Thank you very much for coming here on short notice. I really appreciate that, as all of us do.
We've all seen or looked at the National Farmers Union report on the cattle industry. By the way, I would like to thank you folks for responding to the report. It's good to have different points of view.
I'm not going to dwell too much on those reports. I have just one question. One of the main points the Cattlemen's Association talks about with respect to the reasons for the decline in prices is that the demand has decreased. That's an interesting point. I'd like you to comment on that.
I was elected in 2006, and ever since I've been here it seems that the cattle industry has been in crisis. My observation is that everybody has good intentions. Our minister is a farmer. Everybody wants to do the right thing, on both sides around the table here; nobody wants the industry to go down. But at the same time, my observation is that the system is not working. We're getting more of the same. We need some new approaches, and frankly I don't know what they are.
I thought today I would give you some feedback I have received from some producers on the ground and get your reaction.
We have a typical story. A gentleman in Stratford is saying he can't continue. That's it. He's not getting any money for cattle. His children won't be able to continue in the industry. It's a no-win situation. He's getting out. He's losing money.
A rancher in Keremeos, not far from where I live, is saying that he's forced to pay fees to the cattle development fund and the association's administrative expenses, but the cow-calf business is getting to be a nightmare. If it keeps going, most small producers will be out of business. Anybody with a mortgage will be walking away. No young people are going into the business.
We're all hearing these stories.
A gentleman from Moosamin, Saskatchewan, has written a letter saying the following. Right now he's getting roughly between $400 and $500 a cow. Before BSE the price was $800 to $1,200. These are cows that go the Brooks killing plant. At the auction at the Heartland stockyards in Virden, Manitoba, the maximum he is able to get is $36 a pound. You're looking at $360 for a 1,000-pound cow,
He goes on to say that in Minot, North Dakota, there are livestock commission auctions every Friday morning. The prices there are 10¢ higher on feeder and butcher beef. Here the price he can get is 38¢; there it's 60¢. The average price for butcher bulls is 80¢ there and 45¢ here. He says the cattle there don't appear to be as high quality as the cattle we have here, but the price is more.
He finished with two questions. Why isn't the Cattlemen's Association doing more to get cattle into the United States? Why aren't you doing more to cut this whole notion of captive supply we've talked about--it's in the report and the Americans are apparently starting to move on it--so we can regenerate the market?
I'll stop there. Hopefully you have some time to answer.