What do growing forages and BSE have in common you may ask? When the BSE crisis hit the Canadian cattle industry in 2003, most watched cattle producers struggle, what to do with their cattle, in some cases almost worthless. However, the effects of that crisis reached out to almost every segment selling into that industry.
“BSE certainly reduced our sales because the cattle producers didn’t have much income and so they weren’t buying very much seed,” Dave Dyck of Dyck Forages and Grass at Elie, Manitoba. “The last year, particularly in Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan, the wet spring dropped our retail sales even more.”
However, things are looking up. Dyck says there’s more interest this spring than last year at this time.
“I expected that, because we have some pent up demand to reseed some fields and put in some new hay and pasture fields,” he said. “Moreover, there are some improvements in the price of cattle. The cattle producers are probably feeling a little more encouraged to spend some extra money on some seed.”
However, the cattle industry in Canada will feel the effects of the U.S. closing the border to Canadian cattle for a long time. Keeping the border closed to live cattle over 30 months of age keeps a lid on the prices producers get for those animals.