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'It breaks you down': Alberta ranchers face feed and water shortages after devastating drought

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CALGARY -

Many ranchers in drought-stricken prairie provinces, including those in southern Alberta, are facing a critical shortage of feed and water supply for their herds heading into the winter months.

“It has been an incredibly tough year, really," said John Smith, who owns Plateau Cattle Co. near the town of Nanton, south of Calgary.

"We have unprecedented drought that has made things quite challenging."

A lack of crops due to widespread drought in Canada has lead to a shortage in feed, ultimately pushing prices up more than three times than in a typical year.

The price, combined with little grass in his pastures, forced Smith to make a difficult decision to downsize his herd. He recently sold 140 of his 550 cattle at a devalued price.

“The tough part about that choice is there were a lot of nine year old cows that were still good cows and did a lot for us,” he said.

Mike Roberts manages the Waldron Ranch Grazing Co-operative, which spans 65,000 acres on the eastern slopes of Alberta.

He says even if you’re able to pay the high prices for feed, there isn’t much luck finding any right now.

“I’ve been looking for a load of hay, which would be 18 tonnes of hay, for two weeks and just can’t find any," he said. "That’s not even considering the price, I just can’t find any to buy.”

More than 70 ranches bring their cattle to Waldron to graze but another major challenge right now is a lack of water for the animals. Roberts say the lack of snow is compounding the issue.

“This summer we had eight streams on the ranch that went completely dry and we had springs that would generally run seven gallons per minute down to one gallon per minute,” said Roberts.

“If we don’t get snow and lots of moisture this winter then we’re going to be in a desperate situation this spring.”

Droughts aren’t new to ranchers but this past summer’s lack of rain and extreme heat was widespread across North America.

Coupled with the shutdowns and supply disruptions during the pandemic, beef producers say it has been one hit after another.

The price of meat, including beef, has skyrocketed but Roberts wants people to know that doesn’t come back to them.

“The meat is very expensive in the supermarkets, the ranchers aren’t getting that,” he said.  “There’s nothing anybody can do about the lack of rain, we have to adapt to that but there are things we can do about the market and supply chain to get to a level playing field so we can get paid better or at least a fair price for livestock.”

SUPPORT FOR RANCHERS AND BEEF PRODUCERS

Farmers in eastern Canada who had a better growing season are supporting those hard hit by the drought by sending hay and alternative feed to those out west.

The ‘Hay West’ program is run through the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and started transporting some 80,000 bales of hay via train and truck to western provinces in September.

“This is a long-term thing, it’s not just a get it there now, feed is going to be needed through the wintertime so we’ll be continuing to move feed as long as we have it,” said Keith Currie with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

The provincial and federal governments also more than doubled the amount of dollars available to Alberta livestock producers troubled by drought conditions this summer.

The 2021 Canada-Alberta Livestock Feed Assistance Initiative makes $340 million available to cover feed and water access costs for breeding female livestock.

In September, the federal government announced it would cover 60 per cent of the cost-shared AgriRecovery program after Alberta announced its $136 contribution in August.

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