Livestock producers from northeastern and east-central Saskatchewan say they need more government help to get them and their cattle through the winter.
About 50 producers chartered a bus to Regina and marched in front of the legislature Dec. 6 before attending question period where NDP leader Dwain Lingenfelter appealed on their behalf.
The producers want $150 per breeding cow and $75 per yearling.
The spokesperson for the group, Lynnel Person of Preeceville, said those amounts are based on calculations of what it costs to keep an animal through the winter.
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Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud has said that there will be no per head payments from the province. Earlier this fall, he announced a feed freight and forage reseeding program for producers affected by flooding.
Person said that will help for next year but many can’t afford to buy feed this fall to take advantage of the transportation assistance.
In the legislature, Lingenfelter pressed Bjornerud to table documents that prove he has asked Ottawa for the money.
The minister said he has been in constant contact with Ottawa and that he requested a couple of months ago that federal agriculture officials assess the situation with a view to implementing AgriRecovery payments.
“To date, we haven’t heard anything back from minister (Gerry) Ritz,” Bjornerud said.
That’s why the province went ahead with a program it could afford, he said.
But Person said the fact that Bjornerud didn’t table documents likely indicates he hasn’t asked.
“I think we found out today that our provincial government hasn’t made really any request to the federal government,” he said after question period. “Without them going to the federal government, we have little hope of anything ever happening.”
Both hay and straw are in short supply and of poor quality. Person said producers want to keep their breeding herds but it will be tough.
Lingenfelter said there are many dispersal sales booked for this fall.
“We are going to see a 10 or 20 percent reduction in the cattle herd if we don’t get this kind of a payment from Ottawa and from our provincial government,” he said.
Orland Walker of Hudson Bay said the number could be higher.
“I would say it’s probably closer to 50 percent of the cows are going to go to market in northeast Saskatchewan,” he said.
He and Person said the government doesn’t seem to understand how bad the situation is.
