That's correct. As Mr. Miller said, I'm Ed Fossen and I'm a rancher from Rock Creek in the southern interior of British Columbia. Our ranch is situated about 40 kilometres east of Osoyoos on Highway 3. Our ranch almost touches the U.S. border. The southernmost property is about two kilometres from the U.S. border.
Our ranch consists of 1,700 deeded acres, and we have about 60,000 acres of crown range on which we have the right to run 250 mother cows, replacement heifers, and bulls. We also rent about 300 acres from neighbours, where we graze replacement heifers. We are self-sufficient in feed, putting up about 800 tons of hay and silage to feed to our overwinter herd of 400 animals. Our area is quite dry, and we rely on 300 acres of irrigated land to maintain our feed volumes.
My wife Louise and I purchased our home ranch and moved to Rock Creek in 1976. We raised our four kids here. My two boys, along with their own families, now run the ranch and business together. Our ranch is supported by a contract weed control business and custom farming business.
When we first got into ranching in that area--I'm calling it pre-BSE--cattle moved back and forth freely across the Canadian-U.S. border. Canadian cattle were custom fed in the U.S., and U.S. cattle were fed in Canada, depending on the dollar and the markets. We and other ranchers bought breeding bulls across the border, and vice-versa. When we sold our cattle there was always American interest at our local auction mart buying calves, yearlings, and finished cattle to supplement the feedlots and packers across the line.
This fall it was reported that with the absence of the American buyers, and because of concerns of the country-of-origin labelling, the average calf price was reduced by about $150. In our part of the country pre-BSE, the industry was totally integrated, with cattle moving back and forth. There was a good working relationship with our American rancher peers, feedlots, and packers. There were a number of packers in the Lower Mainland, along with processing facilities in the interior of B.C., that would result in competitive bidding for our cattle.
We have lost most of the packing plants in B.C. that in the past served us well by increasing competitiveness in the market for our cattle. With our first case of BSE in May 2003, everything changed.
In the last six years, everything that made our integrated beef industry strong, predictable, and competitive has fallen into uncertainty and economic hardship for all producers in our area. I believe the protracted BSE crisis and the COOL legislation are driven by the R-CALF organization to disrupt our strong, integrated industry, and hopefully benefit their short-term goals. I'm also certain that the money and time spent on trying to shut our beef out of the North American equation has been bad for the growth of our beef industry.
While we have been fighting with each other, other countries have been picking up our international markets. The pork and chicken industries have picked up market shares as a result of our problems. COOL is another way R-CALF and their political allies have of putting further trade restrictions on our Canadian beef entering the U.S.
Last summer my family, along with other southern interior and Washington State cattle producers, was invited down to tour a 60,000-head Agri Beef feedlot and state-of-the-art packing plant in Yakima, Washington. It is capable of processing up to 1,700 head a day, and 40% to 50% of the cattle fed in Agri Beef's 60,000-head feedlot were from Canada. This feedlot, along with other smaller feedlots, supplied the 1,500 to 1,700 cattle per day required to keep this modern, efficient packing plant operating.
In our discussions afterwards with the manager of the plant, we talked about the country-of-origin labelling. They had no idea how to cope with the proposed COOL regulations coming at them. The logistical problem was that the many lines of branded products, combined with the separation of Canadian beef, would overwhelm their system. He was clear: they did not want COOL to be fully implemented, and they needed our cattle.
We visited one retail store that handles their beef products in Yakima. The point made by the meat manager was that they did not want COOL fully implemented. The reason was simple: shortage of counter space and logistical problems in keeping Canadian products separated.
Our industry has been through a terrible economic time over the last six years. I want the Canadian federal government to challenge the Country-of-Origin Labelling Act. I think COOL will be the final economic hit to the cow-calf industry as we know it in the southern interior of B.C.
We have had the BSE crisis, drought, a fluctuating dollar, our own input cost steadily increasing, and depressed markets for the last six years. I know that COOL implementation will negatively impact on our industry, my ranch, and my family. Our government must negotiate a balanced implementation of this potentially destructive ruling.
Thank you.