B.C. funding new Access to Feed program

The program helps match livestock producers with people selling hay

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The B.C. government is unveiling a new program to help livestock producers looking for feed.

The new Access to Feed program, administered through the BC Cattlemen’s Association (BCCA), will see the cattle organization receive $150,000 in provincial government support.

The BCCA will use the funding to engage with other industry groups and help match farmers who need hay with producers, domestically and internationally, who have hay for sale.

“For the livestock sector, our biggest concerns are the lack of feed and the welfare of our animals,” Kevin Boon, a rancher and general manager of the BCCA, said in a statement. “This is why we’re working together with government on programs that make sense for farmers and ranchers so they can get access to what meets their individual needs and then be able to make the right decisions for the management of their operations.”

The BCCA will make sources of feed public when they are readily available.

This support comes while many parts of the province’s water basins are at Drought Level 4 or Drought Level 5.

And these dry conditions have caused an increase in the price of hay.

“We’ve got a fairly small herd, like 140 head, but we are thinking it’s going to be about $100,000 this year for hay,” Suzanne Fradette, a producer at Back Valley Ranch in Cache Creek, B.C., told the Canadian Press.

This represents about a 30 per cent jump in the price of hay, Fradette says.