Anola Beef Farmer Fighting Through Third Dry Season

After three years of dry fields, an Anola beef farmer is being forced to think outside the box.

“We’ve been blessed that the grain farmers around here who grass for seed, they’ve allowed us to bail their straw,” says Herman Bouw of Bouw Farms.

Bouw says between the bails of straw and oat straw provided by two of his neighbours, along with some alternative feed supplies, he may have enough feed for his cattle until spring, but that it is uncertain.

“We’ve watched the storms come up from the west and all of the sudden they go south to Steinbach, the promised land’,” says Bouw somewhat tongue-in-cheek, “and then north into the nowhere part of the world. So, we’re very dry, and as a result, we’re scrambling to find enough feed for our cattle.”

As grateful as Bouw is for the assistance from his neighbours, he says the type of feed comes with its own issues. “There is still the potential for something called endophytes which can be deleterious to cattle health. They can get sort of drunk off of it and they stagger and fall, and all kinds of unusual issues.”

Bouw says the added issues have necessitated a higher level of management and make it impossible to operate in the ways that they generally do.

Seeking the clouds silver lining, Bouw says one change in operations is more of a reliance on annuals and making round bail silage which he posits as creating less waste from an environmental perspective.

“We’re trying our best to recycle all of our wrap, plastic, and twine. So, as a result, we’re growing annuals and relying on them as forages for our cattle for the non-pasture season.”

Adding to Bouw’s uncertainty is being able to see his daughter who lives across the border in Boston.

“It’s a neat thing we have technology and you can see people on Facetime,” shares Bouw,” but, it’s not the same as being able to hug them, so I wouldn’t mind if we were able to see our family.”