According to Drovers, one of Canada’s largest and oldest cattle feedlots will close due to poor market conditions after nearly 60 years of business. “This will send ripples through the beef and grain industry in western Canada, said Steve Kay, editor and publisher of Cattle Buyers Weekly.
Alberta-based Western Feedlots announced it would shut down three of its operations, which serve to fatten up calves before slaughter.
The Canadian cattle industry may soon meet a fate similar to that of the U.S., which suffered its worst one-year loss ever in 2015, with profits falling $5.6 billion. According to Statistics Canada, Canadians consumed 24.4 kilograms of beef per capita in 2015, a 25 percent drop from the 32.6 kilograms per capita in 1999.
Western Feedlots chief executive Dave Plett said in an interview: “Our shareholders see the challenges facing the industry in the next few years are going to be greater. We don’t foresee it getting better soon.
The closing of this feedlot is great news for our planet and the hundreds of thousands of cattle who would have been killed.
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