Released: March 18, 2004

Large Canadian Feeder Cattle Supply Awaiting Placement On Feed

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Canadian BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) situation is still having a big impact on the Canadian cattle feeding sector.

Commercial cattle feeders in Alberta and Saskatchewan continue to hold placements of cattle on feed below 2003’s. As a result, the number of cattle on feed (in lots with over 1,000-head capacity) in those two key provinces March 1 totaled 781,000 head, down 23 percent from a year earlier and 34 percent under the four-year March average, according to CanFax.

“Fed cattle marketings from feedyards with over 1,000-head capacity during February also lagged behind, falling 14 percent below 2003’s and 19 percent below the four-year average,” said Kansas State University agricultural economist James Mintert. “In addition, placements of cattle on feed in Alberta and Saskatchewan during February totaled 102,000 – down 45 percent, compared to a year ago.”

In contrast, Canadian slaughter levels this year have been well above a year ago, said Mintert, who is a livestock marketing specialist with K-State Research and Extension. Slaughter volume in January and February averaged 68,000 head per week, 15 percent larger than in 2003.

Disruptions in the Canadian cattle feeding sector since the Alberta BSE case surfaced in May 2003 make year-to-year comparisons difficult, he said. But the increase in Canadian cattle slaughter lends credence to the notion that smaller Canadian cattle feeders (with less than 1,000-head capacity) and feeders outside Alberta and Saskatchewan had larger inventories and marketings in January and February than in 2003, according to Mintert.

Canada’s Jan. 1 all-cattle-and-calves inventory was 14.66 million head, nearly 9 percent larger than a year earlier, he said.

“Most of the year-to-year (inventory) increase was the result of Canada’s loss of exports during 2003, as last year’s calf crop was only 1 percent larger than 2002’s,” Mintert said.

The big increase in the Jan.1 inventory means Canada has a large supply of feeder cattle awaiting placement on feed. Some of those cattle have been on growing rations for a long time and will likely go on feed at unusually heavy weights.

Once cattle trade resumes with the United States, placements of cattle on feed in Canada and feeder cattle exports to the United States will jump, he said. That will boost U.S. fed cattle supplies later this year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is seeking comment on a plan that would again allow the import of Canadian feeder cattle, banned in May after the BSE case in Alberta was found.

Under the proposal, Canada would be included among countries that present a minimal risk for BSE. The USDA said the comment period will close April 7.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Mary Lou Peter
mlpeter@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News