Alberta forces the age verification issue

by Karen Emilson

The Canadian cattle industry was thrown into an uproar in early June when Alberta’s Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, George Groeneveld announced a strategy to revitalize Alberta’s sagging livestock industry.The Alberta Livestock and Meat Strategy is being described by the government as both comprehensive and long-term. They have committed $356 million this fiscal year and to stabilize the industry in the short term, producers have received $150 million in immediate funding. That sum will be paid out again in early 2009 to producers who age verify their cattle and supply premise I.D. - now mandatory in that province.

Feedlot operators in the other provinces cried foul, saying that these payments will give a competitive disadvantage to the feedlot industry in Alberta. Three months later, we here in Manitoba still don’t know how the program will work or how we’ll be affected, but the Manitoba feeding industry will be at a definite disadvantage.

What isn’t fully understood right now is how Alberta plans to deal with non-age verified calves coming into their province from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and B.C. Proponents of age verification have long said that producers would start to receive a premium for their efforts; and that certainly was the case with cows last spring. Determining the value of age verification on calves has been more difficult. But all that could change.

“The more animals out there that are age verified, the more of a spread we are going to see,” said MCPA President, Martin Unrau. “Whether you want to call it a premium for age verified or a discount on animals that are not, we probably are going to start to see a price difference and it could come as early as this fall.”
Manitoba producers are encouraged to age verify and add their premise I.D. before they market - just in case.

And while primary producers in Alberta and B.C. will be paid by their provincial governments to provide the data, no such incentive is offered in Manitoba, Saskatchewan or Ontario.

Clarification on how mandatory Age Verification in Alberta will affect Manitoba producers will be included in upcoming issues of Cattle Country.