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Tough Road Ahead For Some Alberta Ranchers

To say that folks attending Ag-Smart in Olds this week were glad to be back together again, would be a serious understatement.

There was a level of excitement at the two-day conference that wrapped up Wednesday afternoon that was certainly palatable. The conference featured some fantastic speakers and displays and although it was a little cool and rainy at the start, no one seemed to care. Congratulations to the folks at Olds College for hosting such a great event. Some of that excitement was certainly tempered by the ongoing drought across western Canada this summer.

Crops around Olds aren't too bad, one of those few areas of Alberta that got rain at the right time Drive an hour south or a couple of hours east and the story is very different for farmers and ranchers. Ranchers are facing some very difficult choices right now, choices that could determine the future of their ranch for many years to come. There's little or no feed available and what is available is going for top dollar, in some cases to ranchers in Montana and North Dakota.

As one long-time rancher told me, word of federal and provincial money to help the industry won't suddenly make feed available and might actually raise the price of the stuff that's available, because the seller knows there's government money involved. He told me for ranchers unwilling to make the tough choice now, to cull their herds, including breeding stock, could lead to more problems weeks and months from now, especially if we head into the winter with little or no rain between now and then.

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