Many of our retired friends and family are trying to find meaningful ways of spending their time. Some are relieved that they will be able to golf in a socially distanced way. Here on the ranch we’re not searching for meaning. We seem to be filling important roles. Our son, Wade, has even said so.

There is a lot involved with calving 350 head of cows. Wade tags the newborns daily while my husband Ralph does the daily feeding. As the cows calve they are moved out of one field and into a new field, so feeding means moving the feed operation to various fields. I spend a lot of time with the grandkids, Jayden and Tristan, on the days when their mom, Jaimie, works in town. She will be cutting back to two days a week once tax season is past so this may change.

The grandkids and I have a lot of fun together.

Jayden is seven and Tristan is five, and they often are off in an imaginary world of wild horses and unicorns and dragons. Sometimes I’m the wild horse catcher and in my aged way, I chase after them wildly swinging a lariat.

They tear through the pastures and climb the hills dodging cow-pies and gopher holes. I do my best to keep them in sight. They may not be honing their soccer or swimming skills, but they are definitely getting their daily physical education and so am I. (There’s no ‘sit and be fit’ for me and there does not seem to be time for ‘restorative yoga.’)

Some days we ride bikes between their house and ours, bumping over the gravel, dodging the puddles. I get off at the cattle guards and carry Tristan’s bike. His little two-wheel bike has a hard time bumpity bumping over the cattle guards.

They were a big help planting the garden.

Jayden drew a “map” of the garden, arduously labelling all the rows while Tristan ran his Tonka truck up and down between the rows ensuring the pathways were smooth. Their little fingers were excellent at pinching the tiny carrot seeds and Jayden’s reading skills were stretched deciphering the backs of the seed packets. Tristan loved using the tape measure to make sure we placed our rows 30 centimetres apart.

Jayden has learned to knead bread dough and read recipes. Tristan is very compliant at washing his hands now if there is baking he can help with. I haven’t heard complaints about missing their playmates but they do pretend to talk to friends on their imaginary phones. (Tristan is especially humorous to watch as he paces around talking to Travis or Mark imitating his dad to a T.) Jayden is often setting up dates for imaginary riding lessons or horse shows she will attend.

Jayden has school work to complete and her parents are diligent in ensuring this is done. She participates in Zoom meetings with her teacher and classmates, which keeps her in touch with a social circle. I have them registered in a weekly Zoom music class which they seem to enjoy. All in all, I think their education is pretty well rounded.

I have been avoiding any serious cowboying. I’m not confident on my new horse. She and I have definitely not bonded. Our neighbour Deb has a line on a gelding that may work out. If he does, I’ll be happy to really get back in the saddle.

Jaimie seems to handle my mare pretty well so I’m fine staying with the kids so she can help with sorting out pairs or moving various bunches to new fields. Our neighbours often come to help as well. All this is done at a safe social distance.

Each day brings a variety of interesting situations. We’ve had to assist very few cows in delivery of their calves. For the most part they seem to get it done on their own. If a cow does lose her calf, we try to get her to take an orphan or a twin. Sometimes an older cow needs to be milked out.

There is always fencing to be done and machinery to be repaired. The pandemic has grounded Uncle Ted, who is a corporate pilot and an ace mechanic. We’re so fortunate to have him attending to most of our machinery repairs and maintenance.

The bulk of the farming is done by a custom operator who has all the latest high-tech equipment. Ralph has been harrowing the fields where the cows have been fed and there is cultivating and hayfield rolling to do. Then there are the ongoing tasks of bookkeeping, bill paying, grocery shopping, housekeeping and yard work. We’ve had phone business meetings and email correspondence with accountants, lawyers and government officials. Zoom has enabled Ralph to attend Rotary if he is in the house at the right time, and I’ve enjoyed my book club in the same way.

When our heads hit the pillow at night we are exhausted and glad to be here on the ranch.

How did we ever fit community and social commitments in before? Retirement is a very fuzzy future concept.

Highwood Valley Ranch is located near High River. This article was written in the second half of May.

The post Life on the ranch during COVID-19 appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The environmental stewardship award from Alberta Beef Producers recognizes individuals and families who contribute to the land while improving productivity and profitability.

Randy and Sandra Radau have been ranching at Coulee Crest Farms since 1989 on a farm homesteaded by the Radaus in 1929. They run a purebred Hereford herd and commercial cow-calf operation and background their own calves. They also grow grain, grazing cattle on stubble and utilizing composted manure on cropland.

“The environment is our lifeblood in an agricultural operation,” said Randy Radau. “If you don’t take care of it your operation will fail. We’re constantly motivated to make things better for the environment so it takes care of us.”

The farm has doubled in size and the herd has tripled in the last three decades, with 1,500 acres of grain and 2,000 acres in pasture and hay production. The majority of grazing is done in Spruce Coulee which was designated an Environmentally Significant Area by Red Deer County.

The family is constantly working on environmental improvements and has completed projects through Growing Forward 2 and Ducks Unlimited. Springs were developed and fenced off to provide a fresh water source for cattle, and wetland restoration was completed. Solar-powered watering systems are used to pull water off site from a fenced dugout.

Coulee Crest Farms is home to many wildlife species including deer, elk, moose, a variety of birds, cougars, and most recently a grizzly bear. The family has designated and fenced areas with native trees for wildlife habitat, which also provide wind shelter for the cattle.

“Our goal is to always try to make one or two significant improvements in sustainability every year,” said Randy Radau. “We’re really honoured to be named the Environmental Stewardship Award winner. I don’t think there’s a bigger compliment you can pay to someone who’s involved in agriculture than to tell them that they’re a good steward of the land.”

The post Coulee Crest Farms earns 2019 stewardship award appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

You may even know him. It’s Stephen Hughes, and he’s talking about transparency in a McDonald’s commercial about beef sustainability.

“I learned how many people go to the movies,” said the Angus rancher from Longview. “I went to the doctor yesterday and she’s like, ‘Well, guess what I saw?”

Tens of thousands of Canadians from coast to coast saw the commercial about beef sustainability at the movies last month. McDonald’s purchased a ‘full blanket,’ so the commercial ran in every theatre showing top first-run movies. It also was shown on TV (including on hit shows such as “This is Us” and “The Good Doctor”) and now lives at the mcdsustainability.ca website (along with five other videos produced after filming this summer).

The movie version, titled “The Journey Ahead,” features ranchers talking about their stewardship of land and animals, and why they’ve been part of the effort to create certified sustainable beef.

It features stunning panorama shots of Hughes’ place, Chinook Ranch, but it’s the people — and their passion — that are the focus of the 60-second spot.

There’s well-known industry leaders Bob Lowe of Bear Trap Feeders and Cherie Copithorne-Barnes of CL Ranches along with others who can expect to be recognized a lot more often: Cecilie and Duncan Fleming and daughter Ricki of Fleming Stock Farms; Ben and Stephanie Campbell of Grazed Right ranch; and Reynold Bergen, science director of the Beef Cattle Research Council.

“You have a captive audience,” said Becky Bevacqua, McDonald’s Canada’s national marketing manager. “The lights are down, the phones are off, there are these big personalities on the screen.

“We thought it was a unique way to get the message across for this particular campaign.”

Hughes’ ranch was chosen because he was the first to sign up for the McDonald’s verified sustainable beef pilot project in 2014 and has built up a relationship with company officials.

The commercial, shot over three days in August, features sweeping drone footage, including shots of two of Hughes’ daughters herding cattle on horseback.

“We got some pretty neat footage of our places and some looks that I am not used to,” said Hughes. “I thought they did a nice job of accentuating a lot of positivity. This is a story and an opportunity for the entire industry to be involved.”

Jeffrey Fitzpatrick-Stilwell, McDonald’s top sustainability official for North America, was asked to find ranchers for the commercial.

If he thought folks would be shy, he quickly learned otherwise.

“I reached out and every single person that I asked said, ‘Yes,’” he said. “We pared it down because we had such a great response,” he said.

“For marketing, it was really critical that people who were going to be in the video were people who had helped along the way and participated in the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and who wanted to see that succeed. It’s great for me that marketing had that as a goal.”

The marketing team came up with a list of questions for the ranchers, but there was no coaching on what they wanted them to say, said Bevacqua.

“We told them up front how we would be shooting this — more of a documentary style, if you will — to just get them to be open and honest, and tell their story,” she said. “We wanted it to be as natural, real, and authentic as possible. It really is that speaking from the heart about why they are doing this, and why it is important to them.”

The commercial starts with Hughes doing just that.

“The consumer wants transparency, I’m fully prepared to give you full transparency,” he says, throwing his arms out wide. “I haven’t hidden anything from you guys the last three days.”

In one of the internet videos, Ricki Fleming talks about how when it’s -40 C and calving time, she’s not sitting at home wrapped in a blanket.

“You got calves in the porch and calves in the tub and calves in the truck trying to get ’em warmed and mothered up,” she says. “You go above and beyond. You put the livestock first and yourself second.”

One of Ben Campbell’s unscripted lines became the title for an entire segment on grass.

“(Some people) look out on the pasture and they think it’s an overgrown lawn,” he says. “But it’s so much more than that. When I look at a pasture, I see a mini Amazon rainforest.”

Even though they didn’t have a ‘speaking part,’ the Campbells are in the commercial shown on the big screens and it didn’t take long for texts to start pinging on Ben’s smartphone.

“Most of the time people are just giddy to see someone they know in a movie theatre,” said Campbell, who worked as an engineer in Calgary before giving up a steady paycheque to start ranching near Black Diamond.

“I have had conversations with people about it. I believe it’s a good thing to be part of and I want to promote the (Verified Beef Production Plus) program.”

VBP+ is a key part of the certified sustainable beef initiative, which is based on standards (called indicators), audits, and a tracking process for cattle and beef as they move through the supply chain.

“If there’s no traction through the public or through ranchers; if enough ranchers don’t sign up to be a verified producer; or if Canadians don’t care about it or don’t think it’s a genuine program, it’ll just be a flop — or dead in the water,” said Campbell.

“That would be sad. This is what needs to happen in the beef industry.”

Even though driving to the city to catch a movie isn’t high on ranchers’ to-do list in November, the commercial was aimed as much at them as the general public.

And thanks to the internet, the commercial and videos are being watched on ranches and farms across the country.

“We have had a very positive reception, particularly from the industry,” said Bevacqua. “Ranchers and farmers sharing the video and sharing content, and giving kudos and thanks back to McDonald’s for giving them the opportunity.”

Fitzpatrick-Stilwell received phone calls, emails and texts praising the commercial.

“People are writing him saying that McDonald’s knocked it out of the park with this, and they’re just so proud,” she said. “Cecilie Fleming even texted him last night to say she’s so proud, she’s getting so many phone calls and emails, and having people congratulate her on it. So it’s full of positive feedback coming in.”

McDonald’s Canada is currently rolling out the new certified sustainable beef logo and the company plans to ‘continue the conversation’ by having ranchers and others in the beef sector (several industry players also appear in the ads) tell their story in their own words.

“At the end of the day, they’re the best ones to do that,” said Bevacqua. “They live it and breathe it every day. We couldn’t be doing what we’re doing without them. It’s just such an honest way to communicate.”

The post Alberta ranchers hit the big screen and steal the show appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“For us, the gift from Jack Anderson and his daughter Wynne Chisholm and the families of this ranch is a major platform for teaching, research, community, and industry outreach,” said Baljit Singh, dean of the veterinary school.

Anderson and Chisholm donated WA Ranches — 19,000 acres north and east of Cochrane, and its entire herd — 1,000 Angus mother cows plus bulls.

Chisholm owns the ranch with her 91-year-old father, and farms it with husband Bob but no one in the next generation wanted to take it over.

“We had built something wonderful and we didn’t want to sell it to an auction or sell it to a larger operation (and) we’re too big for an employee buyout,” she said.

In addition to preserving the ranch’s legacy, the family wanted to ensure their five staff members remain employed, and that youth could be involved in the operation. That got them thinking of the university’s veterinary school and their long relationship with both the school and its students.

“We’ve had vet students and faculty out here ever since they’ve had students,” said Chisholm.

The bond had deepened in 2014, when she and her father gave the university $5 million to create the Anderson-Chisholm Chair in Animal Care and Welfare.

“We knew from that relationship that UCVM was missing a dedicated cattle ranch for research, teaching, and outreach,” said Chisholm. “They are currently using farms like ours. They are spread out all over the province. That adds costs to their projects and gives them variable data due to diverse ranching practices.

“It was starting to reach the point where it was hampering the recruitment of students and faculty, and the growth of the overall program.”

After some serious discussions in the family, they began talking to Singh and Ed Pajor, an internationally renowned professor of animal behaviour and welfare who holds the chair endowed by Anderson and Chisholm.

“Their generosity is really humbling for us,” said Singh. “It will have such a profound impact on our programs.”

Having an entire working ranch with a large herd will allow the school to conduct research that will impact the entire cattle sector, he said.

“This really puts our researchers in the area of cattle health at a totally different level and really sets us up at a major global leadership role when it comes to the beef cattle health and wellness programs whether they are in the area of health or research,” said Singh.

Scholars, teachers, and industry people will be welcome to use the ranch to develop knowledge and scientific information, he added.

“For example, we are not just going to do research as to how to keep the cattle healthy,” he said. “We are going to keep an eye out for how to shape federal policy when it comes to animal and food movement across provincial and international borders.”

Pajor will become the first director of the ranch, and will lead the development of a strategy to implement the university’s vision for it in the coming years.

“This is the largest donation of a ranch to a veterinary program at a university in Canada,” said Singh. “We really want to do some due deliberation and thoughtfulness to help the beef industry in Alberta and across the nation and globally. So the vision is very high and it’s very big.”

The donation fulfils a long-standing need held by the veterinary school, said Pajor.

“We’ve recognized that the opportunity to have a research and a teaching herd would be a real benefit to our students and our researchers,” he said. “This really does address that need in particular.”

Conducting research and training in a real ranch setting is invaluable, he said.

“It’s that much more applicable for the ranchers and we can also do that type of workshop for the veterinarians who are in the province and are looking for continuing education opportunities,” said Pajor.

The ranch’s legacy will remain, and its name will be WA Ranches at the University of Calgary.

“UCVM is one of the top 50 vet schools in the world,” said Pajor. “With the faculty and this kind of facility, this will make it into the top centre in the world for excellence in beef research and animal health and welfare.”

The transaction won’t be finalized until Nov. 30 — to allow the Anderson-Chisholm family and their employees to conduct one last fall run.

“We’re still actively running a ranch,” said Chisholm. “So we’re making all our plans for gathering up our herd from our various summer pastures, and doing our sale plans for our calves, because our calves aren’t part of the gift.”

Anderson, who had oil and gas interests but re-entered the cattle business after purchasing the ranch in 2005, will be able to take his weekly drive to check the cows. The family will be allowed to visit the ranch if they like.

But it’s not just the cows they’ll be keeping an eye on.

“I’m really excited about all the scientific evidence-based discoveries that they will make and how they will improve animal care and welfare,” said Chisholm. “It will enhance the industry overall because of the outreach component that is part of the gift.

“And it will inform the public so that there is more solid information out there about where our food comes from and how animals actually get treated and what is animal care.”

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“This has nothing to do with bad treatment of animals — it has to do with better treatment, better protocol, better records, and better looking after of the animals so when they get to market, they will be better for people to eat,” said John Simpson, who operates Simpson Ranching near Cochrane with his daughter Christie and son Luke.

“The industry has moved to an industry that wants to know what kind of upbringing the animals have had, what kind of feed they’ve had and what kind of drugs they’ve had, if any.”

Topping that list is bovine respiratory disease, the most common and costly disease in the cattle sector. That’s also an area where Dr. Edouard Timsit — the inaugural Simpson Ranch Chair in Beef Health and Wellness — is an internationally renowned expert.

Timsit, an assistant professor of cattle health at the University of Calgary’s faculty of veterinary medicine, was one of five experts considered for the chair, which Simpson has been working on for a decade.

“We selected Edouard to be an advocate to the community, to try and bring the industry forward to where the consumer is going,” said Simpson. “He was the one who had the biggest vision for the whole of the industry.”

Timsit (who is also a part-time feedlot consultant at Feedlot Health Management Services at Okotoks) doesn’t just focus on cow-calf production, feedlots, or research, and has set a goal of developing an overall strategy for bovine health and wellness, he said.

“I plan to use the chair’s funds to tackle important issues facing the beef industry such as a reduced access to antimicrobials, but also to help the beef industry with any emerging challenges,” Timsit wrote in an email.

He plans to continue his work on bovine respiratory disease, but will also work with his colleagues from the University of Calgary’s vet school, the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, and international experts to identify areas that urgently need research. (Timsit earned a DVM in Belgium and a PhD on bovine respiratory disease and epidemiology in France before coming to Calgary in 2012.)

The $2-million endowment will be used for projects that don’t easily find support from other funding agencies, Timsit said. This includes applied research and extension and training of producers. He said he would like to see more research on preconditioning of calves before their entrance into feedlots. Other priority areas include zoonotic diseases, reproduction, lameness, and beef quality. He also plans to work closely with the beef cattle community to identify and address emerging issues.

“As these funds are not tied to a (specific) project, we will also be more reactive/proactive when facing emerging issues,” said Timsit.

It’s an approach that will both produce results and address consumer concerns, said Simpson.

“I believe it will go a long way to move the industry to what the consumer is wanting. I think that’s where the industry needs to go,” he said. “Timsit has a five-year assignment as chair and will be working with ranchers and industry people to try and figure out whether we’re going the right way or not.

“I think he’ll figure it out in the first six months.”

The endowment was praised by Craig Dorin, a 2016 winner of the province’s veterinarian-of-the-year award and a longtime advocate of practices such as low-stress weaning and pre-weaning vaccination to reduce disease in feedlots.

“There’s no doubt that we need more research in the beef cattle industry at a lot of different levels,” said Dorin of Veterinary Agri-Health Services in Airdrie. “The Simpson family has had a long history of supporting the University of Calgary.

“This chair and the role that Edouard is going to play is going to raise the profile of the U of C vet school even more than it already is. This is just another step in us becoming a premier educator of veterinary students.”

The post Rancher donates $2 million to take beef industry where it ‘needs to go’ appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Managing these groups separately allows us to provide a little bit of extra nutrition, which can make all the difference to body condition and future pregnancy rates,” said Bevans. “Really these bred heifers are treated much like the mature cow herd, except that they will be supplemented with some quality alfalfa hay or pelleted supplement when conditions require it.”

• Read more: First-calf heifers need some extra love

In winter, Deseret bred heifers are managed in a large herd of more than 1,000 head, with limited access to swaths using electric fence. Heifers have access to between five and seven days’ worth of swathed feed at a time.

“Of course on the first day or two, they are eating the best part of the swaths and then as the days go on they are getting down to the less preferred material,” said Bevans. “So if they are on this area for seven days, for example, on about day five we give them some alfalfa hay as a supplement.

“Depending on weather and temperature conditions we can adjust the amount of supplemental feed provided.”

Visual body condition scoring is done weekly — Bevans aims for a five on the nine-point U.S. system (roughly equivalent to a score of three on the five-point Canadian system). If it looks like any group is starting to slip, extra nutrition is provided.

On Tyler Fulton’s Manitoba ranch, the Beef Booster/cross herd stays out all winter — on pasture until late November, then oat and barley swaths for a few weeks, and finally on corn grazing for about three months.

However, replacements and some of the first-calf heifers will be moved into a 20-acre paddock with shelter and portable feed bunks and put on feed. Steer calves are moved into a background program.

“I probably baby the heifers a bit, but I’m not sure how well they will compete with the mature cows in corn grazing,” said Fulton, who applies a visual condition scoring to the herd, aiming to maintain everything at the 2.5 to 3.0 condition score over winter.

“Since first-calf heifers are still growing as well we do a sort with them at weaning. Anything that is a bit smaller or could use more condition goes with the replacement heifers into the winter paddock, while the others will stay with the cows. If we have 80 to 90 replacement heifers, for example, we may be feeding 110 head in the paddock over winter — the rest being the first-calf heifers.”

On his southwest Ontario farm, Murray Shaw keeps his herd in a well-bedded yard with shelter during winter. They are put on a full feed Total Mixed Ration for the winter. He did use round bale feeders for a number of years, but found it wasn’t very efficient and the heifers had a hard time competing with mature “boss” cows.

For the past nine years he’s been feeding the TMR of hay and corn silage at a feed bunk.

“They all have plenty of space and easy access to the ration,” said Shaw, who monitors body conditioning year round.

Resources for winter feeding of heifers

Alberta Agriculture has a Frequently Asked Questions fact sheet on adjusting feeding during cold weather on its website. For more information on condition scoring, including a video on how to do the hands- on assessment as well as profit and feed cost calculators, go to www.bodyconditionscoring.ca.

The post Three approaches to managing first- and second-calvers appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

It’s similar to Canadian bison, deer, or elk ranching and can add a lot of value for producers.

“In South Africa, since 1991, we’ve seen a steady stream of conventional farmers integrating or possibly changing over to wildlife ranching,” Adri Kitshoff-Botha, chief executive officer of Wildlife Ranching South Africa, told a recent meeting of international journalists here.

Many conventional producers have also added a ‘game ranching’ aspect to their operation, raising antelope (the country is home to 45 species) or animals such as giraffe, zebra, hippopotamus, or Cape Buffalo. Raising wildlife has a big future, said Kitshoff-Botha.

“I expect we’ll see more conventional South African farmers integrating with, or possibly changing over to wildlife ranching, as farming becomes more and more difficult, and more and more challenging, which makes it less profitable,” she said during a presentation at Monate Game Lodge.

• Read more: African farms are vastly different but share common bonds
• Read more: There’s a lot to love about Sussex cattle — but try finding any

Wildlife ranching is also a way for producers to explore alternative land use options and use marginal land while contributing to biodiversity and food security.

As part of the conference of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists, some participants toured the Monate Game Lodge farm on a mini-safari on the 7,400-acre operation. The game lodge, located in Gauteng Province in the country’s north, has partnered with a breeding operation to conserve wildlife and protect natural areas.

Wildlife ranching — also known as game ranching — has four components: breeding, hunting, conservation, and game products. Private game farms developed in South Africa when a farmer accidentally fenced some waterbuck on his land in the 1960s.

Since then it has flourished.

South Africa now has the same number of game ranches as conventional cattle operations (roughly 12,000 of each) covering 20 million hectares of privately owned land. That’s triple the 6.5 million hectares of natural preserved habitat, which includes all provincial and national reserves operated by the government.

“More wildlife is under private ownership than in government parks,” said Kitshoff-Botha, whose voluntary organization is working with government to foster additional growth of an industry which has (directly and indirectly) created 140,000 jobs.

“We are working closely with our government to add unprotected areas to wildlife ranching. We all know that land doesn’t fall out of the sky. This is vast areas of rural land management, being used for the full value chain.”

The practice of wildlife ranching also increases food security, producing 120,000 to 150,000 tonnes of meat annually. (All of it consumed locally as game meat can’t be exported.)

“There is potential in wildlife ranching in Africa,” said Kitshoff-Botha. “If you consider the population in South Africa that can be supplied with healthy protein, there is such a huge market.”

Wildlife ranchers still have challenges with legislation, but the group is working closely with the federal Department of Agriculture.

Wildlife ranching also offers opportunities for tourism. International and local tourists like to go to see wildlife, and many wildlife operations have lodges or chalets available for rental.

“About 70 per cent of all visitors to South Africa do wildlife-related tourism,” said Kitshoff-Botha.

The tourism aspect of wildlife ranching is a new venture, and the organization doesn’t even have figures on how much revenue it brings in.

The post South African ranchers are ‘game’ for raising wildlife appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

But few capture the imagination quite the same way as his stories about cattle rustlers.

“People appreciate hearing about the cattle rustlers,” said Lennard, historian at the Bow Valley Ranche and official ambassador of the Cowboy Trail. “Before barbed wire fences, you had tens of thousands of cattle that they’d let roam in the spring and bring home in the fall.

“Of course they would brand them, but the rustlers would have a straight rod tucked in their boot. They would burn it and modify the brand so that they could claim they were their cows.”

With his Stetson, leather vest, and calf-high replica boots, Lennard looks like he stepped right out of the 1800s, when the West was wild and the Mounties always got their man.

Speaking about historical figures with the familiarity of a close friend — and occasionally breaking into song when the mood strikes him — Lennard weaves tale after tale about the people, places, and events that have shaped Alberta’s cowboy culture. They include the first Calgary Stampede when Florence LaDue lassoed two horses while lying in the dirt to the notorious Sundance Kid’s two-year stint breaking horses at the historic Bar U Ranch.

But that’s all in a day’s work for the History Wrangler.

“I love history. It’s something I’m very passionate about. There’s history up at a high level, but what I do is find the really fascinating, cool history. If I can make history fun and interesting, that’s what I love to do.”

Lennard is an accomplished author and musician who engages with over 20,000 children a year through 14 programs at the Bow Valley Ranche and through his annual Cowboy Trail Tour, where he stops at small towns across Alberta to share songs and stories about Canada’s wild west.

“Driving down the Cowboy Trail is like God’s country. With all due respect to Highway 2, on the Cowboy Trail, you really enjoy the journey,” said Lennard.

“Having that journey that’s steeped in history is really important.”

This year, Lennard’s tour kicked off in Manitoba, bringing history to the western Prairies as part of Canada’s 150th anniversary celebration.

“Canada’s 150th is an opportunity to celebrate the province that we live in. There’s so much of our history that encompasses that great ranching history,” he said. “It’s important to take pride in where we’ve come from. Ranching history is so rich.”

Brand contest

As part of that celebration, Lennard is holding a contest where ranchers can share the history of their family’s cattle brands. There will be prizes and winners will have their brand stories featured in a song written and performed by Lennard on Sept. 1 at the Bow Valley Ranche to celebrate Alberta’s 112th birthday.

“There’s a story behind every brand,” he said. “Ranchers all have a history for their brands, so this is a great opportunity to showcase their brands and talk about the history of their brands.”

Rancher Stuart Somerville sees the value in “keeping old things like that alive.”

“When you’re a multi-generational farm or ranch, all those little bits of tradition are important,” said Somerville, who ranches near Endiang. “Lots of traditions go extinct through time, but when you have those little parts of the brand — like great-grandfather’s initials — that’s an important link. It’s part of why you stay.

“Multi-generational links are important and strong, and they’re one more reason to stay at it.”

Somerville’s farm was homesteaded in 1907 by his great-grandfather, who kept a small herd of cattle. Originally, his great-grandfather’s brand was H monogram P quarter-circle up, so when Somerville went to register his own brand, he kept the HP (his great-grandfather’s initials), but with a quarter-circle down.

“Traditions are important. They’re a part of our culture,” he said. “It’s part of the story of yourself and it’s part of the story that you want your kids to have one day. You end up fostering those things a lot more because you want them to carry on. It’s been a part of your life, and you want to see it be part of someone else’s life.

“We don’t think about it too much in our day to day, but it drives a lot of what we do.”

To share your own brand story for the History Wrangler’s Canada 150 brand contest, email Lennard at historywrangler@gmail.com. In 150 words or less, share a story about your cattle brand, including the year it was registered, the story behind the design, and approximately how many animals have been branded over the years.

The contest closes July 6 and is open to all Alberta farmers and ranchers with a registered brand.

The post Celebrate Canada’s 150th with your family’s cattle brand appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The couple recently finalized a conservation agreement with the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

“This conservation agreement gives me the freedom to run the ranch the way I always wanted it run, and to protect it for future generations — and not necessarily just my future generations,” Reno Welsch said in a news release. “It also protects the land for agricultural use at a time where agricultural land, especially good ranchland, is getting harder and harder to find.”

Welsch Ranch is just 20 kilometres north of Pincher Creek and its scenic location means it is under “significant pressure for residential development,” said the Nature Conservancy. It is located in a wildlife corridor and is home to the endangered limber pine, a five-needled pine that can live up to 1,000 years, and ferruginous hawks, a threatened species and one of only two birds of prey that use grasslands as their main habitat.

The Welschs established the ranch in 1988 and are currently in the process of handing the property over to their daughter.

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The Hanna-area ranchers were recognized for their long-term commitment to animal welfare and sustainably produced food, which has served as a model approach inspiring the progress of many others. This has included hosting clinics on low-stress livestock handling, promoting a range of additional best practices, and always taking time to help others improve.

“The ability of the Biggs to change how people view their own approaches when working livestock has made a profound difference on many operations,” said livestock producer Owen Nelson, who nominated TK Ranch for the award.

“The clinics give practical hands-on experience to each participant so they leave with tools they can use at home. Everyone feels welcome and takes something away from the clinics.”

TK Ranch has made animal welfare an integral part of its business since the ranch began direct marketing in 1995, and it became the first ranch in Alberta to be audited under the Animal Welfare Approved Standards.

Also receiving awards were Ric Henderson, director of community & protective services with Red Deer County, and Jenna Griffin, industry development officer for Egg Farmers of Alberta.

Henderson has been a champion for raising awareness of the province’s fleet of emergency livestock-handling trailers. Red Deer County had the first of these specialized trailers in the province.

Griffin has been the driving force behind several significant enhancements for Alberta’s egg and poultry industries, including a two-year project to design a new Modified Atmospheric Chamber Cart, which provides egg farmers in Alberta access to advanced gassing technology. Another has been her efforts to advance the evaluation of a progressive Low Atmospheric Pressure Stunning system.

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