Alberta’s livestock industry has developed a plan to divert livestock in case the American border closes.
While the chance of a U.S. border closure is remote, it was “imperative” a plan be put in place to divert livestock in case of border delays, said Tim O’Byrne, the Alberta Farm Animal Care Association livestock handling specialist.
More than a million cattle and half a million hogs cross from Alberta into the United States each year, about 30 to 50 loads a day. After Sept. 11, 2001, traffic slowed to a snail’s pace and truckloads of livestock were caught in border traffic when border guards went on high alert.
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O’Byrne said it was while standing in the parking lot at the Coutts, Alta., and Sweetgrass, Mont., border with officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that he realized the need for a contingency plan in case of another border delay. The Sweetgrass-Coutts border is the busiest livestock crossing in Canada.
A border closure poses the biggest problem for hogs. Once a hog leaves the barn it can’t be returned because of disease contamination concerns. Cattle and horses could be rerouted back to their place of origin.
O’Byrne said the biggest challenge was finding places to unload the hogs near the border.
“It was kind of tough,” said O’Byrne, of Calico Beef Consulting of Consort, Alta.
Many people were willing to help, but didn’t have the facilities to house, water and feed up to 1,000 head of hogs that could be rerouted in a day. O’Byrne finally found facilities near Lethbridge to unload the hogs.
He said it was also key to work with provincial transportation officials to stop the trucks from getting stuck in the border lineup. The roads at the border act as a funnel and once the trucks get closer to the crossing, it’s impossible to turn around.
“If they get down there, they’re hung up.”
Under the plan, any livestock trucks will be stopped at provincial weigh scales before the border. A decision can then be made before the trucks get stuck in a long line of unmoving traffic.
