Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association says the $350,000 reduction was the result of a shrinking herd in the province
The Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association took in less check-off money last year due to a steady to declining herd size.
Chief executive officer Ryder Lee told the online district meetings held last week that checkoff revenue was down about $350,000 in 2019-20.
“It was something we forecasted so it’s not a threat to the organization,” he said afterward. “It is not COVID related; it is marketings related.”
Selling fewer cattle means taking in fewer check-off dollars.
Producers pay a $4.50-per-head checkoff on each animal sold. Of that $2.50 is forwarded to national agencies for research and promotion.
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The SCA took in slightly less than $5.5 million in checkoffs last year and sent on $2.8 million.
About $53,000 was refunded as per producers’ request. That is up from $48,000 the previous year.
Lee said Alberta collects the checkoff when Saskatchewan cattle are sold there. It then pays the national portion on their behalf and returns about $1.93 per head to Saskatchewan.
The SCA is still in a good spot to fund the research and programs it undertakes on producers’ behalf.
Lee and chair Arnold Balicki outlined the main issues the board worked on last year, including changes to AgriStability, establishing more irrigation, revised trespass legislation and the Canada Emergency Business Account pandemic assistance program.
Like many organizations, SCA has asked for the reference margin limit to be removed from AgriStability, for the payment trigger to be changed from 70 percent to 85 percent, for home-grown feed to be eligible as an expense, and for removal of the $3 million cap.
Other issues include the probable loss of strychnine to control gophers, new transport regulations and long-awaited traceability regulations.
And, of course there is COVID-19.
“As I look ahead there’s challenges aplenty,” Lee said. “The fat market has been stuck at about $1.34 since I don’t know when — months. That doesn’t cut it.”
Feed costs have recently begun ratcheting upward and hitting calf prices at exactly the wrong time, he said.
Producers who bought insurance through the Western Livestock Price Insurance Program received payments through the spring and summer periods and the program is in a claim position right now, Lee added.
But the program is still underused with only about 20 percent of the calf crop insured this year. Lee said that is the second-largest percentage ever and it wouldn’t have been that big if not for a rush to buy on the last day.
Higher coverages were available before that, he said, and despite the uncertainty that dogged them in May and June, producers still didn’t buy protection.
Lee also said the SCA supports an application to the Beef Cattle Research Council to establish a research chair at the University of Saskatchewan. The successful applicant has not yet been announced but he said the proposal would enable forage and beef research.
The province has 20 million acres of hay and grassland, making it the largest crop grown in Saskatchewan.
