Auctioneer Chris Poley of Weldon, Sask., said it at a cattle sale in Melfort, Sask., last week: “We’ve seen it many times before. When there’s tough times, people come together to support one another.”
Poley’s words were quoted in a story sent to the Producer by Debbie Furber, 4-H mom and freelance writer. The support to which Poley paid homage was the $1.56 per pound average sale price at the regional 4-H finished beef sale, with the sale topper selling for $2.30 per lb.
To put that in full perspective, last year’s sale average was about $1.45, according to Furber. And that number was recorded back when bovine spongiform encephalopathy was a disease that only happened in other countries; back when cattle exports were reaching all-time highs and the cattle business was a sunny spot on the Canadian agricultural landscape.
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To achieve a higher sale average during these gloomy days speaks volumes.
It says local businesses see the value of the 4-H program. It says those businesses and sponsors and farm families see a future in the cattle business and that they won’t be beaten by crisis.
It says consumers of all kinds retain their faith in the safety of Canadian beef, and it says they are willing to put their money where their mouths are.
The story held true at Saskatoon’s 4-H Finished Beef Showcase last week as well, where the sale average was $1.34 – a half-cent off last year’s average – and the top seller went for $3 per lb.
When it comes to 4-H sales, the generosity of buyers, businesses and sponsors isn’t unique. It is a feature that can be counted upon just as surely as one can count on that special 4-H show smell that combines shampoo, wet cattle hair, wood shavings and manure.
But in such uncertain times for the cattle industry, and by extension uncertainty for many other businesses, the largesse shown across the Prairies surely deserves additional praise.
An attribute of the 4-H program is the appreciation typically shown by members toward the buyers of their animals, via personal thanks, thank-you notes, photo plaques and ads in local newspapers.
As a 4-H alumnus, I can recall the buyer of every 4-H steer I sold and I’ll wager that many of today’s members can say the same thing. Now, if faced with an array of merchants at which to make a purchase, I choose one that proved its generosity to the 4-H program and to the cattle industry.
It’s something to think about in coming days, weeks and months, when the cattle crisis is past.
