Future expansion of Western Canada’s livestock industry hinges on environmental and animal handling issues, farmers, nutritionists and researchers were told last week.
“There will be constraints on industry expansion by (government) regulation and market acceptance unless we tackle these (animal welfare and waste byproducts) issues,” Claude Legu‘ said during the Western Nutrition Conference in Saskatoon Sept. 26-27.
Legu‘, a livestock waste management engineer for the University of Saskatchewan and the Prairie Swine Centre, said the livestock industry has expanded to the point where it represents more than half of all Canadian farm receipts.
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“Expansion of the industry is a given and Western Canada is the most likely place to see that growth,” he said.
In Quebec, one of Canada’s largest livestock-producing regions, the provincial government considers 165 municipalities to be at environmental risk due to concentration of intensive livestock facilities and their nutrient-heavy waste disposal practices.
Expansion of intensive livestock production in that province is considered unlikely.
As well, in the wake of the E. coli water contamination in Walkerton, Ont., the Ontario government has introduced the Nutrient Management Act of 2001, expected to restrict agricultural developments that do not meet strict environmental criteria.
“You can expect that public perception of the industry is not ideal in Ontario and growth there will be limited,” Legu‘ said.
Joe Stookey, of the University of Saskatchewan’s large animal clinical sciences department, said the business of animal agriculture in Canada is growing and will continue to grow. The only question is where that expansion will take place.
“Western Canada has all of the advantages for expansion. We are close to feed. We have access to transportation. We have low population densities with limited competition for land use beyond agriculture,” Stookey said. “But it also means we have to make sure that we are acting responsibly as livestock producers or the whole industry could be hurt in the long run.”
Legu‘ said more research in feed efficiency is required.
“Sixty-five percent of all feed becomes nutrient waste. Not only is this costly for the feed, but handling waste, after feed, is the highest operating cost many producers have. And in the future it will cost even more.
“The public won’t allow us to keep dumping large amounts of nutrients onto the soil. We are going to have to find better ways to handle them. In the very near future nutrient management will be monitored and we will have to live with rules.”
The Canadian Standards Association and the Canadian Pork Council are working on national hog waste management guidelines. Industry leaders say that once established, they will likely become the minimum standards for pork production in Canada.
Legu‘ said control of environmentally hazardous gases is another issue that must be addressed.
John Whitaker, a cattle producer from Erickson, Man., said consumers will soon dictate how he does his job.
“We have to begin now to address our issues of livestock handling if we are going to expect consumers to pay more in the future or even let our industry expand.”
Stookey said the industry must do a better job addressing animal welfare concerns.
He said a Sept. 5 Canadian Food Inspection Agency report found that of 7,362 downer cattle identified in a study of feedlots and auction marts, 6,631 were from dairy operations.
“That is the sort of results that can be hard on the industry and that sector needs to clean that up,” he said.
“They responded by saying only half were condemned. I don’t think that is quite what the public wants to hear …. That is the kind of thing that interferes with expansion.”
Whitaker said it only takes a few producers to damage the industry.
“We shouldn’t hide producers that don’t (meet the guidelines). We need to tell the public that those who break the rules have been prosecuted and convicted and won’t be in the business any more.”
Stookey also said more money needs to be spent on research in animal nutrition, behaviour and waste engineering.
