Application packages will soon be on offer for a third livestock AgriRecovery program — this one targeted towards replacing breeding stock farmers were forced to cull this year.
On Nov. 30, the province unveiled details of promised funding to rebuild those herds sucker-punched by drought. The new Herd Management Drought Assistance program will help fund the replacement of lost breeding females and will apply to beef cattle, sheep, goats, bison and elk, according to the province.
Those animals can either be purchased or be replacement heifers kept back from the producer’s own herd.
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Why it matters: Cattle representing decades of careful genetic cultivation were lost this year as producers were hit with a historic drought.
“I feel that we got it right because we kept the politics out of it,” Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Ralph Eichler said of the program.
Organizations like the Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP), Keystone Agricultural Producers, Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities were all involved in developing the program, he noted.
“We listened and we adapted and developed this program in consultation with them,” he said. “So, I feel so good about that.”
The great drought
The new program fulfills an ask from livestock groups such as MBP, that say drought caused a serious bleed of local beef genetics, particularly in the Interlake, one of the hardest-hit regions of the Prairies.
The result could be seen in the sales ring. Auctions like the Ashern Auction Mart, which typically close through the prime grazing season, instead saw thousands of head pass through their doors, including prime breeding stock, as producers were forced to cull.
In early August, farmers learned that AgriRecovery would be triggered this year, with the province and federal government eventually announcing a joint $155 million for Manitoba livestock producers.
On Aug. 31, the province launched two initial AgriRecovery programs, meant to address immediate need for feed. Those programs laid out reimbursement for drought-stricken farmers to either purchase and transport feed to their farm, or transport cattle to better feed.
Producers were told to expect a third herd rebuilding program at that time.
Carson Callum, general manager of the Manitoba Beef Producers, generally welcomed the Nov. 30 announcement.
Callum said the new offering was “an important program for producers” as the industry looks beyond the drought and towards restoration.
“The drought itself had such a detrimental impact on our many operations in the province,” he said. “Hopefully this particular program and the details in it will be a step forward.”
He highlighted the chance for producers to get support for keeping their own animals, and therefore their own genetics, as well as new stock purchases.
“It generally will do its purpose,” Callum said.
Program details
The program limits application to farmers with at least 10 animals, and animals culled under the herd rebuilding program will not be eligible for the two earlier AgriRecovery streams.
There will be two steps to the program, the province has said. Producers must first submit their herd inventories, as impacted by the drought.
The program will measure the overall hit to a producer’s herd by comparing the number of breeding females as of March 16, 2022, versus breeding female counts a year earlier, prior to the 2021 drought.
A breeding female is considered a mature female who has already given birth or been exposed to breeding.
Payments will be determined by how many of those breeding females a producer replaces next year, whether through purchasing animals or retaining heifers to be bred for the first time in 2022.
Starting Dec. 1 of next year, producers can report their post-drought inventory — the second step of the program.
The program will count the number of females bred by Jan. 31, 2023 (the recovered inventory), minus the number of breeding females on March 16 of 2022 (the drought-impacted inventory).
That number will then be multiplied by a per-head payment rate. Producers can expect $250 per head for replaced beef cattle, elk or bison, or $50 a head for sheep or goats. Payments will max out once a producer matches their pre-drought breeding stock numbers.
“This is to replenish the herd, not to grow the herd,” Eichler said.
Forms for the Herd Management Drought Assistance program will be available Jan. 10, 2022, the province said.
That timeline still leaves room for producers to sell off any remaining culls or open cows by the end of the year, Eichler noted.
“I know some of them maybe want to wait and see how much snowfall we get before they start replenishing, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” he said, noting that a surge in cattle purchases would drive up price.
Wide-enough window
Eichler also argued that the program’s window leaves enough time for producers to be financially able to source replacement animals and get them bred by next January.
“That’s a whole year, so I don’t see any problem there,” he said.
Payments for other AgriRecovery programs have been turned around in four to five days of submission, he noted.
If cash flow is a barrier, there is also the possibility of loans through the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation, he said.
“I don’t want any producer to have to feel that they’re financially strapped,” Eichler said. “If it’s a money thing that’s just in and out, that’s not going to be a major problem. That’s really the intent, to be able to help them get those numbers back to meet their plan.”
The program offers a “good window,” Callum said, although he acknowledged that finances might be an issue in places with cumulative years of drought impact.
Beef producers in Manitoba also reported culls back in 2019, in many of the same areas that struggled this year.
“There will be those concerns across the landscape and it’ll all depend on the individual operation and what their current status is,” Callum said.
For more content related to drought management visit The Dry Times, where you can find a collection of stories from our family of publications as well as links to external resources to support your decisions through these difficult times.
