A second rural municipality in Alberta has declared an agricultural disaster because of drought this spring as beef producers head into summer, a period typically of less rain. “We haven’t seen the total effects of the drought,” said Stan Schulmeister, reeve of the County of Paintearth east of Red Deer. “But the agricultural producer that’s strictly dealing with livestock is going to find it very difficult to find feed this year because it’s almost province-wide, the damage to the hay crop and so on.”
Business booms for family that brings water to drought-ravaged pastures
As the drought-ravaged summer pushes some ranchers toward the grim prospect of selling off herds, a pair of Manitobans are offering ways to pump water for cattle to those parched pastures — and business is booming. Fraser and Mark Schram, a father-and-son duo, run separate companies, both selling products that deliver the life-giving liquid to cattle in a way that helps producers manage the health of their animals and their pastures.