The Rural Voice, 2004-11, Page 20Bethanee Jensen feeds her Dorset sheep on her farm near Belgrave. Her lambs have dropped from $140 to $80
during the border closure due to BSE.
SIDESWIPED
Ontario's sheep producers, feeling the pain of the border closure from BSE but
often overlooked bg government, plot a solution to the crisis
Story and photo by Elyse DeBruyn
There's a very tight timeline to
further develop the framework
around the sheep industry's
recovery strategy from the effects of
BSE following the Canadian Sheep
Industry's recent presentation to
federal officials.
Industry leaders gathered in Ottawa
in mid-October to hear the recovery
proposal made by the Canadian
Sheep Industry to both Agriculture
and Agri -Food Canada and Canadian
Food Inspection Agency officials.
Net cash receipts for Canadian
sheep producers during the first half
of 2004 were down approximately 35
per cent. On July 1, livestock
inventories reported nearly 50,000
additional market lambs were on
farm this year and these Iambs are
16 THE RURAL VOICE
expected to come to market this fall,
causing further havoc in Canadian
markets.
Bethanee Jensen, a sheep farmer
near Belgrave, said sheep farmers
have been hurt the same way as beef
farmers have.
"No ruminant animals are getting
across the border and that is hurting
everybody," she said.
Jensen who is selling registered
purebred breeding stock Dorsets, said
she has "suffered great losses" since
the BSE hit.
She said in June 2003, just before
"the market took a dive" she would
sell a 100 -pound Iamb for $140 each,
but this year she averaged about $80
a Iamb. She is also trying to sell her
ewes for $200 each and her rams for
$400 each.
She said before the crisis she was
selling about 75 per cent of her
Iambs, now she is selling "maybe 20
per cent."
Jensen said there is no reason for
the border to be closed to sheep, let
alone beef, other than "all ruminants
are lumped together" in one category,
prohibiting any to cross the border.
Broad representation of the sheep
industry including primary producers
and the feedlot sector through to
processing and retail, livestock
supplies, wool collection and
marketing were on hand in Ottawa to
make presentations regarding the
impact of the trade crisis on their
farms, businesses, communities and
respective provinces.