(file photo/farmnewsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Moisture improving in NW

Cattle producers struggling with high cost of feed

Jul 7, 2022 | 3:39 PM

While moisture levels are improving in the north-west region, cattle producers are concerned about high feed-prices this year to meet the needs of their livestock.

Arnold Balicki, chair of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association (SCA), runs a 250 cow-calf pair operation with his family just north of Shellbrook, northeast of North Battleford.

He said most beef producers in this area have their cattle out on grass now, so they don’t have to buy hay or grain. But it’s going to be a problem in the fall, with grain prices as high as they are.

“It’s difficult to make a profit in this business when you have to pay $8 or $9 for a bushel of grain to help these cattle through the cold winters,” Balicki said. “And, you do have to give cattle grain in this part of the world, because they need the energy to keep warm. So that’s a huge concern.”

He added that producers in the southwest and southern part of Saskatchewan where soil conditions are still dry are especially suffering now, and will have to purchase a lot of high-cost feed to get their animals through another winter.

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“Producers are really, really concerned about the high cost, not only of feed but all input costs,” he added.

They are impacted by high transportation costs, due to the sky-high cost of fuel to deliver the feed there.

A shortage of fertilizer is also increasing feed prices.

As another challenge, Balicki added that cattle prices have been stagnant since about 2015 so producers are “between a rock and a hard place,” having to absorb their higher expenses.

Looking at the prices for round-bales, he related these have more than tripled in cost due to a number of dry years, and the 2021 drought.

“Through the winter it was horrific for livestock producers,” Balicki said. “What used to be $50 or $60 for a 1,400-pound round-bale of hay went to $230 or $240 a bale. The prices for our livestock have not gone up. So it was just a matter of absorbing those added costs, which affects our bottom line. How long can anyone stay in business if you are losing money on your operation?”

Feedlots are also hurting as a result of the high costs for feed now. And that impacts the producers directly.

“When feedlots have to pay a high price for feed to keep the cattle in the feedlots they naturally pay less to the cow-calf guy,” Balicki added.

And, while consumers are seeing the prices keep going up when they buy their meat, the added cost is not going back to the producers.

“At one point in time we used to capture about 60 cents of the consumer dollar,” Balicki said. “Now we’re down to about 31 cents of the consumer dollar. So that price gap is something else that’s really hurting our producers.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW