Sask. cattle producers facing feed shortages
Saskatchewan cattle producers are now facing feed issues for their livestock due to the drought the province experienced last summer.
Harold Martens has over 1,000 livestock on his ranch northeast of Swift Current, and is now faced with feed issue brought on by the drought.
"We did sell about eight per cent of our cows," said Martens. "We were just happy that's all we had to reduce our herd by."
In August, he had calculated they would need to sell one-third of their cows due to their feed shortage. Normally he cuts 2,000 acres of upland seeded grass, this summer they only managed to get around 400.
"We knew we weren't gong to have enough feed," said Martens.
In a usual year he irrigates for about 3,000 bales of barley for silage, and this was cut by one third.
September's rain helped them grow some of what they needed, but he was still in short supply. He started to look around the province, and all over.
"Over the years we have been selling stuff privately to people in Saskatchewan and Alberta, so we kind of have an understanding about what it takes to get this done," Martens said. "We started phoning those people, and they led us from one place to the next until we got the feed."
According to the Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association, the feed issue is what many of Saskatchewan's 12,000 cow-calf producers are faced with.
"It's a huge concern to all sectors of the cattle beef production cycle," said Arnold Balicki, chair of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association. "Anytime they run out of feed or can't get feed in a timely manner, those feed lots are going to cut back on buying."
Exacerbating the issue for ranchers is the cold, which Balicki said forces cows to consume more feed.
"The demand for calves are going to back off,” said Balicki. “That will be the second really, really bad year that we have."
The feed shortage issue is worse in Alberta due to its reliance on feed being transported in by railway.
"Talking to CP officials, trains have been delayed by a week from crew shortages from COVID-19 and cold weather,” Chad MacPherson, general manager of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association, said. “They are putting extra resources to the issue and hope to have the backlog resolved within a week."
Balicki said introducing the vaccine mandate for truckers at this time will only add to the troubles producers are facing.
"I don't know where this is coming from but it just doesn't make sense," he added.
With calving season nearing, Balicki hopes the feed issues don’t persist.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
BREAKING Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
WATCH LIVE As GC Strategies partner is admonished by MPs, RCMP confirms search warrant executed
The RCMP confirmed Wednesday it had executed a search warrant at an address registered to GC Strategies. This development comes as MPs are enacting an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power, summoning one of its contractors to appear before the House of Commons to be admonished publicly for failing to answer questions related to the ArriveCan app.
Disappointment widespread over budget's proposed $200-month disability benefit funding
Advocacy groups across Canada are expressing widespread disappointment about the amount of funding earmarked in the 2024 federal budget for the long-awaited Canada Disability Benefit.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
Former Sask. massage therapist who sexually assaulted clients has day parole revoked
A former massage therapist who pleaded guilty to a string of sexual assaults has had his day parole revoked.