SASKATOON – Cattle producers in northeastern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan just can’t win.
After a summer of drought left them with terrible hay crops and low livestock feed supplies going into the winter, the three-week cold snap has added insult to injury, according to agrologists.
“A dry summer followed by a cold winter isn’t a good state of events,” said Lloydminster, Saska-chewan/Alberta agrologist Howie Bjorge. “There’ll be some culling of herds.”
Both Saskatchewan and Alberta have forage listings for producers with a surplus, and they’re being urged to use them if they have any hay drought-region producers can buy.
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But North Battleford, Sask., agrologist Bryan Doig said many producers are selling cows and calves early because they don’t have the feed or confidence to keep them.
Bleak outlook
“When you’re feeding snowballs and promises, it’s pretty hard to carry them through on that,” said Doig.
The warm weather that has followed the cold snap has slowed the drain of feed supplies, Prince Albert agrologist Brian Harris said, but “we could still have three weeks of cold winter.”
Cold weather can increase a cow’s feed intake by 20 percent, putting an added strain on already tight supplies, Doig said. And as supplies run low, many cows have begun calving and milking, the time when they need the most and best feed.
North Battleford Heartland Livestock manager John Streberg said there have been more dispersal sales this year than for the past five, but “there’s no panic selling.”
He said the tight feed supplies combined with forecasts of high feed prices and a bad cattle market have pushed some producers into scaling back operations.
Most of the calves sold locally are leaving the area and many producers who commonly buy calves to background are just sticking with their own calves this year, he said.
