Hawai'i cattle income rises 28%
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i's cattle industry posted a nearly $5 million, or 28 percent, jump in income last year despite concerns raised by the discovery of the nation's first case of mad cow disease in December 2003.
1980s and 1990s — Mad cow disease in Britain blamed for the deaths of 150 people. 1997— U.S. bans animal feed containing ground-up sheep and cattle parts, which can transmit the disease. December 2003 — The only other known case of the disease in the United States turned up in Washington state, in a dairy cow that had come from Canada. June 2005 — U.S. authorities announced that mad cow disease has been found in a beef cow from a Texas ranch — the first documented case of the brain-destroying malady in U.S.-born and -raised livestock. Source: Associated Press
Last year the industry generated nearly $23 million in income, which was the highest level since 1994. Cattle inventory also rose 5,000 head to 156,000. Now cattle ranchers are girding for possible fallout from last month's disclosure that a second cow in the United States tested positive for the brain-wasting disease.
Mad cow disease time line
Tim Richards, general manager for Kahua Ranch in Kohala, said the industry easily overcame jitters caused by mad cow disease, medically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
"Last year we did have a good year," he said. "I think there will be a little blip, or knee-jerk reaction and then it will go away. It's a perception more than scientific deal because we have a very safe beef supply.
"If anything, we're probably going to see an improvement," said Richards, who also is a veterinarian.
Last year the state actually may have benefited from mad cow concerns because Hawai'i's isolation from the Mainland and Canada reduces exposure to the disease, said Richards and others in the industry. Ranchers also benefited from higher prices since the United States banned cattle imports from Canada, which was the source of the first infected cow. At the same time countries such as Japan, a former big buyer of U.S. beef, continue to ban the U.S. beef imports.
The popularity of low-carbohydrate diets also has led to higher beef prices over the past two years.
What happens next will hinge on how consumers react to the latest news, said Calvin Lum, owner of the North Shore Cattle Co. Demand for beef, which was largely unaffected the first time, could begin to suffer as more cases of mad cow arise.
"It depends on how much the U.S. consumer believes it's going to affect their health," he said. "I think the second case is going to have a bigger impact than the first.
"If you start looking for the disease, then you're going to find it. This may not be the end of it," Lum said.
However, Lum agreed that demand for Hawai'i beef should remain strong, particularly among locals.
"I think we're going to see the pickup a lot here. Hawai'i is at a great advantage because of the isolation and we're disease-free," he said. "Everybody thought when mad cow was discovered everybody would stop eating meat. That sure hasn't happened."
Cattle remains a bright spot while statewide livestock sales and inventories overall have experienced a decline in recent decades.
Sales from confined livestock operations such as hogs, dairy and poultry continue to decline as more farms shut down. Overall, 26 of 67 livestock operations tracked since 1999 have ceased operations, according to the University of Hawai'i's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. The survey, which only tracked major captive livestock businesses over that period, showed just 41 remained in operation last year.
Unlike cattle operations, where cows graze on pasture land, confined livestock operations typically have to import feed and deal with more stringent animal waste treatment and handling regulations, said Glen Fukumoto, a CTAHR extension agent for livestock programs.
Additionally, cattle operations tend to be larger; own, rather than lease their land; and don't rely exclusively on Hawai'i sales.
"I think the pastoral livestock operations have more of a future than the confined operations," he said. "For Hawai'i, that's the biggest opportunity to sustain."
Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.
