By Curtis Galbraith

Local rancher meetings on drought put spotlight on feed issues

Aug 9, 2021 | 3:01 PM

GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alta. – Organizers say the number of people who attended a series of meetings on ways ranchers can deal with drought totalled between 250 and 300.

The meeting series was organized by Teepee Creek business TP Country and was held last week in Teepee Creek, Valleyview, Rycroft, and Dawson Creek.

TP Country co-owner Tony Mitchell describes the meetings as “eye-opening.”

“We knew that there was very little feed available for livestock coming on this winter,” said Mitchell. “What we didn’t realize was that every farmer that would be in the room was short feed, up to 50-60 per cent of their annual need.”

“It was the roughage part. It’s not that they can’t find ways of resolving (the feed shortage), but there just simply isn’t enough roughage here in the Peace Country to feed all of the cattle that we have.”

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Mitchell says the turnout was much higher than the 10 to 15 producers he expected at each meeting.

“People were actually looking for solutions. They were looking for ideas and techniques that maybe they could get down the road a little farther with their cow herd.”

Mitchell says ranchers who have already been through dry years were able to share ideas like how to use straw and pellets for feed, increasing stocking rates, chasing cattle to areas not grazed as much, and weaning calves earlier than planned.

He adds an average producer who needs 1,000 hay bales for their cow herd over winter probably has around 300 right now.

“I think right now everybody is just a little bit more worried. Some of them maybe were in awe that every one of their neighbours would be in the same room expressing the same concerns,” said Mitchell.

“You know as well as I do that a lot of farmers are just the ‘get down and get it done’ type characters, and when they walk into a room and they see every one of their neighbours there, they start to realize that the options maybe are limited in going out and buying extra hay from their neighbours.”

Mitchell says ranchers are resilient. He thinks a lot of older cattle might get sold off this fall