So you won't take the elk--how about the antlers? Rainy River Elk Company responding to ruminant ban, selling antler velvet, other parts overseas.

Getting the best bang for the buck is the name of the game for the Rainy River Elk Company.

Nothing is wasted when it comes to making the best possible use out of the animal. Deborah Cornell and Bill Darby, a husband and wife duo, maintain a multi-faceted operation with about 160 elk on their 162-acre farm, 16 kilometres west of Fort Frances.

Cornell grew up on a beef farm in the area, so she is no stranger to farming.

Darby, who works for the Ministry of Natural Resources, earned a Master's level degree studying caribou and a PhD studying white-tail deer habitat.

Cornell and Darby researched domestic and global markets, knowing there was a demand for velvet antler in Asia, and for breeding stock in the United States.

According to Cornell, the velvet antler is used as a nutraceutical, a nutritional medicine which gets dried, ground down and capsulated.

"Velvet antler is really prized by Chinese and Korean cultures," Cornell says. "Koreans give velvet antler to their young and elderly, much like how we take vitamins in the winter."

Cornell says many North Americans use it for joint-related conditions. Its insulin-like growth hormones help boost immune systems.

The antler is taken from the bull at a certain stage of growth before it begins to harden or calcify. It's a renewable resource, as bulls produce velvet every year with the growth of a new set of antlers each spring. Mature bulls, about 7-8 years old, can produce between 30 to 40 pounds of velvet each year, according to the North American Elk Breeders Association website. As a commodity, the price has ranged from $15 per pound to $100 per pound since Cornell has been in the business. She sells it to the Chinese and Korean markets.

"It has always been a volatile and (unpredictable) industry," Cornell says.

The market peaked in 1997, but since the BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), or mad cow disease, debacle closed the American and other international borders to ruminant livestock, their Korean buyers have been off limits.

The BSE scare has impacted more than just the cattle industry. The sickness is called chronic wasting disease in elk. The borders have prevented all ruminants (bison, elk, camels, giraffes) from travelling to the United States.

Cornell says they literally sold hundreds of elk over the years, exporting to states such as Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Expecting movement at the borders in the spring of 2005, Cornell and Darby had set up some shipments to go south. Unfortunately, the recent last-minute ruling in the U.S. to keep the borders shut prevented their breeding stocks and trophy bull sales to neighbouring states.

While government rules have wounded many animal industries, Cornell says it sparks imagination.

Presently, her focus is on meat sales. She sells at the local farmers market, trade shows, and attends FedNor's booth every year in Toronto at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. She also sells the trim meat in the form of jerky and elk snack sticks in about 20 retail outlets in the area.

Although antler sales are holding their own, Cornell says her meat sales are now about half of the business. "Meat is expanding just on private demand," Cornell says. "But I don't get as much for the carcass as I would a live animal."

Yet in today's health-conscious, calorie-counting world, elk meat fills that niche. They raise their elk naturally, with no antibiotics or growth hormones. Compared to beef, they say it is a healthier choice.

"The loin has less fat than skinless chicken breast, and it's really low in fat and cholesterol and high in protein."

As much as Cornell wants to get more meat out there, the lack of a federal abattoir in the area has placed another roadblock to her sales in Manitoba, where a federal licence to sell meat inter-provincially is required.

During this more challenging time, their business remains in a holding pattern, not unlike most agricultural businesses dealing in livestock.

Cornell remains patient and hopeful the situation with the meat industry between the countries will settle down, so she can continue to do what she enjoys most: working with the animals on her farm.

www.naelk.org

By ADELLE LARMOUR

For Northern Ontario Business