After enduring years of drought, Malcolm MacDougall’s family knew it was time to make some tough decisions.
They manage a mixed operation at Champion, Alta., that includes grain as well as commercial and purebred cattle.
This year, they were forced to pull their cattle off parched pastures two months early.
Their cereal crops struggled under the dry weather, which provided only 30 millimetres of rain during the growing season.
“A lot of our barley crops were not taken off,” MacDougall said.
“We just turned the cows out on them.”
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To avoid culling their cattle herds heavily this year, the MacDougall’s began exploring opportunities in Manitoba.
Their search led them to Langruth in western Manitoba, an area that is well suited for cattle production. This spring they bought land there to start building a cattle operation.
The MacDougalls plan to continue farming and ranching in Alberta, but the land in Manitoba offers them a hedge against the difficulties caused by prolonged drought in southern Alberta.
“I don’t want to leave Alberta,” MacDougall said.
“It still has a lot to offer. There are times here when it is good.”
By establishing a cattle operation in Manitoba, the MacDougalls have the option of moving cattle and hay between the provinces, giving them more flexibility to deal with years of poor pasture or hay production in one of the two provinces.
MacDougall said his family has been contending with drought in Alberta for most of the past 15 years. He thinks the drought is not a short-term thing.
“It’s more of a trend. It seems to be getting drier and drier and drier.”
The MacDougalls had wanted to expand in Alberta, but with limited land available to buy in the Champion area, they were forced to look further afield.
As well, farmland in the Champion area costs four to five times as much as it does around Langruth.
MacDougall knows of a few other Alberta ranchers who have decided to set up cattle operations in Manitoba and more are looking, he said.
He had assumed cattle prices would be lower in Manitoba because of the hauling distances to Alberta, where most prairie packers are located, but discovered that’s not the case
He said he was perplexed by the response the family received when it tried to borrow from the Manitoba Agricultural Credit Corp.
MACC wasn’t willing to lend the family money, he said, apparently because most of the partners in the Manitoba cattle venture would live outside the province.
Malcolm said he thought that was odd, considering Manitoba’s agriculture minister is encouraging expansion of the province’s cattle industry.
“It sure doesn’t encourage livestock expansion, if that’s what they’re looking for,” he said.
“We’re setting up in Manitoba, plus we’re bringing in money and expertise.”
