Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation

Eligibility

 

Eligible Producers

To qualify for Native Hay Insurance, you must have:

• an active MASC AgriInsurance contract
• livestock including cattle, bison, horses, mules, donkeys, elk, llamas, sheep, goats, alpacas, and deer that are fed native hay over the winter.
• native hay acres available to harvest

Note: Native hay insurance is not available to landlords.

You must normally harvest a minimum of {min_acres} acres of native hay, and insure your entire native hay crop. If you're a new native hay producer, you must declare the number of livestock you will keep over the winter and the acres of native hay you normally harvest. All producers enrolled in the Native Hay Insurance program must update their insurance whenever the number of acres or livestock changes.

Eligible Crops

Native hay includes native species of grasses (including slough grass and quackgrass), legumes, sedges, reeds, or any of these native species mixed with tame grasses or legumes.

Notes:

• Tame hay stands that do not meet the criteria for Tame Hay Insurance may be insured for Native Hay Insurance
• Crown land acres qualify, except for casual hay permits. Production harvested from casual permit acres must be kept separate
• Native Hay Insurance is not available for acreage used for grazing livestock

Eligible Causes of Loss

Eligible causes of loss include drought, excessive moisture, excessive rainfall, flood, frost, winterkill, hail, fire, excessive heat, and wind (including tornadoes).

* Bales that cannot be removed from the field due to wet field conditions are eligible for production losses under AgriInsurance and are eligible for Wildlife Damage Compensation.
* As native hay bales that cannot be removed from wet fields are eligible for compensation under the AgriInsurance program, they are not eligible for any other disaster assistance programs.

Note: Native hay Insurance does not cover losses due to big game or waterfowl. Stored native hay, however, is covered under the Wildlife Damage Compensation program.

Costs & Coverage

Native Hay Insurance is cost shared {producer_share}% by the producer, {federal_share}% by the Government of Canada and {provincial_share}% by the Province of Manitoba, as part of the Federal-Provincial Growing Forward Framework agreement.

The premium per tonne is based on the Forage Designated Area you are located in and the coverage level you've selected.

Coverage

You may select one of the coverage levels of {coverage1}%, {coverage2}%, or {coverage3}% (of probable yield) for your native hay acreage.

Probable yield is defined as the lesser of:

• the amount of native hay (in tonnes) you require, based on the number of livestock you keep over the winter; or
• the amount of native hay you 'normally' harvest (in tonnes), calculated by multiplying the number of acres you normally harvest by the forage area's 10-year average yield

Deadlines

Date	Last Day to...
March 31st	Apply for Native Hay Insurance Make changes to (or apply/cancel) an active AgriInsurance contract Report any changes to herd size or number of native hay acres to be harvested
June 30th	File a Seeded Acreage Report (SAR)
September 30th	File a Native Hay claim with no late fee
November 30th	File a Harvested Production Report (HPR) with no late fee

Claims

Native Hay Insurance covers losses to the quantity (not quality) of the native hay crop. Therefore, you only have a claim when production falls below your coverage. Claims must be registered on or before September 30th, and you must notify MASC at least 10 days prior to feeding, selling, or destroying any production.

Notes:
- Coverage will be reduced if any acreage declared as 'normally harvested' is pastured prior to harvest.
- Bales that cannot be removed from the field due to wet field conditions are eligible for production losses under AgriInsurance and are eligible for Wildlife Damage Compensation.
- As native hay bales that cannot be gathered from wet fields are eligible for compensation under the AgriInsurance program, they are not eligible for any other disaster assistance programs.
- Any payable indemnity for Native Hay Insurance shall be calculated on the basis of the actual number of livestock to be overwintered as of December 31st of that crop year.

 

Claim & Appeal Procedures

 

Making a Claim

1. Contact your local MASC Insurance office on or before September 30th to avoid a late claim fee.
2. An MASC adjustor will visit the site to weigh and count the bales, inspect the normally harvested acres, and verify the livestock numbers.
3. After evaluating the situation, the adjustor will complete a claim form.
4. If you agree with the assessment, sign the claim. This claim is then forwarded to the MASC Insurance Corporate Head Office for payment. Generally, MASC will issue an indemnity cheque within three weeks of finalizing the claim. If you do not agree with the assessment, you should not sign the claim.
5. If you are not satisfied with MASC's initial appraisal, MASC will complete a second assessment by a different adjustor. If, after the second assessment, you still do not agree with MASC's appraisal, you have the right to appeal the assessment.

Appealling an Appraisal of Loss

If you do not agree with MASC's second assessment, or you reconsider the decision after signing a claim, you have 7 days to appeal the assessment to the Appeal Tribunal.

For more information, please see Appeals.