Legislative Update:
- Out attempts to get the BC Game Farm Regulation updated had a couple of setbacks with government priorities shifting to the COVID -19 response and then with the announcement of a fall provincial election.We updated our position paper on the current impacts on the bison industry (dated August 20, 2020) by the current legislation which was re-submitted to BC Ag Minister Lana Popham in hopes of getting a meeting to discuss. This issue had been brought up again in an industry roundtable tele-conference with the Minister and Premier Horgan on May 12/20. This roundtable also included other sectors of the livestock industry. (Cattle/Forage)
- The new cabinet assignments were recently announced with Minister Popham continuing in her portfolio as Agriculture Minister. We hope this decision will facilitate a smooth re-start to our discussions with her ministry staff.
COVID -19 Response and Impacts:
- Our Ministry of Agriculture liaison, Taylor Jeffery reached out early in the pandemic to get a sense of how it was impacting our industry. This was followed by weekly and then bi-weekly check ins which lasted a couple of months.
- Taylor shared best practices documents for farm procedures and assistance programs with the association.
- BCBA and the CBA combined forces to identify weakness’ and concerns in our industry during this pandemic which were also felt in other sectors.
- Food security concerns
- Slaughter/processing limitations
- Export limitations requiring restructuring of marketing efforts towards domestic retail
- Premier Horgan expressed a desire to build a BC home grown brand for agriculture
Emergency Response Plan:
- The bison industry emergency response plan is still in the final draft phase after being workshopped at the 2019 BCBA AGM in Merritt.
- The pandemic has identified the need to add a section of pandemic/infection response
Website:
- The BCBA website is now being hosted on the CBA website.
BC Cattlemen’s Association/BCBA Joint Meeting:
- Members of the BCBA Board of Directors recently met by ZOOM call with Kevin Boon (GM of BCCA) and Mark Ishoy (KML Plant Manager) to discuss their new business plan to lease the KML meat processing plant in Westvold.This is a Federally inspected plant.
- This meeting was in response to the insufficient slaughter and processing capacity for cattle as well as bison in the province.
- The cattlemen discussed how they are attempting the shift their industry towards more in province processing of fed cattle instead of relying on out of province facilities. As the result they have developed a BC Beef brand coming out of this plant and plan to expand around the province in the future.
- The two models presented were toll processing (custom) versus “hook” shares that guarantees producers a certain number of kill slots.
- Using “on the rail” processing instead of table top processing to increase efficiency.
- They are upgrading their chilling system during processing but cold storage is limited to 1-2 days. This means transportation and continued cold storage enters the equation.No facilities to hang and age animals. This venture is aimed at producing primal cuts for breakdown off site.
- Challenges for bison producers in BC include supplying the volume required as this plant requires a 6-month commitment of supplying a ½ day/week or 25 animals of plant time.This translates to 100/month or 1,200/year.We currently slaughter about 200/year at provincial plants. There is a need to be working at 85% capacity to make this venture work.
- This points to a need for partnerships with the food service industry but also a deep look into our own supply chain.
- BC Agriculture/Meat Inspection Program Statistics – Provincially inspected harvests
Year | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 to date | 2021 | Total |
Bison | 414 | 328 | 189 | 211 | 193 | 188 | 200 | 1,723 |
- No stats on Federally inspected harvests or bison sent out of province for processing
- Here is the breakdown, the regions are probably slightly different than last year, Prince George north is “North”, whereas last year Prince George was probably caught in Nechako or Cariboo. Also my Kootenay / Thompson Okanagan geography overlaps a bit. But this gives you a general idea of location and the numbers are as reported on inventory records.
- ( )* are numbers reported at 2019 AGM
- This information is all based on last year’s numbers, next year’s will be a bit different. There have been a couple of farm moves, a new farm started, and two farms presently in the process of licensing. I received quite a few calls earlier this year from people interested in starting bison farms during the height of the pandemic lockdown, so there may be even more farms to report next year.
- NOTE: We have 29 up to date BCBA memberships so at least 22 ranches are not members of the association.
- Julie reports that Dr. Jane Pritchard has retired as Chief Provincial Veterinarian and her replacement is Dr. Rayna Gunvaldsen.
Update of Bison Ranch Census
Julie Hughes (BC Ag Compliance, Operations, and Data Officer)
sent this report in on the registered Bison Game Farms in BC for 2020.
Region | Number of Farms | Number of Bison |
Vancouver Island | 2 | 80 |
Lower Mainland | 2 | 17 |
Thompson Okanagan | 5 | 505 |
Kootenay | 5 | 261 |
Cariboo Chilcotin | 7 | 333 |
North | 30 | 8131 |
Totals | 51(52)* | 9327(8609)* |
Marketing
- After speaking with the BC Cattlemen’s Association regarding their move to a BC Beef brand associated with the KML plant, this brings up the question about the possibility of building a BC brand for bison.
- CBA has a Canadian Bison Brand already in existence that could be built upon.
