Trying different livestock

The push to diversify livestock production in Saskatchewan during the 1980s and 1990s had successes and failures, according to Statistics Canada numbers.
The 2006 census of alternate livestock indicates success stories for bison, ranched deer, elk and llama/ alpaca operations.
Bison were the biggest success story.
Saskatchewan bison farms skyrocketed from 63 in 1991 to 597 in 2006 with an average herd of just under 100 head.
Local buffalo rancher Marsh Patterson said the census numbers don't necessarily reflect current numbers.
"A lot of buffalo were slaughtered in that period from 2006 up to the fall of 2007. Producers had to get out."
Prices had been poor since May 2003, when the BSE crisis cut off access to the crucial U.S. market, he said.
Since the U.S. border re-opened in November, bison prices trended up dramatically, with some producers receiving 90 cents a pound for both sexes, compared with 50 or 60 cents earlier in 2007.
"The trend is encouraging." But producers need the $1.25 a pound bison fetch in North Dakota to make a buck, said Patterson.
Saskatchewan Bison Association director Nial Kuyek said there have been changes with producers.
"We're hanging our hat on the 2006 census, knowing it may not reflect changes that have always taken place."
Ranched deer in Saskatchewan went from 2,369 in 1991 to 8,581 by 2006.
Elk farming increased from 2,744 head in 1991 to a peak of 74,000 head in 2001, but fell to 25,800 animals by 2006.
Moose Jaw elk farmer Walter Seida says elk ranching isn't sustainable.
An elk rancher for 18 years, he has culled his herd to four from 180.
"Basically what you get for an animal is what it costs to cut and wrap it," he said.
Annual $500 per animal maintenance cost is less than the $600 price for a dressed three-year-old mature animal or $1,300 for a hunt farm bull and less than the price for antler velvet, he said.
Going by the numbers, ostriches and emus/rhea were the least successful diversification attempts.
Saskatchewan had 82 ostrich farms in 2001 with 1,756 birds. By 2006, that had fallen to four farms with 82 birds.
Not establishing a meat market for the birds explains why ostrich farming didn't grow, said Georgina Thul, who was a partner in a Marquis ostrich farm during the 1990s.
"The bison and elk meat markets were much more established," she said.
A low hatch rate and the expense of housing this warm climate species were also big factors in lower ostrich numbers, she said.
Emu and rhea farming befell a similar fate with 1,736 birds in 1996 and 655 by 2006 in the province. Many of the remaining 13 farms profit from cosmetic oils produced from the birds.
Goat farming encountered the same circumstances as elk in Saskatchewan with numbers tripling between 1981 and 2001, but falling 25 per cent by 2006 with 11,750 animals.
Saskatchewan farmers never went hog wild over wild boar opportunities with 150 farms running 15,000 animals in 2001.
By 2006, only 81 wild boar farmers remained with 13,000 animals, not including the countless farm escapees.

Ron Walter can be reached at 691-1264.