Kerri Hinsburg, a bull breeder from Rapid City, Man., expressed a quiet triumph as she brushed and beautified the two herd sires she would soon show at the Manitoba Ag Days Bull Congress.
“We’re still here and we’re still in business,” she said, enjoying the happy mood that has reappeared in the cattle industry.
“The outlook is bright. We’re always optimistic. That’s why we’re farmers.”
For fellow bull breeder Barb Digby of Inglis, Man., this year’s bull sale season looks to be a much happier time than last year’s.
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“Last year the whole mood was depression,” said Digby, whose family is organizing its yearly bull sale.
“There was no optimism. That was hard to take.”
When the BSE crisis hit almost three years ago, most cattle producers cut back their expenses. Unfortunately for bull breeders, their product was often seen as an expense that could be pared or delayed.
“They made old Jethro there work a little harder than he normally would,” Hinsburg said about commercial cattle producers not replacing their old bulls.
Hinsburg and Digby said the 2004 bull sale season was better than the 2005 season. In spring 2004, a lot of producers believed the border would soon be open so they were willing to buy bulls. But by the following spring many had become skeptical that the border would open any time soon. They weren’t willing to risk cash at a time when calves produced by high quality bulls were selling at bargain basement prices.
But now that calves appear to be a good economic bet again, breeders expect prices to return to adequate, if not great, prices.
“We’re hoping they will recover,” Digby said. “We don’t expect them to be high because people don’t have the money. It’ll take at least two or three years for most people, including us, to recover.”
Hinsburg estimated it will take seven years for most producers to earn back the equity they lost in the crisis.
“We’re so far in debt now that it’s unbelievable. We’ve all eaten away our equity.”
Digby said lots of suppliers and lenders helped her farm survive, reducing charges and delaying payments. For example, her local veterinarian service was willing to provide free, over-the-phone advice after she decided she couldn’t afford to pay vets to come out to the farm any more.
“They were absolutely wonderful,” said Digby.
So were the banks.
“They carried us through.”
But now that cash is coming back into producers’ hands, the financial help is ending and she thinks that’s likely to keep a cap on the market.
“We’re going to have to start paying the money back.”
Tim Clarke, a producer from Ashern, Man., who manned the Manitoba Angus Association booth in the bull barn, said cow-calf producers in his area were more battered than most Manitoba producers because severe drought was already devastating local pastures and hay supplies when the border was shut after BSE was discovered in Canada in May 2003.
“We had no feed and then no market for the feeders,” he said.
Clarke was able to find an off-farm job as an adjustor for Manitoba Crop Insurance, but that wasn’t as easy for others in his area.
“A lot of guys in our area have bigger herds, so off-farm work isn’t an option,” said Clarke, whose wife ran the farm during his stints with crop insurance.
Clarke said he’s hoping soon to hear that a new cull cow plant will be built in Manitoba so that cattle will look like an even better investment than they do today.
“That would be a big boost,” said Clarke, noting that the $300 price for a cull cow looks worse when factoring in shipping charges of $60 per head to Moose Jaw, Sask., or $100 to Montreal.
Hinsburg said it will be nice for cow-calf producer families to begin to recover from the crisis because it broke many parents’ hearts to scale back their children’s activities when cash ran short.
“Some families pulled their kids out of hockey and ballet,” said Hinsburg, who has a son.
“Luckily (our son’s) extra curricular activities are working with cattle, 4-H and curling. That’s lucky.”
However, the greatest relief is just knowing that the bull sales are going forward and the industry is beginning to rebuild, giving bull breeders a central role.
