Financial assistance will be provided under the AgriRecovery framework
The Canada and Manitoba governments have enacted a Herd Management Drought Assistance program under the AgriRecovery framework. The program will help livestock producers offset the costs associated with replacing breeding animals culled due to shortages of winter feed, federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Ralph Eichler announced.
Eligible animals under the Herd Management Drought Assistance program include breeding females of beef cattle, bison, sheep, goats and elk. Producers must be supporting a minimum of 10 animals to qualify for assistance.
“These extraordinary times have brought extraordinary challenges to our province’s livestock producers, and having programs to help producer address feed issues and manage their herd size is paramount,” Eichler said. “We all know this has been a tough year, so we remain determined to take the strides necessary to support our producers in any way possible.”
This program will assist producers who must replace breeding females culled due to drought, helping to return the inventory of breeding females to pre-drought levels. The replacement animals can be purchased or retained from the producer’s existing herds or flocks. Payments are determined by the increase in the inventory of breeding females, with payments capped once inventories are restored to pre-drought levels.
Application is a two-step process, which starts with producers submitting their pre-drought and drought-affected inventories of breeding females. Forms for submitting these breeding animal numbers will be available in January 2022. Starting on December 1, 2022, producers will be able to submit information on their breeding animal inventories post-drought. Payments will be issued after the post-drought inventory is submitted.
“Unfortunately, the drought forced many producers to reduce their breeding inventory due to feed and water challenges, so the herd management program under AgriRecovery will be an important component toward helping to rebuild Manitoba’s beef breeding herd,” said Tyler Fulton, president of the Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP). “MBP thanks the provincial and federal governments for making this assistance available, as extraordinary costs such as purchasing replacement breeding stock, are not directly addressed in existing business risk management programs, and this program recognizes the challenge created for producers because of it.”
