Written by Glenda-Lee Vossler

The President of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association says 2021 was a rough year for agriculture.

Bob Lowe says fires in BC the drought from western side of Ontario West took up a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of mental anguish from producers.

"We're all familiar with droughts but not one that basically covers western North America. So it's not a matter of going 100 or 200 miles to find feed you go to the Hay West program from the East Coast, and we're bringing corn up from Iowa."

He says the Hay West Program has been very beneficial for producers.

"If you were one of the people that got some hay it may have made the difference between selling off part of your herd or all of it."

So far, the Hay West Program has resulted in feed for just under 17 thousand cows already, with another 100 million more pounds of hay from Eastern Canada lined up for delivery to the West.