The federal government is committing another $3 million to Hay West—a program which sees farmers in Eastern Canada send surplus hay to livestock producers on the Prairies, who went through a terrible drought this year.
The $3 million is on top of a previous $1 million pledged by Ottawa in August. Since that time, 5.6 million pounds of hay has been shipped to 75 livestock producers in Western Canada—including about 30 in Saskatchewan.
Mary Robinson from Prince Edward Island is the President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, which is running the Hay West Program
Robinson acknowledges that Hay West cannot solve all of the drought issues facing prairie livestock producers, but adds they want to help as many producers and animals as possible.
Robinson says nearly 17,000 cattle have been helped by Hay West and the number will grow with additional hay shipments.
Additional information about the Hay West program can be found here.
(above picture: CFA President Mary Robinson and Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau)
