"A crying shame"

Drop in prices, skeleton staff at sale barn

by Patrick Meagher

GALETTA -- Ernie Smith has never seen it so bad.

An Ayrshire cull cow at Galetta Livestock Sales couldn’t be sold even at 2 cents per pound. There were no bids. She was slightly swollen in the chest and no one wanted her. The farmer who owned her ended up feeding the meat from the cow to his dogs.

"That’s a first," said Smith, who has operated Galetta Livestock Sales, west of Ottawa, for nine years.

In mid-February a two-and-a-half-year-old 1,700 lbs. Charolais bull sold for $300.

At one sale in January some Holstein cull cows and beef animals were selling for as low as two cents per pound. In the last week of January, the average price for cull cows across the province was 13 cents per pound. One year ago, before mad cow, the average price was about 62 cents per pound.

"She’s tough," said Smith, who says he isn’t earning enough from the sales to cover the overhead. But they manage with a skeleton staff. "You don’t know what to do. I stay open for the farmer."

Smith says that he doesn’t expect the U.S. border to open for Canadian cows until after the next U.S. presidential election to be held in November.

Meantime, Ontario farmers, especially the feedlot operators who depend on sales to processors, need to get more political, he said. "Farmers have to act up or do something," he said. "They’ll have to shoot the animals or take the tags off the ears and let them run down the road," he said.

At a vaccinated stocker sale Jan. 28 prices were better but even the auctioneer couldn’t contain his disappointment. After one poor sale price he leaned back in his chair and lamented: "This is a crying shame."

The sale barn was filled to the rafters around the ring but few were buyers. Many came to check on prices. "They’re all looking and wondering," Smith said. "Everybody seems to be holding back."

While taking a break in his canteen with tea and a sandwhich, Smith asked a woman walking by, "Shelly, how’s prices out there?"

"Oh," she sighed. "I should have stayed in horses."

But prices are not always bad. "The rumors are going around that the average price is two cent per pound but that’s for the bottom end of the market," said Steve Spratt, owner of Leos Livestock Exchange in Greely, where prices for cull cows are 7 cents/lbs. and up. At a recent sale cull cows sold on average for 14 cents per pound and top end cattle sold for 22 cents per pound, he said. There are 250 to 300 animals going through the ring at the Thursday sale, down by 100 to 150 animals last year, he said. "We’ve had to make some cuts in staff. The biggest frustration is that we’re not getting the price we want for the producer."

The mad cow crisis began with one case of mad cow in Canada last May. One case in the United States was discovered Dec. 22. Since then, hopes are dimming that the Americans will open its border soon to live Canadian cattle. Meantime, bizarre stories and bleak sales at the sale barns abound. Richard Barber, a Hastings County dairy farmer, said a recent sale had only one buyer. When he went to the washroom the sale stopped until he returned. Bleak sale prices are shocking farmers everywhere.

Rhonda Jackson, co-owner of Kingston Stockyards, says they "lost a lot of money last year -- a lot. We’re short $10,000 just for this month (January)."

Prior to the mad cow crisis, about 500 animals were sold each week at the Kingston sale barn, she said. Now they average about 180 animals and most animals sold are veal calves and cull cows with prices as low as 2 cents per pound, she said. Since the mad cow crisis began, cull cows have been selling on average for 10 cents per pound, she said. Compare that with 50 to 60 cents per pound before the mad cow crisis.