5

In 1912, Steve Balog came to the I-17 area southwest of Milk

River and settled on land that is still in the family today. While

he worked as a coal miner, his 9-year old son, also named Steve,

took on many adult responsibilities in operating the farm.

Eventually the farm passed to his son in his turn. That son, Ken,

and his wife Nora, are the 2015 BMO Farm Family of the Year for

the County of Warner.

The Balogs have a mixed

farming/ranching operation,

Nora says, but notes, “We class

ourselves as ranchers more

than farmers. Neither one of

us is big on the farming, but

it’s necessary to keep the ranch

running.” The family has raised

purebred Herefords since 1942

and Ken’s father helped found

both the Lethbridge and Medicine Hat bull sales. Today, the

family has about 100 cow/calf pairs, with about a third bred to a

non-Hereford bull. “Our cows are kept purebred, but we do not

raise bulls,” Nora explains. Although they usually use purebred

Hereford bulls, there is one black bull still on the place – a legacy

from one of their children’s 4-H projects. “We call ourselves a

glorified commercial herd,” she says.

About 600 of the operation’s landbase of 4,000 acres is seeded

using conservation tillage and no-till. “We’ve gone back to some

tillage in some areas because of alkalinity,” Nora notes. Five

different crops are grown: durum and spring wheat, oats, barley

and triticale, the latter for forage. There is also hayland.

There’s more than just commerce going on at the Balog’s.

To protect the riparian habitat of Northern Leopard Frogs, the

family has installed two solar pumps that facilitate rotational

grazing. The property also has a garter snake hibernaculum and

another part of it is habitat for rattlesnakes.

Perhaps the most labour-intensive conservation project is

the nesting poles for ferruginous hawks. “We cut twigs from the

yard, haul them up to the poles and drop them,” Nora explains.

“Ferruginous hawks are renovators. They don’t build their

own nests, so you have to start a nest for them. I get to stand in

the bucket of the front-end loader while my husband lifts me

up to the top of the pole.” Encouraging the hawks isn’t purely

altruistic, Nora admits, because

the hawks prey on gophers. “We

think it’s a great idea because it

saves us having to go out and shoot

them. We’ve noticed one pasture

in particular where it’s helped.

Gophers draw in badgers and

we’ve actually lost a heifer due to a

broken leg from a badger hole.”

The Balogs have both served

on their local school council and have helped with 4-H.

Professional organizations like the Milk River West Water Users

and Milk River Feeder Association have also been part of the

Balogs’ community involvement, as have several conservation

organizations. In 2013, they won a conservation award for

preservation of native habitat and species at risk that is only

given out every three years in the three prairie provinces.

Although all four of the Balog children live and work off the

farm, one son is a veterinarian and the other is an agronomist so

they keep up with what goes on at home. When things are busy

on the farm, Nora says, “Sometimes the kids will show up with a

meal so we can have Sunday dinner together.” When cattle have

to be moved from the leased land along the U.S. border, “We

gather up four or five people and bring the cattle home with the

motorbikes,” Nora says.

Asked about what’s best about farm life, Nora knows

immediately. “The quiet, the serenity and the view. We have one

of the best views of the Sweetgrass Hills you’ll ever get.”

Representing Warner County

Milk River, Alberta

BALOG FAMILY

6

The story of the Biemans family in Canada is a good

illustration of the arc of progress in agriculture in Southern

Alberta. When the family first arrived in the Coaldale area

from Holland in the years following World War II, they found

work hoeing sugar beets. Today, the family farms using a

dazzling variety of high-tech computer programs that would

have seemed like science fiction sixty years ago.

The name of the family operation: Peter-Built Farms Inc.,

honours Peter Biemans Jr., who farmed in the Seven Persons

area until his untimely passing from ALS in 2009. Peter’s

wife Janet was always deeply involved in the farm and that

engagement continues today except that now her business

partner is her son, Trevor. The Biemans are the 2015 BMO

Farm Family of the Year for

Cypress County.

In the 1950s, when the

dams were built that made

irrigation agriculture

possible in the Seven Persons

area, Peter Biemans Sr. and

his four sons came to the

area and acquired farmland

that had been abandoned

and seized for tax arrears.

Together they worked and

prospered. Trevor and Janet

continue to work with the

three surviving sons: Ken, Roger and Mario. “We all own our

own assets, but we all farm together,” Janet explains.

Janet and Trevor, a graduate of Lethbridge College in

Agriculture Technology, seed about 1,000 acres in spring

wheat, canola, peas, dry beans and alfalfa using no-till

and minimum-tillage technology. Tillage is based on soil

compaction, Janet says. “Any of the beanland gets worked

quite well before the beans go in because beans don’t like

compaction. If there’s a heavy weed population, then they’ll

work it. We try not to work the land too much.”

“This year and last year, quite a bit of our dry land is

seeded,” Janet continues. “We kind of go by the moisture in the

ground at the time – and if there’s any seed left in the drill.”

Although the dry areas are seeded at the same time, she notes,

they sometimes are harvested separately.

Coming from a dryland area in Saskatchewan, Janet says

her first experience of irrigation agriculture in 1989 was

surprising. “When I first came here and saw the pivots on

and it was raining, it didn’t make sense to me,” she laughs.

Things are quite a bit more sophisticated today. “The pivots

have computer panels,” Janet explains. “Through our phones,

we can speed up or slow down our pivots. We can regulate

how much water is going on each area.” At harvest time, she

continues, “The combines have yield-mapping. From one

quarter to the next, side-by-side, you can tell when it was

seeded and when the rains came

through and when the pivots

were on. It helps with fertilizer,

too.”

Both Trevor and Janet are

heavily involved with the

Seven Persons and District

Community Association as

well as a number of other

organizations. Perhaps their

most dedicated commitment

is to the ALS Society of Alberta.

Since 2010 they have raised over

$160,000 to combat ALS and are

the society’s biggest third-party fundraiser.

“Peter and I always figured if you’re living in a community,

you should be giving back to it,” Janet says. “It doesn’t hurt

anybody to take a few hours out of their life to give back to

where they live. We raised our kids to be the same.”

City life, for Janet, isn’t really an option. The farm lifestyle

is what appeals to her. “You work hard, but in your downtime

you can play hard. It’s so nice to be able to go out in your yard

and be able to look for miles, to look at your fields and know

that you’re accomplishing something.”

Representing Cypress County

BIEMANS FAMILYSeven Person, Alberta

7

There have been a lot of changes in the way the Dyck family

farms over the last half-century or so. When John Dyck’s

grandfather came to Alberta from Germany in 1951, he started

out hoeing sugar beets in the Lethbridge area. Before long,

the family had rented land and was operating a dairy farm.

Finally, in 1967, they were able to purchase a farm of their own

just northeast of Brooks.

Today, the family is still farming on the same property, and

John and Charlotte Dyck of Brookside Farms Ltd. are the BMO

Farm Family of the Year for the

County of Newell. In those early

years, the family raised cattle

and grew vegetables for sale

through the Newell Vegetable

Co-op. The cattle are gone, and

so is the Co-op, and the Dyck

operation today is 1,300 acres of

mainly irrigated cropland.

Irrigation practices have

changed, as well, Dyck says.

Flood irrigation was replaced

by irrigation wheels and the wheels were replaced by pivots.

“It’s extremely dry here,” John says. “You couldn’t really grow

a crop here without irrigation. It’s a lot more efficient than it

used to be. We’re growing better crops with less water.”

Part of the increase in efficiency, Dyck says, came as the

result of an Environmental Farm Plan he created after taking

a course. Moving to low-pressure sprinklers improved water

conservation. “With the high-pressure lines we used to use,

you could see water blowing off with the wind,” he recalls.

“Years ago we used to plow every acre, every year. This year we

didn’t till one acre – everything was direct-seeded, right into

stubble.” More sophisticated seeding, fertilizing and spraying

technologies have also been adopted.

About 40% of the Dyck farm is seeded for hard red spring

wheat with another 20% in canola. For the last three years,

Dyck has had fava beans in his rotation, too. “They’ve worked

out really well. They’re actually the highest nitrogen-fixing

legume, which has really saved on fertilizer costs. They are

easy to harvest. They don’t lay down like peas, they stand up

and the leaves just sort of dry off. By harvest-time all you have

left is a stalk with pods.” The dryland corners are seeded to

grass, which is usually good for one cut of hay.

“I don’t remember wanting to do anything else,” John says.

“After college, the neighbour’s farm came up for sale. I bought

that and added it to the operation.

It’s been interesting, working

with my grandfather and father,

then with my brother and then

my father worked for me.” John’s

brother Thomas became a teacher,

but now lives in the grandfather’s

house, farms in the summer and

substitute-teaches in the winter.

John, Sr., still lives on the family

farm and helps out when needed.

“We’ve always worked together,”

says John Jr.

The family has done its best to contribute to their local

community over the years. Church, school and their children’s

sporting activities have kept them busy off the farm, but

farming offers some unique parenting opportunities, too,

Dyck says. “When my children were younger, I’d be terribly

busy, but they could come with me. There are a lot of teaching

moments when they come to work with you.”

John Dyck knows exactly what he likes best about farming.

“Being your own boss is very appealing, and the satisfaction

you get from hard work when you can see the results. I love

working outside, to watch a crop grow and then to harvest it

is a really satisfying thing. I feel very blessed. I’m doing what I

love with the people I love. I can’t imagine having to go to work

every day and hating it. Every day I look forward to what I have

to do the next day.”

Representing Newell County

Brooks, Alberta

DYCK FAMILY

8

You could call Dale Groves something of a ‘middle man’

when it comes to his family’s farm just east of Champion. Dale

can look back two generations to his grandfather, who filed

homestead papers on the property in November of 1904 and

then returned from Wisconsin in the spring of 1905 to begin

farming, and he can look forward two generations to his own

granddaughters and grandsons who are growing up on that

same land.

“We got our Century Farm award in 2005,” Dale says,

who’s been there for 73 years, himself. Other honours for the

Groves family are the Alberta Centennial Medal and Queen’s

Diamond Jubilee

Medals for both Dale

and his daughter

Kathy. For 2015, Dale

Groves Farms can add

one more title, as the

BMO Farm Family of

the Year representing

Vulcan County.

Diane, Dale’s

wife, and an active

participant in the

farm, also has deep

root in the Champion

area. The couple’s

three children and

their families all live nearby. “Our furthest daughter is 3 ½

miles away,” Dale notes. “Sometimes we see our grandkids

daily.”

The Groves farm today is quite a bit different from the

original operation. “According to the homestead papers, they

had everything,” Dale says. “Chickens, pigs, cows – and grain,

of course.” These days there aren’t many cows on the place,

just a few to graze on marginal land. This year Groves will seed

about 5,600 acres, most of it deeded, in almost equal parcels

of durum and canola along with spring wheat and some

peas. “This is only our fourth year doing peas,” Dale says. “We

watched our neighbours all around try them. They’re good for

the land. The next year your crop is better on the pea stubble.”

“We’re seeding everything every year,” Dale continues.

“Years ago it was half summer fallow and the land blew. It

costs a lot more to farm now, because you have to fertilize

heavily to get a good crop, seeding everything. The price of

equipment is unreal. I told somebody, ‘I don’t need to go to

Vegas to gamble. I’m doing it every day!’”

Don’t expect to see Groves expanding much more. “My

grandfather had three quarters early on,” he says. “My father

expanded and my brother and I expanded. Now our kids have

helped get some land in the last few years. We have guys who,

when they start seeding, have to go day and night. A lot of guys

want more and more,

but that’s not for us. We

have enough to do with

what we have.”

“My brother farmed

with me for years,” Dale

remembers. “Since his

passing, my nephew

farms his land. We

operate the farms as

one.” His own children

all have off-farm jobs,

Dale says, but are always

right there to help out

when needed.

For 46 years, Dale has been a member of the Champion

Lions Club and has held various club offices both locally and

regionally. He and the whole family have coached local sports

and been involved in many community projects. Dale and

Diane are recipients of the Friends of 4-H Award and all three

of the Groves children - Kathy, Brenda and Jeff – are active

in 4-H as well. “I’ve always felt, if I’m going to live here, I’m

going to do what I can to make it a better place to live,” says

Dale.

“I’ve been farming all my life,” Dale says. “It’s a lifestyle I

always wanted. I got out of school and I thought I’d go to SAIT

and take Agricultural Mechanics, but first I thought I’d rest a

year. I’m still resting. I guess experience is a good teacher.”

GROVES FAMILYChampion, Alberta

Representing Vulcan County

9

The Hall family’s tenure on their farm 12 miles east of Stavely

is coming up on the century mark. In 1980, Roy Hall purchased

the home section from his father Fred and, with his wife Karen,

has grown the operation. When their three sons began to

contemplate their futures, Roy and Karen set some conditions.

“All three wanted to farm and I said, ‘You can’t come back

until you have a trade,’” Roy says. “It would have been nice if I’d

had something to fall back on.” One son is now a journeyman

carpenter, one is a B Pressure Welder and the other is about to

finish high school. Since all three sons have rented farmland,

it looks likely that there will be a fourth generation of Halls

farming in the area. In fact, the boys’ roots in the area are not

just on one side as their

grandmother’s family, the

Ohlers, homesteaded before

the Halls even got there.

The Hall operation is

a mixed ranching and

farming enterprise. “Where

we are is quite sandy,” Roy

points out. “You have to be

diversified. There are guys

who are strictly farmers

around here, but we’ve always had both cattle and grain.”

The Hall herd of 260 Black Angus-cross commercial cows

is pastured on 2,600 acres, following a program of rotational

grazing. Usually about 60 heifers are kept as replacements

and the rest of the calves are sold in the fall. “We don’t use any

steroids or growth hormones or anything like that,” Roy says.

“I’ve done my part to keep it as natural as I can.”

About 2,500 acres, half of them rented, are seeded in hard

red spring wheat, barley, peas and canola using zero-till

technology. The land is irrigated by five owned and six rented

pivots. Two of those pivots are on hayfields. “The way we farm

now is definitely better,” Roy insists. “With the summer fallow,

the land would blow when it got dry. That’s not a problem with

the no-till and minimum-till – and we grow more grain.”

New technology like GPS guidance has helped, too, he notes.

“The best thing about it is for spraying. I don’t know how we did

it without it. The days are easier. When you were having to drive

all day, by the end of the day you were plumb-tuckered. Now,

with the GPS, you’re tired – but not like you used to be.”

There are two big challenges for the modern farmer, Roy

states. “Trained labour is hard to find. The equipment is too

expensive now to just turn anyone loose on it.” The other is the

cost of production. “Just trying to own the equipment to get it

all done on time is no different

than it’s always been, I guess.

It’s just more money. I’m not

making any more money than I

used to, but I’m handling twice

as much.”

The local rodeo committee,

pheasant derby, Elks Club and

community hall board have

all benefited from Hall family

involvement over the years. “We try and do our part,” Roy says.

“People have to think about it and stay helping out or it all falls

apart.”

Owning and working the same land that the Hall and Ohler

families started with is important to Roy. “It gives you that little

warm, fuzzy feeling,” he admits. “It’s nice that we’ve been able

to keep it, that’s for sure. It’s huge to see that it carries on. Our

parents saw hard times and could have got out. They stuck with

it and I have to do my part to see that it doesn’t happen.” Are

the Hall sons as committed to the family’s heritage? Roy laughs,

“They’d better be, or why am I hanging around?”

Stavely, Alberta

HALL FAMILYRepresenting Municipal District of Willow Creek

10

The Hansen family of Blackie have seen their farm go in

a lot of different directions over the years. The farm started

out as a half-section mixed operation that sustained the first

Hansens, Jacob and Ida, through the Great Depression. Over

the years, there have been milk cows, a 1200-hen laying barn,

a backgrounding feedlot, a purebred Angus herd and a farrow-

to-finish hog operation. Each served its purpose, and then the

family moved on.

The Hansens are the 2015 BMO Farm Family of the Year

for the Municipal District

of Foothills. The children

growing up on the farm today

are the fifth generation to

enjoy that privilege. From

Jacob and Ida, Norwegian

immigrants who met in

Canada, to their son Harold

who succeeded them and

passed the torch to his sons

Rick and Doug and their

children, some of whom

now have families of their

own, the Hansens have adapted to changing conditions and

continued to move forward.

An example of this forward-looking was Jacob’s purchase of

one of the first self-propelled combines in the area. “I don’t

know if they were cutting-edge, but they were certainly near

the front of the pack,” Rick says. “If there was a better way to

do something, they’d always get in on it.” The same attitude

is helpful today, he adds. “You don’t need to be first out of the

gate, but you need to get out of the gate.”

The Hansens use no-till conservation technology to raise

hard red spring wheat, barley and canola in approximately

equal amounts on seven sections. “We’re in close proximity to

the feedlots around here,” Rick says. “We can grow barley and

deliver it directly. They’re happy to get it and we’re happy to

have something that isn’t dependent on freight out to the coast.”

They also grow peas, and have for 12 years. “The first peas

I grew were just awful,” Rick recalls. “You couldn’t get them

hardly with a combine or swather. Now there’s better varieties

that stand up better, and the equipment’s better, too. They’re

busy to grow. I wouldn’t want seven sections of peas.”

One of the biggest challenges Rick sees farmers facing is

simply being able to get enough land to stay profitable. “The

margins have gotten smaller, so you seem to have to do more

acres,” he says. The increasingly-sophisticated and expensive

equipment required to take

advantage of modern farming

techniques is something else

he keeps an eye on. “Dad and

Granddad could fix their own

stuff. If you could weld, you could

keep stuff running if you had a

little mechanical aptitude. We’re

getting technology-dependent.

My combine broke down last fall

and I came to discover it has eight

computers!”

The Hansen family has a long

history of serving the Blackie community. Every member can

point to contributions to the area’s wellbeing. Harold was

President of the Chamber of Commerce. Three generations

have served on the board of the Ag Society and family

members have coached minor hockey and been part of various

agricultural organizations. It all goes with being part of a

community, Rick says. “We’ve gone and helped neighbours on

occasion and we’ve had to get helped on occasion. Nobody asks

for anything in return and nobody expects anything in return.”

“One of the best things about farming is where you get to do it

at, and you get to do it with good people,” Rick says. A busy time

like harvest, when everyone pitches in to work together, makes

for very special memories. “Supper in the field is a special joy

for farm families as stories are shared, children play in the

stubble and everyone is energized for a long evening of work.”

Blackie, Alberta

HANSEN FAMILYRepresenting Municipal District of Foothills

11

One of the ironies of urbanization is that most cities started

out where they are because of the fertility of the surrounding

countryside. As the city grows, it moves onto that once-productive

farmland and buries it under suburbs, streets and industrial

areas. “Calgary’s breathing down our necks,” says Debbie Lee

of her family’s Springbank farm. “Most of our neighbours are

acreages with big houses on them.”

Debbie’s grandfather, Howard, was the first member of the

Longeway family to come West from the Eastern Townships of

Quebec. After working in Alberta and Montana he convinced

his parents and their eight other children to make their way

to the Calgary area, which they did in 1910, purchasing a farm

west of the city. In 1912, Howard purchased land just a half-mile

away and the Longeways – the

2015 BMO Farm Family of the

Year for Rockyview County – are

still there. Still involved with the

farm are Howard’s son Eric, his

daughter Debbie and son Ken,

and grandchildren Eric Longeway,

Danielle Lee and Jeff Lee.

From 1912 until 1994, the

Longeways’ holding, which they

called Rockyview Farm, was centred on a prize herd of Jersey

cattle supplying milk to a Calgary dairy. Springbank, Debbie

points out, once had the highest number of dairy farms of any

community in Alberta. As the industry changed in terms of

regulation and the investment required and land prices rose,

smaller producers were forced out by ever-higher costs. With

land in the area becoming increasingly expensive, Rockyview’s

dairy herd was dispersed in 1994. “We just didn’t feel we had the

manpower or resources to continue on,” Debbie says.

While they were no longer milk producers, the Longeways were

a long way from being out of the dairy business. Eric showed his

first dairy cattle at the Stampede in 1939 and joined the Stampede

Dairy Cattle Committee in 1954 and stayed for 33 years. Debbie

joined the committee in 1986, the first woman to do so, and is

now the Chair of the committee. Both Debbie and her daughter

Danielle, are untiring in their efforts to represent dairy farmers.

“The reason I do this is because I know how hard the dairy guys

work on their farms and a lot of them are not able to get away to

do the educational stuff,” Debbie says. Mother and daughter are

both spokespeople for Alberta Milk at Aggie Days and Ag-tivity in

the City.

Although Rockyview Farms doesn’t produce milk anymore,

there’s still lots going on. The family’s 290 acres are divided

between hayland and pasture for the 35-cow commercial herd.

The herd has Pinzgauer roots with Black Angus influence and is

currently bred to Red Angus bulls. The steers are sold in the fall

with replacement heifers retained. There are also about a dozen

ewes of mostly North Country

Cheviot stock. Lambs are raised

to market weight and then sold,

almost entirely by word-of-mouth.

“It’s pretty much the same people

who buy them year-to-year,”

Debbie says. Haying starts right

after Stampede. “We do it in small

batches because we like to feed

our animals high quality hay,” she

explains. There’s also a 600-hill potato patch in a corner of the

farm that is mainly tended by 89-year old Eric and harvested by

family and friends.

It might be difficult to find a community activity in Springbank

that hasn’t had, or doesn’t have, a member of the Longeway

family involved – and the family’s involvement with Stampede

is longstanding and intense. “That’s the kind of people we are,”

Debbie says. “Even though you’re busy you still have to take time

to give back to your community.”

It wouldn’t be going too far to say that Debbie, and the

Longeway family, have a passion for agriculture. “I love working

with animals,” Debbie says. “I love being outdoors and I love

having my hands in the soil.” Danielle adds, “It’s a lot of fun being

able to work alongside your family.”

Springbank, Alberta

LONGEWAY (LEE) FAMILYRepresenting Rocky View County

12

There is money to be made in the cattle business these days,

but it isn’t economics that Sherry Mackenzie mentions when she

speaks of what appeals to her about rural life.

Sherry and her husband Bryan, along with their four children,

are the BMO Farm Family of the Year representing the Municipal

District of Pincher Creek. “For me, it’s the lifestyle – raising my

children this way,” says Sherry. “We’re extremely lucky to walk

outside and see what we see – mountains, blue sky and red cows

on green grass.”

The red cows are the Mackenzie herd of purebred Red Angus

– something of a family specialty,

Sherry points out, since Bryan’s

father, uncles and grandfather

imported the first Red Angus

cattle to their Mountainview-area

operation in 1962. Bryan’s father,

Mark, originally came to the

Pincher Creek area as a teacher,

but he met and married Edna –

whose family ranched in the area.

Mark and Edna had two sons,

Bryan and Lorne, whose names

were combined when Brylor

Ranch was founded in 1969. Lorne

lives in Lethbridge and comes out

to the ranch whenever he can,

while Bryan continues the family

business. Although Bryan officially takes the lead, it doesn’t

take much persuading to get Mark to climb on a tractor and do

feeding when necessary.

According to Sherry, “Anybody who knows Bryan knows there’s

not a chance in the world he’d do anything else. He lives and

breathes it.” Along with the Red Angus herd – 155 mother cows

and 125 heifers on five sections of owned land and three that

are leased – the family also operates Brylor Semen Sales. Bryan,

Sherry says, attends many sales across the continent, “The gene

pool for Red Angus is smaller, so he’s always looking for new

genetics.” Brylor does a great deal of artificial insemination and

some embryo transplants as they work to strengthen the breed.

Bryan has been honoured as the Canadian Livestock Man

of the Year and has twice been named Canadian Red Angus

Purebred Breeder of the Year. In 2001, Brylor produced the

Supreme Champion Bull at Agribition and has also won

numerous honours at the Calgary Stampede and Farmfair.

With four school-age children, it’s not surprising that the

MacKenzies are heavily involved as both 4-H assistant leaders

and project leaders and in coaching various sports. They also

started a community charity, ‘Angels Within

Us’ to help those in need in the Pincher Creek

area. “It’s important to teach your kids a

little bit of selflessness and the importance of

helping people around you,” Sherry insists. “It

keeps you in touch. It’s easy to be so busy that

you forget there are people who aren’t as lucky

as you are.”

Brylor uses solar-powered pumps to move

water from dugouts to drinking troughs. Not

only does this prevent erosion, Sherry says.

“There’s nothing better for cows than clean

water.”

It’s a good thing to respect nature, but what

do you do if nature doesn’t respect you? A

large local elk herd can make a big mess of the

stackyards, she says. “There are definitely cougars and wolves

and coyotes in the area. The bears are bad. Their numbers are

definitely increasing. The grizzlies push out the black bears

and the black bears get into our grain bins.” On one strongly-

built bin, “It has the 4-H ration in there and they can smell the

molasses”, a bear pulled the door off its hinges and broke the

welds to get at the goodies inside.

It isn’t just feed that the predators consume, Sherry says. The

family have lost animals in the past, but, “We just co-exist with

them. They were here first.”

Pincher Creek, Alberta

MACKENZIE FAMILYRepresenting Municipal District of Pincher Creek

13

Years ago, most farms were mixed farms, growing a variety

of crops and raising several different kinds of livestock. Most

farmers have gone away from that model, choosing to specialize

in whatever type of agriculture best suits their land and

circumstances.

Then there is Twin R Ranching Ltd. and the Mundt family,

the BMO Farm Family of the Year for 2015 representing Special

Areas No. 3. From 1959 on, when the first Mundt in Canada

– Theodor – purchased a farm near Sibbald, the Mundts have

operated a mixed farm. “Most farms in this area are mixed

farms because we’re in the Special Areas and there’s a lot of

land that isn’t adaptable to farming,” explains Rob Mundt, who

operates the farm with his

twin brother Richard. “It’s

really sandy. In the ‘30s

this whole area blew away.

They designated areas that

you can’t break up.”

Over the years, the

Mundt family operation

has grown to where today

they have 7,000 acres of

cropland, 10,000 acres of

pasture and 1,200 acres

in hay. They grow, Rob says, “a little bit of everything”, mainly

durum and hard spring wheat, but also lentils, peas, canola and

barley for feed. Most of the hay they grow is for their own use. “A

lot of years, you’re a little short on that,” Rob says. The Mundts

use direct seeding into about 5,000 acres of their cropland each

year, with the other portion chem-fallowed. “It doesn’t rain

much, so that’s kind of our crop insurance,” he notes. “You’ll get

a little bit of a yield off chem-fallow.”

On the livestock end, Rob says, “We have 400 cows and we

keep the calves over the winter, so we’re feeding around 800

usually.” The cattle are a Simmental/Charolais cross with some

Red Angus added in if the cows get too white. “We just stick

with our tans,” he says. “There’s a pretty good premium on the

tan cows.” The intense partisanship for one breed over another

that is a feature of the cattle business isn’t helpful, Rob believes.

“A pig’s a pig’s a pig’s a pig,” he says. “All the pig producers

stand together. You get into cattle and you’ve got your different

brands and none of the cattle guys can get along. One guy’s is

better than the other guy’s.”

There are still four horses on the farm, too, mainly for

heritage and pleasure, Rob says, although, he points out, “If

your cows break out, you can’t go run around your neighbour’s

crop in a quad. That’s where the horses come in.”

Most of the work on the farm is done by Rob and Richard, but

their nephews – the sons

of their brother Gary, who

was lost in a farm accident

in 2007 – help out in the

summer and are active in

4-H. The twins’ sister, Deb,

also owns some cattle and

pastureland. Although Ted

passed away in 2012, his

wife Hilda still lives on the

farm and minds a small

flock of chickens as well as

some other duties.

Over the years, the family has participated in a wide variety

of local organizations, including 47 years with the Alsask

Lions Club. At present, Rob says, “We’re putting a big addition

onto the Sibbald Hall. Some people say, ‘There’s nobody here

anymore. Why are we doing this?’” As he sees it, Rob says, “If

you have that kind of attitude, it will dry up.”

The freedom of the farming lifestyle suits Rob and his family.

“You’re your own boss,” he says, adding, “You’re producing

food for others. You care for the animals as best you can. If you

didn’t give a hoot, it would probably show in the results. We’re

stewards of our land and our cattle.”

Sibbald, Alberta

Representing Special Areas No. 3

MUNDT FAMILY

14

It’s good to like what you do, and Dennis Overguard is about

as happy as you can get about the way he’s been able to lead

his life. “I never had anything else that I wanted to do,” he

says. “Truthfully, I’ve never worked a day in my life. I always

found a way to make something fun, or a challenge, or a time

limit or whatever. I wouldn’t do anything else.”

The Overguards have been ranching and farming in the

James River area near Sundre for generations and are the 2015

BMO Farm Family of the Year representing Mountainview

County.

The first Overguards in the

area came up from South Dakota

in 1904 and were the first to

homestead west of the Red

Deer River. Family lore says one

brother, who was a sea captain,

directed them north across

the prairie by using the wagon

tongue and aligning it with the

North Star every night.

Dennis Overguard, with his wife Joanne, is the fourth

generation of the family to farm in the area. “I own the

original homestead,” he says. “It had changed hands a couple

of times, but I bought it back.” All four of their children

are actively involved in the farm and intend to expand the

Overguard Land and Cattle Company’s holdings of both land

and cattle.

At present, the farm portion of the operation has about 800

to 1,000 acres seeded in oats and barley – some of which goes

for feed. “Some of my land in this area is clay,” Dennis says.

“You have to work it a couple of times to get a good crop. On

the black land, on the flats, I use the air seeder and zero till.”

The ranch has about 450 cows, mainly Black Angus and

Black White Face, supported by 2,400 acres of pasture and hay.

Rotational grazing is used to protect the native vegetation and

wildlife.

One of the biggest challenges facing farmers is financing,

Dennis says. “We’re not a business that gets a monthly or

weekly cheque. Usually it’s two or three times a year. That

makes it really hard for cash flow. When I have three or four of

the big tractors running, we’re pushing $1,500 a day, just for

fuel.”

With the James and Red Deer Rivers coming together on the

property, protecting the riparian wetlands is a high priority

for Dennis, who has worked with Mountainview County, the

University of Alberta and Ducks

Unlimited on studies and plans.

“If a person learns to work with

nature, you’re not fighting an

uphill battle all the time,” he

says. Fencing is used to prevent

the cattle from eroding the

riverbanks. “Our ground water

is good and it’s not deep. I try

to use wells and solar pumping

into troughs. When I was on the

Cattle Commission, we did a lot of work with cottonwood trees

down by the river. It made a real difference. I believe that

could be province-wide. The land’s been good to me. That’s

why I do so much with the environment.”

“We like it when groups of kids come out and see how

nature and wildlife and farming and ranching can all go

together,” Dennis says. “We have quite a few oil wells on our

place and I try and show the kids how we cooperate back and

forth for the benefit of everybody.”

As well as their conservation initiatives, the family have

been very busy participating in community events in both

the Sundre and James River areas. From the Sundre District

Chamber of Commerce and Sundre Economic Development

Committee to a variety of civic and professional organizations,

the family has been quite prominent over the years. “I just

think maybe I can help out,” Dennis says. “I wish everyone

could enjoy their life as much as we enjoy ours.”

Representing Mountain View County

Sundre, Alberta

OVERGUARD FAMILY

15

Every family has a story. For the Pepneck family, the 2015

BMO Farm Family of the Year for the MD of Taber, the story

starts with the odyssey of Peter Pepneck, Sr. who was born in

Russia and came to Canada with his widowed mother in 1929.

While they went first to Saskatchewan, when Pepneck’s mother

remarried in 1940, they found themselves in Vauxhall. In 1949,

Peter married Sonja and started farming on what the family call

the home quarter. Today, Peter’s grandson David and his wife

Anna occupy the farmhouse where the first Pepnecks raised

their family.

Over the years, the family

have added eighteen more

quarter-sections as the farm’s

focus adapted to a changing

agricultural industry. In the

early days, all six Pepneck

children – Helga, Peter, Lillian,

Richard, Harvey and Heidi

– were expected to help out

as soon as they were able. “I

was driving a tractor before I

was six,” Richard remembers.

Although farm work was important, so was school. “We were all

encouraged strongly to get a post-secondary education,” says

Richard, who has a degree in physics. All three sons returned to

the farm and continue to operate it today.

Beginning as a mixed farm with cattle, hogs, chickens and a

few sheep as well as a variety of crops, the livestock component

began to dwindle until it disappeared entirely about 2007. That

was the same year that the farm, which had moved through

the usual cycles of irrigation technology, became 100% pivot-

irrigated. Good planning enabled them to install pivots that

were rather larger than the norm, which made adaptation to

the latest low-pressure techniques much easier. Today the farm

boasts five quarter-section fields irrigated solely by gravity

pressure and without a main pump.

Although they have grown a wide variety of crops over the

years - “Irrigation allows for a lot of diversification and we don’t

mind taking on another challenge here or there,” Richard notes

– the farm’s main focus is durum and spring wheat, hemp,

sugar beets and seed canola. The mile of isolation required by

this last crop demands a fair bit of planning, Richard says. “We

have very good relations with most of our neighbours, and it

helps to have one and sometimes two boundaries of river in

some areas.”

The sugar beets, too, require special attention. Pepneck

Farms was among the first Canadian

users of striptill tillage. “It’s just

starting here in Canada in the sugar

beet industry,” Richard explains.

“We deeptill only a strip and put the

fertilizer in. You can’t no-till sugar

beets, they’re a very fragile crop.

Striptill protects the crop from wind

erosion, which is huge problem

because we’re on very sandy land.”

In only their second year of using the

technology, Richard notes, they made

the top grower list for the industry.

Members of the Pepneck family enjoy a tradition of

involvement in their local communities. School, church and

charitable groups have always been supported with enthusiasm,

as have a large number of agricultural commissions and

organizations. “It’s part of social responsibility,” Richard says,

pointing out that Peter, Sr. served on first the hospital board

and then on the school board. “Dad was an example to us. It was

just assumed that we would participate.”

The Pepneck family also has a strong sense of their role as

food producers. “If you’re combining 1,000 bushels an hour,

that equates to 60,000 pounds of wheat and that equates to

about 45,000 loaves of bread,” Richard says.

aThe best thing about farm life, Richard says, is the

independence. “You have the freedom that comes from being

on your own land and being your own boss. Our challenge is to

beat nature, not to beat our neighbour.”

Vauxhall, Alberta

Representing MD of Taber

PEPNECK FAMILY

16

The railroad played a big part in the opening of the West,

but for Glenn Quast’s great-grandfather, it didn’t go quite

far enough. That first Canadian Quast came all the way from

Bessarabia, then part of Russia. After a year in Calgary, he

took a homestead in the Spondin area between Hanna and

Coronation. According to the family story, Glenn says, “The

railroad only went as far as Castor in those days. They came

to Castor and then walked down to find their homestead –

probably 40-some miles.”

That long slog in 1910 paid off, as the Quasts are the 2015

BMO Farm Family of the Year

for Special Areas No. 2 with five

generations having farmed in

the area. The family operates on

’15 or 16 sections’ divided almost

equally between ranching and

farming. Glenn and his brother

Brian are responsible for the

cattle while, Oscar, their father,

focuses on farming.

“Out here, it’s real marginal

land. Some of it should probably

never have been farmed,”

Glenn says. “The stuff that’s

real marginal, we just leave it

alone and run cattle. The land

that will blow, we’ve seeded that

back to alfalfa and crested wheat. The land that’s arable, we

farm.” The main crops are hard red spring wheat, barley,

oats and, for the first time, peas. The Quasts use a mixture

of direct seeding with minimal tillage, chem-fallowing and

conventional tillage. “Some of this land is not really meant for

the zero till. You can get three or four years out of it and then

you have to do a year of conventional tillage. It gets so hard

that it just won’t produce what the good land does,” Glenn

explains.

The Quast cattle are a Charolais-based commercial herd

of about 200 cows pastured on native grass and grazed

rotationally. “If you want that grass to be there, you have

to manage it,” Glenn says. Berry Creek runs through their

property, he notes. “Along that creek grows that lush blue

grass. They say the cattle from this area are superior because

of that sort of grass. It’s really good. A lot of the grass to the

west, once it freezes, it’s done. There’s no nourishment left

in it. If we have the right amount of moisture, we can pasture

this grass until the snow flies.”

The right amount of moisture is, of course, the big question

in the Special Areas. “My uncle always says, ‘You’re only ever

a week away from a drought’,” says

Glenn. “Some days you wonder if you

want to do it another day – then it rains,

and you’re OK.”

The Quasts keep active in their

community with commitments

including the Spondin Agricultural

Society, coaching with Hanna minor

hockey, 4-H and high school rodeo as

well as other school sports. “A lot of the

time there isn’t the time you’d like to

have, but you have to make it work,”

Glenn says. “On the farm, you can work

24 hours a day, seven days a week, but

you have to take some time for yourself

and your family.”

Commodity price fluctuations are one of the biggest

challenges farmers face, Glenn says. “There’s such big swings

in grain prices from year to year. You can’t depend on a

certain price.” The cost of equipment is a big concern, as is the

increase in transportation costs now that the railroad is no

longer available to get products to market. “We’re hauling our

grain 100 miles to an elevator,” Glenn points out.

The Quasts’ goals for the future are to keep the farm

sustainable for the next generation by soil conservation, water

management and preserving native grass in its original state.

Hanna, Alberta

QUAST FAMILYRepresenting Special Areas No. 2

17

Many of the first settlers in Alberta weren’t farmers at all.

Albert Riggs, a carpenter from Toronto, brought his wife and

daughter to the Morrin area about 1910 and worked in the

area before setting up a homestead east of the village. Albert

likely had some help, as his wife Margaret (nee Stauffer) had

two brothers who had preceded them to the area. Morrin

wasn’t even Morrin back then. Its original name was Blooming

Prairie.

Five generations on, the

family still owns the original

homestead, and Riggs

Farms has also acquired the

former Stauffer property

along the riverbank, as well

as other land. For 2015, the

Riggs family are the BMO

Farm Family of the Year

representing Starland County.

The Riggs family have

always had multiple

generations involved in the operation of the farm. At present,

Terry and Lisa – the fourth generation members of the family

– and their spouses Brenda and Troy Wolf, take the leadership

role in the business and have since their father, Vern and his

uncle Lloyd both passed away in the early ‘00s. Shirley, Terry

and Lisa’s mother, Shirley, and Deb, their sister, are still on

the farm, too. The fifth generation, the children of Troy and

Lisa, are beginning to take on more responsibilities.

It was Vern’s intention to re-name the farm ‘Topkick Farms’.

In his honour, the family installed a sign with that name on

it on a big rock at the farm entrance, and Troy and Lisa Wolf

operate under that name, while Terry and Brenda continue

as Riggs Farms Ltd. Deb notes that, although there may be

two names on it, the farm is operated and managed as one

operation.

About 4,000 acres are seeded every year using no-till

technology and GPS guidance for seeding, spraying and

fertilizer. Usual crops are canola, wheat and barley, although

some flax is being grown this year. Summer fallowing was

normal practice for many years, but the family tries to keep

up with current evolutions in agricultural technology and

practices. One advantage, Deb notes, is their land. “Right

around here, our soil is gumbo that retains the moisture.”

Terry’s main focus is the farm,

as he worked with Lloyd and Vern

and has spent his life on the land.

Troy is a heavy duty mechanic,

and his son is following in his

footsteps, so the farm’s machinery

is kept in top operating condition

at all times. Every family member

does their part in the myriad tasks

that keep a farm functioning –

especially when there is a crop to

be harvested.

Something the Riggs family believes in strongly is farm

safety, Deb points out. “Dad believed you stopped and came to

the house for dinner and supper. You took a half-hour to get

refreshed. People that are out there steady without stopping

run a greater risk of something happening. Lack of sleep leads

to accidents.” There is, Deb adds, not much lingering at the

table when the combine’s in the field.

The family has always played their part in the Morrin

community. The Agricultural Society, Community Association,

Fire Department, Lions Club, Seniors Society and a variety of

sporting associations have all received enthusiastic support

and volunteer time from the Riggs family. They are also

involved in the MS Society of Canada. “Mom and Dad were

very involved and they instilled that in us,” Deb says. “Various

members of the family have had something to do with every

organization around Morrin. We try and do whatever we can.”

Morrin, Alberta

RIGGS FAMILYRepresenting Starland County

18

According to Darren Taylor, you won’t drive east out of

Lethbridge very far before you are driving past one of his fields.

DRT Farms Ltd. operates on 2,500 rented acres divided up into

21 fields. Darren and Kimberly Taylor are the BMO Farm Family

of the Year representing Lethbridge County for 2015.

Edward Taylor, Darren’s grandfather, was originally a miner.

When coal prices went down, Edward started farming south of

Foremost and never went underground again. Darren laughs

that his father didn’t have a high regard for Edward’s farming

skills but between Edward and his brother, “They could shovel

a whole railcar of grain by themselves.” Darren’s father Ray

moved from Foremost and began farming a very large tract on

the Blood Reserve. Since he had to

have a lot of equipment to operate

on such a big scale, Ray soon found

himself running a custom harvesting

business that he passed on to Darren

not long after Darren graduated from

Lethbridge College with a degree in

Agricultural Technologies.

By 2010, Darren decided he had to

make a choice as conditions changed

in the harvesting business. I had been

fortunate and had a couple of good

years farming and I was absolutely

not going to erode my equity

subsidizing my harvesting business.” Over half of the Taylor

farm is in winter wheat with the about 300 acres in canola and

400 in barley. “I have a nasty quarter where I can’t grow a good

crop. I never thought I’d be a hay farmer, but I put it in alfalfa.

I get it custom-harvested – which goes against every fibre of my

body,” he jokes.

“There are irrigation farmers and there are farmers who

irrigate,” Darren says. “I fell into the second category for quite

a while. It was a heck of a learning curve going from being a

dryland farmer – no-till, conserve moisture and don’t work

up anything – to tillage. I had to change my farming practices

and boy, did I get some lessons.” A good crop, he says, usually

requires tillage because of the residue, but this year the winter

wheat was direct-seeded into the canola stubble. “I’ve tried to do

a little more research and take a little more time. I like to think

I’m on the cutting edge of technology. We enjoy working with the

research scientists to see how different practices affect the yield

and health of crops.”

Among the projects Darren has been involved with are

variable rate research with Farming Smarter and co-operating a

canola plot for Dow AgroSciences. The farm is also a Agronomy

Demo Super Site for Ducks Unlimited.

When Ray retired, Darren’s other

company – Taylor Harvesting – found

itself in possession of the shop that used

to service the harvesters and a trucking

company as well as a 600,000 bushel

grain storage facility. An agreement has

been reached with a company just getting

into the Canadian grain business to use

the storage facility, and Taylor Harvesting

is also receiving, storing and distributing

fertilizer for Richardson Pioneer. Darren

says that a friend has half-jokingly

suggested that the company motto for

Taylor Harvesting should be ‘We Do It All’.

Darren is quick to point out that the farm is a family business.

Kimberly has a BSc in Agricultural Biotechnology and a BMgt in

Business. Although Ray is formally retired, he and his wife Faye

are always ready to lend a hand at harvest time and to serve as

a sounding board for new ideas. Darren’s nephew has worked

on the farm both as school work experience and during the

summer.

The season nature of agriculture is a big part of its charm,

Darren says. “I like that there’s a finish line in farming. I love the

variety.”

Lethbridge, Alberta

TAYLOR FAMILYRepresenting Lethbridge County

19

They aren’t quite as numerous as they used to be, but the

family of J. R. and Nicki Thompson is still farming the same

land their ancestors did, and still looking to the future. The

Thompsons of Spring Coulee are the Cardston County BMO

Farm Family of the Year for 2015.

It only took one Thompson brother to come to Southern

Alberta in 1902 and see the area’s potential. He sent word back

to Iowa and the rest of his brothers headed north, including J.

R.’s great-grandfather, John. “They owned a whole township in

the Spring Coulee area,” J. R. says. “We’re the only ones left. I

grew up in the same farmyard as Grandma and Grandpa and

now I live in their house. Mom and Dad are still in the house I

grew up in, 400 feet away.”

“I just knew from a very

young age that I wanted to

farm,” J. R. says. His father

was a lawyer, and operated the

farm, too, so J. R. was given

responsibility quite early.

“Right when I graduated, he

said, ‘I ‘m ready to let you take

over’.” J. R. recalls. “I could see

the pressure of Dad’s busy law

practice and him trying to keep the farm going. I started right

out of high school and was able to expand a little and then a

little more. I learned by doing and it seems like I’m learning

something every year.”

Operating as Bar XT farms, the Thompsons seed 4,200 acres

in hard red spring wheat, feed barley and canola in equal

proportions. Minimum tillage is used rather than no-till. “We

just knife in some fertilizer in the fall and a narrow opener

with our seed in the spring,” J. R. says. “We try and keep straw

and trash in place. We’re tried no-till but we found that our

ground down here was always cold in the springtime. If we

just open it up a little bit in the fall, it helps to warm the land

up. We’re close to the mountains and 3,700 feet up.”

Bar XT also has enough pasture for about 75 cow-calf pairs.

The Thompsons ran a small herd until about 3 years ago. “I

sold them to my father-in-law,” J. R. says. “He’s a big cowboy.

I just focus on grain right now until my boys get a little older.”

J. R. and Nicki’s five children are all interested in the farming,

he says. “They love to get out and help. Now they’re starting to

drive trucks and tractors.”

A house full of school-age children usually makes for lots

of school and community involvement and the Thompsons

are no exception. Nicki volunteers with the school and

sports teams while J. R. is on the board of the Spring Coulee

seed cleaning plant and the Magrath Co-op. Central to

the family’s commitment

to the community is their

involvement with their

church, J. R. states. “When

you get to know people

and work with them and

serve with them, you grow

a special bond,” he says.

The Thompsons have been

very involved in previous

generations, too, with J. R.’s

grandfather serving two terms

as an M.L.A.

Although the equipment and technology deployed

in modern farming is a big change from the past, the

fundamentals are the same, J. R. says. “It’s growing a plant in

the dirt and relying on moisture and sunshine.” Bar XT also

has about 40 laying hens and J. R. thinks he might increase

that part of the operation at some point in the future.

The cycle and rhythm of farming is what J. R. finds most

appealing, he says. “I love the seasons – even in winter when

you’re out hauling grain in the fresh snow. In spring you’ve

got the fresh grass. In the summer you’ve got the heads of the

wheat and barley and the canola flowers waving, and in the

fall – that beautiful stubble field. I love it all.”

Spring Coulee, Alberta

THOMPSON FAMILYRepresenting County of Cardston

20

It might take a village to raise a child but, according to Will

Van Roessel, it takes a community to raise hybrid canola seed.

Van Roessel and his wife Jean own Specialty Seeds Ltd. in Bow

Island and they are the 2015 BMO Farm Family of the Year for

the County of 40 Mile.

Van Roessel grew up in the Bow Island community on a family

farm. His family came from Holland in 1956 and worked in the

area until they could purchase land of their own in 1960. Twenty

years later, having just graduated from the University of Alberta

with a degree in Agriculture, Will rented a quarter-section from

a neighbour and put a used

pivot on it. In his second year

on his own, he decided to try

the seed business. “Staring

out with a small amount of

land, I was looking for ways to

increase the yield per acre. At

that time there was a demand

for a certain type of wheat in

our area,” he remembers. “It

was soft white spring wheat.

We grew it for years.”

“You have to start with a higher generation of seed. I bought

some registered seed from another seed grower that I grew to

produce certified seeds. Certified is the level most commercial

farmers buy.” In 1993, Will married Jean – also a U of A

Agriculture graduate. “Until that time, I was only growing about

one field of seed per year. In 1995, we geared all of our acres

to seed production,” recalls Will. In 1999, the couple started

Specialty Seeds Ltd.

The Van Roessels usually have between 1,500 and 1,800 acres

in production. “It varies a bit from year to year,” Will says. “We

trade some land with neighbours and rent some land.” The

reason for the changes is that the farm’s main product

these days is hybrid seed canola along with some hemp that is

grown under contract to seed companies. Wheat, durum and

yellow peas are also grown for Specialty Seeds Ltd.’s own retail

customers.

All the fields intended for hybrid canola one year are

inspected the previous year. The mile of isolation from other

canola that is required can make things pretty complicated.

“A lot of planning goes into the rotation,” Will says. “We try

to maximise the hybrid canola acres and then all the other

acres we fit in whatever else will grow. We grow as much as we

can working ourselves with my brother and the neighbours.”

Sometimes, he adds, the neighbours are part of the planning

process to put crops being grown for the same company nearby.

Some of the land is direct-

seeded and tillage is reduced

as much as possible. The Van

Roessels have also experimented

with variable rate irrigation. We’ve

made great strides in conserving

water for irrigation and also in

water placement – reducing the

runoff and losses from drowning

out in low spots,” claims Will.

Both Will and Jean work with

Bow Island community organizations like the Chamber of

Commerce and the Figure Skating Club as well as a variety of

growers’ associations. For six years, they have hosted a customer

appreciation dinner to showcase the farm and its products.

While Will enjoys the business aspect of what he does, the

best thing about farming is quite simple, he says. “I just like

being out in the field, planting a crop and watching it grow and

then harvesting a good crop.”

“You have to work together with your neighbours, with

the seed companies, leafcutter bee operators and honey bee

operators to make the whole thing work. I have a neighbour

who likes to grow edible beans, so we often trade. I grow hybrid

canola on one of his fields and he grows a circle of beans in my

field and we both feel like we came out ahead.”

Bow Island, Alberta

VAN ROESSEL FAMILYRepresenting 40 Mile County

21

Southern Alberta has lots of ranching families, and plenty of

farmers, but not many have much experience raising turkeys.

Since 1960, the Walker family of Nightingale have been in the

turkey business and they still are today, along with a wide variety

of other crops and animals. For 2015, the Walkers are the BMO

Farm Family of the Year for Wheatland County.

The Walkers have been in the Nightingale area, about 20 miles

northeast of Strathmore, since 1913. In 1960, Ernest Walker

purchased a farm just south of

the family’s original place that

is the core of today’s Walker

Farms operation. Originally it

was just turkeys and grain. As

the years went on, Ernest and

Joyce’s son Dale and his wife

Michelle have expanded the

farm both in acreage and in

what it produces. The family’s

eldest daughter, Brittany, is

a graduate of Olds College and is now fulltime on the farm. Dale

says she is a big help with her knowledge of upt-to-date farming

techniques. The other two Walker children are just finishing their

schooling, Breanne is taking a nursing degree and Braden will be

a heavy-duty mechanic and hopes to set up his own shop on the

farm. Each of the three has their own cattle herd.

About 1,000 acres of cropland is seeded in hard red spring

wheat, barley and canola. Peas are also sometimes part of the

rotation. Peas are a fairly new addition, Dale says, and the family

is still learning the finer points of growing them. Another 750

acres is in hay and there are 850 acres of pastureland with 380

Angus-cross cows. Another part of the farm’s activities is the flock

of sheep – about 100 Suffolk-Dorset cross ewes. There are about

300 turkeys, several hundred broiler chickens and 90 laying hens.

The cattle are put on pasture in the spring and, after harvest,

they go onto the cropland. “That’s where they get fed for the

winter. They calve in the cropland and then go out to pasture,”

explains Michelle. How the land is prepared for seeding depends

on how dry conditions are, Dale continues. “Lots of times we do

a harrowing and then direct seed. If it’s dry, you have to work a

couple of inches just to work in the manure and organic matter

and then it’ll be loosened up enough to seed.

The sheep sometimes graze on a small parcel of land but mainly

are fed year-round. Grazing sheep require close attention, Dale

notes. “You have to watch them or they’ll turn it into gravel.”

A growing market for lamb has made sheep an increasingly-

profitable sideline, he says.

The turkeys are most in

demand at Christmas with

many purchased by local

companies to give out as gifts.

Some are donated to local

charities for draws. The broiler

chicken operation seemed to

be a logical development of the

turkey business and is growing

nicely. “There’s lots of interest.

People like fresh chickens,” Dale says. “They’re not hard to sell.”

The Nightingale community hall has enjoyed long support

from the Walkers, as have a long list of community and church

charitable activities. Her volunteer work won Joyce a Queen’s

Jubilee Medal in 2003. Ernest was a founding member of the

Rosebud Gas Co-op and Dale succeeded to his place on the

board in 2014. Michelle has been very involved with local school

programs.

Looking into the future, plans include expanding the land base

and cattle herd. Growth in direct-to-consumer marketing will

achieve another goal - seeing their products go straight to the

consumer. Key to that vision, Dale says, is having the family all

working together.

Representing Wheatland County

Nightingale, Alberta

WALKER FAMILY