Brad Wildeman has never seen people so low.
The man who runs Saskatchewan’s largest feedlot and serves as president
of the Saskatchewan Cattle Feeders Association, said two years of
drought could put some people out of business.
“It’s been tough before … but some of these people who have ridden
out a lot of tough times are at the wall this time.”
Wildeman guesses 25 to 30 percent of the cows in Saskatchewan’s drought
region will be gone after this year. The worst of the drought extends
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north of a line from Rosetown to Saskatoon to Hudson Bay.
Back-to-back drought will affect the province’s push to build its
cow-calf and feedlot sectors.
For the past few years, the provincial government, Wildeman and others,
like Saskatchewan Agrivision Corporation Inc., have extolled the
province’s advantages and the need to feed more cattle in Saskatchewan.
In January 2001, SAC predicted tremendous growth throughout the beef
sector.
“The Saskatchewan beef industry is capable of tripling beef output in
the province between 2000 and 2010,” the corporation said. “This will
be achieved through an expanded beef herd program and higher numbers of
cattle being fed to market weight and slaughtered within the province.
“To accomplish this, the beef cow herd must increase 50 percent and all
the resulting calves must be fed in Saskatchewan.”
Red Williams, president of SAC, said last week that potential still
exists.
The drought will affect producers in those areas, he said, but others
have options to keep their stock.
He said Saskatchewan’s cattle population has been the fastest growing
in Canada over the past couple of years and growth will continue, but
perhaps at a slower rate.
“It’s not going to be a complete turnaround,” he said of the drought’s
impact. “But it is a bit of a shock.”
Saskatchewan once had a herd bigger than the one that exists today.
In the 1970s, grain prices took off and many producers got out of
livestock to capitalize on export grain markets.
Canola was a “bonanza”, Williams said, and cattle prices weren’t strong.
Ken Rosaasen, an agricultural economist at the University of
Saskatchewan, describes the time as a roller coaster ride. Prices
dropped by half and livestock weren’t profitable.
He thinks producers will go back to cattle if they can afford it and
are willing to take the risk.
On July 29, Saskatchewan agriculture minister Clay Serby was to
announce per animal payments, for breeding stock, to producers in the
drought areas in an effort to retain cows.
Wildeman said feedlots need some help, too.
“Once you block these people out for a whole year, how many will be
back?”
He said the focus for next year should be on maintaining the herd. He
also said cattle numbers will grow when Albertans take advantage of new
land ownership laws in Saskatchewan.
