Members of the cattle industry in Alberta say they’re already feeling the trickle-down effects of Cargill Meat Solutions’ decision to scale back operations after staff were diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.
The plant in High River reduced shifts earlier this week, and in the days since, feedlot operators and producers have been feeling the impacts.
Ryan Kasko, General Manager of Kasko Cattle Ltd., said his lot has been at somewhat of a stand-still.
“I can’t send any cattle to slaughter, and so I can’t get any new cattle in,” Kasko said.
His feedlot north of Coaldale, Alta., currently has about 8,000 cattle.
He said it costs roughly $3/day to feed each animal.
“Now they’ve got the additional cost of feeding these cattle in the meantime, waiting for when the packers can actually process these cattle,” said Brian Perillat, senior analyst at CanFax.
The Canadian Cattleman’s Association is calling for the federal government to instate similar measures that helped ranchers weather the BSE — or mad cow disease — crisis in the early 2000s. Kasko Cattle had only opened a few years prior to the discovery of mad cow disease, and Kasko said the “set-aside” funding is what helped them survive.
“It was really one of the lifesavers of our industry,” Kasko said. “All of a sudden it brought a lot of life back into the industry, and feedlot operators were able to go and buy cattle again.”
The funding would help with costs associated with keeping cattle longer than usual by feeding a maintenance diet rather than a more nutrient-heavy growth diet normally used ahead of slaughter.
Cattle prices have dropped as low as $0.84/lb in some areas. According to Perillat, those price should return to normal in time.
“If plants are running at full-capacity down the line, our cattle prices should definitely improve,” he said.
“Prices haven’t been this low since 2016.”
For consumers, the change likely won’t be too dramatic, but Perillat says prices will be slightly higher than usual for some cuts of beef.
There may be a bright side though: with restaurants — a major consumer of beef products — not needing as many products, retailers may be offering additional cuts.
“There could be some good-quality middle-meats that are being sold through retails that consumers tend to have not seen there,” Perillat said.
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