Hot, dry summer leaves ranchers, farmers in southern Alberta with tough decisions

Rachel Herbert and her husband Tyler are getting used to seeing the parched countryside near Nanton, Alta., an hour south of Calgary, where thefamily raises grass-fed cattle from start to finish.

A familiar, but unwelcome predicament.

They rely on their dryland hay crop to feed their cattle through the winter, but they won't be making any hay during this dry and hot summer. They were hoping to harvest around600 large round bales, which would cover almost all of their needs for the winter. Instead, there's virtually nothing to harvest so they've let the cattle out to graze the land.

"That means that we have to look for somewhere to buy the hay and it's a supply and demand scenario. So when there's more demand, less supply, prices are going up," she said.

She says it's forcing some ranchers and farmers to make difficult decisions.

Find a hay supplier and pay the higher costs or reduce the size of their herd, something the Herberts haven't done yet.

Hay producers in parts of central and northern Alberta have fared much better than their counterparts in the south. It's not just finding a supplier, but also paying the extra cost to ship the hay to their ranch.

"This year might be the the breaking point where we do have to downsize the mother cows," saidHerbert.

She says hay prices have doubled this year and trucking costs have gone from $5 per kilometre to $8.

Herbert, whose mid-size operationdirect markets to customers, says there's not much wiggle room to raise beef prices and risk losing customers.

Insurance claims

TheAgriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) says it's too early to say how many insurance claims will be made this year, but the organization's claims adjusting manager says the situation in southern Alberta is bleak.

"In many cases, unless the crop or the hay crop is under irrigation, hay is nonexistent," said George Kueber.

Kueber says in many cases, similar to what the Herberts have done, the land is being grazed or simply abandoned.

He says AFSC has about 1,000 hay insurance clients and adjusters have been out to 200 farms so far this year most of them in southern Alberta.

Alberta Agriculture says the first cut of dryland hay is nearly complete, with the lowest yields.9 tons per acre in southern Alberta, which is below the five-year average of 1.4 tons per acre. As expected, irrigated hay has fared much better.

The average yield for irrigated tame or cultivated hay is estimated at two tons per acre, below the five-year average of 2.2 tons per acre.

No plans for hay donations, shipments

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture says it's not considering a repeat of Hay West, a campaign that saw tens of thousands of bales of hay from central and easternCanada shipped to the prairie provinces for ranchers facing drought conditions and shortages two years ago.

CFA president Keith Currie says not all ranchers and farmers can afford the price of hay, which has been climbing for several years. Last year's average price in Alberta reached $240 per ton, more than double what it was in 2017.

"Some regions are hit harder than others and some people can withstand the financial burden better than others, but unfortunately it's going to be very economically painful for some people for sure," he said.

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Alberta Agriculture says the first cut of dryland hay in the south region shows yields around three-quarters of what is considered the five-year average. The south region includes everything south and east of Calgary, including Foothills, Wheatland, Vulcan and Cypress counties, which have declared agricultural disasters.

Mike McLeanknows how tough it's been for some hay producers and the ranchers who are looking for feedstock. His ranch is south of Calgary near Longview. He says some of his neighbours and friends reached out to their regular hay suppliers who weren't able to grow anything this year.

McLean was able to grow some hay on his 60 acre plot this year, but the yield was only enough to supply his own operation, leaving nothing to sell.

"We won't have any surplus for sale this year and it's a big concern for everybody that normally goes out and buys hay knowing that the supply is very short and trying to come up with their hay supplies for the winter, it's hard."

Bryan Labby is an enterprise reporter with CBC Calgary. If you have a good story idea or tip, you can reach him at bryan.labby@cbc.ca or on Twitter at @CBCBryan.