• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Country Life In BC Logo

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915

  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Headlines
  • Calendar
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
  • About
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Search

Primary Sidebar

Originally published:

August 2017
Vol. 103 Issue 8

Subscribe Now!

Sign up for free weekly FARM NEWS UPDATES

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Country Life in BC, 36 Dale Road, Enderby, BC, V0E1V4. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact
Your information will not be
shared or sold ever

Stories In This Edition

Out of harms way: photo

Wildfires put hundreds of ranchers at risk

Popham appointed ag minister

LIFO a hindrance, supply managed groups say

Dream job

Editorial: Trial by Fire

Back Forty: Future of farming – without the farmer

OpEd: Annual fairs celebrate hard work, diversity of farmers

Ranchers first line of defense against wildfires

Photo: Too close for comfort

Wildfire destroys Ashcroft dairy, feedlot

Weather delivers a lighter berry crop

BC turkey allocations fall as consumption lags

Photo: Fan club

Kelowna ag plan looks to strengthen farming

Ag brief: Ag council announces new executive members

Ag Brief: Rollover claims farmer

Ag Brief: Scholarship winner announced

Ag Brief: FCC steps up

Letter: Protect farmland

Village Farms sets to roll with cannibis

Photo: Matsqui retirement

Surprise audits part of tighter food safety regimes

NAFTA on block

Demand for ranchland drives BC property sales

Photo: Strike

Island farmers grapple with armyworm infestation

Berryhill opens new Chilliwack processing plant

Alfalfa winterkill puts chill on Nechako Valley exports

Sidebar: Feed, pasture in short supply

Tractor parade honours well-loved

Cowichan farmer

Partnership creates forage possiblities

Sidebar: How did it work

Cover crop trials aim to throw new

seeds into mix

Research: Is bigger always better

Salmon a cash cow for BC fish farmers

Sidebar: Would you rather be a fish?

Kwantlen gives governments food system options

KPU field lab grows opportunities for students, public

Summerland location of choice for innovation centre

Soft landing

Impacts of farming under stress often hidden

Hedgerows offer native plants for native bugs

Sidebar: Cultivating pollinators

BC sheep producers take honours at national competition

Fair Season

Stock show

Wannabe – when fire rages

Alpacas find a haven in the North Okanagan

Woodshed: Henderson’s mishap no laughing matter

Dairy farm breakfasts welcome public

Dilly-icious dishes

More Headlines

Follow us on Facebook

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

7 days ago

Farmland Advantage is receiving a $445,000 grant from the federal government. The program, the “brainchild” of Invermere cattle rancher Dave Zehnder, provides compensation to farmers for their conservation efforts to protect BC’s grasslands, riparian areas and wildlife habitat. The funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada under the Species at Risk Partnerships on Agricultural Lands (SARPAL) and Priority Places programs, will be administered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC. Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas appeared in our March 2022 edition and you can view it at ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Rewarding farmers for enhancing riparian areas

buff.ly

INVERMERE – Farmers and ranchers in the Columbia Valley will continue to see rewards for taking action to conserve and enhance important riparian areas on their farms. The Windermere District Farmer...
View Comments
  • Likes: 1
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

2 weeks ago

A standing-room only crowd of more than 250 people attended a public hearing the Agricultural Land Commission hosted in Langley Monday night regarding a proposal to include 305 acres controlled by the federal government in the Agricultural Land Reserve. More than 76,000 people have signed an online petition asking municipal and provincial governments to protect the land from development, and for the federal government to grant a long-term lease to the Heppells. Read more in this morning's Farm News Update from Country Life in BC. conta.cc/3XYXw6k ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Your weekly farm news update

web-extract.constantcontact.com

The agricultural news source in British Columbia since 1915 January 25 2023 Surrey ALR inclusion cheered A standing-room only crowd of more than 250 people attended a public hearing the Agricultural L
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Mike Manion Pitt Meadows City Councillor

2 months ago

Christmas tree growers in BC are seeing strong demand this season and prices remain comparable to last year. But the number of tree farms has decreased dramatically over the past five years and the province will increasingly need to look elsewhere if it wants to meet local demand. More in this week's Farm News Update from Country Life in BC. ... See MoreSee Less

Link thumbnail

Christmas trees in demand

buff.ly

Christmas tree growers in BC are seeing strong demand, with high quality trees making it to market. “The market is good. We’ll probably outdo last year and last year was one of our best years…
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

Comment on Facebook

2 months ago

Another four poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley have tested positive for avian influenza over the weekend -- 15 in the last week alone. There are 60 farms currently under quarantine in BC, more than any other province in Canada and three times that of Alberta, which ranks second. Officials maintain the virus is being spread by dust and groundwater and not farm-to-farm transmission. No farms in the Interior have tested positive this fall. ... See MoreSee Less

Another four poultry flocks in the Fraser Valley have tested positive for avian influenza over the weekend -- 15 in the last week alone. There are 60 farms currently under quarantine in BC, more than any other province in Canada and three times that of Alberta, which ranks second. Officials maintain the virus is being spread by dust and groundwater and not farm-to-farm transmission. No farms in the Interior have tested positive this fall.
View Comments
  • Likes: 2
  • Shares: 3
  • Comments: 1

Comment on Facebook

Avian influenza virus can be killed by chlorine at no higher a concentration than is present in drinking water, so unless farms are using untreated groundwater in their barns I don't see how it could be a source of transmission. www.researchgate.net/publication/5594208_Chlorine_Inactivation_of_Highly_Pathogenic_Avian_Influen...

2 months ago

In a surprise move, Lana Popham -- hailed at the recent BC Dairy Industry Conference as a key ally of the agriculture sector -- has been replaced by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as part of a cabinet overhaul today by new BC premier David Eby. Popham will now oversee Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. The two ministers worked closely together following the atmospheric river events last fall. ... See MoreSee Less

In a surprise move, Lana Popham -- hailed at the recent BC Dairy Industry Conference as a key ally of the agriculture sector -- has been replaced by Abbotsford-Mission MLA Pam Alexis as part of a cabinet overhaul today by new BC premier David Eby. Popham will now oversee Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. The two ministers worked closely together following the atmospheric river events last fall.Image attachment
View Comments
  • Likes: 10
  • Shares: 8
  • Comments: 8

Comment on Facebook

Goes to show how far-removed our current government is from the agricultural sector. To put someone in this position who has no farming background is a slap in the face to all of our hard-working producers.

Going to be a heck of a learning curve. Helping the agricultural community recover from the biggest natural disasters in history, handling the avian influenza outbreak that is threatening our poultry industry, dealing with a crisis in meat processing, managing ongoing threats from climate change, supporting producers who are facing unprecedented inflation in an industry with very slim margins to begin with..... to name a few of the challenges our new Minister will have to face all with one of the lowest budgets of any ministry. I wish her the best of luck but I hope she's got a lot of support around her.

Best of wishes in your new position

Congrats to Pam, cool to see a Fraser Valley based ag minister but also so sad to see Lana reassigned . I have no doubt she will do an amazing job in her new role.

Will be missed by #meiernation

Bryce Rashleigh

Nooooooo!

Lana did a shit job and now we have a minister with no farming background at all. Aren’t we lucky..

View more comments

Subscribe | Advertise

Wildfires put hundreds of ranchers at risk

Angie Mindus / Williams Lake Tribune

August 1, 2017 byPeter Mitham

WILLIAMS LAKE – An unprecedented spate of wildfires that erupted across the central Interior in early July has put ranchers throughout BC on tenterhooks, wondering what the remainder of the summer will bring.

Dry lightning west of Williams Lake sparked more than 140 wildfires on July 7 alone, faster than the BC Wildfire Service could record them.

“It’s sort of unprecedented,” says Kevin Boon, general manager of the BC Cattlemen’s Association (BCCA) in Kamloops. “It’s one thing when you get one or two fires started, but when you get 150 in one day, it really changes things.”

As this edition went to press, there were more than 150 wildfires burning larger than 1,075 square feet (0.01 hectares). Together with extinguished fires, they represented more than a million acres of scorched earth, rangeland and forest. The July fires displaced nearly 50,000 people at their peak, and the BCCA estimated that more than 10,000 cattle – not to mention horses and other livestock – were at risk. Many animals were evacuated to Prince George and Williams Lake, but when Williams Lake was evacuated July 14, many owners faced tough decisions.

“The ranchers are trying to stay on the ranches as long as possible to manage those so they can keep them contained as long as they can and move them to what they hope will be more safe spots as they go along,” Boon said. “But it’s a chore.”

While livestock losses are unknown, a variety of sources confirmed the loss of cattle and other animals. Bradner R Farms lost nearly a dozen dairy cattle either directly or indirectly as a result of a fire at Ashcroft, which also devastated the local First Nations reserve. A video a UBC researcher shot during a harrowing journey through the fire zone around Hanceville noted the presence of animals in the flames.

The full tally won’t be known until ranchers can get back into the evacuation zones and round up their animals, however.

Weather-driven

Driving the fires has been a complex yet conducive mix of conditions.

Winter delivered above-average snowpacks to many parts of the province, and a late spring prevented farmers in many areas from getting into sodden fields until late May. Areas such as Riske Creek were even recording morning temperatures of -3 degrees Celsius as late as the week of July 10.

The cool, damp conditions provided the right conditions for forage and vegetation of all types to grow.

But then a sudden onset of summery heat in late June sucked moisture out of the ground.

Temperatures at 100 Mile House, the community closest to the Gustafsen Lake fire, shifted from a high of 16 degrees Celsius on June 21, to 25 degrees on June 23 – a day when the morning temperature was just 2 degrees. The following day, temperatures reached 29 degrees. During the first half of July, temperatures regularly exceeded 25 and often 30 degrees.

Over the same period, Ashcroft, one of the first communities to burn, saw just three days below 30 degrees, and two days where temperatures hit 38 and 39 degrees.

A lack of rain pushed the month to one of the driest on record, leaving nothing to replenish the lost moisture and shrivelling the spring’s lush growth into the perfect fodder for fire.

“The moisture that is in and under the canopy of the trees and on the grass has disappeared overnight. We went from, three weeks ago, ample moisture to having these 35, 38 degree days and it’s just dried things out immensely,” Boon said. “It’s just a tinderbox, pretty much Prince George south.”

The tinder began lighting in early July as careless humans and impartial lightning began doing their work, culminating in the firestorm that struck the Cariboo on July 7.

Far from over

The sharp start to the fire season has many wondering what comes next, given that the hottest days of summer have yet to arrive.

“There’s not too many ranchers in the province and people in the country that aren’t sitting a bit on pins and needles watching what’s happening in these fire areas,” Boon said. “It just takes one spark from one little thing and it could be totally innocent.”

The spark could be from horseshoes on rocks, or a metal implement, or even an ember lurking in a fleck of dry cigarette ash.

“There are so many little hazards out there that we don’t think are possible – they can happen,” Boon said. “We’re all at risk. This is a big firepit right now.”

While a controlled burn took place in the Mayfield Lake area west of Dog Creek Road this spring in an effort to mitigate the risk of a catastrophic wildfire in the Cariboo, each season’s moisture and weather remain critical risk factors for wildfire.

“We sometimes think, well, a fire went through here a few years ago and we think that we’re safe for a few years, but we’re safe until the ground gets dry again,” Boon said.

Once the fires have passed, ranchers will face a host of risks, both financial and operational.

Claims for lost property and livestock will be key, as well as arranging feed supplies for animals if dry conditions limit forage opportunities over the summer.

“The grazing lands to get us through the summer … are going to probably come up a little bit short, depending how much this fire burns – and the subsequent fires coming up because we’re at the start of fire season,” Boon said.

Two years ago, during the drought of 2015, government and financial institutions offered assistance ranging from flexible payment options to special credit facilities to help tide producers over.

Communities and businesses such as TNT Hay & Cattle Sales have also rallied to provide in-kind support for evacuated livestock in the short-term, while the outgoing BC Liberals pledged $100 million in relief funds that the incoming BC NDP government is open to increasing. In addition, Farm Credit Canada has pledged $25,000 in relief funding.

Rebuilding ranch infrastructure will be the next hurdle, from outbuildings and irrigation systems to fences.

Collisions between cattle and motor vehicles were a hot topic for ranchers before this summer’s fires, and will be even more of a concern in areas where the flames passed. With millions being spent to renew the existing fence infrastructure, any losses to highway fencing are critical.

When the fast-moving Rock Creek fire burned through kilometres of new fencing, ranchers moved swiftly to replace what had been lost – as much for their cattle’s safety as that of motorists.

“We were building fence before the fire was out, and we expect to be doing the same [this year],” Boon said. “It’s a huge issue for us.”

Related Posts

You may be interested in these posts from the same category.

Wildfire threat remains high

Ranchers facing rangeland losses

Ranchers face rangeland losses

Wildfire 2021: ‘They keep locals in the dark. That is really problematic.’

Don’t blame the wildfires

Wildfire state of emergency ends

Province announces wildfire recovery funds

Province pledges emergency funding

Record temps kill poultry

Wildfires spark emergency declaration

Livestock producers count losses

BC considers making premises ID mandatory

Previous Post: « Poultry abuse underscores need to measure up
Next Post: Ranchers first line of defense against wildfires »

Copyright © 2023 Country Life in BC · All Rights Reserved