What will really happen

[cakadu]

As I hear more and more talk of an open border and competition, I really have to wonder what will happen if and when the border opens to live cattle.

Will there still be forward movement on building our own packing capacity, or will everyone just be thankful the border is open and things go back to the way they were?

I believe that many eyes have been opened to the situation and would like to further believe that some will continue to build additional capacity and find new markets.

It makes me shudder to think that the majority of the push for our own packing capacity will go across the border with the cattle and the resumption of trade with the U.S.

Will there still be the push for new markets? Will we never want to get caught like this again? Or will it be like Rusty said in another thread - we'll just go back to being fat and sassy and cashing the cheques?

[cowman]

I do believe there is real potential for plants like NGC at Pincher Creek? A small plant(250 head a day) and they process the whole animal. The whole thing run on a biodigester, so they take care of their waste as well as provide all their own electricity and heat? The way it is set up now a biodigester is basically totally paid for by the various governments?
This plant would employ 110 people and it would be available for custom kill,cutting and wrapping. A half dozen plants like this in Alberta would sure help out the "self marketers"?
Now how I heard this thing laid out, it seems like a no brainer not to do this thing?
Now a big cow plant might work but I truly doubt a big fat plant will? But then maybe I'm wrong. Maybe a Canadian plant can compete with Cargill/IBP?
Canada Packers wasn't some kind of joke company. They had a fully integrated corporation that sold products all over the world and in fact they probably could have competed with the Cargills and IBPs! However they couldn't or wouldn't compete with the Alberta treasury(or Toronto residential growth)! So they quit and sold the company at a very tidy profit, rather than play that old dog eat dog game! Hey and I had a couple of thousand shares of CP stock and I probably came close to tripling my money in four years! They were a good very well run company and the senior management did what they thought was in the best interest of their shareholders. We need more companies like that?