The drought had a major impact on beef producers in 2021.
Carson Callum is general manager of Manitoba Beef Producers.
"This past year, everyone's aware of how challenging the drought was and the impact to the beef sector was pretty dire, especially in the middle of the summer when the drought was at its peak. A lot of producers had to downsize their operations due to no feed options at all and it was so widespread it was tough to get feed in. People might have thought it was a geographical area but with it being from Northwest Ontario all the way to BC, it was hard to get feed at that point. A lot of folks had to just make that difficult, responsible decision."
Callum noted late season rains helped restore pastures across the province.
"Luckily, in the later summer months and into the fall, we did get some moisture which allowed for some pretty impressive regrowth on some of the damaged fields or even some of the hay fields. Producers were able to have some extended grazing. That did help in some way but we're not out of this drought yet, until we get some significant snowfall or moisture over the winter here to fill up some of the dugouts that are pretty low and we'll have to look forward into next year to see where we're sitting in the spring. Looking back, the drought was a pretty huge impact."
Callum says the group has a number of key priorities for 2022.
"Our focus is probably going to have a bit of drought in mind because if we don't get any real snow or moisture, we might be in a real difficult position again, especially from a water availability standpoint, going into the spring. Hopefully, that does come, but we'll be trying to focus on what can be done if we don't get that moisture that is really needed...From a public policy perspective, climate change is a major area of focus and beef plays a really important role in that and we can really be a champion in maintaining a lot of these important environmental habitats. I think that will be an important focus to ensure that producers are recognized for that, from a public standpoint and from a financial standpoint to support them in maintaining these important grassland habitats."
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