Tariff disputes with the U.S. are nothing new
For many years we have complacently assumed that American displeasure with Canada’s supply management regime for dairy and poultry production was an issue well isolated from other agricultural sectors. This perhaps was never the case, but it certainly is no longer. If the wayward and quixotic President Trump can slap punitive duties on steel and […] Read more
Lab meat has plenty of hurdles to overcome before it can replace ruminants
Recent news that technology has been developed to produce artificial or “ersatz” meat has caused a ripple of concern in the livestock industry. NOT TO WORRY! A couple of generations ago there were confident predictions of manufactured fluid milk and it hasn’t happened. But while I say, not to worry, I don’t mean that it […] Read more
Marketing with Charlie Gracey
The Canadian beef cow herd reached a new record high of 4.92 million head on July 1, 2003, less than two months after the discovery of BSE in a herd in Alberta. For present purposes, I regard the 2003 number as the all-time peak even though beef cow numbers were forced upward to 5.44 million […] Read more
Charlie Gracey looks at grain and water usage in cattle
Conventional wisdom holds that beef cattle are wasteful users of grain and in direct competition with humans for finite supplies of food grains and water. Thus the large acreages devoted to feed grains might better be deployed in the production of crops directly consumable by humans. This observation may appear logical on the surface but, […] Read more
Is there a way back? Cow-calf producers hold the key
A cattle-feeding industry that by year-end will have lost an estimated billion dollars since August 2015 plus a cow-calf sector that has lost more than one million cows and over 20,000 producers in the past decade strongly suggests an industry in crisis. Cattle feeders might be excused if they are not quite as optimistic about […] Read more
Charlie Gracey's take on cattle markets and the cow-calf industry
There are few surprises and some disappointments at the end of Q2. Total slaughter cattle numbers are up 5.1 per cent and tonnage is up approximately nine per cent over the same period in 2015. The larger increase in tonnage is due entirely to increased carcass weights. Further, the increase in the percentage of AAA […] Read more
News Roundup from the May 2016 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
At the end of the first quarter the domestic steer slaughter was down 2.3 per cent while the domestic heifer slaughter was down 9.1 per cent. That doesn’t tell us much until we factor in live slaughter steer and heifer exports. The sex of fed cattle slaughter exports is not known until closer to year-end, […] Read more
At last there are clear signs of beef herd expansion in Canada! In 2015 the output, or productive capacity of the national herd was reduced: almost 13 per cent in numbers of animals marketed and 10 per cent in tonnage. Most of that reduction, however, is explained by an almost 20 per cent decline in […] Read more
News Roundup from the February 2016 issue of Canadian Cattlemen
The year-end 2015 grading results are cause for concern but I doubt many have noticed. On the positive side we see a very sharp increase in AAA carcasses from 57.1 per cent of the total in the Prime to A series to 62.0 per cent. In fact Prime plus AAA now make up almost two-thirds […] Read more
If the Canadian industry is to take full advantage of recently opened and expanded markets outside of NAFTA this will require a significantly expanded breeding herd. The industry is already missing out on these opportunities and will continue to do so if cow numbers do not increase. This caused me to take a look at […] Read more
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