Drought forces Interlake RMs to declare emergencies; cattle inductry threatened

Two Interlake municipalities have declared agricultural emergencies as a persistent drought threatens the cattle industry.

The Rural Municipality of St. Laurent declared a state of agricultural emergency on Wednesday. The following day, the RM of Coldwell declared a state of agricultural disaster.

Both governments have appealed to the federal and provincial governments for assistance to source and pay for cattle feed. The dry conditions, which have sparked wildfires in northern regions, severely limit the production of feed.

St. Laurent Reeve Richard Chartrand said Friday that farmers have recently observed a significant shortage in the grass used for baling.

“Where the grass should be over three feet tall right now, it’s maybe half of that size,” Chartrand said. “It’s going to impact how much they’re going to cut and feed their livestock, and it will impact the price of bales as well.”

Chartrand noted that 1,500-pound round bales, which sold for $100 last year, are priced between $125 and $150 each.

In Coldwell, Reeve Virgil Johnson described a bleak situation for pasture conditions and cattle grazing.

“We’re hoping to get the attention of the federal and provincial governments on this for some assistance,” he said.

“We’ve had next to no (rain) out here. You walk the pastures here, it’s pretty bleak. Where a farmer would normally move cattle from pasture to pasture, the pasture would normally recover. These fields are not recovering. Rotational grazing is out the window.”

Both leaders emphasized the critical need for substantial rainfall.

“If we don’t get rainfall, and a good amount, we are going to have farmers using up hay that isn’t even available, and the ones who have stockpiled from last year, are going to use hay that would normally be fed to the animals in the late fall or winter. They’re going to have to be feeding them it shortly,” Johnson said.

Chartrand said nearby municipalities of Woodlands and Armstrong are in the same predicament and may be forced to declare local agricultural emergencies.

Johnson noted Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn’s office reached out last week to assess the situation.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca