Share this Story: High prices and high spirits expected at 115th Calgary Bull Sale
High prices and high spirits expected at 115th Calgary Bull Sale
A sense of sunny optimism pervaded the Agriculture Building at Stampede Park on Tuesday, one day before the opening of the 115th annual Calgary Bull Sale.
Amanda Stephenson • Calgary Herald
Mar 03, 2015 • March 3, 2015 • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
Megan Bond, an employee with Hirshe Herefords, talked with the Herald about her experiences at the Calgary Bull Sale over the years on Tuesday March 3, 2015. Photo by Gavin Young /Calgary Herald
As purebred producers from all over Western Canada began to arrive for the storied event — the longest-running consignment bull sale on the planet — it was obvious that things have changed in the beef industry. After a dark decade of tumbling profits and high-profile challenges like BSE and the global recession, cattle breeders are once again feeling good about the future.
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"It's very gratifying," said Doug Finseth, president of the Alberta Cattle Breeders Association, which organizes the event. "The neatest thing about the whole livestock industry right now is the resurgence of youth back onto the ranches … The young people are coming back to take over the family operation, because there's hope."
Finseth's enthusiasm stems from the fact that cattle markets started to surge at the beginning of 2014 and haven't slowed down since. Calf prices, for example, are currently hovering around $3.20 per pound — close to double what they were just two years ago. Profitability has been strong for cow-calf producers and the cattle-feeding sector, and interest in breeding stock is also improving.
Grant and James Hirshe with Hirshe Herefords groom one of their bulls the day before the annual Calgary Bull Sale on Tuesday March 3, 2015. Photo by Gavin Young /Calgary Herald
"It's just phenomenal. We've never seen anything like it," said Brian Perillat, manager and senior analyst with Canfax, a division of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association. "From the breeding stock side to calves to cull cows, everything's been high and it's showing up at the retail sector as well. Beef prices have been high, too."
The Calgary Bull Sale has long been viewed as a benchmark for other spring bull sales across the country, meaning there is great interest in what's going to happen here over the next two days. In 2014, the average selling price for bulls at the event was $4,955, and that could go even higher this year. An increased number of U.S. buyers are expected to attend this year's sale, attracted by the buying power the lower Canadian dollar affords them.
Even a new Canadian case of BSE — discovered in February on a farm near Spruce Grove, Alberta — is doing little to dampen enthusiasm in the industry, in spite of the fact that six countries have imposed new trade restrictions on Canadian beef as a result.
Dalee, 7, and Prior, 6, Fenton help out with the clean up in the Stampede Agricultural Building the day before the Calgary Bull Sale on Tuesday March 3, 2015. Photo by Gavin Young /Calgary Herald
"It's got a few producers on edge a little bit. It seems as soon as we get a really good run, something always hits us," Perillat said. "But it's only about three per cent of our exports that are affected, so it's a pretty small amount … It's been pretty minor."
Scott Dickson, director of livestock services for MNP, said this spring's "unprecedented" pricing environment is due to an overall shrinking of the North American cattle herd — the result of struggling producers downsizing or leaving the industry entirely over the last 10 years.
He said the price rebound the cattle industry is now enjoying is well overdue.
"People have been predicting it for some time, because the economics of supply and demand would indicate it should have come sooner," Dickson said. "I guess the real question is, how long is it here for? Hopefully we will see this continued, because it will be a good opportunity for the next generation to get in."
Megan Bond — who grew up on a ranch and now works for Hirsche Herefords & Angus in High River — said it's nice to see prices where they are, though she's not sure there's going to be an influx of young people seeking to become ranchers anytime soon. The 32-year-old said many people her age remain skittish after watching their parents struggle for years to keep the family ranch afloat.
"A lot of the parents I know are pushing their kids to get an education and do something else. Just because the parents lost so much money, they don't want their kids to follow them," she said.
Still, Bond said the beef industry is in her blood — and she is prepared to ride it out in good times and bad.
"I love the cattle," she said. "Even if prices did go back down, I'd still be in it. It's the passion for it."
The Calgary Bull Sale runs Wednesday and Thursday at Stampede Park.
astephenson@calgaryherald.com
Twitter.com/AmandaMsteph