Nothing could compare with this year, says Dick Van Buuren, who has farmed more than 20 years in southwestern Manitoba.
Almost no rain has fallen on his pastures since late June. Dry weather and scorching heat have turned many area pastures brown and sucked the life out of corn crops, leaving them a sickly shade of green.
Van Buuren has a mixed operation of grain and cattle, including a feedlot. Fed cattle that should have gone to slaughter this spring are still in his feedlot, kept there by the events that followed the mid-May discovery of a cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Alberta.
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Most years Van Buuren can get a second cut of hay at his farm near Pipestone. This year, he got only one cut and yields were two-thirds of normal. He is stockpiling extra straw and grain to make up the difference. Cows and calves on pasture already are getting supplemental feed, cutting into the supplies he normally would have stockpiled for the winter months.
Like other cattle producers in the province, Van Buuren is doing what he can to withstand the crisis brought on by drought and BSE. And, like many producers, he is also hoping the provincial and federal governments will increase their support.
In recent weeks, the Manitoba government rejigged the program for cattle being fed for slaughter in a bid to make it work for producers. The province also announced a $100 million loan program that lets eligible producers borrow up to $50,000 at reduced interest rates.
The Manitoba Cattle Producers Association met with premier Gary Doer Aug. 12 to press for more support. The association wants transportation assistance for producers having to haul in feed this year because of the drought, and it lobbied for loans that would be interest-free until the United States border opens to Canadian live cattle.
As well, the association called for a federal-provincial program to deal with issues surrounding cull cows and bulls.
Producers remain worried because of the uncertainty and difficulties caused by drought and BSE, said MCPA executive director Keith Robertson. “It all seems to be hitting so hard and so fast, it’s left everyone scrambling.”
When interviewed Aug. 18, Manitoba’s deputy premier and agriculture minister had no hint as to whether further financial assistance can be expected from the province.
Rosann Wowchuk said the resumption of cattle and beef exports remains the first priority. She urged cow-calf producers in need of financial assistance to participate in the $100 million loan program.
Part of her government’s focus is on issues it thinks the federal government should lead on. That includes equitable access to slaughter capacity. Manitoba’s small beef packing industry found it difficult to move fattened cattle to slaughter in other provinces after exports to the U.S. were banned in the wake of the BSE discovery.
Wowchuk also wants Ottawa to establish a program for cull cattle. Manitoba producers cull an average of 10 percent of their herds each year, she said, which amounts to more than 50,000 animals. If exports of cull cows and bulls to the U.S. never resume, the economic consequences could be severe.
