Ranchers in southwestern Saskatchewan are wondering why they weren’t included in a recently announced drought relief program.Much of the region suffered through four years of drought, yet none of the rural municipalities were named in the $114 million pasture recovery initiative for central and northern Alberta and west-central and northwest Saskatchewan.Producers in 64 Saskatchewan RMs are eligible to receive $50 per breeding head of livestock. The money is to be used to buy feed and keep animals off recovering pastures.Vernon Davidson of Ponteix, Sask., said he can’t understand why southwestern producers were left off the list. Precipitation maps show the lack of moisture was worse in the south, he said.Others have noted that parts of Saskatchewan that did qualify were not designated drought areas last year.Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud said he expected the criticism.“The minute you draw boundaries, you’re going to have people that are very unhappy with where they’re situated,” he said.The federal and provincial governments developed the AgriRecovery program boundaries using the North American Drought Monitor indices.Canada, the United States and Mexico established the collaborative effort in 2002 for on-going assessments of drought on the continent.Bjornerud said there are probably areas that were missed.“We tried to pick up the toughest part of the drought,” he said.The region was also included in the federal government’s listing of 155 RMs in which producers qualified for tax deferrals for selling breeding stock.But NDP leader Dwain Lingenfelter said the program announced May 31 excludes too many producers.“Many livestock producers have told me that in previous years when drought has been severe, they were forced to spend $20 per tonne to transport hay,” he said.“Another producer told me he spent nearly $20,000 to pasture his cattle and others have been forced to sell their herd because they simply couldn’t afford to feed them.”Ted Ford, an Alberta Beef Producers director, said producers outside the drought areas in Alberta were hit just as hard.“Their feed costs are as high as anyone’s because there was such a limited supply,” he said. “There are people that are going to be unhappy.”Ford said producers have had to feed cows earlier in fall and later in spring. He added that $50 per head doesn’t cover the additional costs producers face. ABP estimated those costs at $368 per head.
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