[CaptainCrunch]

Western Feedlots shutting down

http://calgaryherald.com/business/lo...attle-industry

One of Canada’s largest cattle feeder operations is shutting down, blaming market forces currently rocking the feedlot sector as well as what it calls Alberta’s “poor political and economic environment.”

Anne Wasko, market analyst with Gateway Livestock, said the pain in Western Canada’s feeding sector right now is virtually unprecedented, with the only comparison being the difficult post-BSE years of 2003 to 2005.
“The cattle feeding sector in North America, but certainly specifically here in Alberta, has been in a negative margin situation for about 14 months now,” Wasko said. “The losses have been substantial — they’ve been, at times, record large on a per head basis . . . as high as $500 to $600 per head.”
Carlier acknowledged “a bit of a drop” from last year.
“The prices are still fairly good, even though they’re less than last year,” he said.
But Plett said while market forces have put strain on the business, recent policy decisions by the provincial NDP government also contributed to Western’s decision to suspend operations. He criticized what he called the “layering on of policy on agribusiness” through government measures such as Bill 6 and the carbon tax.
“Alberta used to have the Alberta Advantage . . . Of late, a number of moves have made it much more difficult to do business in Alberta as opposed to other jurisdictions,” Plett said.