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Dale Weiss, who runs Arrowhead Ranch near Dunmore, says he has seen a decline in the number of ranchers in Cypress County.
today, so he can’t really turn the place over to the kids, because he needs more to live.”
Bob Olson, former Cypress County reeve, also says he has noticed a decline in the number of ranchers in the region. Many older ranchers are selling their land to neighbours, something Olson himself did when he and his family sold their ranch near Jenner.
“I’m just about 60 and it’s just a trend which is happening,” he said. “The young people who are coming into this industry are few and far between, it’s so difficult for them to make it. There’s no 7-11 down the street, the school is not there. When I was a kid, there were 60 or 70 kids in the school, and now there is around 20 kids. It’s a trend that’s carrying on and doesn’t seem to be changing.”
Despite issues for the industry in regard to the number of ranchers, the world-wide demand for Canadian beef has been returning to earlier peaks. However, with fewer ranches and cattle producers, it’s hard to meet the demand.
“There’s a big demand for protein around the world,” said Chuck MacLean, president of Canada Beef Inc., an industry group which represents exporters, feedlots and others in the supply chain. “Depending on what market you’re in, whether you’re in an Asian market or a North American market, or Latin America, there’s a demand for the product, but, first of all, we couldn’t begin to service it.
“I’ve been in China and Japan. The big cities like Beijing and Shanghai have a 20-million population. They have more population in one city than we have in an entire country, and they could probably consume everything we produce. Everybody wants to go there but only if it’s worth more there than anywhere else. If you’re a rancher, I’d say you’re in really good shape but if you are a feedlot operator or in the middle ... the margins are pretty tight going in and you need big amounts of money now to fill a feed lot.”
Taylor says the smaller number of cattle and the steady price of feed has kept the prices at a high level.
MacLean said initially he was concerned producers would end up pricing themselves out of business at the consumer level, but it seemed the consumer is paying the higher prices.
However, with the downturn in oil having an impact on economy, it will be hard to know if the money will continue to be there, or if the market will begin to cool off.
“I don’t know if we’ll hold in 2015,” said Taylor. “I think we could see a slight decrease again.”
“I think it will probably level off, it might come down a bit,” said Weiss. “I don’t think they’ll continue to rise much but I think they’ll stay fairly strong.” ■
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41189016•03/31/15
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