Some producers won’t be happy with the latest Manitoba livestock
stewardship initiative.
The province vowed for more than a year that it would lower the size of
livestock operations that must abide by the manure management
regulations of that initiative.
Recently, the Manitoba government again confirmed that it will lower
the threshold from 400 animal units to 300, and it released a timeline
for phasing in that change.
While not opposed to some degree of regulation for its industry, the
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
Manitoba Pork Council remains opposed to the lower threshold.
One concern is the cost the change could bring to hog operations below
400 animal units but above 300. For some producers it could create the
need to build storage to hold manure through the winter months, since
winter spreading of their manure would not be allowed.
That change might also discourage producers with less than 300 animal
units from expanding.
Karl Kynoch, a hog producer at Baldur, Man., is among those who may
fall into that group. He runs a 200 sow farrow-to-finish operation and
is below the 300 animal unit threshold.
Kynoch said the changes will make it less economical to expand his
family’s hog operation.
“Would I expand now to 350? No, because I wouldn’t want to put the
whole operation into that.”
Kynoch is vice-chair of the Manitoba Pork Council. He said decisions
about which farms should be covered by the manure management rules
should be based on criteria besides size. Risks to the environment also
depend on proximity to a stream or river and whether there is any
chance of runoff from land where manure is applied.
Plans for lowering the threshold to 300 animal units also got a cool
reception from the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association.
There are more than 10,000 cattle producers in Manitoba. While the
association could not say how many producers might be affected by the
change, it said lowering of the threshold is a concern.
“It’s just going to create more paperwork,” said Ken Crockatt, a
producer and association director at Argyle, Man. “I don’t think it’s
going to stop us from expanding.”
Crockatt runs a cow-calf operation and a feedlot for backgrounding. He
suggested if the government tightens regulations for livestock
operations, it should also look at things that can affect the
environment, including municipalities.
“They can pollute the water just as much as cattle can.”
Here are some details of the changes:
- Next spring, all new livestock operations with more than 300 animal
units will be required to have manure management plans and will be
prohibited from spreading manure in winter.
- Existing operations with more than 300 animal units will be required
to register manure management plans by February 2004. They must stop
winter manure spreading by November 2010.
The Manitoba government will evaluate the methods and impact of
calculating animal units cumulatively across species. It says it will
do that to ensure mixed family farms are not unduly affected during the
transition.
Meanwhile, the government has introduced legislation that requires any
third party preparing a manure management plan to be registered with
the Manitoba Institute of Agrologists.
