Difficult times are leading to desperate measures in the livestock industry.
Producers are taking matters into their own hands by shooting culled animals and burying them.
A dairy farmer from St. Labre, Man., recently disposed of 20 head in that fashion, dumping the bodies in a large compost pile.
“He wasn’t breaking the law in any way but I think it certainly was showing his frustration with having no outlet for selling those cows at a reasonable price,” said Bill Swan, chair of Manitoba Milk Producers.
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There have been unconfirmed reports of elk and bison producers taking similar action in the other prairie provinces.
Luke Perkins, president of the Saskatchewan Elk Breeders Association, wouldn’t cite any specific instances but he acknowledged it is happening.
“Producers are having to make the awful choice of digging a pit and taking some of their cull animals and shooting them and burying them,” he said.
Linda Sautner, office manager of the Alberta Bison Commission, said published reports of a Grande Prairie producer killing 27 animals turned out to be erroneous. But she said there is no doubt some producers are shooting their herds.
“We have heard of instances where our ranchers have gone out and done this,” she said.
And there are other problems.
Morris Airey, director of enforcement with Alberta’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said three bison producers and one elk producer are under investigation in Alberta for keeping malnourished animals.
“We anticipate a busy winter because of the market conditions. BSE has just extended an already existing problem within the diversified livestock industry.”
He also expects problems with beef herds due to the cull cow crisis brought on by the closure of the United States border.
For some producers, the May 20 discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in an Alberta cow is the root of their problems. For others, it goes back further.
Perkins said many Saskatchewan elk producers are facing three years of drought on top of losing their primary market for antler velvet in South Korea.
“We were told we were nothing but a pyramid scheme and a fly-by-night industry that was just destined to fail anyhow. Hopefully since May 20 people have realized exactly what a closure of a main market does to your industry.”
Sautner said bison producers were on the cusp of a long-awaited turnaround when the BSE crisis placed the industry into another tailspin. In early May, at an auction sale in Drayton Valley, Alta., bison prices rose for the first time in more than a year.
“It was just such a light. It was, ‘Oh yes, here we go.’ Everybody was excited,” said Sautner.
That euphoria turned into disbelief a few weeks later when the discovery of BSE prompted the U.S. to close its border to all Canadian ruminants.
Trade with the U.S. has resumed for some meat from animals under 30 months of age, but there are no facilities in Alberta capable of slaughtering young bison.
Manitoba’s dairy producers are in a similar predicament, said Swan. The industry typically culls 20-30 percent of its herd a year.
Unlike beef cattle, the culled animals can’t be put back into the cycle again due to quota restrictions and health problems.
Prior to May 20, most cull cows were slaughtered in the U.S. Today Manitoba’s dairy producers only have two viable options, sending them to a plant in Moose Jaw, Sask., or one in Montreal, Que. Producers have had difficulty booking animals into either of those facilities.
A Winnipeg hog plant is considering retooling its operation to kill cattle. And there is talk of Manitoba dairy producers forming a co-operative that will specialize in slaughtering cull cows and bulls. But more on-farm killings are also a distinct possibility.
“Hopefully we get some sort of resolve to this before that becomes a major problem,” said Swan.
