Ranchers in areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan hit by drought in 2008 and 2009 may be able to get AgriRecovery funding this year to buy feed for breeding stock and buy time for their pastures to recover.
The federal, Alberta and Saskatchewan governments on Monday announced up to $114 million for the 2010 Pasture Recovery Initiative.
Livestock producers in eligible counties, municipal districts and rural municipalities in central and northern Alberta and west-central and northwestern Saskatchewan can get pasture assistance for breeding cattle, as well as assistance for other types of breeding livestock. The program funding is “subject to size of the eligible livestock.”
Read Also
U.S. livestock: Cattle strength continues
Cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were stronger on Friday, hitting fresh highs to end the week.
It’s estimated there are over 2.2 million breeding animals in the affected areas, where pasture development for 2010 is expected to be delayed by at least four to six weeks or more.
Livestock producers pasturing in the eligible jurisdictions can get variable payments based on the type of breeding livestock they had as of Jan. 1, 2010.
Payments can run up to $60 for horses (meat or PMU), $50 for beef cattle and bison, $25 for elk, $12.50 for deer and llamas and $10 for sheep, goats and alpacas. Payments may be prorated for producers who had livestock grazing outside the designated areas.
The eligible districts were determined in consultation with the two provinces, with drought impact and severity based on “various sources of data” such as soil moisture indexes and precipitation models.
Agriculture Financial Services Corp. will administer the program in Alberta, while the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture will operate the program in that province.
Alberta producers in the 59 eligible jurisdictions will get an information package in the mail that includes an application form, to be filled out and returned to AFSC before the application deadline of Sept. 1.
In Saskatchewan, eligible producers in the 64 affected RMs can pick up applications at their local RM office, Saskatchewan Agriculture regional office, Crop Insurance office, and submit the forms before the Sept. 1 deadline.
“This investment will help producers buy the feed they need to keep their animals off the pastures while the grass recovers from the drought damage,” federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, a western Saskatchewan MP, said Monday.
“I witnessed first-hand the dry conditions in several parts of west-central and northwest Saskatchewan during my drought tour in 2009,” Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud said in the joint release. “The drought had a major effect on livestock producers in the designated area and this initiative will help them address the resulting additional feed costs.”
“This AgriRecovery payment to livestock producers in the extremely dry areas will allow them time to evaluate pastures and make alternate plans or decisions related to their operations,” Alberta Agriculture Minister Jack Hayden said in the same release.
