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Big Isle cattle
head to Canada
to get fat

Drought forces ranchers to
ship out 6,000 head of cattle
to greener pastures

By Rod Thompson
Star-Bulletin

WAIMEA, Hawaii -- Hard hit by three years of drought, Parker Ranch and three other Big Island ranches will ship 6,000 head of young cattle to Canada during May, Parker announced.

Most of Parker's cattle will remain in Canada putting on weight for a year and will be ready for market in April 2001, said Parker vice president Robert L. Hind III.

"Shipping the young cattle off the island is a necessity at this time," Hind said. "Our timing of these shipments works well to meet the summer grass season in Canada and the northwestern U.S."

A shipment of 3,000 cattle will be made May 2 followed by another May 22, he said. About three quarters of the cattle will be from Parker and the remainder from Ponoholo, Kahua, and Z Bar ranches.

The first shipment will include 80 longhorn cattle from Hale Kea Farms, managed by Z Bar Ranch owner Zanga Schutte.

The longhorns are preferred in Canada for rodeo roping, and they're in short supply there now, Schutte said.

Another 200 of Schutte's own beef cattle will go with a Parker shipment in the fall, he said.

The eight-day cruises to Canada will be made in ships of the Corral Line, a Danish company specializing in livestock shipping, Hind said.

The ships are "big floating air-conditioned feed yards," he said.

Because the ships are foreign, American law prohibits them from carrying the cattle to an American port. Of 4,500 cattle from Parker, 1,000 will be transferred to pastures in Washington State after a legally required one-month stay in Canada, Hind said.

The remainder will be trucked to pastures in Alberta where they will remain until October. After that they go into feedlots until the spring, he said.

Parker will rent pasture and feedlot space in Alberta and Washington and retain ownership of the cattle until they are ready for slaughter.

One factor making the arrangement feasible is a rise in beef prices. From a low of 58 cents a pound in 1998, the price has risen to more than 70 cents a pound now, Hind said.

Schutte said it's a "big plus" that Parker is allowing small ranchers to "piggyback" in the shipping.

"I'm small potatoes," he said.

Although some rains have returned to Waimea, Schutte said he's been hit very hard by drought. He's had to buy hay from the mainland to feed his cattle for months, an expensive undertaking, he said.

Hind said Parker is willing to work with other ranches on shipments.

"Anybody that's interested should contact us. We'll help them out."