Better training for staff and better care for cattle are among the recommendations made by a Saskatchewan pasture review committee.
The committee was set up to review the provincial pasture system after 78 cattle died in the Meyronne pasture last fall.
The cattle died of dehydration after their water supply ran out. The pasture rider was fired as was the pasture manager, who was initially reassigned.
Brian Berrns, chair of the review committee, said one incident should not tarnish the entire community pasture system.
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“I was surprised that really we didn’t find a lot of fault with the program,” he said of the committee’s work. “It’s well-run and well-managed with a lot of emphasis on good animal care.
“The people of this province should feel at ease. The care of their animals is in good hands.”
While the Meyronne incident was unfortunate, Berrns said the committee’s recommendations will work to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Confidence continues
Calvin Gavelin was one of two pasture patrons who lost cattle at Meyronne. He and Norm Bouvier have put cattle in the pasture again this summer.
“I agree (with Berrns) 100 percent,” Gavelin said. “This was a slack effort by two people …. It made the good ones look bad because they had to defend what they were doing.”
He said the recommendation to set up advisory groups to improve communication between cattle owners and pasture managers is a good one. The owners will have some input into the decisions made at the pastures.
Agriculture minister Clay Serby said the department would begin to implement recommendations immediately.
Key among them is training for the pasture staff to raise the quality of animal care.
“There is certainly an expectation that some of the training that is required can enhance the level of expertise that we have in our pastures today,” Serby told reporters.
“The livestock producers are expecting that when their livestock comes out of the pastures that they come back with the same kind of animal husbandry that they would have provided to them on the farm.”
The committee has recommended an independent assessment of the pastures program and an audit of the last four years of operations at the Old Wives and Meyronne pastures. The same person managed both pastures.
The committee also plans to reconvene in January 2003 to review progress on its recommendations.
