LEDUC, Alta. Ñ The troubles in the elk industry have forced producers to become creative marketers.
Christine Harrison of New Sarepta, Alta., sells all the meat and elk velvet from her central Alberta farm through the Alberta Elk Commission’s trade show booth.
By travelling to trade shows across the province selling products, Harrison nets $1,700 to $1,200 an animal, compared to $600 to $700 for selling the whole animal.
In 2004, she sold $40,000 a year from her 15 animals, double her sales from the previous year.
“I believe in what I’m selling,” said Harrison, who is one of 10 elk producers who regularly use the booth to promote their products.
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“A lot of people are curious what we do,” said Harrison.
While she’s offering the visitor to the booth a piece of jerky or a bite of sausage, she takes time to talk about her farm and her animals.
“I’ve got a big stack of repeat customers.”
Because Harrison is doing well through the trade show booth, she’s wondering if the border closure may have a silver lining for the industry.
The lucrative South Korean market for elk velvet sales has been closed for five years. No live elk can be exported to the United States and recently, China closed its border to elk velvet.
“Let’s not count on the border opening. Let’s make us self-sufficient,” said Harrison.
Russell Sawchuk, who works with the elk and deer association, said the industry has given up waiting for the return of the lucrative elk velvet markets. Instead it has formed the North American Elk Products Co-op, a new generation co-op that hopes to tap into the growing North American pet food market.
“We want to be a wholesaler and producer of a range of health food for the North American dog market,” said Sawchuk.
The elk industry has studies to show velvet antler helps alleviate pain and stiffness in dogs with arthritis.
There are 67 million dogs in Canada and the United States. If even 500,000 dogs begin to use elk velvet daily, it would use all the elk velvet in Canada, he said.
By turning whole elk antlers into capsules, producers can increase the value from $8 to $15 a pound for antlers to $250 a lb. for capsules.
Already 60 people have signed on to the co-op.
“We don’t think anybody else is going to do it unless we do it ourselves,” said Sawchuk.
In its short existence, the elk meat marketing co-op has doubled the number of animals it slaughters and sells each year.
In the first year the co-op killed 300 to 400 animals. Last year 1,800 were slaughtered and this year it is scheduled to slaughter 3,500, said Gerald Sam with the co-op.
While the threat of chronic wasting disease prevents elk from going to the U.S., the improved turn-around times in government testing of animals’ heads has allowed the meat co-op to change from selling frozen elk meat to fresh meat in Europe. Now about 60 to 70 percent of the meat is sent fresh to Europe.
“It opened up different markets,” said Sam, who hopes to add velvet antler to the marketing plans.
Ron Schultz of the Alberta Elk Velvet Marketing Corp. said his organization was formed five years ago to get a higher price for elk antler. Last year it contracted the sale of antler for $16 a lb., higher than the $8 average, but well below the $40 to $45 a lb. needed to be profitable.
“The intention was to help the industry gain some control,” said Schultz.
So far the co-op has sold about eight percent of the 43,000 lb. collected. After signing the contract, China closed its border to Canadian elk.
Despite the setbacks, Schultz believes the co-op has helped producers.
“This way everybody doesn’t have to be a marketer.”
Glenda Elkow, president of the Alberta Elk Commission, said it’s clear to everyone in the industry that producers must develop their own markets.
“It’s pretty obvious we can’t depend on the volatility of the international border lines,” she said.
“We have to develop markets here for our products and producers.”
The Alberta elk industry was given a $1 million grant by the provincial government to help build local and international markets for both meat and antlers.
The grant was part of a $2 million announcement to help build markets for all the province’s diversified livestock industries.
