LIVESTOCK
&
GBT Angus—
“The course Ralph taught set us up with more knowledge of what Holistic Management entailed,” says Trevor. “I was already interested; a seminar that I’d gone to seemed to make sense, telling about some things I thought we could adopt into our program. From there I used the internet and YouTube to start educating myself about using cover crops, BY HEATHER SMITH THOMAS etc. But before we went to the Holistic Management course, it seemed like we were the only ones trying to do things like this, except for maybe our revor and Cheryl Branvold raise registered Angus cattle on a neighbor Ralph,” he says. farm near Wawota, Saskatchewan that’s been in Cheryl’s family “It seemed like we were out here on our own. I didn’t realize there since it was settled in 1888. “Some of my family came here from were a lot more people out there who’d been doing this for a lot of years, Ireland and ran a general store in Wapella, which was then the with good success stories. After taking that course things snowballed closest town—the last place where the train tracks went,” says Cheryl. The from there, and now it seems like I can’t get enough information. Holistic family settled here and started farming. Management helps satisfy my need for knowledge.” “Our kids are the 6th generation of our family to be on our farm. Over He and Cheryl had already started to try to improve their soil and the years it was a mixed farm with grain and cattle. My great uncles pastures with bale grazing. “We adopted that practice as soon as we went were on this farm before us, and my out on our own, because we’d bought mom and dad have a different place an old tractor and loader that would nearby,” she says. do the job to get the cattle fed, but “My great uncles were getting it became a daunting task in tough older and ready to retire from farming, winters with a lot of snow—trying and after Trevor and I got married we to feed the cattle every day. So we moved here to take over this farm. jumped on the chance to start either Trevor already had a herd of cattle so swath grazing or bale grazing instead we came here with some of his own of hauling feed out to the cows,” says cows and some of the cattle we were Trevor. leasing from his mom and step-father,” They soon started seeing the she says. other benefits, with added fertility, “We’ve been here since 2003,” and more lasting benefits to the land. says Trevor. “I grew up at Kisbey, “There was also some savings in Saskatchewan, where my mom and equipment costs and diesel fuel. So step-father had a farm with grain and now we’ve been trying to find ways cattle.” After he finished school he to bale graze in all our pastures, with came back and stayed at the farm at not only our cow-calf pairs, but also Kisbey during the winter months to the cows in the fall after we weaned calve the cows. He also worked at a the calves. We’d have bales set out grain farm for a while, near Wawota, in the fall for them, and also for our Cheryl, Carter, Trevor, and Brett Branvold and that’s how he met Cheryl. sale bulls,” he says. Not having to feed the hay frees up more time to spend time with their A Holistic Transition two boys, going to their hockey games in the winter. It also frees up more “Our neighbor down the road is Ralph Corcoran, a Holistic time in the summer because they are not out there making hay all day in Management Certified Educator,” says Cheryl. “He invited us to take the the tractor. “We purchase most of our feed now because we’d seen that course he taught. He was gathering together some local couples that our hay land was depleting and we had to add fertility to it. We got away might be interested, and asked us to join them. We took the course from from making our own hay and sitting in a tractor all summer,” Trevor says. him in 2010. Our farm operation was already moving that direction with Now they are trying to transition into raising more of their own feed spring and summer calving (no longer calving in late winter) and rotation again, but in a system where it stays in the field as a summer crop, or CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 grazing,” she says.
21st Century Farming in Saskatchewan
T
Num ber 183
h
Land & Livestock
7
