Ed Green Nuffield trip to usa and Canada, June/July 2012 Friday 22 June 2012
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- Tuesday 10 July 2012 Brenda Schoepp, Rimbey
- Wednesday 11 July 2012 Canada Beef Inc, CanFax, Canadian Cattlemens Association (Calgary)
- James Bradbury (North America Marketing Manager, Cattle Beef Inc)
- Andrea Brocklebank, the Research Manager at the CCA
- Ted Haney, International Room, Calgary Stampede
- Evening International Reception, Calgary Stampede
- Thursday 12 July 2012 William Torres, Research Manager, Cattleland Feedyards, Strathmore
- Friday 13 July 2012 Western Feedlots Ltd, High River, Alberta
- Saturday 16 July 2012
Iain Aitkin, Rimbey Grazing a Luing suckler herd of 130 cows, and finishing on grass. Also growing oats undersown with white, red and sweet yellow clover (check out Gabe Brown from Dakota). Forward selling 40 to 50 beef cattle. Start advertising in February and sold out by April to 200 customers for autumn delivery to a specified car park in Calgary. Only option is a quarter side of vac packed cuts at 45kg for $500. Dry aged for 16 days. www.eatwild.com Tuesday 10 July 2012 Brenda Schoepp, Rimbey Brenda is a fellow 2012 Nuffield Scholar from Canada. She has a multi faceted career including a mentorship program, columnist, public speaker and produces the Beeflink newsletter which involves analysing beef industry data. She also liaises with politicians on behalf of various stakeholders, such as feedlots and animal health and management service operators. I had many interesting and productive conversations on various industry and business issues with Brenda which gave a real insight into the North American beef industry and how the UK beef industry, and my own business within it, could use the best parts of this to progress. Most of these conversations are commercially sensitive so I won’t enlarge on this here. Wednesday 11 July 2012 Canada Beef Inc, CanFax, Canadian Cattlemens Association (Calgary) Met with Jorge Mendez-Manzanilla (Senior Director, Hispanic Market Development, Cattle Beef Inc) and James Bradbury (North America Marketing Manager, Cattle Beef Inc) at their Calgary HQ. Talked me through a presentation on “The Canadian Beef Advantage” that uses their traceability system to give quality assurance credentials for domestic and especially export markets. Actively trying to influence the consumer emotionally. CCA represents 65,000 beef operations. CCA Board made up of 27 producers. CCA funded through check-off allocations from each member state. CCA covers trade, animal health, environment and animal care, fiscal and monetary policy, and grading/inspections. Canada Beef Inc (CBI) is the marketing arm of the Canadian Cattlemens Association (CCA). 86,000 primary beef producers pay $3 per animal transaction to the national “checkoff” scheme. $1 of this goes to CBI, and the rest to CCA. An animal is transacted around two and a half times in a lifetime giving a total per animal of around $7.50. 75% of cattle are slaughtered in Alberta. In the US there is a 10-14% beef production gap, and the US exports 10% of beef production. 71% of Canadian beef exports go to the US, and this accounts for 4% of US consumption. Canada and Australia both have a 30% share of US beef imports. Hispanic markets in North America, eg California, predominately use imports. This market has an increasing critical mass which makes logistics efficient. There is also a growing disposable income in this sector. The Hispanic market makes good use of the hump part of the carcass in Braham type cattle. Characteristics of the Hispanic market also include the non-use of meat trays and wrapping, with meat laid out in high piles on the counter instead. Two thirds of the Canadian herd has Angus/Hereford Bos Taurus bloodlines. This is seen as a real selling point due to yield and quality advantages. Mandatory EID tagging system at birth also gives both traceability and data for research. This is seen as a real advantage over the US, where tagging of any sort is not mandatory and food safety only really starts at the meat plant, rather than the farm. Canadian meat plants use the same hot wash and lactic acid interventions as the US, and have formulated a marbling and meat quality grading system that can used as a perfect equivalent to the US system, as shown below: Canada – Prime, AAA, AA, A (Highest to lowest quality) US – Prime, Choice, Select, Standard There are some differences, however, that the Canadian’s are keen to highlight. For instance, the Canadian A grade doesn’t allow any dark cutters, whereas B grades are allowed in the US. Yellow fat is also not allowed in the A grade, whereas the US does not see this as a quality defect. Marbling and muscling are key factors incentivised by the camera picture in meat plants. Skeletal classification, rather than age, is tracked as a key indicator as cattle age differently, but still aim for below 30 months of age. Canadian taste buds like a “firm” texture. Promotional Canadian Beef Advantage (CBA) software and marketing materials have been developed in a consultative approach with private companies in areas such as foodservice. CBA provide the content, resources, product development and recipes etc, and the private companies provide the other 50% of the equation by paying for the cost of physically producing the materials. A business plan is drawn up with targets for adding sales and value that will have to be met. Recent initiatives have included the “High River Angus” brand, a focus on pricing beef per piece rather than per kg, “Slice n Save” where consumers are encouraged to buy larger cuts of beef and cut them up at home. Also met with Andrea Brocklebank, the Research Manager at the CCA and Dennis Laycroft, the Executive Vice President of CCA. Andrea works on the research side of the Checkoff system looking at animal health and safety etc. Money is leveraged with federal and provincial funding. Canfax is the voluntary information gathering vehicle. Characteristics of the Canadian beef industry are an increase in volatility, tight profit margins, more direct sales with meat plants as banks require contracts, whilst at the same time less price transparency is occurring as there are now only two main meat plants, Cargill and Tyson, who enjoy 95% of the Canadian kill. Unlike the US, price reporting is not mandatory. However, they did argue that the US system still makes price discovery difficult due to the historical nature of the prices being reported. Some form of hybrid is needed with a code of conduct where cattle can’t be stacked up. The COOL regulations gave the US meat plants a competitive advantage and was some of the reason XL were able to take over the Tyson meat plants. Managing the BASIS costs are key when deciding the destination of the cattle to be slaughtered. US imports have been greater due to the weak US dollar. 50% of Canadian production is exported. Short ribs are important into Asia, Mexico, S Korea and Japan. Japan requires much greater marbling. Trim is exported to the US. Middle meats are coming into Canada. Canadian foodservice accounts for 20-25% of sales, whilst in the US this is higher at 40%. Mexico like over 30 month animals. The EU quota is available to any exporting country worldwide, it’s just that the US were able to get in there first. It is considered difficult to give up the use of growth hormones in beef production in North America to supply the EU due to the inefficiency this adds to production. Kirsten Ketelko at Sterling Beef is one of those exporting whole natural carcasses to the EU under the Spring Creek brand www.springcreek.ca Beef Information Exchange System (BIXS) is a new system designed to facilitate information flow between breeder, feedlot and meat packer to improve animal health and production efficiency. The RFID tag is the backbone to this. Suckler producers will only get out of the system if they put into the system. BIXS work with the half a dozen or so private companies that also operate in this area eg Kee Jim at FHMS. Ted Haney thought, however, that the uptake is low at present, and maybe BIXS is trying to be all things to all people when perhaps private enterprise might be better placed to run this kind of thing. BIXS is only possible with RFID tags but the expense improve efficiencies. The Beef Five Nations Alliance is a loose collaboration of countries consisting of Canada, the US, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand who work together to further their export trade routes. They use positive messages of environmental sustainability, carbon sequestration and scientific benchmarking as tools to influence international regulatory bodies. Their overall position statement is “To exceed global consumers’ expectations while eliminating non-scientific and political trade restrictions”. They view the key areas as trade reform, animal identification, animal health, competitiveness and profitability. The EU is very much on their radar and lobbying to open up this lucrative market is intense. Banning growth hormone beef is something they see as a political trade barrier. When BSE hit the Canadian beef industry in 2003, it was disastrous and this helped spawn their traceability system. Although the Canadian dollar is now stronger, it has been weak in the past and this focussed the industry on production efficiency. Barley is now cheaper than grain maize and so the predominant feed used. Key areas now are to increase domestic demand in Canada and the US, and gain market access to China (through Vietnam and Hong Kong) and Russia. Also improving competitiveness through productivity and innovation, streamlining regulation, improving labour availability and decreasing the government shadow. If Canada is not efficient,cattle move south into the US (as happened during BSE). Managing volatility (insuring against changes in beef prices), climatic disaster (crop insurance, hail damage) and disease (BSE) are therefore crucial. Verified Beef Production (VBP) is an assurance scheme that provides animal health and environmental plans etc. 65% of production is signed up to this, but only a minority of producers. In general, the suckler producers are not innovators and may be holding back progress to a degree. Other problems include that the immense influence of oil in Canada has led to certain areas of farmland being bought up as a tax write off. BIXS and VBP are important tools for online auction systems in providing information on animal ID, vaccinations, disease control and breeding data. 68% of feedlots have less than 10,000 head capacity. 23% of feedlot cost is feed, 57% is animal purchase, so combined represents 80-89% of total costs. 92% of meat packer capacity is with two packers; XL Lakeside in Brooks, Alberta and Cargill in High River, Alberta and Guelph, Ontario. 80% of beef is processed domestically, 20% exported as live cattle. Beef production was down 14% in 2011. 45% of beef produced was exported (including slaughter beef). 26% of domestic consumption is imported beef, and increasing. Per capita beef consumption is declining. In the global beef market, cost differentials (currency, labour, land) are narrowing. Brazilian exports are growing 2.5% annually since 2008. Australia, Argentina and Canada are all stabilizing at the bottom of the cycle. Other major players are the US and India. The US herd is contracting due to drought and high feed costs. A 6% increase in global beef consumption is predicted over the next ten years fuelled by a growing population and affluence. Import growth of 955,000 tons in next ten years: EU 652,000 tons more Japan 103,000 tons more MENA 99,000 tons more Russia 92,000 tons more S Korea 27,000 tons more Others 229,000 tons more USA 247,000 tons less Canadian trade outlook: POSITIVES – reduced global inventories, cattle and beef prices to remain strong, strong beef demand despite price increases, good land and water resources. NEGATIVES – Canadian $ remaining strong, volatile and tightening supply of commodities, fragile global economy, packer and feedlot utilization levels increasingly challenged, competition for land use (oil, housing). Meat packer and feedlot capacity utilization is decreasing. Equity required for cattle in feedlots increased by 19% in 2011. Trade of fed cattle in 2011: 50% paid in cash, 25% on grid/formula, 15% on forward contract, 10% packer owned. CCA foreign trade priorities: US COOL resolution, Access to EU (CETA), Comprehensive & Economic Trade Agreement, UTM access to Korea & FTA to regain parity with the US, UTM access to Japan & FTA or TPP, Real UTM access to China (facilities approval, ractopamine, bone-in), Full UTM access to Taiwan and ractopamine resolution. Ted Haney, International Room, Calgary Stampede Had a meeting with Ted and discussed various industry issues. Questioned the actual uptake of the BIXS system by feedlots and cow/calf operations and questioned what access and information was actually available. May need to be mandatory for BIXS to succeed and participants need to be able to extract information to improve profitability. In contrast, there are half a dozen extremely profitable and focussed private research, software and management systems (eg FHMS) that are quite happy to see BIXS fail. Traceability is an important tool in the box for Canadian exports. The EU quota is taken up by the US, Australia, Canada, Argentina & Uruguay in volume order. CETA is aiming to gain Canada its own zero tariff quota. Exporters see the EU as a net importer again soon and see EU subsidy becoming increasingly de-linked to production due to economic demands. North America also thinks that the efficiencies that growth hormones provide can’t be ignored by the EU eventually. “Canada Gold” sold below the cost of production to gain export markets and eventually imploded. Run by Rick Paskel (403 894 9449) and had a vertically integrated feedlot/farm/grain/meat plant chain. Prairie Heritage sell whole carcasses to Italy. Managed by Christopher Weader. Contacts: Bryan Walton, Alberta Cattle Feeders, National Cattle Feeders (403) 250 2509 Brian Caney, General Manager, Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA) Richard Brown, meat industry consultant and data analyst, GIRA, sheep farmer, Brighton. Ron Ward, cattle dealer. Evening International Reception, Calgary Stampede Interesting evening of meeting and greeting with the great and the good of the Albertan beef industry and politicians. Talked with various members of the CCA and politicians, including Premier Alison Redford. Thursday 12 July 2012 William Torres, Research Manager, Cattleland Feedyards, Strathmore Cattleland Feedyards is comprised of a 25,000 head custom feedlot, 5,000 head capacity Bull Evaluation facility and additional backgrounding lots with a 2500 head capacity. 11,000 acres are under cultivation and irrigation, including grain and silage, a 1000 head suckler herd, and a trucking operation hauling livestock, grain, hay and sod (farmed under the Creekstone arm of the operation). There is a staff of 37. Cattle are mainly kept in dirt floor pens of 250. Pens are cleaned in February prior to the spring thaw and again in the summer. The pens have wooden weather shelter fences for wind and snow protection. Water troughs are heated. The yards looked quite muddy to me, but apparently the spring had been wetter than normal. William suggested concreting the yards with a rubber matting overlay could be a solution. Also said more numerous and less centralised processing units would be beneficial. Diets consist of dry rolled barley, wholecrop barley, chopped hay and tallow. Surplus feed is brought in by rail freight. 100% of the wholecrop silage and 40% of the barley grain is home produced. Hay is purchased in. 250 tonnes of barley are rolled per day. Five diets are normal, but due to the research requirements, 35 diets are used. Cattle are fed twice a day on a 40/60 volume split. Feed is fed at cost, with the profit coming from research and administration of pharmaceuticals. 80% of cattle are on research trials. Custom feeding is done on a ‘cost of gain’ contract. Cattle used for research are subject to a research fee, but if growth hormones are used, this adds a benefit so can be charged for. CTC is fed on a pulse system to combat mud and feet problems. It’s more profitable to custom feed cattle than to own them. Ownership options at different percentages are also available. Beef prices are hedged on CBOT. To do this a minimum of 1000 head is required, or 10,000 lbs of beef. The following are all hedged forward: barley (from SE Winnepeg), fertiliser, diesel, canola, wheat, rye and tallow (from rendering). Cattle are trucked in from anywhere within a 24 hour trucking distance. Cattle are trucked out and killed at the Cargill and Tyson meat plants which are under two and a half hours away. The processing barn can process 850 per day and use an all woman team due to their greater husbandry skills. The team leader, Sue, “talks like a sailor, walks like a soldier, and can beat up both of them”! Each animal has three identifications; a national RFID tag, a four digit management tag, and an owner/trial colour tag. On arrival, cattle are weighed, DNA ear tag sampled and implanted with growth hormones. The crush is made by Silencer. The RFID reader by the crush head is on a retractable cord and made by Ingersoll Rand. The RFID control box is made by Aleis. A large scale walk-on weigh scale can weigh 16 fat cattle or 28 yearlings. The pen riders are contracted in, with less needed in the summer, and paid on mortality percentages. Deaths are post mortemed by law, and then rendered. In the last three years, a breeders alliance has been set up consisting of 1000 cow/calf units. Bulls from Cattleland can be sold to them, and Cattleland get the first offer to buy the calf crop with a package of free bulls, vaccines and a management protocol on offer. If a deal can’t be done, however, a charge can be made and the bulls can be sold commercially. The Integrated Beef Research Station (IBRS) runs exclusive and confidential trials to validate new pharmaceutical and feed ingredient products and protocols that enhance weight gain, have health benefits or reduce handling and stress. The current focus is on genomics and Residual Feed Intake (RFI). Size is important for research facilities to generate a big enough revenue stream to make it worthwhile. There is a 18,000 head research facility capacity with 50 small pens, 8 RFID pens with GrowSafe feed troughs (photos below), 40 medium pens, 20 medium/large pens and 40 large pens. Research partners include Feedlot Health Management Services, pharmaceutical companies, feed companies, universities, institutes and genetics companies. The National Bull Evaluation Centre is the largest in the world with a 5000 head capacity where genetics can be progeny tested and exposed to commercial projects. The facility offers marketing opportunities and the option to custom feed progeny in the feedyard. Currently, for example, kelated minerals to reduce foot disease are being researched, and a feed diet that reduces manure production. Another trial involves castrating 5000 bulls on arrival, who are then put on 8 different diets over an 18 month period to research feed that reduces manure production. Other trials have steers on eight different diets and heifers on four different diets. This is obviously expensive and time consuming. This is a turnkey operation where services can be either contracted in or out using sub-contractors where necessary. FHMS and Veterinary Agri Health Services from Airdrie are two of the main research partners. GrowSafe are also based in Airdrie, as used by JSR Farming in Yorkshire. Research projects usually run over three years. Cattleland procure research funding then sell the research to major drug companies, including Pfsizer, Elanco, Scherling Plough and Novartis. The data belongs to the drug companies. FHMS put in the cattle and sub contract out the services. Two trials can run simultaneously with two companies and/or against a control. The research is confidential and transparent. Risk Management Incorporated (RMI) offer hedging and risk management options and services on beef prices, all inputs and more recently, energy. A jet engine manure drier to create energy was recently built using $2 million of city money, but went bankrupt. It has now been bought out by New York financiers. Commodities trading is at the core of RMI. Five full time accountants are employed. Oil companies own custom fed cattle to create losses for tax purposes, but in a legal transaction way. Friday 13 July 2012 Western Feedlots Ltd, High River, Alberta Dave Plett, President/CEO, Tom Plett, International Development, Dr Calvin Booker, Managing Partner, Feedlot Health Management Systems Ltd. This hugely impressive company was started in 1958 as a feedlot based on the feedlot system in the US. Up until the 1970s, railroads were used but then the US grain fed system was copied during a period of rampant growth in the 1980s and 1990s. Diets are now barley based, as are most in the South Alberta region. Western is Canada’s largest feeder, with 100,000 cattle based on three sites. Cattle are also owned in other feedlots and other complimentary operations include a feed grains trading division, commercial feedlot software development (paraDIAM), cattle and feed finance facilities, commodities trading, extensive production research and consulting, crop farming, and development of their own Angus Black Gold brand. In 15 years, Western have increased AAA grades from 30% to 70%. An individual animal management program has been implemented. A grid based system of incentives and penalties has been introduced. Cost per head per day is $3. Western host the largest research project of cattle in the world. Cattle arriving on site are weighed, measured in height, width and breadth, colour assessed, individually tagged, lot and pen tagged, and given a gut fill of feed. A research student at Western found that there were correlations between hair colour, especially white patches, and performance. This led to the colour assessing process on arrival to decide management of the animal (see photo below). 70 days prior to slaughter, animals are assigned a kill tag specifying the kill date and meat plant destination. The paraDIAM system program predicts the combination of factors that will give the best performance, and at what stage to effect certain management changes eg in feed or hormone implants. With 100,000 cattle, a cost of one cent is significant so attention to detail is paramount. Dr Kee Jim set up Feedlot Health Management Systems Ltd in 1983. Dr Calvin Booker is the Managing Partner of this operation which now works closely with Western on research and development projects. Three main areas of work are:
FHMS charge on a per head basis but share the data with the client. Data results could also be sold, and there are multiple levels of data sharing available. The paraDIAM system is key here. Schumpter’s quote that “what’s new becomes old” very much fits in with the Western philosophy. The ‘crane of destruction’ also dictates that larger firms are best placed to innovate and change. Development of systems is key and an emphasis on actual ‘development’ to actually use the research. Universities are mostly research and not much development. A wide range of issues were discussed as Dave Plett is an energetic personality. The Bill of Rights in the US prohibits traceability as individual animal identification intrudes too much on an individual’s rights, in the same way it is a person’s right to bear arms! Canada is more closely based on the UK model of democracy. Only 25% of cattle are subject to mandatory price reporting in the US. In North America, power is held in the narrowest part of the hourglass ie meat plants. In the UK, this occurs at retailer level. Ruth ! Criss is a steakhouse in Calgary which sells prime US beef. Interestingly, 85% of the meat used are Holstein steers. Don Mackay in Australia exports the natural Rangers Valley brand into Asia. In China, the two main priorities are energy security and food. The one child policy is also leading to population decline which could be a problem for them in the future. The Chinese have a growing appetite for western brands and tastes. The EU will become a net importer again in beef as it is a politically driven system rather than efficiency based. Differentiation of product is important for high quality beef. Beef taste is subjective, however. Perception of quality differs. Cargill have been successful, not due to quality, but because their ability to compete and logistics are better than everyone else (similar to when Ford started using mass production techniques). In “The End of Agriculture in the American Portfolio” by Steven C. Blank, the author argues the growth of urbanisation has pushed food production to the hinterlands (eg Brazil), and intensified the character of food production when situated near urban areas (eg Holland). Things to research: the Monte Carlo method of economics, Wayne Purcell at Virginia University, Ted Schroeder at Kansas State University, the Box Beef Calculator (reverse engineer calculation). Saturday 16 July 2012 Directory: includes includes -> Ncaa legislative Proposals (Created August 16, 2007) includes -> Razon social includes -> 1983 • First camera 1986-88 • Freelance assistant to several Toronto based photographers 1989-96 includes -> What are hemorrhoids? includes -> FY18-19 Artist in Residence guidelines includes -> Icf headquarters Contacts includes -> Doing Business with Federal Aviation Administration Introduction includes -> Original Data (sequenced) Scientific Name Common Name includes -> Windows ce. Net expert Feature Select Form Download 197.43 Kb. Share with your friends:
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