Small Town News

Flu scare affecting cattle industry

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At first it wouldn't seem possible that cattle prices and the current H1N1 influenza situation are sentence, but the latter is having an affect on the cattle industry, an economist says.

The crisis on Wall Street that hit last year, and problems in the national and global economies brought down cattle prices in 2008, since beef prices hinge on the status of the U.S. and world economies. Cattle prices this fall are about the same as they were last year at this time, but now with H1N1 also being a major factor, said Tim Petry, the livestock economist for the North Dakota State University Extension Service in Fargo.

Beef prices are affected by the supply and prices of other meat products such as chicken and pork.

Pork prices at this time are low due to concerns over H1N1, also known as swine flu. Swine flu is considered to be an erroneous name for the illness, since it can't be contracted from pork products.

"'A really unfortunate thing about it is it wouldn't have to happen," Petry said, referring to the affect of the swine flu terminology on the market. He said while the use of the swine flu description may not be common in North Dakota, it's affected other areas such as the East Coast. Plus, the U.S. is the world's largest pork exporter.

The 2009 H1N1 virus was originally referred to as swine flu because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in swine in North America, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). But further study has shown that this new virus is genetically different from what normally circulates in swine.

Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food, and people can't get swine influenza from eating properly handled and cooked pork products, according to the CDC.

Petry said calf prices this fall - for 550 to 600 pound steers - have been in the range of $ 100 per hundredweight. Slaughter cow prices have been in the range of $40.

On the positive side of things, producers in southwestern North Dakota aren't facing the dilemma of a shortage of homegrown feed due to drought, which was the case last year.

Petry said chicken prices are also low and have been struggling. An exception is the price of chicken wings, which fetch much more either as a "'comfort" food, or as a fad food for gatherings such as sporting events, he said.

Petry expects the demand for beef will improve, but he added nobody knows for sure when that will happen. Still, cattle prices are expected to be better in 2010, and even more so in 2011.

On the supply side of the cattle industry, the market's future looks good, said Petry. It's been on the demand side of the equation that has been the problem and is less predictable.

Volesky is the editor for the Golden Valley News and Billings County Pioneer.



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© 2010 Turtle Mountain Star Rolla, North Dakota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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