.
Prices ranged from $200 to $480. Just a few years ago those calves
would have sold for $1,500.
But the creation of a meat industry has come at a financial cost to
producers. In 1998, primary elk production in Alberta was worth $30
million. In 2001 it dropped to $15 million.
The price drop has one cause – chronic wasting disease.
Since its discovery in Saskatchewan herds, the lucrative market for elk
antler has blown away like dandelion fluff. South Korea, the biggest
importer of Canadian elk velvet, closed its borders to Canadian elk
antler, not just Saskatchewan elk.
“In Korea’s eyes we’re the same,” said Don Whitecotton of Rimbey,
Alta., who raises 800 elk with his Alberta partners.
“CWD had a huge impact in Alberta as it did in Saskatchewan.”
Last year, elk antler sold for $30 a pound, half of what it sold for a
year earlier.
With only a small elk antler market still open to Canada, producers
have developed a meat market as a way to maintain cash flow.
“Now it makes economic sense to butcher it for meat,” Whitecotton said.
Last June, 141 Alberta elk producers joined forces to open the Alberta
Wapiti Producers Co-op, a meat marketing co-op designed to create new
elk markets. In the first year, 218 animals were slaughtered and sold
through the co-op for meat, said president Gerald Sam of Grande
Prairie. This year, members hope to sell 500 animals to high-end
restaurants. Through the co-op, they can sell prime tenderloins for $40
a lb.
“It’s another way farmers can provide income onto their farm,” said Sam.
“It’s one way we can all sustain our family is to move some of our
animals into that business.”
Bob Kirkpatrick, president of the Saskatchewan Elk Breeders
Association, said the Saskatchewan and Alberta associations should work
closer together to develop new markets during these times of financial
stress.
“I think it’s time we buried the hatchet and started to work together
with a common goal in mind to strengthen our industry,” said
Kirkpatrick of Cabri, Sask.
“CWD has had an effect on all of us,” he told the Alberta producers.
“We have to support each other to save our industry as a whole. It’s
time we started working together instead of tearing each other apart.”
Whitecotton said even though the lower prices have shocked the
industry, they have forced producers to become better managers by
