Cattle producers saw some record high prices in 2015.

Dave Solverson is the President of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.

He says unfortunately we also saw some volatility in the market with prices dropping off later in the year.

He’s hoping that we could see some strength in the markets again in 2016.

“There’s really strong prices yet, if you look on a five year average were still ahead of prices that we normally get. There is going to be some losses on the feeding side because cattle bought in the first half of 2015. So there will be challenges for our feeding sector to recover some of those losses and to use risk management tools the best they can to keep the market going.”

The National Beef Strategy is high on the list of priorities for the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association in 2016.

Executive Director Ryder Lee expects a lot of discussion on the issue and how it will be funded this month during the Saskatchewan Beef Conference Jan 20-21 in Saskatoon.

“Prices have been solid for cattle and were looking at reinvesting in our marketing and our research and promotion of the industry. So that will be a big conversation in January. And across the country that is a big conversation. Are we going to take this five year plan foreword?”

Lee says other priorities include improvements with the Forage and Livestock Price Insurance programs and the continued development of the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence at the U of S in Saskatoon

Solverson adds they’ll continue to work on expanding trade and on sustainability adding that Canada’s Beef Sustainability Roundtable is leading the world.