Last week, the provincial Ministry of Agriculture announced that starting next year, anyone rearing farm animals everything from bees to llamas to cattle in the province will need to register their property under the government’s Premises ID program.
Slaughter options at crisis level for BC farmers December 18, 2020 Stephen Law
The situation has become critical for small scale and midsize ranchers around the province as a lack of processing options for their livestock forces many of them to shut down or scale back their operations.
Due to on overburden of regulation and lack of available options, those who raise meat animals for consumption within the province are unable to secure processing options, which would turn their livestock into a consumer product. Some producers are losing appointments at abattoirs booked more than a year in advance, or are unable to book at all as available facilities are overloaded. Others are facing travel times in excess of 15 hours trying to have their livestock butchered.