After deciding last year to support brand inspection in the province, cattle producers in Manitoba have changed their minds.
Members of the newly named Manitoba Beef Producers, formerly the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association, passed a resolution at the group’s annual generalmeetinginBrandonNov. 6tohalt the association’s lobbying efforts for cattle brand inspection in the province.
The shift showed the association adopted a policy that wasn’t widely supported by beef producers in Manitoba, said Joe Bouchard, who farms near Fisher Branch.
“There were people that came (to the AGM) specifically for this issue,” said Bouchard, one of about a dozen producers who spoke against brand inspection during the debate.
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Several producers pointed to the price tag, with one calling it a million dollar fix for a $50,000 problem.
“It’s one of the issues that’s very hard to get numbers on… but the number is 55 to 60 head (annually) were reported stolen to the RCMP,” Bouchard said. “I think the (producer) just threw a $1,000 number on it (per cow).
“But the fact is that you’re not forced to brand but everyone is forced to pay in a mandatory system. So $2 a head times a half a million (in cattle sales)… is a million dollars.”
Producers said brand inspection would delay or hinder the sale of cattle.
“For me… I wouldn’t be able to move my cattle anywhere until somebody came and inspected them,” said Don Winnicky, a producer from Piney, Man.
Other presenters suggested branding is passé. If producers maintain the practice, it might lead to negative publicity from animal welfare groups.
Jay Fox, MBP president, was in favour of brand inspection.
Manitoba is the only prairie province that doesn’t have brand inspectors and without such a program it could become a destination for stolen cattle, he said.
In Saskatchewan, the provincial agriculture department administers the inspection program, charging a fee of $1.65 per animal. Inspections are required prior to the sale of all livestock in Saskatchewan.
Alberta provides cattle brand inspection through the Livestock Identification Services Agency, which charges $1 per animal for the service.
