10page1.qxd 12/19/02 5:28 PM Page 1 The National Livestock Weekly December 23, 2002 • Vol. 82, No. 10 “The Industry’s Largest Weekly Circulation” http:// www.wlj.net • E-mail: [email protected] • [email protected] • [email protected] A Crow Publication CAFO regs. NWSS: a western cattle tradition unveiled By Steven D. Vetter Hill entries set record; WLJ Editor yard show — Called better than The 2003 National Western Stock expected; flexibility NATIONAL WESTERN Show (NWSS), to be held January steady to smaller. between states applauded. STOCK SALE DATES 11-26, represents the 97th time the event has been held. As with pre- “hill” shows, and 14 holding pens Jan. 13 – Limousin Sale, 6 p.m., Beef and/or carload shows down “in the By Steven D. Vetter Palace (BP) vious shows, the Denver extrava- WLJ Editor Jan. 13 – Red Angus Female Sale, 5 p.m., ganza will offer a full schedule of yards.” Several of the breeds on the The U.S. Environmental Protection Livestock Auction Arena (LAA) events for livestock producers and hill are holding their national shows, Jan. 14 – ABS Red Angus Sale, 12:30 regional shows or point-bearing Agency (EPA) and USDA joined forces last p.m., LAA the general public alike. Jan. 14 – Gelbvieh Sale, 6 p.m., BP Nineteen breeds of cattle will be shows, which are part of a larger, na- week, announcing the final set of revised James Goodrich, livestock man- Jan. 15 – Lazy H Angus Production Sale, exhibited during the 1999 Na- tionwide show program. regulations governing effluent discharge Larkspur, CO ager for NWSS, said the upcoming tional Western, with For the hill shows, the number of from large livestock operations. Jan. 16 – Angus Bull Sale, 2 p.m., BP animals entered sets a record for the set of NWSS shows will continue The announcement is the result of a te- Jan. 17 – Charolais Sale, 4 p.m., BP 16 holding Jan. 17 – Angus Foundation Female Sale, “Super Bowl of cattle shows.” This the rich tradition of “quality cattle” dious, multi-year, rule-making process, 3 p.m., LAA year, 4,491 head of cattle, repre- making it to Denver. He also said which was under considerable scrutiny Jan. 17 – Hereford Sale, 7 p.m., BP senting 43 states and five Canadian the increase in numbers show from livestock producers across the coun- Jan. 18 – Maine-Anjou Bull Sale, 4 p.m., there’s a good deal of optimism the LAA provinces, are entered on “the try. The final regulations appeared to ac- Jan. 19 – South Devon Sale, 1 p.m., BP hill.” That figure is up from cattle industry is alive and well tually be met with some positive reaction. Jan. 19 – Braunvieh Sale, 3:30 p.m., LAA the 4,009 head entered across North America. However, sources indicated it could be Jan. 19 – National Maine-Anjou Sale, 5 last year and 4,338 “The breed associations we work weeks before there is a good handle on the p.m., BP Jan. 19 – Salers Sale, 7 p.m., BP head in 2001. The with to put this show on have said overall scope of the regulations. Jan. 20 – Lowline Sales, 10 a.m., LAA record num- they’re very pleased with the num- The 420 pages of regulations were un- Jan. 21 – Pen of 5 Feeder Calf Sale, 3 p.m., ber for hill en- bers of cattle to be exhibited in Den- veiled during a December 16 news confer- LAA tries, prior to ver this go-round,” said Goodrich. Jan. 22 – Commercial Heifer Sale, 5 p.m., ence where EPA Administrator Christie LAA 2003 entries, “We’re extremely excited about the Whitman and USDA Secretary Ann Ven- Jan. 25 – Scotch Highland Sale, 10 a.m., was 4,480 in shows we’ll be hosting this year, (See CAFO on page 4) BP 1998. (See NWSS on page 10) Little U.S. beef in EU about 70,000 metric tons a year? By Sarah L. Roen The claim is eating beef from WLJ Associate Editor cattle treated with growth pro- U.S. beef producers want to be moters poses health risks. But, competitive in the global market, when the U.S. launched a formal but how can they when stringent World Trade Organization (WTO) guidelines raise costs to an im- dispute settlement procedure in possible level? Export markets are May of 1996 challenging this claim vital to U.S. producers, and in- and the EU ban, the WTO Appel- dustry experts have been taking a late Body confirmed the earlier closer look at why U.S. beef is strug- panel finding the EU ban was im- gling in foreign markets. posed and maintained without ev- The most prominent obstacle for idence of health risks. Nonethe- the beef industry to overcome right less, the EU has not complied with now is the hang-up with exporting the rulings and recommendations Feds wane $1; short kill weeks cited beef to the European Union (EU). made in this case, and the U.S. — Weather, holidays The primary factors behind last was larger than the figures for both For over 10 years, the European continues its retaliation against also slow calf market. week’s depressed market were a the previous week and last year, Union has banned imports of beef the WTO. drop in futures market prices, up- with just under 370,000 head from cattle raised with hormonal Meanwhile, the U.S. is having a For the second straight week, coming short slaughter weeks and processed Monday through growth promoters. Prior to the ban, difficult time filling the 11,500 met- last week’s fed trade broke loose on a buildup of beef in storage. Wednesday. For the same time the EU was a large market for beef ric-ton quota allowed for high-qual- a Wednesday, and at prices below December live cattle futures con- frame the previous week, 359,000 variety meats and a niche market ity, non-hormone treated beef. At previous the week. Analysts said tracts hovered around the $73.50 head were processed, compared to for non-treated beef. So why did the one point, the USDA even volun- packers are purchasing cattle on a mark most of last week. Analysts 358,000 last year. EU ban beef products from a coun- tarily suspended all exports due tight, “hand-to-mouth” basis, and said packers wanted to keep rough- For the week ending December try from which they used to import (See EU on page 9) waning slaughter volume over the ly a $1.50 futures-cash premium 14, some 641,000 head were next two weeks will mean little de- at least the rest of the year. processed, compared to 672,000 mand for market-ready cattle. “We normally don’t see a turn- head the week prior. U.S. exports to the EU While not the best news before around in the (futures-cash) basis “Slaughter volume is seasonally Christmas, several market sources until sometime in March, or even declining, so producers need to get 35,000 said cattle feeders should still be April, and right now we don’t see rid of cattle whenever they can to thankful because they’re still see- that cash will take the lead any keep front-end supplies from be- 30,000 ing profits. That’s a better situa- sooner than that,” said Kevin Good, coming a major issue,” said Reed tion than last year at this time. Cattle-Fax analyst. Marquotte, independent cattle an- 25,000 Approximately 30,000 head of However, an even bigger factor in alyst. “This year, it’s even more im- fed cattle traded hands in both the market appears to be the tim- perative due to the increased volatil- 20,000 Kansas and Texas last Wednesday, ing of the holidays this year. Both ity of the market — the result of a with the majority bringing $72 live, Christmas and New Year’s will be poorer holiday economy — and un- 15,000 or $1 below two weeks ago. There on a Wednesday, so not only those certainty surrounding export mar- were also reports lower-yielding, two days, but the Tuesday imme- kets for next year.” In metric tons 10,000 * January - June of 2002 poorer-quality cattle dropped to $70 diately before will create very short While increasing boxed beef because sellers didn’t want to hang kill weeks. (See Markets on page 15) 5,000 on to them through the holiday sea- “We’re looking at no volume for son. at least two days, with the possi- 0 In dressed trade, about 25,000 1995 1997 1999 2001 bility production will be cut signif- NEWS NEWS 1996 1998 2000 2002* head reportedly traded in Nebras- icantly on another couple of days,” Beef (red); beef variety meats (green) ka at mostly $112 per cwt. Some ad- Good said. “That means packers The cost of meeting certification requirements when sending U.S. beef ditional trade was expected possi- aren’t in heavy demand for market- and beef variety meats to the European Union has led to decreased bly later in the week, but there was ready cattle and they don’t have to volume from the U.S. the last several years. – Source: U.S. MEF no movement as of presstime last pay as much as in weeks past.” Thursday. Slaughter volume early last week (priority handling) (priority handling) INSIDE WLJ CORRECTION — In last week’s NWSS’ SYLVESTER RETIRING FARMLAND SUED — A Kansas WLJ OFFICE SCHEDULE — In INDEX issue of WLJ, the Page 1 chart — The 2003 National Western cattle feeder is suing Farmland observance of the Christmas and Beef Bits .