To be eligible you must:
- Produce livestock in at least one eligible category in Ontario
- Enrol all your eligible production within a livestock category
- Pay premium
- Have a premises identification number
Be able to demonstrate ownership
For program purposes, ownership means the right of possession of a commodity and their associated risks. Agricorp considers legal ownership, price risk (such as fluctuating market prices or input costs) and production risk (such as mortality or health of the animal) in determining eligibility.
To determine whether you are eligible to enrol your livestock, Agricorp will ask for additional details about your business, including any custom feeding or private financing agreements you may have.
Custom feeding: There are many different types of custom feeding agreements. If you pay another person (e.g. price per pound of weight gain) to feed and house your livestock, Agricorp will need to confirm that you retain exposure to production and price risk before confirming that you are eligible to enrol the livestock.
Private financing: If another person receives legal title of your livestock as collateral for a loan or investment, and you compensate that person through pre-negotiated interest charges, commissions, or fees, you may have the price and production risk. Be sure to disclose the details of your agreement so that Agricorp can determine which person is eligible to enrol the livestock.
To remain eligible for RMP, pay your premium and submit your livestock sales reports by the program deadlines. Even if you had no sales during a reporting period, you must contact Agricorp and report zero sales. Failure to pay your premium or submit a sales report may result in the cancellation of your coverage.
Eligible cattle
All cattle that meet all of the following requirements are eligible.
- Must be sold during the program year
- Must be produced in Ontario and owned by you for a minimum of 120 consecutive days (this 120-day period can span multiple categories)
- Must be 30 months of age or less
- Cannot be used for breeding purposes (restriction for the backgrounder and feedlot categories only)
- Cannot be enrolled and have sales reported under the RMP plan for veal cattle
Cattle may be enrolled in any of the following three production categories:
|
Cattle category |
Live weights |
|---|
|
Steer production |
Heifer production |
|---|
| Cow-calf | Up to 550 lb. | Up to 500 lb. |
| Backgrounder | Over 550 – 900 lb. | Over 500 – 850 lb. |
| Feedlot | Over 900 – 1,500 lb. | Over 850 – 1,400 lb. |
Cattle that fall outside of these weight ranges may still be enrolled; however, payments are based only on the maximum weights listed above. For cow-calf and backgrounder categories, any additional weight gain beyond the maximum will be covered in the next weight category, if you're enrolled.
For the cow-calf category:
- Calves must weigh more than 350 pounds at time of sale to be eligible for payment
- Calves must be raised from birth to be eligible for payment under the cow-calf category
- Calves may be retained for future breeding purposes and still be eligible for payment under the cow-calf category only
Estimating your insured production
Use the weight ranges shown in the table above when estimating your insured production.
Example:
A cattle producer is enrolled in all three categories and plans to sell:
- 60 steer calves at 550 lb.
- 20 steers at approximately 1800 lb. (raised from birth).
Cow-calf insured production
60 steer calves + 20 steers
= 80 head
Backgrounder insured production
20 steers x eligible weight gain in the backgrounder category (900 lb. – 550 lb. = 350 lb.)
= 7,000 lb.
Feedlot insured production
20 steers x eligible weight gain in the feedlot category (1500 lb. – 900lb. = 600 lb.)
= 12,000 lb.
