Sask. to cover inspections for cross-border grazing

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Published: May 24, 2010

Saskatchewan ranchers who move cattle temporarily to other provinces for summer grazing will now be reimbursed for the mandatory per-head inspection fee charged on the way out.

The province has announced a new policy that will see the $1.65 per head fee refunded when those same cattle come back to the province at the end of their summer grazing.

According to Cam Wilk, manager of the province’s livestock inspection services, the change in policy follows concerns raised by Saskatchewan ranchers that the fees charged to inspect cattle leaving for summer grazing are “unnecessary and burdensome.”

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When the Saskatchewan fee is combined with the inspection fee charged by Alberta Livestock Inspection Services (LIS) on cattle leaving that province, Saskatchewan producers pay $2.65 per head for livestock inspection, he wrote in a provincial ag ministry newsletter.

The new policy takes effect for the 2010 summer grazing season.

“Saskatchewan is home to some of the best grazing land in this country and some of the most economical grazing rates,” Wilk wrote.

“In reality, very few Saskatchewan ranchers find a less expensive grazing alternative in Alberta, but for those that do, they will be eligible for a rebate on the Saskatchewan inspection fees when the cattle return.”

Saskatchewan’s new policy also follows such a decision in February in Alberta. That’s where the agriculture department put up a $25,000 grant to LIS to cover outbound inspection of about 25,000 head of cattle moved to summer grazing in Saskatchewan or British Columbia.

Alberta animals’ owners remain on the hook for any inspection fees charged by the province of choice when the cattle return to Alberta.

The Alberta grant to LIS was expected to cover inspection of cattle bound temporarily for Saskatchewan or B.C. for the 2010 grazing season, starting in April.

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