26 Summertime


slow down Job losses impact beef sales


BC ranchers are facing the


remainder of 2019 with considerable trepidation as circumstances continue to add up to more market uncertainty at the local level.


Market


Musings by LIZ TWAN


In central BC, jobs are going down like dominoes with major mine and mill shutdowns, shift reductions and temporary suspensions of work, largely due to a lack of raw materials. It's all about supply and


demand, politics, economic uncertainty and multitudes of factors I cannot begin to understand. Who's to blame? Politicians? Horgan, Trudeau, Trump and others? Or is it


wildfires, droughts and flooding; hurricanes, twisters, tornados and such? You pick. Those issues creep into the cattle market in the form of fluctuating and lower cattle prices. Locally, we can be sure that consumers from each of those hundreds of jobless households are not going to be buying steak or any other prime cut of beef this summer. Relations with foreign


markets appear to be strained for various reasons and producers are struggling to find optimism as they look forward to fall sales. Add predation and the ever constant threat of wildfire and any joyful anticipation of summer is pretty subdued. The marketplace has


slowed down, as is the norm this time of year. At BC Livestock in


COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • JULY 2019


Do you have a horse and a trailer, a rope tied on your saddle and some spare time to lend a hand? If so, you would be popular in the Cariboo at branding time. Travis Redl of Miocene is just that type of cowboy and after the branding is done on his family ranch, he generously helps friends and neighbours. On this sunny, very warm Sunday, he hauled his horse and gear out to Black Creek, near Horsefly, to rope calves for a friend. The crew was a couple of bodies short, but with a little patience and perseverance another herd of calves were sporting brand new brands by day’s end. [LIZ TWAN PHOTO]


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Vanderhoof on May 31, 600 head were on offer. Simmental heifers (600 lb.) from Poole Farms traded to 193.50 while their 509 lb. heifers brought 205.00. Edward Poole contributed 558 lb. Speckle Park heifers (558 lb.) that stopped at 196.00. The Stifflers’ from Burns Lake watched as their 406 lb. steer calves topped 232.00; Johnson Farms had 601 lb. Black steers trade at 223.00 and heifers (529 lbs) reach 201.00. There were more than 300 butcher cows and 50-plus bulls. Bar K Ranch in Prince George brought 1,326 lb. cows (87.00) and 2,243 lb. bulls (107.00). Red Limousin cows (1,523 lb.) from Doug Brophy traded to 89.25. L+


Ranch in Fort Fraser sold their 1,215 lb. cows for 87.00. In Kamloops on June 11, 400 head were on offer. Ned Wiltsie saw his 540 lb. heifer calves hit 197.50. Ted Blackwell's 734 lb. heifers traded to 173.00 and his 1,760 lb. cows fetched 94.75. Quentin Schneider brought 735 lb. steers that stopped at 196.00.


The Rey Creek Ranch contributed 1,977 lb. butcher cows that topped out at 114.00; Schweb Family Cattle had 1,435 lb. butcher cows trade to 94.50 while their group of 2,000 lb. bulls marked 115.00. Willow Ranch brought 2,095 lb. butcher bulls that made it to 113.00; Blaine Louis saw his 1,745 lb. kill cows hit 95.00 and Bissel


Spur Farms of Abbotsford topped the sale with their 1,735 lb. cows trading to 95.50. A new undertaking, the first annual saddle horse sale was held in co-operation with the Nechako Valley Exhibition Society in Vanderhoof on June 8 and included a weekend full of team roping and barrel racing along with the horse sale. Thirteen saddle horses were listed. The average sale price was $2,300.00.


The high selling entry was and eight-year-old gelding, Todo, who fetched $6,700.00 - all of which was donated to the Spirit of the North Foundation for improvements to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Prince George Hospital.


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