Grassland ranchers face food and water shortages as winter approaches

The consequences of last summer’s severe drought are being felt on farms and ranches along the prairies, where some livestock producers head into a long, cold winter with dangerously low supplies of food and water.

At his ranch near Nanton in southern Alberta, Canadian Ranchers Association president Bob Lowe said he is fortunate that late rains allowed him to save some type of hay crop. But he said that many producers have not been so lucky.

“Some people have nothing,” Lowe said. “And water is a big concern. In some areas, there is no surface water … I haven’t heard that anyone has dried up yet, but that will be next.”

The summer of 2021 will go on record as one of the worst and most widespread droughts in North America in years. Months of extreme heat and little rain left crops wilted in fields in the Prairie provinces and western Ontario. In British Columbia, farmers were also affected by wildfires and heavy smoke.

Now that the harvest season is over, the damage is being counted. According to a Saskatchewan government report, crop yields in that province were “well below average” and humidity conditions remain a concern, and significant rainfall is needed this fall and winter to replenish the moisture levels of the Saskatchewan. ground and troughs.

“Many areas of the province will have inadequate food supplies for the winter,” the report says. “Due to the dry conditions this year, the levels of pirogues, bogs and wells have been low and there is concern about the supply of water for livestock.”

The Manitoba government warned in a recent report that grasses in that province have suffered from dry conditions for “much of the last two to three years” and that most grasses are classified as “fair to very poor” in the face of winter.

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Feed shortages have led to a rise in prices, so farmers looking to buy complementary feed for their herds face costs two to three times higher than normal.

Lowe said financial and mental stress mean that some producers are already beginning to sell herds that have been accumulating for years.

“I’m hearing stories in the auction markets about herds of cattle that are for sale that just haven’t been for sale before,” he said. “There are a lot of people going out of business. They are just tired.”

In an effort to address the situation, the national agricultural organization, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), launched an initiative earlier this year called Hay West. The program aims to ship surplus hay from eastern Canada, where growing conditions were good this year, to the prairie provinces.

Since August, the program has shipped 5.5 million pounds of livestock feed from the Maritime Islands, Ontario and Quebec to struggling Western ranchers and farmers. An additional 50 million pounds have been collected and are ready to be shipped by rail or truck.

However, CFA Vice President Keith Currie said the organization needs more funds to move that food. So far, the cost of the Hay West program is largely being covered by private donations (Canadian National Railway Co. recently committed up to $ 250,000 to help cover freight costs) but CFA is asking the federal government to contribute as well.

“We hope they step up,” Currie said. “The more we can get the better. We’re going to start (with one question) in the millions.”

In August, the federal government pledged up to $ 500 million for farmers affected by the drought through AgriRecovery, a federal-provincial disaster relief program.

Currie said the focus should be on supporting farmers who have seen the equity value of a lifetime vanish due to drought, and ensuring that the size of the Canadian livestock industry is not depleted to a point where it will take years to recover.

Experts have suggested that up to 20 percent of the Canadian cattle herd could be sold this fall and winter, as producers are forced to downsize their herds or go out of business altogether.

“Our focus continues to be on breeding cattle, in particular, so we still have cattle in place for years to come,” Currie said.

This Canadian Press report was first published on November 11, 2021.