Canadian cattle feeders say cow head tax threatens survival

Feedlot operators at the heart of Canada's cattle-producing region are calling on the Alberta government to overturn a head tax on cattle imposed by Lethbridge County that they say will result in more cattle feeders going out of business.

But Alberta Municipal Affairs says it doesn't have the authority to force the southern Alberta county to make the change.

Rick Paskal, president of Van Raay Paskal Farms, says he and seven other operators have also launched a lawsuit demanding the county's $3-per-head tax on intensive cattle operations imposed last spring be reversed.

Lethbridge County reeve Lorne Hickey defends the tax imposed on cattle and other intensive agricultural operations last April as being needed to pay for upgrading roads and bridges. He says the county plans to defend itself against the suit.

Alberta produces 69 per cent of Canada's annual fed cattle output, according to the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association. Paskal says Lethbridge County feedlots deliver about one in four of those beef cows to market.

Alberta Municipal Affairs spokeswoman Shannon Greer says the department has met with the cattle feeders association and is considering its opinion as part of a wider proposed modernization of the province's Municipal Government Act.