During the 2023 Canadian Sheep Classic recently held in Barriere, B.C. on July 6 – 8, hosted by the BC Purebred Sheep Breeders Association, the Barriere ronaldomanosa had the opportunity to speak with Serena Black, General Manager for the BC Forage Council. The purpose of the BC Forage Council is to promote growth and development of a viable forage industry for domestic and export markets and to provide a unified voice for forage crop producers, representing all sectors of the industry, including sheep and cattle producers.
Black explained an important priority of the BC Forage Council is around research and extension, saying, “We try to provide resources to producers, so they are able to increase their forage production, especially in a year like this year with the hot dry weather we are seeing with yields down by half and sometimes much more. There are some real struggles out there. Our mandate is to provide as much information as possible about best management practices, whether it’s about selecting the right varieties for use in pastures or varieties in trials. We have a great program right now with the B.C. Cattelman’s Association doing the BC Living Labs with the Investment Agriculture Foundation where we are setting up research plots just south of here on the Devick Ranch near Kamloops as well as one in Prince George at the Bar K Ranch which are our ‘mother sites’ where we will explore best management practices to extend the grazing season and winter-feeding strategies.”
Black observes that with the huge shifts in climate extremes in weather and environmental impacts on grazing resources, producers are being greatly challenged to find cost effective ways to source viable grazing and find innovative ways to extend the grazing season.
“The extremes in our climate and in our weather become the highest cost that our livestock producers have, whether they are sheep producers, cattle producers, or any others, it’s the unknown impact on feeding costs. We are looking at developing strategies where we can address the forage deficit windows. How do we assess when we are running out of feed and fill those needs with different practices?” stated Black.
She explained, “We are trialing those multiple practices at the ‘mother sites’ and next year we are going to be installing ‘daughter sites’, which will be more farms throughout the province where they just try one or two of the practices, so we get that regional representation to analyze what works in some areas and not in others. For example, grazing corn, there might be a bit more potential down here in the south near Kamloops for grazing corn than there will be in Prince George where they won’t have the heat units.”
Black says there is an exciting long-term project with the Investment Agriculture Foundation offering funding opportunities and the BC Cattleman’s Association in partnership with the BC Forage Council are working together to deliver a specific component for that program through farm mentorship training.
She explained, “One of the opportunities that brought us to the All Canada Sheep Classic here in Barriere is working with the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association, which is the national association for forage producers and the BC Forage Council is the provincial partner working with them to deliver some key programs. One of these programs is on advanced grazing systems with free curriculum online for producers where they can access videos and instructional training about the different principles of advanced grazing and rotational grazing systems. We provide funding towards this training through the ‘On-Farm Climate Action Fund’ sponsored by the federal government, and they can sign up to work one-on-one with a grazing mentor. We have grazing mentors throughout the province and farmers can sign up to work with them one-on-one to design their own grazing system that will be best suited to their operation. By looking at their goals, their livestock type and what they are trying to achieve they can work with their mentor to assess what will best work for them. It’s cost shared. The cost of a plan is $1750.00 but the program reimburses $1500.00. It ends up only costing the producer $250.00 to do the plan. This is a two-year pilot program funded by the federal government. There is implementation money available so once producers have a plan, they can apply for funding to implement that plan. The advanced grazing and education are free across all provinces, but accessing the grazing mentor and extra funding are only accessible in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Quebec at this time.”
The funding was initially earmarked for two years, launching last November and by March of 2023 the BC Forage Council had received 3.8 million applications in B.C. alone with only 1.1 million to distribute. Black describes the program as being “oversubscribed” now but feels that demonstrates the overwhelming demand and because of that they have been able to show the government how great the need is to continue the funding.
“We are optimistic and currently are in negotiations about extending this funding. It sounds like it will be extended. Although there are no project dollars left for this year, but we still have planning funding available to allow producers to work on getting a plan together ahead of the potential extended funding. In addition to what we have offered, the Investment Agriculture Foundation has also offered funding as well.”
Black stresses producers need to be prepared ahead of possible new funding announcements next year as it will once again be on a first come first serve basis. With only eight grazing mentors in the province who are very much in demand, it’s important to put together a plan and be ready to apply as soon as funding becomes available.
Serena Black is a Professional Agrologist based in Prince George, British Columbia. She has worked as general manager for British Columbia Forage Council (BCFC) for five years, leading numerous applied, demonstration research and extension programs. Serena completed a Bachelor of Journalism (High Honours) from Carleton University and a Master of Science in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies from the University of Northern BC.
