The  AgriRecovery program was designed to help livestock producers deal with the extraordinary feed costs related to last year's drought.

Agriculture Minister David Marit is reminding producers that they have until Friday to submit their receipts for the  2023 Canada-Saskatchewan Feed Program.

The program is designed to help retain breeding stock and covers up to 70 per cent of extraordinary costs to a maximum of $200 per head related to feed and freight, incurred after May 1, 2023.

According to the program details,  the total extraordinary costs to Saskatchewan livestock producers are expected to be at least $285 per eligible animal for beef, bison and horses, with lesser amounts developed for other species like elk, sheep, goats and deer.

Under the program, eligible extraordinary expenses include purchased feed, self-hauling or transportation costs for feed or breeding animals and/or land rented for additional grazing acres or additional feed production from May 1, 2023, to March 1, 2024, and must be supported by receipts.

Eligibility will be determined based on individual applications.

Producers in some areas of the province (in the South West and West Central area) have been dealing with ongoing drought conditions with some producers experiencing four to five years of dry conditions back to back.

Marit notes they are seeing a significant amount of applications coming in through the Canada Saskatchewan Feed Program.

"Right now, we've had just over 2100 applicants that have applied for the funding. The dollar amount right now is just over $21 million in total that would be paid out. "

He says he feels very good about the program adding we hit the mark on how we wanted the money to flow, whether it was for hay purchase or transportation.