By Sheri Monk

Jess Parsonage was one of three Canadians selected to represent the country at the International Livestock Congress’ Young Ranchers Program held recently at Denver, Colorado.
“There was a gal from Australia, five ranchers from Mexico, two from the U.S. and three of us from Canada,” said Parsonage.
Though Einstein said time is relative, at 34-years-old, Parsonage may not be in the demographic many would think of in association with a youth-focused program. But in the ranching business, it is indicative of the changing times. Not as many are getting into ranching and many in the 18-34 age bracket don’t own their own ranches, but are working as a hand or partner on their parents’ land. Parsonage said part of the program’s goal is to inspire the particpants to get more involved in the livestock industry, thoruhg industry assocations and advocacy.
His participation was funded by the Saskatchewan Cattlemens Association and Parsonage was the selected on behalf of all possible candidates from Saskatchewan.
He arrived at Denver on Jan. 11 and spent a whirlwind of a week listening, learning and discussing.
One thing he took away was that the U.S. does a much better job of promoting their beef – inside and outside its borders.
“In Canada I don’t think we do a very good job of marketing our product down there,” he said.
He also believes the cost of SRM removal is hurting Canada’s in dustry and believes that since Canada is importing more beef than in the past, foreign suppliers should be bound by the same safety regulations Canada’s industry has imposed on it.
Overall, he’s not sure what direction the North American industry will go next, but feels positive about the experience and feels he may become more involved in the future, perhaps within industry producer-based organizations.
Parsonage presented a detailed debriefing of his visit last week at the first annual Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s AGM and beef industry conference. Below is is report:
“Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Jess Parsonage. I am from Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, where I ranch with my wife and two children.
I was nominated by the director of my zone, as were other people in the other zones in Saskatchewan., to attend the Young Ranchers’ Program in Denver, Colorado. Through the executive meeting at Agribition, I was chosen to go and represent the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association as a young rancher of Saskatchewan.

I arrived in Denver on January 11th , where our first tour was to King Souper’s case-ready processing plant. This plant takes boxed meat from packing plants throughout North America and processes it, whether it be into steaks, shish kabobs, hamburger, stew meat, sausages, etc. The product is shelf-ready, and the supermarkets don’t have to even label it. They deal with pork and beef.
I asked a representative of King Soupers about COOL, and if there was any more demand for beef from the U. S. or any other country. The answer was no, that the consumer was just after the best price. Labeling the product with country of origin was not a big complication for them. All they do is radio ahead, and say “We have U. S./Canadian/Mexican beef coming in.” The computer is simply changed to label the beef with the correct country.
From there we went to the NCBA (National Cattlemen’s Beef Association). At the NCBA, they told us how they were trying to increase the value of a carcass by different cuts of the meat. They accomplish this by taking a chuck steak and getting the flat iron, the petite tender, and the ranch cut steaks. This has been done since 1998, and it increases the carcass value by $50 – $70 per head. Now, they are also working on taking the ‘chuck roll’ and cutting it into two pieces, the chuck eye, from which you get three chuck steaks, country-style boneless ribs, and the American beef roast, which is a dry roast. The other piece, the under blade, you get the Denver cut, which is the fourth most tender cut of the whole beef, and the Sierra cut. More information on these cuts can be obtained at beefinnovationsgroup.com. I sampled the Denver steak and the country-style boneless ribs, and both were excellent.

They also mentioned how they are recipe labeling and putting calorie values on labels. It was discussed how taste is more important than safety for the consumer. Their last marketing scheme is to go for marketing beef as a high-energy protein product. The NCBA also talked about how the HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) wants to kill the livestock industry, and how they are going about it by influencing the mainstream and next through churches and veterinarians. Right now, the United States has the capacity to feed 33 million head of cattle, and is currently feeding 26 million. All in all, the NCBA said that they need Canadian cattle, and they do not support COOL legislation.
Next was the International Livestock Congress conference on Tuesday. There, Richard Brown, Director of GIRA from London, England, was the keynote speaker. He spoke on global meat market predictions and facts from 2010 to 2020. He predicts the demand for beef will be up 21%. Currently, Brazilians are winning the beef trade, but they are not listening to customers. In particular, the UK, where they are demanding traceability of beef.
Brown predicts the economic recovery next year will be by 3.1 per cent. Increased oil prices had repercussions on the meat market. The U.S. will be able to sell more beef because of a low dollar, and the Brazilian dollar increasing. He is also predicting that feed costs will be more expensive in the future.
The major threats to the beef markets are diseases, especially BSE, FMD, BTO, TB Johnes, H5N1, LPA1, PMWS/PRRS, and ASE. To best fight the diseases, Brown encourages traceability. Even though they have stringent traceability in the UK, they are still having problems with TB because badgers are spreading the disease.
Brown talked about how the impact of livestock on the environment was discussed at Copenhagen Climate Change. Basically, it was summer up as “less meat, less heat”. Beef consumption in the world was down in 2008, while poultry consumption is going up. But on the positive, China’s pig supply went down due to disease. China will still be able to supply their pig and poultry needs, but will need to import beef. Also, Russia needs to import beef to feed their people. Brazil has 23% of the world’s beef trade, which makes them a big player. Of global cattle herds, Brazil’s is increasing, and Canada’s is down 6% and the U.S.’s is down 1.5%. Retailers in the UK are not happy with South American beef due to the fact that they haven’t been following traceability rules.
Australia is in a drought right now, so their cow herds are not going to be increasing. The U.S. is one of largest and best processors of beef. It is probably one of the top five cheapest places to feed cattle out.
Next to speak was Erin Daley. She is an economist from the U.S. Meat Export Federation. She talked about how since BSE we haven’t recovered Japan or Korea’s markets.
Later on, we went and toured the U.S. Meat Export Federation’s head office in Denver where Erin Daley works. Their job is to try and market red meat outside of the U.S. This organization is funded mainly through check off money, memberships, and government grants. Daley stated that U.S. exports on pigs has doubled, while exports of beef has gone down due to the recession. The market in Japan has really become political. China has been closed to the U.S. market, but U.S. beef is finding its way into China. Erin sees a huge market in China, because of the population and the demand in their restaurants. For example, one restaurant had over 4000 people pass through it in one night. Taiwan is the U.S.’s eighth largest export market. The Asian customers want traceability, age and process verification, inspection, and knowing the residues.

In promoting red meat, they are having promotions, seminars, introducing new cuts, and giving high end hotels instruction on how to cut and prepare beef. They are also labeling their meat “U.S.” so that people know that they are getting good quality U.S. beef.
One of their biggest challenges is dealing with Korea’s campaign that U.S. beef will give you an illness, and gaining trust with the consumer. Erin showed us a wonderful ad that they put together to help promote their beef in the Asian market. It showed the producer with the beef, how it is going to the slaughter plant and what protocol and restrictions are placed on the beef, and finally ending up on the consumer’s plate.
From there, Gregory Bloom, the National Sales Manager of Colorado Meat Packers, spoke on how they’re focusing their processing plant on the Spanish people in the U.S. He forecasts an increase of 18% in this market in the years to come. These Spanish people take a variety of different cuts and market them on fancy meat counters. By having their plant focus on this market, they can compete against the bigger packing plants.

Jeff Simmons from Elanco Animal Health said that in 50 years we will need 100% more food to feed the world and this increase in food will come through technology. Technology being better genetics, new technology, and a better producer. For example, already the U.S. is producing 58% more milk with 60% of the cows. This is causing 38 – 48% fewer greenhouse gas emissions. The U.N. projects world population will reach 9+ billion by mid-century and has called for a 100 percent increase in world food production by 2050. According to the U.N.,this doubled food requirement must come from virtually the same land area as today.

Kevin Yon and John Maddox of Cattle Producers of the U.S. spoke on the challenges they are facing and how they are overcoming them. Higher costs of production is a major problem. Buying products in volume with a group of ranchers has helped. Calving at a later date and feeding by-products were their other suggestions. All in all, these two said that the cattle numbers are down due to smaller margins.
Later on that same day we listened to Colin Woodall speak, the Executive Director of Legislative Affairs of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. He spoke on how the government has looked at dust regulations in agriculture, and how producers are not supposed to restrict the country’s water flow. He also talked about how in Denmark they restricted the use of antibiotics in the pig industry, which caused an 80% loss in that industry. On the issue of COOL, Colin said that there needs to be more information on the market effect. One of his main concerns was the HSUS, and PETA and how they are trying to stop livestock production. The HSUS has $220 million budget to work with, PETA has $30 million and the NCBA has $405, 000. He suggests that the meat industry has to work together as one to fight back and maintain our industry.
Lastly, Wesley Batista, president and CEO of JBS, spoke. JBS is the largest protein producing company out of Brazil. In 2007, JBS bought a large packing plant in the U.S. They have packing plants in South Africa, the U.K., Australia, Brazil and the U.S. Wesley predicts that in 2010, they will have a 10% increase in exports of beef. On Thursday we visited Five Rivers Feedyards headquarters, which is owned by JBS. Five Rivers is situated in 13 different feedlots in 8 different states, and feeds 840,000 head of cattle, with 75,000 being the optimal size. Even though JBS owns all the cattle in their feedlots, not all of the cattle goes to their packing plants. 13% go to National Packers. JBS has another company called JF, that buy all of their fat cattle, and markets them to other plants to ensure that their feedlots are actually making a profit. Currently, JBS is getting beef into the Japanese market. I asked them if the U.S. got their borders open to the Japan market, if they would be sending beef from their packing plants to Japan. They said not likely, but their plants in Australia would be instead, because of the carcass traits that meet Japan’s criteria.
On Wednesday, we went to the Canadian Consulate. We had a round table meeting with young producers from Australia, Argentina, Canada, Mexico and the United States on how to make a better world for the cattle industry. At the round table, young ranchers from each country gave a speech on the challenges and opportunities of the beef industry in their country. The young ranchers of Mexico mentioned how COOL has decreased their market value due to less exports. The Australians talked about how they have a national livestock I.D. system and a national data base which gives them a good traceability program on beef cattle. This has helped them succeed in the Asian markets, one of which is Japan. Japan takes 25% of their cattle, and the U.S. takes 22%. The young ranchers of the United States talked on how they are taking Mesquite wood out of Arizona and reseeding it to native grass, which helps their beef production. They get government grants from doing this as well. Myself, Adam Moseson, and Jill Harvie, the young ranchers from Canada, also spoke on how COOL has affected our markets and tightened up our margins for profitability. Together, we came to the conclusion that we are going to set up a video on how we produce beef on our ranches, and put it on Youtube, to give the consumer a better perception of the cattle industry. At the round table, we learned that we all have the same struggles, even though we are from different countries. The consumption of meat is down, cow herds are decreasing, and less young people are getting involved are a few of the main problems. We all agreed that increasing Demand of Beef worldwide is paramount. Therefore the young Ranchers Round Table have decided to work together into the future.
The rest of Wednesday was spent touring the National Western Stock Show.

On Thursday, we went to Magnus Land and Cattle Company in Platteville, Colorado. This is a large purebred operation, mostly Limousin, and Limousin cross bulls. Their program involves selling their bulls, and then buying the calves back off from the producers for a premium. They have gone to all-natural beef markets.
From there we went to Producers Feedyards, in Greely, Colorado. They have 75% of their cattle under the “all natural” program. They can’t have any antibiotics, hormones, or Rumensin, or a variation on these restrictions. Going all natural, they don’t get as good of a rate of gain, and they lose about 10% of the all-natural cattle because of treatment with antibiotics. Therefore, the premium they get has to outweight these setbacks.
Later we went to Aristocrat Angus Ranch, owned by Skylar Houston, which is a 400 head purebred Angus operation. Skylar prides himself on marketing all of his purebred bulls privately. Some of the tests that they perform on their bulls, besides the basic phenotype and semen quality, are for curly calf, hydroplasmosis, and the ability to withstand high altitude conditions because most of their customers ranch in elevations of 5000 to 10 000 feet above sea level.
In conclusion, the main points that I think came out of the Young Ranchers Conference were that most facets of the industry were not in favor of COOL. This included King Soupers, Five Rivers, JBS, and the NCBA. However, most were in favor of traceability, because of its ability to help us control and identify disease, and the benefits it will give us in large world markets. Personally I would like to see these implementations of traceability market driven, instead of the government involvement. I arrived at the end of the week with a positive feeling that there are intelligent young people moving to the head of the cattle industry in North America. Countries need to work together to strengthen our cattle industry in the face of obstacles like diseases and animal rights groups, not “circle the wagons and shooting inwards” as one speaker from the NCBA put it.

I would like to thank the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association for sponsoring me and giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity.”