2012 Canada-Ontario Forage and Livestock Transportation Assistance Initiative

Overview

The 2012 Canada-Ontario Forage and Livestock Transportation Assistance Initiative assisted Ontario livestock producers in designated areas who experienced extraordinary feeding costs due to forage shortages caused by the 2012 drought.

The final deadline to apply was June 14, 2013 for costs incurred from July 1, 2012 to June 1, 2013. The initiative is now closed. Agricorp issued approximately $270,000 to 63 eligible livestock producers in Ontario.

How it worked

The initiative provided assistance for costs incurred to transport hay, straw, silage and green feed to livestock or to transport eligible breeding livestock (beef cattle, sheep, goats, horses) to a feed source.

In calculating the costs to transport feed, producers had to determine the maximum quantity of forage eligible for assistance by calculating their shortfall in forage production, and adjusting for any forage received under the Hay East initiative. All trips over 50 kilometres were eligible.

In calculating the costs to transport eligible livestock to feed sources, producers had to calculate the total cost of all round trips of over 50 kilometres in each direction. Outbound trips must have occurred between July 1, 2012 and March 15, 2013. The corresponding return trips must have occurred on or before June 1, 2013.

The payment rate for the transportation of eligible feed or eligible breeding livestock was seventy percent of the actual cost, up to the following maximums:

To transport

Maximum payment rate

Eligible feed to eligible breeding livestock

$0.14 per tonne, per kilometre

Eligible cattle and horses to eligible feed

$0.075 per head, per kilometre

Eligible sheep and goats to eligible feed

$0.05 per head, per kilometre

Producers who transported their own forage or livestock were eligible for up to half these amounts.