Family hadn’t insured the 14 bred cows and 13 calves, but they had taken out insurance on a recently purchased bull
Cattle producers may find an animal dead from a lightning strike once in a while, but the sight on a pasture near Mankota, Sask., last week was far beyond that.
A relative discovered 14 bred cows, 13 calves and a bull dead along a fence line where Glen and Darla Briere had pastured some of their purebred Angus herd. An intense storm on July 8 had gone through the region and it’s likely the cattle were against the fence when struck.
The family did not have insurance on the cows and calves; the bull was a recent addition to the operation and was insured.
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“We’ve got everything else insured on our place but the cows,” said Darla in an interview last week.
Glen and their son buried the carcasses within days. The fence line will have to be fixed but there was such a stench in the air that they will wait to do that.
Darla hesitated to put a value on the lost animals, considering the cows were bred so they won’t have 14 calves next year. Ten of the calves killed were bulls that likely would have gone up for sale. There are also calves that hadn’t been weaned yet that have lost their mothers.
“It’s probably close to $100,000 when you think of the picture, being that they’re purebred and 10 of those calves potentially would have been in our bull sale,” she said.
The genetics of the animals is of greater value to the operation. Briere said it takes many years to get the desired genetics and now some are gone.
The loss is a significant part of the Briere’s operation. Glen is the fourth generation on the ranch homesteaded in 1912. They usually have about 150 cows but last year had to sell some because of the drought and the lack of feed.
The family doesn’t yet have a plan for how they will go about replacing the dead animals. Typically, they keep their own heifer calves as replacements and bring in new bulls.
“Our calf crop is out there right now,” said Briere. “We pick out our best heifers that are there and we keep them, but it’s another year to get them bred and get a calf.”
They will have to replace the bull to bring their complement back up to four.
“It’s like my son said, ‘we start calving these cows in February when it’s minus 30 and 35 and we go around the clock watching them, to save them, and then go out and all that you put into it is gone’,” she said.
The emotional sting of what the family considers a disaster is exacerbated by the lack of insurance and inability to get disaster assistance. They called the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program and learned because they had a choice to insure the animals, they aren’t eligible for coverage there.
“I hope AgriStability will kick in, but you know how those government programs work,” said Briere. “It’s like pulling a wheel on a slot machine.”
According to SGI statistics, there aren’t many livestock claims. In Saskatchewan, there have been 73 claims since 2017. The highest year was 2019 with 21. Add in Alberta and Manitoba and the number goes up to 83.
SGI farm segment director Blair McClinton said most companies offer farm insurance that will insure livestock. Generally, this is fire, lightning and explosion coverage or broader main peril coverage, he said.
Coverage can be for individual animals or parts of the herd.
Some companies also offer mortality policies, which are similar to life insurance for humans, that provide coverage for certain diseases and other risk.
McClinton said farmers and ranchers should discuss with their insurance brokers what livestock insurance is available and the cost. He referred to the large fire in southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta several years ago that killed hundreds of livestock that weren’t insured.
“Some of these events are not common but they do happen and it’s really tragic for the ranchers involved that they lose such a large number of animals,” said McClinton. “Ranching is a tough business at the best of times.”
Asked why more producers don’t buy insurance on their animals, he said they likely anticipate losing a few animals here and there and consider that a cost of doing business.
“They don’t anticipate losing 20 animals or 30 animals in a single event,” he said.
Briere said perhaps their experience could lead to changes in how government programs handle individual disasters.
She said the family has had a rough go. Exactly a year ago a hail storm came through and their home is “still shredded to pieces” because they can’t get a contractor to come fix it.
After last year’s drought, she said things were looking a little better unless the heat and wind in the forecast takes a toll.
The Briere family are not related to the author.
