PUBLISHED BY MANITOBA BEEF PRODUCERS
FEBRUARY 2019
Beef producers across Manitoba have struggled with finding feed for their herds due to a dry year, and that may have an impact on their mental health. (Photo by Jeannette Greaves)
Stress levels rise as feed supplies tighten As a cattle producer, Jason Bednarek has seen it all: BSE, country-of-origin labeling, E. coli, flooding, volatile markets that bounce around like a basketball and other stressors guaranteed to turn a producer’s hair grey. Now, having weathered all these things over the years, Bednarek has another stressor which may top them all: worrying he may not have enough feed to keep his 1,000 beef cows alive through the winter. “I’d say she’s right up at the top because there’s nothing more stressful than not knowing if you’re going to make it to the green grass for feed,” says Bednarek, who has been on the family farm near Ashern all his life. “Day by day we just try to do the best we can.” Bednarek and his fellow producers are victims of a crippling drought which held much of Manitoba in its grip last summer. Hay yields were well below normal and many cattle producers harvested only a fraction of their needs. Some regions are better off than others. Manitoba Agriculture says the southwest and northwest regions received more precipitation and were not as badly affect-
ed. But the Interlake, where Bednarek farms, along with the Westlake, southeast and central regions experienced sharply reduced forage crops. According to the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation, hay yields throughout the province were only 74 per cent of normal with alfalfa hay averaging just two-thirds of normal yields. As a commodities broker, Bednarek is able to access feed grain for his cows’ rations. The problem is finding enough roughage to go with it. Bednarek got only a third of his normal hay crop in 2018. Silage crops, first cut alfalfa and native hay were all poor. Bednarek is using corn stover and bulrushes while scrounging for other roughage but says there’s “no hay out there to be had.” Most of his neighbours are in the same boat and “it’s a little scary.” “Lots of guys are biting their fingernails hoping they can put things together to get to spring.” Tom Teichroeb, Manitoba Beef Producers president, says producers who are short of feed have two options: transport cows to a feed source if they can find one, or reduce herd numbers to the point at which animals can
be fed. But local markets were saturated with cull cows in 2018 and prices for them were down sharply. Teichroeb says take-home returns for his own cull cows in fall were only 44 per cent of the previous year’s culls. It’s a bitter pill for producers to swallow, he says. “You look at what you’ve built and the work you’ve put into it and all of a sudden there’s elements beyond your control that devalue what you do and keep you from capturing the full market potential. It’s extremely deflating,” says Teichroeb. “For some producers who are at the age where they’re hoping to retire, it’s doubly frustrating because they don’t have time to wait. I can only imagine the stress they feel.” Someone who can imagine it is Janet Smith. As program manager for Manitoba Farm, Rural and Northern Support Services, Smith and her colleagues, all of them with farm backgrounds, spend a lot of time on the phone and online talking to farmers who are stressed, anxious and worried about their future. Sometimes, however, the problem is getting them to pick up the phone and call, says Smith. Page 7
President's column
Meet Nancy Howatt
BCRC Cow-calf survey
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BY RON FRIESEN