Jake
Well-known member
Sep. 21--ELM CREEK, Manitoba -- You don't have to tell Ernie Esau much about how intertwined the U.S. and Canadian cattle industries are.
A Charolais and Red Angus cattle breeder who lives 50 miles southwest of Winnipeg, Manitoba, near the town of Elm Creek, Esau has been dealing with Americans for decades.
Through his career, he's seen it all, including a foot-and-mouth outbreak in 1952. Nothing is as devastating as the BSE, or mad cow, crisis that has cut Canadian cattle prices by at least a third over 16 months.
"Back then (in 1952), the cost of everything else was a lot less," Esau says. "We're talking about expensive gas today. You start figuring it out, what machines cost. It's just out of bounds."
Esau, 71, and his wife, Irma, acknowledge they're semi-retired these days, but they still are active and carry on the traditions of their farm.
Esau's family started in the "drought country" near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and moved to Elm Creek in 1943. Ernie was the oldest son. He started breeding purebred, beef-type Shorthorns in 1952 and kept them until 1974.
"We went into Charolais in 1975. Last year, we went into some Red Angus," Esau says. "You've got to try everything in your life."
The ranch never had more than 50 or 60 cows.
The Esaus did a lot of embryo transplanting and showed everywhere, including Denver at the National Western Stock Show. Walls in several rooms in his home are filled with ribbons and trophies he accumulated during his showing years.
"In the mid-1970s, I showed 'Canadian Image,' a dual-purpose Shorthorn bull that opened the books to America," Ernie recalls, fondly. "Prior to that, it was only the single-purpose, milking Shorthorns."
The bull didn't win the show but won a champion pen of bulls with the dual-purpose breeding in 1974.
To make the Charolais switch, the Esaus imported a number of animals from the Frisbie Ranch in Oklahoma. In 1978 to '79, they showed a champion at the Toronto Royal Show.
Esau is sick about what is happening to the Manitoba cattle industry.
"It's devastating," Esau says. "If something doesn't happen by fall…. Well, I know of two feedlots that have gone out already.
"To us, it isn't going to have a tremendous effect because we're small and we're retired," Esau says, noting he has 50 to 60 cows. He produces about 150 calves in a year, using embryo transplant.
He figures his sales of purebred stock have been half of what they would have been without the BSE crisis.
"You can't get rid of cull cows," Esau says. "You give them away for 10 to 15 cents a pound. You just can't do that."
With commercial beef cow herds, Esau figures 8 percent to 10 percent normally are culled in a year. Dairymen will cull about 30 percent.
Esau says the packing companies and meat retailers seem to be making a dollar, despite the effect on produces. He thinks the regulations that shut the border should have taken in to account situations where only one or two animals in an entire country are found to have the disease.
"It's not going to break us personally," Esau says. "I worry about the people who do have cattle who make a living out of it. Once you get rid of the cow herd, these people have to go and get another job."
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To see more of Agweek, or to subscribe to the magazine, go to http://www.aglink.com.
(c) 2004, Agweek Magazine. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail [email protected].
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A Charolais and Red Angus cattle breeder who lives 50 miles southwest of Winnipeg, Manitoba, near the town of Elm Creek, Esau has been dealing with Americans for decades.
Through his career, he's seen it all, including a foot-and-mouth outbreak in 1952. Nothing is as devastating as the BSE, or mad cow, crisis that has cut Canadian cattle prices by at least a third over 16 months.
"Back then (in 1952), the cost of everything else was a lot less," Esau says. "We're talking about expensive gas today. You start figuring it out, what machines cost. It's just out of bounds."
Esau, 71, and his wife, Irma, acknowledge they're semi-retired these days, but they still are active and carry on the traditions of their farm.
Esau's family started in the "drought country" near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and moved to Elm Creek in 1943. Ernie was the oldest son. He started breeding purebred, beef-type Shorthorns in 1952 and kept them until 1974.
"We went into Charolais in 1975. Last year, we went into some Red Angus," Esau says. "You've got to try everything in your life."
The ranch never had more than 50 or 60 cows.
The Esaus did a lot of embryo transplanting and showed everywhere, including Denver at the National Western Stock Show. Walls in several rooms in his home are filled with ribbons and trophies he accumulated during his showing years.
"In the mid-1970s, I showed 'Canadian Image,' a dual-purpose Shorthorn bull that opened the books to America," Ernie recalls, fondly. "Prior to that, it was only the single-purpose, milking Shorthorns."
The bull didn't win the show but won a champion pen of bulls with the dual-purpose breeding in 1974.
To make the Charolais switch, the Esaus imported a number of animals from the Frisbie Ranch in Oklahoma. In 1978 to '79, they showed a champion at the Toronto Royal Show.
Esau is sick about what is happening to the Manitoba cattle industry.
"It's devastating," Esau says. "If something doesn't happen by fall…. Well, I know of two feedlots that have gone out already.
"To us, it isn't going to have a tremendous effect because we're small and we're retired," Esau says, noting he has 50 to 60 cows. He produces about 150 calves in a year, using embryo transplant.
He figures his sales of purebred stock have been half of what they would have been without the BSE crisis.
"You can't get rid of cull cows," Esau says. "You give them away for 10 to 15 cents a pound. You just can't do that."
With commercial beef cow herds, Esau figures 8 percent to 10 percent normally are culled in a year. Dairymen will cull about 30 percent.
Esau says the packing companies and meat retailers seem to be making a dollar, despite the effect on produces. He thinks the regulations that shut the border should have taken in to account situations where only one or two animals in an entire country are found to have the disease.
"It's not going to break us personally," Esau says. "I worry about the people who do have cattle who make a living out of it. Once you get rid of the cow herd, these people have to go and get another job."
-----
To see more of Agweek, or to subscribe to the magazine, go to http://www.aglink.com.
(c) 2004, Agweek Magazine. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail [email protected].
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