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Drought, low demand cut sheep flock

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Published: July 11, 2002

During the early dog days of July, Rena Fowler spent her hours culling

sheep at her Bonnyville, Alta., farm.

She has received 10 millimetres of rain this year, forcing her to cut

her flock of 450 purebred Dorset ewes to 50.

“There’s no feed available and what there is, they want an arm and a

leg for it or your first born child,” Fowler said.

The meagre hay supplies that are available are selling for more than

$100 for a 1,100 pound round bale. Last year, round bales cost $30.

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During a trip to the local feed mill last week, she was offered barley

screenings at $2.25 a bushel.

Producers in Fowler’s area were able to continue buying hay locally

until December and then supplies ran out.

Their choice was find feed or liquidate.

“Anybody who has livestock is trying to divest,” said her partner Rick

Reinhart. “Our return on our investment has been 30 cents on the

dollar.”

Fowler wants governments to do something tangible. She suggested

freight subsidies to bring feed into the worst drought areas.

“Nobody seems concerned about what is happening here today,” she said.

“There doesn’t seem to be anybody who gives a darn.”

Sheep producers are facing massive dispersals across Alberta and into

Saskatchewan.

The drought is one of several factors slamming the industry, said Doug

Laurie of North Central Sheep and Goat Sales, which handles sales

through the Edmonton Stockyards.

The continuing softwood lumber dispute with the United States forced

British Columbia timber companies to restrict custom grazing of sheep

in clear-cut blocks, removing a valuable source of summer forage for

many.

The worsening situation will be compounded when Edmonton stops holding

sheep sales because of poor lamb and mutton prices and the difficult

logistics of handling sheep in a facility designed for cattle. The last

sale will be July 11.

Prices have been dismal. Breeding ewes are going for 10 to 15 cents a

pound.

“It has never been that low,” Laurie said.

Market lambs are holding at 70 cents per lb., less than break-even for

producers.

Alberta Sheep and Wool Commission manager Maureen Duffy said the

traditionally stronger eastern ethnic market is also soft.

The eastern market for cull ewes dried up when mutton sales were

replaced with offshore product from New Zealand and Australia.

“There is no market for mutton in Canada at all. It is looking

desperate,” Duffy said.

Flocks had been growing in Canada in recent years, with 18 percent

growth between 1996 and 2001.

But that is changing now.

According to Statistics Canada, the national flock shrunk to 801,000

sheep as of Jan. 1, 2002 from 1.041 million sheep and lambs in 2001.

Alberta, which is the second largest producer behind Ontario, saw its

flock shrink to 165,000 sheep from 234,000. This year’s lamb crop is

not included in the 2002 total.

About the author

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth has covered many livestock shows and conferences across the continent since 1988. Duckworth had graduated from Lethbridge College’s journalism program in 1974, later earning a degree in communications from the University of Calgary. Duckworth won many awards from the Canadian Farm Writers Association, American Agricultural Editors Association, the North American Agricultural Journalists and the International Agriculture Journalists Association.

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