Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation

Definitions

The Pasture Days Insurance Pilot Program uses several terms which producers may not be familiar with. Below are the definitions for some of the most important terms.

Animal Units (AU): An adjusted value of livestock on an eligible pasture acreage that accounts for pasture consumption. An animal with a large consumption has a larger AU value (e.g. a bull’s AU value is 1.3) than an animal with a small consumption (e.g. a yearling calf’s AU value is 0.6).

AU Days: A measure of ‘pasture yield’ for a grazing area, calculated by multiplying the number of animal units (AU) on pasture by the number of days in a grazing period.

Pasture Guarantee: The number of grazing days MASC will guarantee for a specific number of animals (adjusted by their AU factor). As the program’s coverage is set at 90% of a producer’s normal grazing period, the Pasture Guarantee can be expressed: Pasture Guarantee = normal AU Days x 90%.

Supplemental Feed: Any feed source (other than from eligible pasture acres) given to livestock during the coverage period (May 1 – November 30) will be counted and converted into AU Days.

Eligibility

As a Pilot Program, Pasture Days Insurance is available to a limited number of Manitoba livestock producers who:

• have an active AgriInsurance contract, but do not have Pasture selected for insurance;
• have access and control of pasture acres; and
• have a minimum of 30 'Animal Units' of the following livestock types:

  Cattle Sheep Goats Bison Horses Donkeys

  Mules Elk Deer Llamas Alpacas

Costs & Coverage

 

Costs

Premium costs for the Pasture Insurance Pilot Program are shared 40% by the producer, 36% by the Government of Canada, and 24% by the Province of Manitoba, as part of the Federal-Provincial Growing Forward Framework agreement. See below for an example of producer premium costs.

The coverage level (Pasture Guarantee) for Pasture Days Insurance is 90% of a producer’s normal AU Days. If a producer must remove his/her livestock from pasture due to a pasture shortfall prior to the date of this guarantee, an indemnity will be paid.

Coverage

Coverage begins the later of May 1 or when the livestock are put on pasture in spring. Producers are required to report their pasture acres and livestock intended to be pastured on a Pasture Days Insurance Application, and to report the actual figures on a Pasture Days Spring Declaration and a Pasture Days Fall Declaration.

As a pilot program, coverage will be set at 130 days (based on data supplied by the Agri-Environment and Services Branch (AESB, formerly PFRA)) and will be adjusted over time based on actual grazing periods. If the program continues, coverage will be based on a 10-year average of an individual producer’s actual number of pasturing days.

Coverage ends the earlier of November 30 or when the producer removes his/her livestock from pasture, or when supplemental feeding becomes the primary food source for livestock. With coverage beginning on May 1 and ending on November 30, a producer can build his/her individual coverage over time to a maximum of 192 days of coverage (90% of 213 days).

Dollar coverage for Pasture Days Insurance is set at $1 per Animal Unit for each day below the 90% threshold of Animal Unit Days.

 

Deadlines

Date
March 31st	Last day to apply for Pasture Days Insurance
May 1st	Earliest date of Pasture Days Insurance coverage. Coverage begins the later of May 1st and the date livestock are put on eligible pasture
June 30th	Last day to complete a Pasture Days Spring Declaration, which confirms or changes livestock numbers and/or pasture acres and advises when livestock were placed on pasture
November 30th	Last day to complete a Pasture Days Fall Declaration, which confirms the livestock winter feeding date Pasture DaysInsurance ends (if supplemental feeding hasn't already started)

 

Special Deadlines - Reporting Changes

The actual date that livestock are put on pasture will be recorded on a Pasture Days Spring Declaration in June, and the actual date that livestock are taken off pasture will be recorded on a Pasture Days Fall Declaration in November, along with the corresponding number of animals and pasture acres. Producers must also notify MASC as soon as possible of any mid-season changes made to the livestock on pasture or his/her pasture acres.

Claims

If you are enrolled in the Pasture Days Insurance program and must remove your livestock before the end of the normal pasture period due to a pasture shortfall, you must advise the local MASC Insurance office to initiate a claim.