Ontario doubles down on feeder cattle loans

Ontario cattle feeders will be able to take out larger loans to buy livestock under an expansion of the provincial feeder cattle loan guarantee program.

The program guarantees 25 per cent of a financial institution’s loan to one of Ontario’s 18 feeder cattle co-operatives, which then allows the co-op’s members a “more competitive” interest rate to buy cattle.

The province on Friday boosted the program’s loan limits so co-ops’ eligible existing members would see individual loan limits increase from $250,000 to $500,000.

Loan limits for co-ops’ new members — those who have fed fewer than 100 head of cattle in the previous 12 months — will increase from to $100,000, from $50,000.

The increased limit was “a request by industry and is a result of growth across the beef sector over the past decade,” Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal said in a release.

The loan guarantee program “is important for our farmers, but it is equally important in that it encourages supply for our processing partners and for the growing consumer demand for beef,” Beef Farmers of Ontario president Bob Gordanier, a cow-calf producer at Orangeville, said in the same release.

Loans guaranteed under the program may be split up to four ways, and must be repaid within 12 months. — AGCanada.com Network