Hog moratorium worries cattle producers
CANADA - The recent provincial moratorium on new hog operations is also casting a chill over the Manitoba cattle industry. Banning construction of new and expanded hog barns sends a negative message to potential investors for badly needed cattle feedlots, according to Martin Unrau, the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association’s new president.
5 January 2007
1 minute read
The timing couldn’t be worse for the province’s feedlot sector because the growing ethanol business will require more feeder cattle to consume grain byproducts, Unrau said last week. Uncertainty over the future of hog production caused by the ban spills over into the cattle industry, he said.
“We don’t have enough money in Manitoba to put up feedlots, to buy cattle, to get the infrastructure put in place,” said Unrau, shown above at the Brandon meeting. “The operators in the Manitoba feedlot industry look for out-of-province and even out-of-country investment to make the feedlot industry move ahead. The feedlot industry is a major player in the ethanol industry. We have to keep a positive climate for investment in Manitoba.
“When you have too much government involvement, you get nervous investors.”
Unrau, a cattle producer from MacGregor, was interviewed during the MCPA’s annual meeting at which he was elected president. He succeeded Ken Crockatt, who retired from the MCPA board.
Source: Manitoba Co-operator
