Alberta dairy farmers have given up waiting for a political solution for their cull cows and have found their own way to deal with the backlog of old cows.
Instead of taking them to the auction markets, the producer arm of Alberta Milk has arranged to ship the cattle direct to XL Beef’s slaughter plant in Moose Jaw, Sask., from three Alberta locations.
“We knew there was going to be a problem,” said Aart Okkema, who estimates there are 8,000 cull dairy cows on Alberta farms.
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“There hasn’t been any cull dairy cows move since the border closed.”
Before the border closed to Canadian beef May 20 following the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Alberta, most of the cull dairy cows were shipped to slaughter plants in the United States. It may be several months, if ever, before cows will be allowed across the border because of the older animals’ increased risk of developing BSE.
Okkema said not only was the search for a solution based on economics, there also needed to be a humane way to deal with animals that are no longer needed on dairy farms.
The main reason for culling dairy cows is infertility. The cows can’t be bred so they don’t produce milk.
With the help of the Alberta Foundation for Animal Care, groups of cattle are prearranged to arrive at an assembly yard, bypassing the auction market system, and then are trucked to Moose Jaw where they are slaughtered. Producers are paid on a rail grade basis. Recently producers received 38 cents a pound for their animals.
XL Beef has agreed to take 1,000 cull cows for slaughter. About 300 have already been shipped to the plant.
“We have to make the best of it. We’re responsible for our animals and cull cows are part of it,” said Okkema, who hopes the arrangement will continue beyond the 1,000 cow agreement.
