The Manitoba government has earmarked $6 million to offer a cull program to livestock producers affected by the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in an Alberta cow.
The program is not tied to the federal cull program announced earlier this fall.
A distinct feature of the provincial program is that slaughter is not required to participate.
Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk said the $6 million should be adequate to cover all eligible producers in the province. The coverage includes cattle, bison, sheep, goats and elk.
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“We believe we can handle it with this amount of money,” she said Dec. 19, when asked whether the funding might run out before all eligible applicants are paid.
Cattle producers will be eligible for payments of up to $100 per head on a maximum of eight percent of their beef cow herd and 16 percent of their dairy cow herd.
Payment amounts and cull maximums for other ruminants were to be established this week.
The deadline for applications is Jan. 31. Applications forms will be available through the Manitoba Agriculture website (www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture), or through local agriculture or Manitoba Crop Insurance offices.
When applying, producers will need to declare their herd inventories as of Sept. 1.
Wowchuk said spot checks and other measures will be used to ensure the money is dispersed fairly among those who are eligible.
The program was designed to ensure the payments do not depress livestock prices, she said.
The $100 per cull cow is less than the province would have paid if it had partnered with Ottawa and covered 40 percent of a cost-shared program. Wowchuk defended that position by pointing to the other programs Manitoba launched this year to help livestock producers.
“We have put more programs in place than other provinces have put in place,” she said.
