LLOYDMINSTER, Sask. – In Lloydminster, Alta., where a trailer load of elk found on the wrong side of town could normally land a producer in hot water with the authorities, elk breeders met for the largest sale in Canada. On the Saskatchewan side.
Due to a tiny worm that can be resident in snails, the Alberta border has remained closed to elk from the rest of Canada, with the exception of the Yukon, since 1987. The border issue was one of the reasons for founding the three-year-old sale.
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“We wanted to show the Alberta authorities and breeders they had nothing to fear from Saskatchewan elk. Unfortunately three years later I’m not sure we’re any closer to getting the border open. We can always hope,” said Wilf Jurke, a Lloydminster elk breeder.
Jurke and other Saskatchewan breeders question the health issue surrounding the Menegeal brain worm. They say testing can show whether an animal has been exposed to the worm. They say no captive elk has been found with the parasite. A new test is being developed for the worm and should be on the market soon, say breeders.
Despite the fact that other livestock can carry the worm, Alberta has remained a closed market for elk for the past decade. That has led to premium prices in the province as Saskatchewan and Manitoba breeders have been shut out. The lack of reciprocity has meant some hard feelings between producers in Alberta and those in the other two provinces.
One-sided businesses
“We would like to have access to the 300 breeders in Alberta. They have been able to buy our semen to keep their genetics sound but we can’t sell live animals into their market. We want to see some balance in the business,” said Jurke.
Bruce Friedel of the Alberta Venison Council responded: “There has been a movement to having the border opened. Alberta breeders want to open it up to animals from other provinces, but not if it is going to cause animal health problems. Right now it is in the hands of the provincial authorities.”
Friedel hopes the Saskatchewan and Alberta boards can begin to work on the border issue together in the new year, beginning with organizing funding for health research. Meetings are scheduled for February.
“We want to work with the Alberta association to get these health issues ironed out so we get down to doing what both sides want to do – breed a few elk,” said Barry Haubrich, president of the Saskatchewan Elk Breeders Association.
During the sale auctioneer Norman Moore said: “I remember when we had free trade in Canada. When elk breeders could buy stock from anywhere on the Prairies. I look forward to that day coming once again.”
Moore handles nearly all elk auctions in Canada and feels the restrictions have thrown the market slightly out of balance in the past but with Canada’s largest sale in Lloydminster, Sask. last week all that may be coming to an end.
“The prices were nearly even for Alberta and Saskatchewan animals. That tells us the market is looking after itself now. But it will still be good for the industry to have the border open,” he said.
Sale prices for the Lloydminster event were up 30 percent over last year and a North American record was set for a Saskatchewan registered bull calf.
Cross the border
Under a special protocol issued by the Alberta government, Alberta elk are allowed to be moved to the Saskatchewan side of the border for the few days of the Lloydminster sale.
“It is a lot of work and expense to operate a sale like this. The animals must be kept under a strict protocol as laid out by Alberta Fish and Wildlife. Until this year we didn’t even run the Alberta animal through the sale ring. It was done by video from the other end of the barns.
“Now we keep them segregated and sell the Alberta animals first,” said Mike Sidoryk, general manager of the Lloydminster Exhibition Association, host of the annual border sale.
