By Sarah Wallace

VIDEO: Flood evacuation puts end to family business

Jun 26, 2013 | 6:39 AM

Flood waters from Alberta entering Saskatchewan forced the community of Cumberland House to evacuate.

For cattle rancher Gerald Lambert, the oncoming flooding meant figuring out what to do with his cattle and quick.

Lambert and his father have been farming the land near Cumberland House for 35 years, with Lambert himself taking over the farm about nine years ago after his father retired.

“The mayor told me I had to do something about my cows before the road closes and they’re telling me that my hay fields will be flooded out, so I basically decided that there will be nothing in the end if it’s all under water, there will be nothing in the end for me here,” Lambert said.

With the thought of having nothing left Lambert said, “I’ve been thinking of retiring for a while, basically that’s one of the things that made my decision easier.”

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Lambert decided to send his cattle to auction and finally retire from farming and cattle ranching.

“Basically I’ve had enough time to make a decision and was given a couple days’ notice to make my decision. I talked to [the Ministry of Agriculture] and what not to see what kind of funding and they couldn’t provide a definite if I’d get funding or not.”

Lambert said he’s given his hay bales to another farmer in the area because that person plans on leaving his cows in the area.

He said he could have taken his cattle to a community pasture but decided there would be nothing for him to come back too, but made the decision of retiring and selling his cattle a little easier.

Flooding was also bad in 2011 for the area around Cumberland House.

“Our fields didn’t flood in [2011], we were able to hold the water back but this year the water … it’s going to be two feet higher they say, in 2011 we were able to cut and bale all our fields and keep our cows here at the same time and feed them,” Lambert said.

He said it would have cost him a lot of money had he kept his cattle because he would have had to purchase hay bales for the rest of the year because of flooding in his pastures.

swallace@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahthesquid

For an exclusive look at the condition main road that evacuees used to leave Cumberland House, see the video below by paNOW's Sean Leslie.