Agriculture committee  For sure, it would work great. I'll just go back and tell you a little bit about Scotian here. When I said “up the road” there, we have to sell our animals down to Pennsylvania. We have to sell our animals into Guelph. We have to put our calves into Saint-Hyacinthe. There are eve

Agriculture committee  I guess personally I like the rules that are in effect right now in Canada. I find they divide the country nicely. I think we're divided into three to four areas, so if one part of the country does show a case of the mad cow, or whatever, then that part of the country is going to

Agriculture committee  Yes, you're very correct in saying that, Kody. Again, it goes back to what I said there a little while ago. I think having a federal plant here in Nova Scotia will get our producers on a level playing ground. It's so hard to get our merchandise here from the provincial plants. I

Agriculture committee  Yes. I would say that the average plant here in Nova Scotia has a capability of processing—we're going to talk beef here because I know that best—at the most 15 head per day. With Scotian Cattle Company, we're starting to buy 150 to 200 head per week. With the new transportatio

Agriculture committee  Come again? I don't really understand your question.

Agriculture committee  Okay. I don't know if I can really answer that question. I'm not familiar with that stuff that's happening in the States, but I can speak to maybe some of the markets here in Nova Scotia. I find when we can pay more for our product, I don't find the spread in the stores goes up o

Agriculture committee  All right. I'm not sure how to answer your question because I like to buy and sell cows. I was asked to come here and give my input and stuff like that. I am a drover, but I am going to come to you from a producer's perspective here in Nova Scotia. I find that in Nova Scotia we

Agriculture committee  Yes.

Agriculture committee  We can get to Quebec from the Maritimes, but we can't get to where we have to go, like the assembly yard for those bob calves. In order for those calves to get to the right farm to be comfortable—to be handled the correct way and everything—that's where they have to go. We could

Agriculture committee  What do you mean by changing the interprovincial rules?

Agriculture committee  I guess that would be a great option, maybe a stepping stone or another avenue that should be explored, yes.

Agriculture committee  Yes. We will need support from the federal government, and that will expand where we can go.

Agriculture committee  When we go on the road at 2:30, three, four o'clock in the morning, that's when we start our day in the east. We pick up our calves, and they come back to the assembly yard here at Scotian at my facility. We have the tractor-trailers here in the yard. Once the calves are fed, the

Agriculture committee  Right now, we sell a few of the calves in our home province here in Nova Scotia. I'd say a good 90% to 95% of those calves do go to Prince Edward Island. They're fed over there. I think Atlantic Beef has a contract going right now with a few of the feedlots over there. Again, Atl

Agriculture committee  I think it goes back to profitability, if you know what I mean. As you say, where Nova Scotia sits logistically is not the best place, a “sexy” market as you called it, and if we had some federal money or if we had that federal plant, that would probably create a better picture f