Jurgen and Diane Kohler of Manitoba have donated more than 75 round bales to Alberta families struggling with drought this year.
The hay won’t get all producers through the winter, but it has made a difference to a few families.
Alberta Agriculture beef specialist Barry Yaremcio said other producers will need to be more creative when looking for feed be-cause of dry weather.
Nine of Alberta’s 69 municipalities have declared agriculture disasters: Leduc, Brazeau, Thorhild, Parkland, Sturgeon, Yellowhead, Westlock, Northern Lights and Mackenzie.
Read Also
Rented farmland jumps 3.4 million acres in Saskatchewan and Alberta
Farmland rented or leased in the two provinces went from 25.7 million acres in 2011 to 29.1 million in 2021, says Census of Agriculture data.
Hay yields vary from five to 10 percent of normal to 60 to 70 percent of normal, depending on the area. Fields that received localized showers in May and June were able to withstand the dry weather and produce hay. Everyone else is looking for alternatives.
Producers are selling cows, weaning cows and selling the calves, moving cows to areas with better pasture and hay, looking at alternative feed or buying expensive hay.
“Hay prices are all over the world,” Yaremcio said.
“It’s just nuts. Some of these people are asking the world.”
The biggest hindrance to moving feed is transportation costs, which can almost be the same price as the hay.
“It is cheaper to move the cattle to the feed than the feed to the cattle.”
Yaremcio said moving cattle to another producer’s operation has its own challenges.
Producers need to have a good contract and a detailed feeding plan before sending their cattle to another producer.
“It’s entering a comfort zone some people don’t have.”
Yaremcio advised producers to talk to their neighbours about baling hail damaged canola and cereals or turn it into silage for part of their ration.
Varied feed quality this year makes it important to feed test everything and balance the ration. Research in the mid-1990s showed that drought-affected forage had reduced quality by up to 30 percent. Canola greenfeed, slough hay and hay from ditches are all good feed, but they need to be tested and balanced in a proper ration.
Yaremcio estimated that a thin cow needs an extra 1,400 pounds of feed during winter to stay warm.
“Already some cows are starting to lose condition.”
A ration comprising 25 to 40 percent straw is an acceptable feed before calving, depending on the stage of pregnancy and body condition, but straw has no place in an after-calving ration, he said.
A thin cow won’t produce good colostrum, will milk less and have poor reproduction and its calves will be more susceptible to sickness.
Yaremcio said the regrowth in crops after summer rain in the drought year of 2002 created a harvest nightmare but a bonus for livestock producers. The baled straw was a cross between old hay and straw and had up to eight percent protein.
“It’s better off than old straw.”
Yaremcio also warned livestock producers to be aware of cattle dying from eating poisonous plants such as water hemlock as they move into sloughs and rough land because traditional grazing areas no longer have feed.
“It is a concern we have to watch out for.”
