There has been reports over the last few months of a large packing plant closing in the US and ranchers sending more of their cattle to the Canadian market.
We thought we would reach out to a couple of our auction marts in our area to see if what is happening in the United States is affecting the market in Alberta. According to Crystal Rairdan from Stettler Auction Mart the smaller herd sizes that are being seen in the US, is very similar in Canada. “According to our economist in our meetings in May, at that point, Canada was down 336,000 head from average. A lot of that is due to drought, guys having to get rid of their older herd cows to keep the grass going for the ones they do have. As well, older farmers getting out and having herd dispersals.”
With American ranchers sending some of their cattle northward to Canada, Art Paetkau with Bow Slope in Brooks shares that those cattle go directly to the feed lots and processers, not the auction ring, and they have not had much of an effect on cattle prices here. “It has not affected our prices, for certain. We had a very, very strong fall market. I think that our calf market was probably stronger than the American market but there are cattle going both ways, per such.”
For many of us, the high cattle prices are seen when we are at the grocery store with the high price for beef. Rairdan shares that it is tough to predict where the price will go this year but it might not be the top yet. “I do think we haven’t seen the top (prices) yet. There is still some room to have a price increase. There are a lot of factors that go into it, environmental with drought and water, supply and demand. Grain prices is another thing that really push (prices). You have to feed the cattle with something. As the grain market fluctuates, the cattle market will fluctuate to accommodate that grain price.”
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