For many ranchers in the Peace Region running cow/calf operations, the fall is generally the time to cash in on a long spring and summer of hard work.
But as ranchers in the Peace head to market this year, they're being hit by an average 40 per cent drop in the price of cattle.
Dawson Creek rancher Larry Fossum, past president of the B.C. Cattlemen's Association, said the situation has left him having to do more with less.
"Any rancher that has a full-time income coming off the ranch would be (earning) roughly 40 per cent less right now if they sold their cows," he said. "It's a significant hit to the industry and even those folks who have off-farm income are feeling it."
According to a report in Country Life in B.C., Anne Wasko told the B.C. Association of Cattle Feeders last month that the U.S. was solely to blame for the over correction in price. Wasko said the cow inventory in that country has come on so strong that the market hasn't had time to catch up.
For Fossum and other Peace Country ranchers, it's a tough pill to swallow. And if prices continue in the direction they're headed, he could be out of business.
His main concern at the moment is paying for everything needed to run a farm.
"There's the price of diesel fuel, parts and labour to get things fixed... all of these things don't fall with the price of calves," he said. "They go the other direction if anything." The cost of feed is also stable, he said.
All he can do for now is make it work whatever way he can.
