Lloyd DeBruycker owns thousands of cattle in the United States. He has interests in purebred Charolais cattle, commercial herds and a sizable feedlot.
He also owns feeders in southern Alberta.
Ironically, he is a proud defender of the American cattle industry and a member of the Ranchers-Cattlemen’s Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America. The R-CALF organization has pressured the U.S. government to keep the ban on live cattle imports from Canada.
For DeBruycker, the ban means his Canadian cattle aren’t going to bring in any money.
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He said he was “betting on the border opening by May 20. I lost on that one.
“We bought Canadian cattle in October, November and December for hedge reasons in case there was a drop (in price) when the border opened,” said the Dutton, Montana, cattle producer.
“Some time hedges don’t play out so well.”
DeBruycker said he owns about 2,800 feeders near Picture Butte, Alta.
“They are almost ready to kill right now. A couple of hundred are ready right now and about the same every week for the next 60 days,” he said.
“If the border were to open right now, the way the fat cattle market is today, we’d have made $300 US per head.
“We bought on cheaper Canadian dollars and at lower prices than our American cattle at the time. It’s not going to happen now, we know that,” he said.
Just how many American-owned cattle are finishing in Canadian feedlots is difficult to pin down. American buyers were active in the lower priced Canadian feeder market last fall and winter.
Grant Nelson, a cow-calf producer from Stirling, Alta., estimates there may be 50,000 American-owned cattle in Canada.
He said that while many Americans own Canadian cattle, there are a lot Americans working to keep the U.S. border closed by saying Canadian animals are a health risk or a threat to the U.S. market.
“There’ve been some scuffles in some (Alberta) auction market parking lots with some of the Americans and their R-CALF bumper stickers. We know why they want the border closed and it’s about money,” said Nelson.
DeBruycker said keeping the Canadian border closed is complicated.
“We lost our exports to Southeast Asia. If we had them, there wouldn’t be quite so much resistance to opening the border out of Canada. Until we get our exports back, it is hard to justify opening that border,” he said.
R-CALF executive Bill Bullard has said in the past that his organization plans a legal challenge to any opening of the U.S. border to Canadian live cattle.
