Prices fall like mad

Ken Johnston
Editor

After a stellar sale last month, the effects of Mad Cow Disease exploded onto the scene at the Stratton sales barn Saturday.
Prices for calves at the sale averaged about 85¢/lb. which is down from last year’s average of about $1.35/lb. Sales barn manager Russell Richards said that, “If the government does not step in and offer the farmers a little help we will will lose a lot of farmers.”
Richards said in addition to the low prices, the bridge being out at Sioux Narrows and a low feed supply are two more nails in the farmers’ coffins. The bridge having weight restrictions increases costs for cattle going west and an impending shortage of feed for the winter will drive feed costs up.
“If a cow is only worth $100 it is more expensive to feed it than it is worth,” said a noticeably upset Richards Monday. “You know things are bad when it costs (money) to send (cattle) to the west.”
Richards noted that last week an announcement was made in Manitoba that the US border will likely not fully reopen for 7-8 years. That sent cattle prices plummeting as speculators stopped buying as they did a month ago in Stratton.
A sale on Friday in Eastern Ontario only managed to get 40¢/lb. on calves. While the Stratton sale Saturday netted double that, it was small consolation as costs to raise the animals are more than what the farmers were getting for them.
Over 2,000 head of calves and yearlings went through the Stratton barn which made it one of the, if not the, largest sale ever held there. “When I started accepting cattle I never imagined we would get as many as we did,” said Richards.
Of those approx. 1,600 were calves and about 450 were yearlings. All the calves were done being sold by 5 p.m. on Saturday and the balance of the head up for sale were sold by 10:30 that night. It was a very long weekend for Richards and his crew who worked until late Sunday night to get all the animals loaded and shipped out.
He noted that about 2/3rds of them went to buyers in the east and about 1/3 to the west. Quite a large number of animals were sold and bought locally. “Local demand calves got about $90¢ to $1.00/lb.”
The yearlings, which a month ago sold for about $1.13/lb. on average, averaged about 85¢/lb. Saturday. “Those units should have moved at the last sale, but no one was sure of what B.S.E. (Mad Cow Disease) would do to prices then,” said Richards.
Now the reality has set in and Richards is concerned about the future of the industry both in the district and right across the country. “Most farmers knew it was coming and were pleased to get what they got.” But that is little consolation to the farmers’ bottom line. If the cattle industry collapses, Richards said the effects will be like dominos across the economy. “Farming is the backbone of Canada’s economy. Without it the effects will be devastating.”
Richards said that many farmers are now just dumping their animals to avoid the high feeding costs that are coming this winter. He said that normally the calf sale is the last one of the year but they may have another sale if there is enough interest. He asks that anyone interested in having one to call him at 487-2472.