Janet Carr and her family had to watch helplessly from a hill June 20 as fast moving, dirty water from the Bow River flooded their pastures southeast of Calgary.
The water was raging, cows were bawling and there was nothing they could do.
The Carrs had 200 cows on pasture, and after the flood waters started to recede, they found some stranded on newly formed islands without feed and no way to leave. Others had disappeared.
“We didn’t know exactly our numbers. We believe there were 16 cows drowned,” she said.
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They do not know how many calves may have been lost.
The family called the RCMP, the SPCA, Fish and Wildlife and Alberta Conservation, and finally got help when the Strathmore fire department came with a river boat to cut fence wires and set the cattle free.
The Carrs also found other cattle that appeared to be marooned and called brand inspectors to see if they could be reunited with their owners.
No one can confirm how many livestock were lost.
Carr said most of the attention in the aftermath of the flood seems to be directed at restoring Canmore, Calgary and High River, but farmers are going to need financial help as well.
“It is a big financial hit for us.”
Agriculture minister Verlyn Olson said his department has not heard about catastrophic losses to livestock or irrigation works. However, the province has a contract with West Coast Reduction to pick up cattle, horse and hog carcasses for rendering at no cost to producers.
“There is still a lot of analysis going on and we haven’t taken hard and fast positions on a lot of this,” he said.
The first question for producers with major losses will be whether they had insurance. There may also be some aid through the Agri-Recovery or Agri Stability programs.
“I don’t think there is any contemplation at this point that that program will be used,” Olson said.
The province has set up a website for more complete details on flood compensation at alberta.ca/RecoveryInformation.cfm.
