The number of cattle on feed in Canada is continuing to grow, according to the May report from CanFax.

Part of the reason numbers are climbing, senior analyst Brian Perillat explains, is more heifers are going into feedlots.

“We always gauge that as an appetite for expansion and unfortunately it still looks like quite a few heifers are going into feedlots,” he says.

After years of anticipating expansion in the Canadian herd, Perillat’s at a loss when asked what it would take to get Canadian producers to start retaining more heifers.

“Boy, I don’t know. At this point, we’ve been through some awesome years for cow-calf producers, there was limited expansion and now we’re looking at the downside of the cycle. I don’t have an answer.”

Feedlot numbers are also up because feeder exports to the U.S. are down, despite the Canadian dollar’s weakness. “It’s kind of a misnomer in the industry that the weak dollar is going to suck our cattle south,” he says.

Perillat joined RealAg’s Shaun Haney to discuss the ongoing lack of willingness to retain heifers, the huge losses feedlots are incurring after buying expensive calves and more:



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