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An Illustrated History of Feeding in

An Illustrated History of in Alberta

From Start To Finish An Illustrated History of Cattle Feeding in Alberta By Kris Nielson and John Prociuk

Published by: Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association , Alberta, Copyright © 1998 From Start To Finish An Illustrated History of Cattle Feeding in Alberta By Kris Nielson and John Prociuk

Published by: Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association Calgary, Alberta, Canada Copyright © 1998

Graphic Design and Production: Kris Nielson

National Library of Canada Cataloguing-in-Publication Data F Cover Photo Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association W.C. near . Photo Courtesy of Laura Leyshon-Thuresson From Start To Finish An Illustrated History of Cattle Feeding in Alberta F Preceding page The A7 Ranche near Nanton. By Kris Nielson and John Prociuk / NA-857-1 Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-9683271-0-9 E Following page W.C. Ranch near Pincher Creek. 1. Cattle Feeding - Alberta - History. 2. Cattle - Alberta - History. Photo Courtesy of Laura Leyshon-Thuresson 3. Ranching - Alberta - History. 4. - Alberta - History. Table of Contents

Chapter one The Golden Era of Large Ranching 8

The Early Years of the in Canada Significant of the Golden Era Life on the Ranch in the Early Years Hardships, Challenges and Lessons Learned The End of the Early Ranching Era New Developments in Feeding and the Beef Business Looking to a Future of More Efficient Feeding

Chapter two The Years of Challenge and Change 82

The Changing West in the First Half of the Twentieth Century Progress on a Number of Fronts Depression and Diversification Life and Times in the Cattle Business Cattle Feeding in the Years of Challenge and Change

Chapter three The Years of Progress and Specialization 138

The Growth of the Feeding Industry in the Modern Era The Maturation of the Industry: The Contribution of Science The Evolution of the Industry: Business and Commercial Aspects Specialization in the Industry: Ranchers and Feeders Working Together The Birth of the Custom Feedlot Today’s Cattle Feeder and the Modern Feedlot The Role of Organizations What the Future Holds 6 Foreword

Alberta’s history, it seems, is irrevocably woven into that of the cattle industry. The early activities provided the first basis for the Province’s economy, and over the years ranchers from the southern to the central park belt and on to the area utilized the abundant grasses and forages to produce the cattle which became the world-renowned Alberta beef. Probably because of its romanticism, the early era of the open range, with its round-ups and traditional lifestyles, has been used to define the essence of the cattle industry. Somehow, the unending, rippling grasslands seem to place cattle in a more appropriate setting than a farmyard or even an enclosed . This mystique of the open range which suggests that cattle are best suited to year round range downplays and even ignores the overriding importance of a crucial and vibrant component of the industry. More than anything else, the development of a sophisticated feeding industry has enabled Alberta cattle to keep pace in the race to satisfy an increasingly discriminating global market. The lesson that cattle needed supplemental feeding was learned the hard way in the late 1880s. The belief that grain finished cattle gave a market advantage led Alberta ranchers to probe the tariff-free mid-West market with their feeders and stockers between 1914 and 1920. The final realization that Alberta could and should finish her own cattle on a large-scale basis was much later in coming, and in part owed its growth in the late 1920s to informal agreements between ranchers and . Subsequent efforts by feeder associations in the 1930s simply evinced the growing knowledge that the economics of cattle raising and grain growing were inextricably entwined. The modern custom feedlot of the post World War Two era was the logical result. The cattle feeding industry in Alberta has evolved through an integration of agriculture and ranching. It is also both technologically refined and sensitive to market and consumer variables. The following discussion places this development into meaningful historic context. Supplemented by informative visuals, the narrative makes a worthwhile and much-needed contribution to the historiography of Alberta agriculture.

- Max Foran

7 chapter one THE GOLDEN ERA OF LARGE RANCHING

The Early Years of the Free Range in

The roots of the cattle industry in the century Ohio cattlemen fattened G Alberta extend back to the sixteenth their small herds on grass and corn for A sketch of cattle ranching in century when Spanish explorers the Chicago and New York markets. Alberta as found in “The Western World Illustrated”. (c. 1892) introduced cattle and to the The industry continued to Glenbow Museum / NA-727-2 . Cattle raising became an expand after the important part of Mexican life, but it because of the and was in that the true cradle of the increasing population. Great trail drives cattle kingdom developed. By 1850 beginning in Texas and covering ranchers in the Lone Star State hundreds of miles are part of F discovered a demand for feeder cattle American legend. Ranges in Colorado, The A7 Ranche near Nanton. Glenbow Museum / NA-857-1 as far away as Illinois. Soon cattle , and North Dakota drives could be seen winding their way were opened to the cattle rancher in to northern markets. Smaller-scale cattle the 1870s, offering an abundance of owners in Carolina, Massachusetts and free grass that could be claimed with Pennsylvania had been feeding relative ease. Overseas markets would livestock decades earlier, sending their soon develop to help the industry even finished product to eastern markets. In more, and technological advances made F Preceding page Cattle grazing on the Highwood the 1840s cattle were fed corn on the it possible to ship over long Range. (c. 1900) Illinois , and by the middle of distances. In the span of a few years, Glenbow Museum / ND-8-107

11 CHAPTER ONE the Canadian West would become yet livestock business. Cattle were another for the expanding introduced into ’s cattle business. Nicola and Thompson regions Cattle raising and feeding east of during the gold rush of the 1850s. This the foothills of western Canada owes its was followed by the appearance of origin primarily to a geography and cattle on the of that combined to provide and southeastern . Of all Texas Longhorns at Union adequate grazing for these areas, the foothill country of Stockyards in Chicago. During the livestock. Some areas in the British southern Alberta was a natural late 1800s, the largest cattle Columbia interior and southwestern heartland for the early ranching markets in were Saskatchewan also featured appropriate frontier. Nature had provided sheltered found in the eastern portion of the conditions. When these regions began and well-watered valleys, and welcome United States. (c. 1896) Glenbow Museum / NA-1741-1 to populate, investors immediately saw chinook winds tempered the effects of H an opportunity for success in the winter and exposed grass for grazing.

12 By the 1880s the Dominion G government was encouraging Cowboys preparing to drive cattle FORT r to southern Alberta from the entrepreneurs like Montreal’s Matthew e iv CALGARY w R Okanagan Valley in British o Cochrane to put money and cattle into lb E r e Columbia. (c. 1882) v i B the Canadian North West. John A. R o Vernon Museum and Archives / 5021 w wo o R h d MacDonald’s government was eager to g i iv H er carry out its National Policy by COCHRANE RANCHE Will developing the West, and feared ow F NORTH-WEST American expansionism into the C Cattle company leases as of 1884. r CATTLE CO. O e FORT l e region. This led to the amending of the dm k a MACLEOD

OXLEY n “..For the purposes of the stock- R

Dominion Land Policy to allow large- RANCHE i raisers it suffices to know that for v e scale land leasing in western Canada. WALROND r a great part of the winter, much of er r RANCHE iv e R v

r i With the government promoting cattle n e the surface is free from , and o R t iv NATIVE r R y e r

t trade with Britain, that initiative was a that it seldom or never attains a

RESERVE a y l M l W e . t depth sufficient to prevent enough to lure businessmen from B S CANADA from feeding....in less and Great Britain to UNITED STATES invest in the new frontier. The early than ten years all will be changed, and the and hills...will be old-world British influence on the covered with cattle and dotted a small farming settlement in British industry would become recognizable by with ranches.” the frequent spelling of the word ranch North America along the Red River in with an “e” at the end, as in the what is southern Manitoba today. The -G.M. Dawson, Dominion Land Surveyor in the Montreal Gazette, Cochrane Ranche. little colony of a few hundred people November 17, 1881 However important the large was appropriately called the Red River businessmen-ranchers of the 1880s Settlement. They purchased a yearling were in expanding and promoting the and heifer from the Hudson’s Bay livestock industry, the very first cattle Company and optimistically named to make their appearance in the West them Adam and Eve. This settlement actually predated them by many years. represented the first independent In 1812 Lord Alexander Selkirk funded agricultural community in the West.

13 CHAPTER ONE

G Cattle were introduced gradually throughout the winter, trusting in the Missionary John McDougall is into the southern Alberta area from the rich and nutritious supply of grasses. credited as the first person to early 1860s to 1882. This time period The following spring he collected his attempt to raise cattle in Alberta was called the “free grass” years cattle without any loss. at this Methodist Mission on the because the newly-formed Canadian The sight of all the grass along River near Morley in 1873. government was yet to impose strict Highwood and Bow Rivers, with only a A year later Kenneth McKenzie legislation regarding settlement. few buffalo foraging, stimulated drove approximately 500 head of Methodist missionary John McDougall Montana trail riders like Tom Lynch cattle from Montana and wintered and his trader brother David brought and George Emerson to move in more them in the same vicinity. Glenbow Museum / NA-1406-182 the first breeding herd south from Fort cattle. Together they drove a thousand to their mission near head (the biggest to cross the Morleyville on the in 1873. A international boundary at the time), year later Kenneth McKenzie drove a north to the Highwood river in 1879. larger herd to the same mission centre Some members of the North West from Montana. Also in 1874, the North Mounted Police, like Captain John West Mounted Police brought a Stewart, who finished their three-year moderately large herd of cattle to their service requirement also concluded headquarters in . An that the cattle business could be increasing number of people were profitable and ventured into ranching. getting into the cattle business and By the end of the 1870s a small cattle larger herds from Montana would soon industry had been established in the be on their way. The first true “range” foothills region along the Bow River and herd of twenty-one cows and one around Fort Macleod. These included was let loose by Fred Kanouse near Fort two government-run operations that Macleod in 1877. Kanouse simply were established to serve the needs of allowed his cattle to feed on their own the police and native Indians.

14 G cattle along the South . (n.d.) Photo Courtesy of Grant MacEwan

F Cattle crossing the Milk River near . With well-watered valleys and welcome chinook winds, southern Alberta earned an undisputed reputation as prime cattle country. (n.d.) Medicine Hat Museum & Art Gallery Archives / PC 88.2

15 CHAPTER ONE Though they would be agricultural potential. He concluded overshadowed by the bigger ranches that the was good for grain, and the and business tycoons that followed, land so admirable for these small stockmen and early farmers pasturing that many farmers would played an important role in paving the never think of having to cultivate , way for their more famous successors. seeing that cattle fed and fattened to By admirably managing even a small their heart’s delight on the boundless number of cattle in the early years, natural grass. He provided the example they demonstrated the suitability of the of Fish Creek John Glenn, plains for the feeding and raising of whose steers grazed all winter, and cattle on a year-round basis. proved to be the fattest animals he Cattle grazing on the Cochrane To no one’s surprise, businessmen ever had, despite not having eaten a Ranche lease. As the spokesman in Britain and eastern Canada with mouthful of cured hay. The Governor- for a number of potential investors, Senator Matthew available money soon jumped at the General judged it to be good insurance Cochrane worked with the potential for larger and more lucrative to have hay stored in the valleys as a MacDonald government to amend cattle operations. Their interest was feeding strategy, but he extended the Dominion Land Policy, allowing buoyed by the success of farmers and himself in his eagerness to convey the large-scale leasing in western glowing reports of the land’s potential richness of the natural resources in Canada. The flood plain of the Bow delivered by resident North West Alberta by saying that the thickness River west of was an Mounted Police officials. Perhaps the of dung on choice feeding ideal grazing location and the Big most compelling voice was that of the grounds reminded him of a lush Hill Creek coulee provided shelter Marquis of Lorne, Governor-General of English -yard! from the winter storms. (c. 1882) Glenbow Museum / NA-239-5 Canada, who made an official tour of Supported by that ringing H the West in 1881 to evaluate its endorsement, the government quickly

16 FROM START TO FINISH

F Cover of a how-to booklet on farming and ranching in western Canada. Glenbow Museum / NA-3684-3

As the trans-Canada railway approached Calgary, many individuals began cattle ranching to take advantage of favourable economics and political policies. The railway not only provided access to large cattle markets and industrial centres, but the C.P.R. was also a key political force in the overall development of the west. Medicine Hat Museum & Art Gallery Archives / PC 169.4 H prepared the political groundwork necessary for investment. An 1881 order-in-council was passed allowing one individual or ranch company to lease up to 100,000 acres for the rent of one cent, per acre, per year for up to twenty-one years. A leaseholder would also be permitted to import cattle from the United States duty-free. This updated Dominion Land Policy set the wheels in motion for the golden age of large ranching, where major Canadian and British companies would dominate the industry. A number of the owners who threw their hats into the ring had never managed cattle before, and obviously not in western Canada. Certainly many of these owners and their managers loved the cattle business, but they were equally motivated by dollar signs. Ranching was explicitly advertised as a method to “get rich quick”, evidenced in the publication of a James Brisbin’s 1881 book entitled Beef or How to Get Rich on the Plains. The arithmetic of profit was clear: a good calf worth five dollars at birth could be worth up to sixty dollars after three or four years

17 CHAPTER ONE of feeding on free grass. So once the associated with leases. Associations like leasing policy was passed, and the the South-West Stock Association were trans-Canada railway approached eventually formed to protect the Calgary in the early 1880s, interests of farmers, but these entrepreneurs were lured by the “beef associations usually favoured the large- bonanza” in the West and major cattle scale ranchers. By 1886 the large companies were quickly formed. Leases cattlemen had assumed the status of a granted in 1882 covered some four regional elite, bolstered by common million acres, and by 1884 ten vocational interests, social background companies established a hold over the and political connections. Next to the grazing land of the chinook belt. Not , the “cattle one of these outfits were American, compact” held more political power even though Montana interest and than any other force in the West. influence remained through supply The effect of these first cattle contracts and the import of cattle. owners on the development of the Because investors in the larger province of Alberta, especially its ranching ventures were political and southern half and the city of Calgary, economic heavyweights from eastern was profound. They provided both the Canada and Great Britain, the Canadian market and investment capital upon range was never in the hands of wild which the region’s growth depended. and woolly American Westerners. Calgary gradually became the These educated, well-heeled owners administrative headquarters of the preferred tailored waistcoats to six- cattle industry and ranchers had shooters and , and their homes tremendous influence over political and lifestyle on the newly settled land decision making. The exclusive had a decidedly Victorian look and feel. Ranchmen’s Club, established in 1891, As large ranches were established in survives as a visible reminder of their the West, some of the smaller free grass influence. The charter membership stockmen of the pre-1881 period included some of the most influential Shipping cattle out of the Calgary disappeared, others were absorbed by businessmen in the area and reads like stockyards. (c. 1890s). Glenbow Museum / NA-2407-5 the big ranchers, and still others moved a “who’s who” of the region’s early H further north to avoid problems social, economic and political elite.

18 FROM START TO FINISH

F The Ranchmen’s Club in Calgary was originally located above a restaurant on Stephan Avenue. It briefly found a home in a railway boxcar and on McIntyre Avenue before finding a home on 6th Street S.W. The founders of the club included some of the most prominent ranchers and businessmen in the area. (c. 1914) Glenbow Museum / NA-1469-6

As Calgary continued to grow, it became a major centre of economic activity. Noted for its sandstone architecture and cattle ranching, this view of Stephan Avenue typifies “Cow Town”. (c. 1889 ) Glenbow Museum / NA-2864-13233 H

19

Significant Ranches of the Golden Era

The first of the large cattle a central role in influencing the G organizations to be established was the MacDonald government to make the The British American Ranche Cochrane Ranche. Three other large necessary lease regulations to open up headquarters. William Kerfoot, companies quickly followed: the North- the West. Before the Dominion Land manager of the operation, West Cattle Company, the Walrond Policy was even in place, he had is on the right. (c. 1885) Glenbow Museum / NA-239-1 Ranche Company, and Oxley Ranche selected a 100,000 acre lease along the Company. At their height of influence Bow River west of Calgary. The first big in 1884, these four had control of Cochrane Ranche herd was purchased roughly half the leased stock country of in Montana and, on orders from south-western Alberta. The severe Cochrane, three thousand cattle were winter of 1886-87 ended the cattle hurriedly driven to their new home in boom and caused big ranchers to make 1881. Thirty cowboys and 300 horses, decisions more cautiously, these early working from dawn to dark, moved years were truly golden ones for many cattle from fifteen to eighteen miles a ranchers The number of stock on the day. This pace did not allow for Canadian range grew from 15,000 to adequate rest and feeding, which took 110,500 between 1881 and 1889. The place strictly by grazing. A hungry, romantic element associated with this thin, and fatigued group of cattle finally time period has much to do with the arrived at the ranch headquarters, relatively carefree manner in which many having died en route. A year later F 3100 head of cattle and 2600 cattle were managed and fed. another herd of about five thousand sheep from the Murray Ranch The first of the cattle barons of was added. By the spring of 1883 the crossing the South Saskatchewan western Canada was Senator Matthew Senator became disillusioned with the River near Ronalene, Alberta. Cochrane of Quebec. Cochrane played severe weather of the region near the Medicine Hat Museum & Art Gallery Archives / PC 88.26

21 CHAPTER ONE

G present-day town of Cochrane, and took Winter shelter for cattle on the a new lease further south, between the Upper Cochrane Ranche in Waterton and Belly Rivers. He renamed southern Alberta. (c. 1892) the first lease the British American Glenbow Museum / NA-4461-14 Ranche Company, turned it into a sheep ranch, and hired William Kerfoot

EE and A.E. Cross to provide leadership. The last big general cattle round- A series of economic problems in the up shown here at Cochrane Lake sheep market led to the company on the old Cochrane Ranche lease. selling off stock and transferring land (c. 1908) Glenbow Museum / NA-381-1 holdings to other ranchers. Down south, the new Cochrane Ranche prospered under the direction of the senator’s son William. Their hope E As the resident manager of the for milder weather never materialized. Cochrane Ranche, Major James Though the winter of 1886-87 was Walker made this estimate of severe and cattle losses high, the livestock as of April 1st, 1882. operation survived and grew. Inclement Walker resigned after the weather actually served the good devastating winter of 1882-83. purpose of convincing Cochrane that Glenbow Museum / NA-1743-3 hay needed to be stored for winter feed and by the early 1890s corrals, wind shelters and feeding areas could be seen on the ranch. The Cochrane spread eventually boasted 13,000 cattle and continued to profit until the Senator’s As impressive as the Cochrane death in 1903. It was sold to the operation was, the North-West Cattle Mormon Church in 1906. Thus the life Company exceeded the Cochrane of the biggest southern Alberta ranches Ranche in life span and fame. Fred ended, but at its height Cochrane’s Stimson, a successful farmer and empire totalled over 330,000 acres. from Quebec, registered the

22 FROM START TO FINISH

24 October, 1882 30 October, 1882 “...got through with 132 head. Squeezing gate and “Finished new squeezer and commenced outside gate worked very badly.” branding at 11 AM. Branded 443 head.” - Frank White’s Diary - Frank White’s Diary Glenbow Museum / NA-2951-1 Glenbow Museum / NA-2951-2

23 G Bar U brand in the autumn of 1881, paced them to ensure adequate feeding George Lane’s Bar U Ranch about the same time the first Cochrane and rest. The day’s routine allowed for headquarters southwest of herd was arriving in southern Alberta. two hours of leisure grazing in the present day Longview, Alberta. Glenbow Museum / ND-8-61 Stimson acquired the financial backing morning, a drive until noon, two or of Montreal businessman and three more hours for grazing, and then steamship line owner Sir Hugh Allan, a few more hours of travel before and in the spring of 1882 rode to Idaho camping for the night. It took longer to with cattleman Tom Lynch. There he arrive at the ranch, but the cattle kept bought his first herd of three thousand their health and weight. cattle and together the two men led the The Bar U was perhaps the best drive up to ranch headquarters located managed of the great early cattle along the Highwood River. ranches. The operation survived tough The Stimson and Lynch drive was , prospered, and eventually much different than the hurried one became nationally and internationally undertaken by the Cochrane outfit the known. In 1886 alone it declared a previous year. Lynch knew the country profit of over $133,000. Many excellent well, and carefully led the cattle ranchers and stockmen rode for the through adequate grazing and watering Bar U including John Ware, Herb Millar, areas. Helped by the great cowboy John and George Lane. In addition to being a Ware, the Bar U crew divided the cattle good manager, owner Fred Stimson was into three units of a thousand each, and a bombastic individual and colourful

24 G Cattle grazing on the Bar U range. The best managed of the great early cattle ranches, the Bar U eventually gained international recognition. Glenbow Museum / ND-8-66

F Layout of the Bar U Ranch. Pekisko Creek, Alberta. Glenbow Museum / NA-789-87

25 “At Pekisko, the headquarters of the Bar U, the wanting to awaken the household, made his exit buildings are arranged on both sides of the through his half story window. Dressed in running roadway like the street of a small village. At the shorts, he dropped to the ground to find himself in west end, on the bend of the little river, where tall the presence of Miss Lane who was picking flowers cottonwoods grow here and there, stood the main to decorate the breakfast table. We heard that this dwelling house, built in Stimson’s time for his informal encounter served to break the ice and residence and used by the Lanes as such when remove whatever tension was felt between the there. The Lanes lived chiefly at their Willow Creek family and their Royal guest. Unfortunately, since ranch, the Flying E, and they had a house in this visit which made it famous, the little house Calgary. On his first trip to Alberta our present has burned down.” King [Edward], then Prince of Wales, came to this - Frederick William Ings modest house as guest. A story is told of how, on G the morning of his visit, His Royal Highness Looking west at the Bar U Ranch headquarters. The main dwelling house is at wanting badly to explore about by himself and not the end by the cottonwood trees. (c. 1890) City of Archives / P19770261001

E Cattle grazing on the Bar U Ranch near . (c. 1930) Glenbow Museum / NA-67-6

26 FROM START TO FINISH storyteller. He left Alberta in 1902 after headquarters just north-west of present- the last of the Allan brothers died. The day . North-West Cattle Company was With Craig serving as manager, the eventually sold to a firm established by first purchased stock arrived from George Lane. When Lane died in 1925, Montana in the summer of 1883. ownership of the ranch was purchased During that first , Craig by Pat Burns. noted how important it was to let cattle Probably more than any of the drift in order to find adequate feeding, other “big four” ranches, the Bar U had even as they moved. He concluded that a distinctly British look and feel. It ten to twelve miles of travel a day could featured massive and sumptuous be accomplished with little exertion houses, hosted formal occasions and and virtually no loss to animal flesh or had many English “gentlemen” numbers. When it was time to stop for participating in various sports such as the night, a very effective strategy of polo. One highlight was a 1919 was a herd control involved a simple feeding visit from Edward, Prince of Wales, who technique. The cattle at the front were would later become King of England. led to a particularly lush area of grass The Oxley Ranche Company was where they would come to a complete started in 1882 by John Craig, an stop to indulge on nature’s provisions. Ontario farmer and Shorthorn breeder. When the rest of the animals arrived Craig secured the interest and and caught sight of the banquet it investment of Alexander Staveley Hill, would take little effort on the part of a British Member of Parliament (and cowboys to control the entire herd and close friend of John A. MacDonald) and settle them down for the night. the Earl of Lathom, a prominent Although the Oxley Ranche English cattle breeder. These two Company was well located and became major shareholders of the moderately successful, it was beset by ranch which was named after Hill’s internal conflict. Craig had difficulty summer home. It was established on getting funds from his directors, and two separate locations along Willow Hill and Lathom questioned Craig’s Creek north of Fort Macleod, with managerial skills and decisions

F The Oxley Ranch riders and round- up crew by the cut banks of the near Fort Macleod. (c. 1898) Glenbow Museum / NA-620-1

27 CHAPTER ONE

E Oxley Ranch house. (n.d.) Glenbow Museum / NA-3535-216

Men of the Oxley camp during a general round-up of southern Alberta on June 13, 1901. Glenbow Museum / NA-365-3 H

28 FROM START TO FINISH

regarding stock acquisition. The The original Walrond Ranche land G troubles and tensions hit the lay along the North Fork of the Oldman out cattle on the Willow newspapers and Craig eventually River on the west side of the Porcupine Creek range near Claresholm. resigned from his leadership position in Hills, extending southward along the (c. 1898) Glenbow Museum / NA-365-1 1885. In 1903 he wrote a book entitled river. The first herd of three thousand Ranching With Lords and Commons, Montana cattle was purchased in 1883 articulating the tribulations of and the operation was running the managing a ranch for British following year. Land was gradually aristocracy. Hill’s nephew Stanley added, purebred animals imported, and Pinhorne succeeded Craig as manager a lucrative export business to Britain and in 1886 the operation was developed. Sir John Walrond’s death in reorganized under the new name of the 1889 and a company reorganization in New Oxley (Canada) Ranche Company. 1897 did not adversely affect the It was eventually sold to William Roper business. The disastrous winter of 1906- Hull in 1903. 07 resulted in serious losses, however, The fourth large early ranch in and the herd was eventually sold to Pat southern Alberta was established in Burns in 1908. In its heyday, much of 1883. Officially named the Walrond, Britain’s finest blue blood and locals called it the “Waldron” for ease of accompanying social prestige was pronunciation. The driving force and part of the Walrond’s fraternity. first general manager of the Walrond So significant was the dominance of Ranche organization was a Dominion these four large early ranches on Veterinary surgeon named Duncan Alberta’s fledgling cattle business that McEachran, an original shareholder in by 1884 they controlled roughly one- the Cochrane Ranche. The Walrond was third of the leased ranchland in Alberta. named after principal stockholder Sir The strong eastern Canadian and John Walrond, a British Conservative. British influence also made the western

29 variety of owners and each displayed a unique character. By so doing they reflected some of the early specialization that was a precursor to the later market trend of serving specific consumer needs. Some lasted longer than others, but they stood or fell on the basis of whether they could adequately meet enduring needs while surviving the weather and the challenges of cattle management. The Quorn Ranch was started in 1886 by Englishman C.W. Martin, who interested a group of well-to-do sportsmen in Leicestershire, England in establishing a ranch in the Foothills region between the Sheep and Tongue Creeks. The primary purpose was to G Canadian ranching frontier distinct raise horses for the English Haying on the Walrond Ranche from that of the American north-west. market. Martin would often entertain after a bad winter. (c. 1893) By the mid-1880s practically all the investors at the ranch and it was not Glenbow Museum / NA-237-14 foothills region south of Cochrane had uncommon to see a western version G G The Upper Walrond Ranche and the been assigned in some way, with many of the popular British fox hunt take Rocky . (c. 1893) ranches holding leases from the place with coyotes serving as the prey. Glenbow Museum / NA-237-11 mountains eastward. They featured a Eventually, the ranch became known

30 FROM START TO FINISH

for its stallions and Polled Angus cattle. The lucrative English market for highly bred horses was never realized however, and financial constraints reduced the ranch’s fine stallions to working farm animals. The ranch declined until its closure in 1906. The Winder Ranche Company began as a 50,000 acre operation in 1883, started by William Winder, former North-West Mounted Police superintendent and brother-in-law to Fred Stimson of the Bar U. It was later run by longtime Alberta cattleman Fred Ings. American influence was felt in the establishment of the McIntyre Ranch in southern Alberta, named after the Texas family who started it. Railway men were behind the establishment of the Glengarry Ranch in 1885. It was nestled in the Porcupine Hills and so impressed with the ranching G owned by railway contractors William community that he bought the EP, Barn on the E.P. Ranch near the MacKenzie and Donald Mann, who extended its size, and began a purebred Pekisko Creek. (c. 1920) worked closely in later years with Pat and sheep business. The Prince Glenbow Museum / ND-8-42 Burns to diversify the cattle business made a number of visits to his ranch and begin some of the early intensified over the years and his status as owner G G cattle feeding. made the EP world renowned. Round-up on the McIntyre Ranch The EP Ranch was homesteaded in Another famous cattleman of the in southern Alberta. 1886 by Mrs. A.K. Bedingfeld, an first half of the twentieth century was Glenbow Museum / NA-4510-840 English widow, and her son Frank. It Joseph Harrison “7 U” Brown. He began was 1600 acres in size and situated near as a horseman for the Bar U, and later Pekisko Creek. After Edward, Prince of purchased 50 heifers in 1886 and went Wales, visited the Bar U in 1919 he was into partnership with Frank Bedingfeld.

31 Two other prominent ranches had somewhat unique ownership schemes. The Military Colonization Ranch, started by Major-General Thomas Strange in 1883 on the north side of the Bow River, raised horses for the British army and served as a haven for retired officers. It was eventually absorbed into the Canadian Agricultural and Colonization Company. This CPR- initiated colonization scheme tested land suitability for farming across the prairies. Dry conditions ended the plan in two years, but farmer John Lister- Kaye from Qu’Appelle Valley took over the operation, establishing ten from Swift Current to near Calgary on what became known as the 76 Ranch. It was successful until the terrible winter of 1906-07. Many other ranches gained prominence further eastward at the turn of the century. The Circle Ranch was concentrated in the Medicine Hat area and owned by the Conrad brothers of Montana. Texas rancher A.J. “Tony” G Taking leases beside the Highwood Day brought his 25,000 cattle and 600 John Lister Kaye of the 76 Ranch. River, he began what would be a fifty- horses in 1902 to several leases (c. 1884) Glenbow Museum / NA-967-37 three year career working with cattle stretching from Swift Current to Maple on the foothills . Building his Creek. It was called the Turkey Track G G The Hay Creek Ranch. (c. 1888) house on Hay Creek, “7 U” Brown Ranch because of the distinctive brand Note the hay-roofed log sheds and (nicknamed after his brand) ran a the animals carried. the fencing in the foreground. The thrifty and hardy herd of Herefords and When both the weather and cattle shown here were the first Shorthorns. Brown’s fame arose partly political winds (ranchers’ water registered Herefords brought into because he became personal friends reserves were withdrawn in 1901) Alberta in 1886. with the Prince of Wales. turned against the big cattle companies, Glenbow Museum / NA-2278-1

32 FROM START TO FINISH

off chunks of land that had been part of F the huge monoliths in order to begin Bunkhouse on the Turkey Track their own operations. In many ways it Ranch. (c. 1914) Saskatchewan Archives / R.A2723 was tougher to ranch in the new era, but a half-dozen or so clans endured well into the 20th century and represented well-known modern ranches, some of which were highly successful and long lasting. One such ranching dynasty in this century was begun by Alfred E. Cross, who learned his trade as a manager and a veterinary surgeon on the early Cochrane Ranche. In the late 1880s he took up a quarter section on Mosquito Creek west of Nanton and purchased a herd of over 400 Shorthorn cattle. Cross began a breeding program combining the qualities of Shorthorn, Hereford and Galloway to gain an international reputation for quality beef. After losing the era of the great ranches began to 60% of his stock in the terrible winter end. Certainly ranching did not cease of 1886-87 he was able to rebuild his entirely, and overall cattle numbers herd and, with the financial backing of actually increased, but the West’s his family, he eventually established second generation cattle entrepreneurs the A7 Ranche which grew to a 60,000 Cattle in the feed yards on usually operated on a smaller scale acre grazing lease. The ranch was A.E. Cross’ ranch near Nanton. alongside homesteaders. This new named the A7 to represent the number Glenbow Museum / NA-3047-6 generation of cattlemen often picked of sons in the Cross family. H

33 CHAPTER ONE

E Lynch in preparation for the Bar U’s John Ware and family in 1896. inaugural cattle drive in 1882. Believing (Left to Right) Mildred, Robert, Ware to be an inexperienced cowboy, Janet, and John. Lynch gave him an old nag of a horse Glenbow Museum / NA-263-1 and a seemingly befitting . Soon into the drive, Ware asked Lynch for “a little better saddle and a little worse horse.” Always looking for a good laugh, the cowboys sifted through the horses and saddled up the wildest bronc of the bunch. With the poise and confidence of a seasoned veteran, Ware swung up on the unsettled steed and rode him into submission gaining immediate respect and admiration. Ware’s integrity and unmatched work ethic eventually earned him the position of top cowhand for the Quorn Ranch before he bought his own spread on the north fork of Sheep Creek near . He started off with only nine head of cattle One of the most notable which carried the unusual brand of John Ware’s Ranch on the north personalities during the golden era of “9999”, on account that nine was his fork of the Sheep Creek (now Alberta ranching was the legendary lucky number. called Three Point Creek) near John Ware. While living in Idaho he The Hargrave Ranching Co. Inc. Millarville. (c. 1890s) Glenbow Museum / NA-266-1 was hired on as a night by the was started by former fur trader James H Northwest Cattle Company’s Tom Hargrave near the town of Medicine

34 FROM START TO FINISH

“When the cattle almost perished in the hard winter of 1886-7, James [Hargrave] knew he had to find a better place for winter grazing. He moved them fifteen miles south on Little Plume Creek, but here fires twice burned out the hay crop. Indian friends then told him about a good area 35 miles east when thousands of buffalo used to winter along creeks near Walsh with good grass and shelter. James took a homestead ten miles north of Walsh...[and] trailed the cattle to this place late in the fall of 1888. In early years, the foreman ran the ranch, with Hargrave boys working there in . James raised mostly shorthorns, selling four-year-old steers off the grass.” G Cattle herd near Medicine Hat owned by Hargrave and Sissons. (c. 1887) - Hope Hargrave Michael Glenbow Museum / NA-4061-2

F The James Hargrave family in Medicine Hat, Alberta. (c. 1887) Glenbow Museum / NA-4061-3

Hat and extended into Saskatchewan. represented in the southern Alberta In 1888, on the advice of a Indian, cattle industry. As the 1990s began, he moved his herd to the Many Islands Walter Ross’ descendants Jack, John Lake district. It was still being run by and David were operating the Milk Hargrave’s grandson over 100 years later. River Cattle Company south of Walter Ross brought his 400 Lethbridge, and George had the Shorthorn heifers to the area Flying R south of . in 1885. Over the years the Ross A number of ranches in this ranches expanded to encompass 12,000 century have been owned by the head of cattle on half a million acres in Copithorne family, clustered around southern Alberta, southwestern the Cochrane area. John Copithorne Saskatchewan, and Montana. One ran the Lazy J Ranch, and brother hundred years after Walter got his start Richard herded Herefords and over 300 the Ross family remained strongly Clydesdales at Jumping Pound Creek,

35 CHAPTER ONE

E Cattle on the CL Ranch near Jumping Pound Creek. (c. 1900) Glenbow Museum / NA-3017-5

west of Calgary. A third brother, Sam, through their descendants. They first built up his own Hereford ranch in the bought the Whitemud Ranch south of Springbank area. Marshall Copithorne Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. By the end runs a cattle and grass operation called of the thirties, they owned a number of the CL Ranch west of Calgary. ranches totalling thousands of acres in In 1914 the Gilchrist brothers – Joe, southeastern Alberta including the Rube, Chay, Jack and Sandy – formed a Q Ranch, the Cross Z Ranch, the Lost ranching partnership that spread across River Ranche, and the Deer Creek southern Alberta and continues today Ranch. The brothers wound up their

“When I was a kid, my dad, Percy, was raising “commercial” [meaning unregistered] Herefords. They were about as close to purebred as you could get; we were ashamed to put our brand on an off- colour cow. But that was a recent development. The CL cow of Grandad Richard’s day was another matter a multicoloured, dual purpose Durham. But, soon after the Calgary Bull Sale started in 1910, he began buying Hereford and slowly our herd became “white-faced and feather necked” – typically Hereford. But, whatever the breed or cross, we were always meat producers as opposed to breeders.” G - Marshall Copithorne Hereford bulls with shelter and bedding. Photo Courtesy of Ted Pritchett

36 FROM START TO FINISH huge cattle business in 1945 but the Deer Creek and Whitemud Ranches were retained. Lachlin McKinnon, who began as a foreman on the 76 Ranch, started his own small cattle business in 1894. Though faced with much misfortune in the early years, he persevered and the LK Ranch prospered. Subsequent generations of the McKinnon family would expand into the oil and packing industries while remaining in the beef and horse businesses. They would also be progressive cattle feeders, being among the first larger cattle owners to make grain a standard addition to livestock diet at the turn of the century. Calgary businessman, rancher and G As a rancher, horseman and meat meat packer. Burns also gradually View of the Rawlinson Brothers dealer, William Roper Hull was another acquired adjacent sections of land. Ranch in the Calgary area. (c.1900) Glenbow Museum / NA-963-3 successful cattle owner and Eventually his Bow Valley Ranch businessman. He operated large included 20,000 acres bounded on the ranches like the Walrond, the Bow north by what is Stampede Park in Valley in the Midnapore area in 1896, Calgary today. That was really only a and the Pine Coulee fifty miles fraction of Burn’s total ranching empire southwest of the city. The Bow Valley of 450,000 acres, which was spread over was originally a 4000 acre government a number of locations. After 1900 he supply farm. Under William and John purchased a series of ranches including Hull’s guidance, the ranch became a the CK, Ricardo, Kelly and Palmer, the showplace for many visitors. Q, and Walrond. Many ranchers after Bert Sheppard’s ranch near In 1902 Hull’s Bow Valley farm High River. (c. 1934) the World War I were willing to sell Glenbow Museum / NA-67-9 was purchased by Pat Burns, leading their land because of financial troubles H

37 CHAPTER ONE

G The Burns Feedlot, also known as the Gordon Ranch, with the packing plant in the background. Cattle from all over Alberta were brought here and grain fed for customers who demanded the finest quality beef. Generally the cattle were sorted in southeast Calgary at the Bow Valley Ranch (present day Fish Creek Park), then sent to the feedlot for finishing. The feedlot was located where Deerfoot and Glenmore Trails now intersect. (c. 1910s) Glenbow Museum / NB-16-372

E The Rio Alto Ranch house on the right and the High River R.N.W.M.P. detachment. The ranches’ OH brand was originally registered by Oliver Henry Smith in 1881. (n.d.) City of Lethbridge Archives / P19754432000

38 caused by lowered cattle prices. At one century, purchasing large herds of G time or another, the Pat Burns empire purebred Herefords and expanding his Cattle ranchers and their families controlled the Bar U Ranch, the Bow horizons to be a freighter, trader, dealer gathering at the Davies Ranch in Valley Ranch, the Ricardo Ranch, the and meat packer. Together with George the Crawling Valley area of Alberta Ten Ranch, the Gordon Ranch, the Lane, A.E. Cross and A.J. MacLean, after a cattle dip. Family ownership has always been a Sheriff , the Ross Ranch Burns helped spearhead the first strong feature in the cattle (Calgary), the Ross Ranch (Milk River), in 1912. community. (c. 1909) the Reid Ranch, the Imperial Ranch, the Family ownership has clearly been Glenbow Museum / NA-2142-2 C.K. Ranch, the Neilson Ranch, the and continues to be a strong feature of Nose Hill Ranch, the Lineham Ranch, the cattle community since it began the Quirk Ranch, the Buffalo Head over one hundred years ago. Although Ranch, the Kuck Brothers Ranch, the mixed farming eventually became an Minto Ranch, the Flying E Ranch, the important component in the Glengarry Ranch, the Walrond Ranch, agricultural fabric of the western the Mackie Ranch, the Lazy H Ranch, Canada in this century, cattle the Circle Ranch, the 76 Ranch, and the operations have maintained a strong Rio Alto Ranch, just to name a few. The presence in southern Alberta. Bow Valley Ranch still remained in the family after his death in 1937. At the height of his prosperity, Burns’ landholdings approached half a million acres and it was said that one could ride from the United States border to Calgary without ever leaving his land. Burns thus became one of the major ranching forces in Alberta during this

39

Life on the Ranch in the Early Years

Cattlemen in the early 1880s Work was the common bond that all G enjoyed the benefits of a vast and cowboys on the Canadian range shared. Branding on the Deer Creek Ranch seemingly endless range where their The busiest times of the year were in the Milk River area. (c. 1912) Glenbow Museum / NA-774-7 livestock could roam and feed almost at spring and autumn when cattle were will. With a good corral, a branding rounded up for branding, dipping, and iron, and a few cowboys, cattle owners shipment to market. Summer and could easily convert the Queen’s winter chores consisted primarily of abundant and practically free grass into maintenance activities. a substantial return in beef. Overhead Spring work generally started in was low, so most of the early ranchers late May or early June with the ranch simply fed their animals for four or five hands or cowboys entering a period of years on the virgin prairie. It was a intense activity. It was centered around relatively straightforward enterprise. the spring “round-up” which focused on Ranching practises in the northwestern gathering and branding newborn United States were similar, so much of calves. These round-ups were often the work tradition on Canadian ranches community or joint affairs involving was inherited from the south, though more than one ranch. It was not somewhat modified due to differences uncommon in the early days to have a F in climate and geography. That meant a number of ranches pooling their cattle Cowboy riding a bucking bronc on fairly predictable cycle of seasonal in order to expedite the work and the CC Ranch. Mosquito Creek, activities undertaken in close step with ensure that stock was carefully Alberta. (c. 1901) the rhythms of nature. separated during branding. Glenbow Museum / NA-4571-11

41 from the foreman. When the round-up crew was gathered, the range boss would give the orders for the day and different men would ride circle routes to bring the cattle into a predetermined location for branding. While riding the range, cowboys would often need to husband or rescue cattle or calves experiencing various needs. The rider could find himself pulling a calf out of mud, helping a cow give birth, or otherwise treating an animal that was ill or underfed. Once in camp, the cowboy’s skill in riding, roping and tying calves served him well as animals were branded and then released to join the herd for summer grazing. Stories about cowboys and their lifestyles on the western Canadian G In a typical spring round-up the range are legendary. In the early years Montana cook, “Mexican John” largest ranch in the outfit would these ranch hands often had little need preparing grub from the back of provide the foreman or “range boss”, to use watches or even calendars to do his . (c. 1880s) the chuckwagon and cook, and a horse Glenbow Museum / NA-207-108 their work. Old-time Alberta cowboy to “break” or calm the more Billy Henry admitted not being able to G G unsettled horses brought along for the pinpoint exact dates of early events Cattle round-up on the Brower work. Often smaller ranches could only because cowpokes on the range Ranch near Wild Horse, Alberta. provide one or two riders or “reps” who sometimes did not even know what Note the point riders. would pay the cook and accept orders Glenbow Museum / NA-2489-2 month it was!

42 FROM START TO FINISH

Summer work could involve fencing F and making hay, especially in the later Fencing crew in the Groton area. years when putting up feed for the Cowboys were notorious for not winter was found to be the wise thing enjoying “farming” tasks such as fencing, haying and ranch to do. Cowboys were notorious for not maintenance work. enjoying haying and other “farming” Glenbow Museum / NA-2616-16 tasks such as fence and windmill maintenance, so new developments in feeding were not strictly associated with the heyday of the Canadian cowboy. Feeding activities which the historical cowboy did participate in involved riding the range and driving cattle to new or better areas of grass and water. The autumn brought with it the “beef work”, where cattle were rounded up again, but this time for shipment to market. Summer calves or those overlooked in the spring were branded. Large companies, which had significant

F Cowhand from the Leslie Ranch near leading a cow and calf across the Milk River to summer pasture. Harry Rowed / Public Archives of Canada / PA 133635

43 CHAPTER ONE Loading the first shipment of a hundred head was relatively easy, but unexpected problems then arose. The townspeople of Medicine Hat had never seen cattle being loaded before, and came out in full force to view the event. The mass of spectators frightened the animals and the temporary corral was scattered like matches as the cattle stampeded north of the town. Miraculously, no one was hurt as the spooked herd went through the people like a charge of cavalry. Shipping them that day was no longer possible. The cattle did get loaded eventually, but only after the corral was rebuilt from scratch and a sudden snowstorm discouraged onlookers from coming back out of their homes! Most cattle drives were not so eventful; the majority were smaller in scale and carried out more smoothly. In the winter of 1884-85, the Stewart and Halifax ranches near Pincher Creek moved two hundred head of cattle to Calgary. This trip of almost two hundred miles was made in twenty G numbers of cattle ready for market, Dipping cattle on the Circle Ranch would sometimes drive and load their days. Driving the herd carefully, the near Queenstown, Alberta. When stock until the snow fell. When diseases cowboys allowed the animals to find mange become an issue in animal like mange appeared in the late their own feed along the trail. At this health and safety, dipping vats time there were recognizable “feed were built. Cattle were forced to nineteenth century, fall work included swim through a special solution to dipping the animals in a special kill the disease. The federal solution to control the problem. government built vats at various An eventful roundup occurred in locations to enable all ranchers to 1884 when cowboy J. Montagu Leeds protect their cattle. Larger participated with eight others in ranches had enough resources to moving four thousand head from build their own and avoid the Montana to the Claresholm area. That hassle of trailing their cattle to a drive alone took the better part of the community vat. Glenbow Museum / NA-761-4 summer, and on October 16 Leeds joined with four other riders and a cook to begin a long autumn drive of 150 miles to the Medicine Hat railhead. The herd headed for market and consisted of 350 four year-old steers. Upon arrival at the “Hat”, they had to hold the herd seven miles from town and divide them for loading in two stages. There were no stockyards and the cowboys found only a small pen with an chute used to E Cattle being herded up the ramp unload a cow or gentle horse, so with to a box car for shipment east. the help of some CPR men they built a Southern Alberta. (c. 1901) makeshift loading yard using heavy City of Lethbridge Archives / P19640355002 square timber.

44 areas” where cattle could rest and G replenish themselves on grass and hay. Bruce and Jim Hunter in their house near Dog Pound Creek. The feed had been bought from farmers Bruce is taking the picture using a who also made the delivery on string tied to the camera. hayracks pulled by horse teams. The (c. 1897) Glenbow Museum / NA-1097-5 well fed animals maintained weight, and the dressed carcasses averaged nine hundred pounds. The skill of the cowboys in quickly moving cattle, while at the same time allowing for F adequate feeding, made itself evident Cowboys providing entertainment in dollars and cents. in Cochrane, Alberta. (c. 1890s) Despite all the hard work, cowboys Glenbow Museum / NA-1130-15 did have time to relax from this hectic and unpredictable schedule. Winter was the slow time, and while many cowboys were laid off, others who were more well-established were retained. In this season they often rode the ranch in order to “troubleshoot” or simply keep cattle from roaming. Although their work also included inglorious tasks F such as breaking ice for water and Cutting ice on the Milk River for hauling firewood, winter was also a use at the Spencer Ranch in time for rest, reading and more creative southern Alberta. (c. 1900) and extended social activities. Glenbow Museum / NA-2436-21

45

Hardships, Challenges and Lessons Learned

The establishment and early life were in need of rejuvenation, but that G of the Cochrane, Bar U, Walrond and was strictly the exception. Most cattle Dead cattle on the Bow River Oxley enterprises represented what is feeders on the large spreads marvelled Ranch near Cochrane on May 22, 1903 after a severe snowstorm. often considered a romantic period at how cattle could eat, live and Glenbow Museum / NA-2084-24 when cowboys rode the range and flourish with no shelter to cover them fences were few and far between. and no food other than standing grass. These operations enjoyed a fairly Hindsight would eventually reveal unrestricted choice of land that that this somewhat carefree practise of featured bountiful grazing territory, but feeding reflected a lack of judgment, the brutal winter of 1886-87 put some because it resulted in the overcrowding operations out of business completely of choice ranges and overdependence and drove home the reality that year- on chinooks to bring cattle through round grazing could not be taken for winter. When turned loose on the range granted by anyone. in summer, cattle would instinctively Before that time, almost all feeding locate to areas offering the richest and F on large ranches was done on the open thickest grass, abundant water and the During the golden era of large range. Managers like the Oxley’s John best natural shelter. The result would ranching in Alberta, thousands of Craig may have occasionally put up be a depletion of ranges that were most calves died as a result of spring some grass when heavily grazed areas vital for winter feeding. Feeders soon storms. Glenbow Museum / NA-2784-24

47 CHAPTER ONE

G realized that no less than thirty acres of risk, they accepted it philosophically. Stacking hay from the Blood range was required to carry a single Philosophy would soon give way to the on the Cochrane animal for a year and that native grass, bitter realities, brought on by severe Ranch. (c. 1905) once grazed, would take a long time to Alberta winters. Glenbow Museum / NA-451-7 reappear. When it did, it was fragile, Bad weather combined with some less nutritious than before, and largely other factors to provide the first incapable of providing much food significant failure in the cattle industry. value in winter. It occurred, ironically, to Matthew Farmers owning less cattle Cochrane, the first to take the risk of habitually fed their animals through the establishing a huge operation in cattle winter with gathered hay and kept country. Cochrane had ordered his first them under adequate shelter, but the large herd of cattle to be quickly driven larger outfits were slow to learn the from Montana to the Calgary in the value of this practise. When A.M. autumn of 1881. The animals that Burgess, Deputy Minister of the survived the drive arrived in a fatigued Interior, suggested in 1884 that large and shrunken condition. An early ranchers should copy the practise of snowstorm and a subsequent severe making hay, his words were not taken winter claimed hundreds more seriously. He surmised that the weakened animals. There had been no sometimes adversarial relationship time for them to recover by grazing, or between the farmers and ranchers may become accustomed to their new home. have been the cause of this, but the The onslaught of cold weather also simple fact was that ranchers retained resulted in hasty and improper an unbounded optimism in the capacity branding. This caused serious disputes of the land and climate to provide all with other farmers the following spring, that was necessary for cattle. Very few as many claimed their cattle were bothered to put up hay for winter feed conveniently rounded up with the because, though they recognized some Cochrane herds. It could not be

48 FROM START TO FINISH determined exactly how many F Cochrane cattle had died over that first Senator Matthew Henry Cochrane winter, but ranch manager James (1823-1903). As president of the Walker estimated losses to be close to Cochrane Ranche, he managed it from his home in Compton, one thousand head. Quebec. He was called to the More cattle were purchased in Senate on October 17, 1872, ten Montana in the summer of 1882, but years prior to giving orders to the previous year’s errors were virtually move the ill-fated herd of cattle repeated. The drive to the Cochrane from Montana to the Cochrane Ranche was as hurried and as merciless lease west of Calgary. William as the first one. It was an exhausted Kerfoot’s son once said that they herd that arrived at Fish Creek in [Cochrane and the other general September of 1882. Another early managers] “...had the knack of snowstorm hit the area, followed by getting together a lot of good men and then ignoring their bitter cold. Rather than allowing the recommendations, usually with animals to rest in order to adequately heavy loss to themselves.” feed and survive the storm, they were Glenbow Museum / NA-239-25 driven to ranch headquarters and many more died en route. The winter of 1882-83 was also long and cold but Senator Cochrane (giving orders from eastern Canada) refused to allow the cattle to head east to better grazing area. Sufficient hay had not extent of the Cochrane calamity. been stored and by the spring of 1883 Cochrane then move his cattle dead cattle seemed to be heaped in operation down south. every coulee, thousands of head having The Cochrane Ranche failed as a perished. Of the 12,000 stock purchased result of a number of factors. in the previous two years, only a third Uncontrollable ones included the early remained. The fact that other ranches and harsh winters, the sheer distance had suffered no great loss during the from key markets in Montana, and slow same time period punctuated the communication between the owners in

F Burying dead cattle in a mass grave near Blackie, Alberta. Glenbow Museum / NA-2245-1

49 CHAPTER ONE eastern Canada and the ranch “The old North Wind, thinking that management on the range. These would Alberta had enjoyed too many chinooks have been problems faced by any large and mild seasons, produced from the operation of the time. The unfortunate darkest corner of his varied storeroom manner in which the cattle were driven the bitterest weather in stock, and and fed was controllable. Cochrane did poured it down on the herds of Alberta, not have first-hand knowledge of keeping it up from before Christmas till western Canada, but he also did not the end of February, and then changing heed the advice of locals like Kootenai to wild floods and fierce snowstorms Brown or experienced stockmen like ...deep had fallen and drifted, W.D. Kerfoot when they warned him of crusting so heavily that no steer could harsh winters and the need to store “muzzle” through to the hidden grasses, hay. He also rigidly followed the though the wiser horses managed to practise (common in his native Quebec) make pretty good shift with their hoofs. of not allowing cattle to wander freely Very little hay had been put up owing to instinctively find food in winter. to the ranchers’ belief that it was In fairness to Cochrane, he was not unnecessary and also to the fact that so the only absentee owner that attempted much good hay-land had been grazed to run a ranch from afar. The over during the summer and fall. Only participation of distant investors in the a few stacks of tame grasses were in the livestock industry was commonplace in whole country, and very little wild hay. the early years. It was standard to have John Herron of Pincher Creek had a owners and a Board of Directors make few stacks of millet and other tame decisions far from ranch headquarters hay, the first grown in the district, but and rely on managers who oversaw the as a rule every rancher was woefully long term development of the short on feed. operation. Day-to-day supervision of The storms and drifted, crusted the operation then fell to the resident snows were a terrible blow, especially ranch foreman. This awkward and among the new or “pilgrim” stock that often inefficient setup would inevitably had been brought into the ranges in change because, as the case of the vast herds...When the bitter weather was Cochrane fiasco made clear, more at its worst, there were forty thousand experience at the top would have starving horned creatures within a allowed freedom for experienced radius of twenty-five miles of Macleod. foremen to make more adequate The rabbits died, the lynx left, the decisions concerning management and herds of antelopes starved in hundreds. feeding of cattle. These were painful The I.G. Baker Company’s cattle, the but necessary lessons to be learned. first “beef” herds in Alberta, were Though many cattlemen arriving scattered widely through the south and later were spared the ravages of the suffered frightful loss. Sixty per cent of winter of 1882-83, the devastating this first beef herd was wiped out in the winter of 1886-87 was a brutal winter of 1886-87. experience causing the first major All over the ranch country the price setback on a large scale basis, driving of hay soared to phenomenal prices, more large ranchers completely out of ranchers standing willing to pay forty business. Despite the losses, it dollars a ton for all they could get and convinced other cattlemen of the need being unable to secure a single wisp. for adequate winter feeding Those fortunate enough to possess a preparations. Eye-witness accounts of few stacks hoarded it like gold and stood the effects of that winter have been ready to fight to save a single forkful. well-recorded, and a classic Clustering in the coulees or presentation was published by L.V. huddling on the open, animals suffered Kelly in his historic masterpiece The and died in enormous numbers. Some, Range Men.: breast-high in packed and crusted

50 FROM START TO FINISH banks, died as they stood; some who Medicine Hat. It was painfully clear were sheltered somewhat by bluffs or that cattlemen simply did not coulees starved pitifully, ravenously adequately prepare to feed their cattle searching for food until the frost had through a difficult winter. Ranchmen in reached their vitals. The bodies of great the future would have to be more steers were found in the spring, heaps respectful of the realities of southern of them, and their throats and stomachs Alberta’s weather and more aware of punctured and torn by sharp splinters the type and amount of feed required to from dried and frozen branches and husband their stock. chunks of wood which they had Early cattle owners and feeders swallowed in their anguish.” faced more than just unpredictable Kelly reported that the average weather and managerial shortcomings cattle losses in the Province were about in their work. Another destructive twenty-five per cent in the Calgary element in the early days was prairie district, fifty to sixty per cent from High fire. Early spring and late fall were the River to the Old Man’s River, twenty to worst times, when grass was parched twenty-five per cent in the Pincher dry and the snow had disappeared. A Creek country, and fifty per cent in typical prairie wind would function as a

F Fighting a prairie fire at Ghost Pine Creek near Elnora, Alberta. (c. 1906) Glenbow Museum / NA-1502-1

“All ranchers, no matter what class of stock is their speciality, now cut large quantities of hay, and nearly all have shelter of some description for weak stock. Some of the more advanced cow-men are now yarding up their calves in the fall and feeding all winter. It will be found most beneficial to both calves and cows, and the calves of the following season will also be stronger.” -Commissioner L.H. Herchmer North West Mounted Police G 1888 Stacking hay from racks on the Peigan Reserve in Southern Alberta. (c. 1892) Glenbow Museum / NA-4461-4

51 CHAPTER ONE powerful and devastating fan for the blaze. In 1884 the Military Colonization “In a letter dated January 5, Company was destroyed by fire, and in 1900, it is stated that wolves 1887 the town of Fort Macleod was preyed on young stock. They had seriously threatened by a blaze. Causes killed 50 calves at the M.H.R. of a fire could range from hot weather, ranch and had killed their best sparks from a train or gunfire, and bull. George (Armstrong) wrote other forms of human carelessness. In Peter to send what traps they 1901 one fire that killed or maimed could spare. In the spring of 1924, many cattle in the Gleichen area had its George’s dog, Dan, an Irish source in a cowboy clumsily lighting Retriever, was killed by wolves. In his pipe. April, a light snow enabled them Predators were also a problem, and to track the wolves to Battle Creek the biggest culprit was the full-grown where they found two dens. timber or grey wolf. This cunning and George crawled down into the Cowboys with a dead wolf in the powerful animal could cause hundreds dens and shot the females and Dorothy area of Alberta. The wolf of dollars of losses every year, and A.E. saved the pups, which were sent was preying on cattle that were Cross once estimated that he lost up to just being released from dipping. to the Zoo in London.” twenty-five colts a year to these Riders chased down the wolf and predators. The most damage occurred - Betty Anne Burrows & ended up killing it with a stone. Mrs. George Armstrong (c. 1905) Glenbow Museum / NA-2157-3 in and around the wooded foothills of H Alberta, where the wolves could hide

52 FROM START TO FINISH

F Branding cattle in a corral on the Jumping Pound Creek. (c. 1900s) Glenbow Museum / NA-1939-3

Notice to Cowboys (Advertisement)

“Now that the cattle round up north of the Bow is about to start and that it is the general practice of the men, year after year, when they come into this valley, to sweep everything clean before them....Now I wish it to be distinctly understood that any party or parties whatever, who remove any of my stock, either cattle or horses, from this valley, or are known to do so, will be arrested and tried in the Supreme Court....Stockmen that are obliged to hire help at this particular time would “A cow bearing the distinctive “WR” (Waldon) be their own friends if they would avoid these ten brand was seen on the range lavishing huge and fifteen dollar men, who cannot read a brand affection on a calf that carried a “77” hair brand, when they see one.” and returned the affection of the mature mammal -E. D. Mackay with great vigour, wiggling his tail and gambolling Calgary Herald around in the excess of great family joy. Anyone June 9, 1898 seeing these two beasts would have jumped to the conclusion that they were undoubtedly mother and “Timber wolves were not the menace here that child, despite the man-made evidence to the they were on the American range, but each year contrary in the shape of dissimilar brands. A we lost quite a few head of stock. Young colts were brand, judged the police, can be placed on any their favourite prey, and they took their share as animal, but affection is born in them. The result they could so easily hamstring them. They found of these quite natural deductions was that John cattle harder to kill. A cow on the range when Mitchell, who owned the “77”, was arrested and attacked by a wolf would let out a bawl that brought tried on the charge of stealing the calf, but was cattle on the run from every direction. A wolf would acquitted. Hence the desire of the police for more attack from the rear, so that the cattle would form satisfactory branding laws.” in a circle, head out, with the young in the centre. - Leroy Kelly A wolf would have a hard time to break through the wall of tossing horns....Once George Lane had a nasty mix-up with wolves when he was foreman of the Bar U. He was riding between the forks of the Highwood River when he ran into a bunch of them. Lane was good with a six-shooter and managed to drop several, but one jumped right at him and nearly got him before he killed it.” - Frederick William Ings

F Bronze: “George Lane Attacked by Wolves - 1886” The wolf attack on George Lane has become one of the most revered stories to originate on the Canadian range. This event was portrayed by legendary cowboy artist Charlie Russell in his 1914 painting, and most recently perpetuated in a controversial 12 foot high bronze statue based on Russell’s art. The statue, which depicts Lane fending off a pack of wolves, now stands on the Bar U National Historic Site southwest of Longview. Photo Courtesy of Mac Elder.

53 G and prey more effectively. Some the country were unable to cover the Police scouts at Fort Macleod in ranchers employed wolf hounds as a range thoroughly to insure security. December of 1890. For many deterrent, but they proved to be no Though some of the early ranch years, the police and aboriginal match for the wolves and were companies paid careful attention to groups were the main consumers themselves in danger of being killed. breeding quality, most cattlemen of beef in Alberta. Many ranchers had to eventually deal showed little interest in the process. Glenbow Museum / NA-936-9 with the predators using human The open range was, by its very nature, invention. Until the Alberta Stock not conducive to the application of Growers’ Association introduced wolf strict breeding control. Once a bull was bounties in 1891, ranchers sometimes released on the open range, he often agreed among themselves on rewards became common property due to his as much as $75 per wolf. inability to read and respect brands. Rustling and petty thievery was yet There was also no incentive to import another early problem. Native Indians good bulls for herd improvement when were often blamed for theft, especially they would only end up sharing the after the disappearance of buffalo range with inferior animals. Such lack removed their historic source of food of control resulted in low breeding and other needs. The passing of treaty efficiency, and even though ranches and reserve systems by the federal like the Quorn experimented with new government eventually curbed that imported stock around 1890, the results source of theft. Rustling also occurred were disappointing. At the turn of the amongst the ranchers themselves, century Mexican cattle were imported especially in the early days when herds to the Canadian range, but this was also drifted, and before branding ordinances not the answer to improved stock. were applied. The few police officers in Eventually the conviction grew that

54 only by controlled breeding and good management would cattlemen achieve the quality and numbers most desired in their herds. The western Canadian range actually proved to be home to a number of breeds. Traits of the Spanish-based Longhorns were conspicuous in the early cattle that had been herded up from Montana, but British breeds soon became predominant. Various stockmen featured Herefords, Shorthorns, Aberdeen Angus, Galloways, and West Highland, but it was the Hereford that became the dominant breed on the western Canadian range. They took well to prairie grass, grew large quickly, exhibited hardiness, and were reliable G breeders and cross-breeders. The A Hereford bull at Victoria Park in Hereford’s popularity did not mean Calgary. Known as “White Face” cattlemen would stop experimenting cattle, Herefords eventually with other breeds over the years. dominated the beef markets in The early 1890s brought yet another Alberta. (n.d.) major obstacle when Britain placed an Glenbow Museum / NA-4571-13 embargo on Canadian cattle for fear of disease. Though western ranchers had G G the healthiest cattle in the world, Longhorn cattle at the CC Ranch. disease soon became a real threat. (c. 1906) Glenbow Museum / NC-26-68 Dipping vats to treat mange were introduced in the late 1890s, and since then veterinarians have applied the latest scientific and homespun knowledge to treat and prevent animal disease. These various challenges in the early years provided important reasons for cattle owners to band together, for F in doing so they could more effectively Cattle swimming through a dipping tackle common hazards as well as vat in the area. (c. 1906) Glenbow Museum / NA-3596-172

55 CHAPTER ONE address governmental issues. As the cattlemen had to face the reality of last century ended, the Dominion farming settlement after the Liberals government received an increasing came to power in 1896 the cattle number of complaints from settlers compact could no longer rely on well- about over-grazed range. The concerns placed individuals in the government of these newcomers rushing in would to take care of their needs. A more pose new problems for those feeding effective political lobby was needed, their cattle on the open range. Once the and it came in the form of Western political winds turned and the lease Stock Growers Association (WSGA), system changed, livestock owners had formed in 1896 to consolidate the to protect their access to the grass and smaller, local stock associations. The water on the public domain. Roundups activities of the Association had two provided one way of cooperating in the main thrusts; the first pertained to early days, but as the population range management and the day-to-day increased and the matrix of settlement operation of the industry, and the became more complex, informal second related to political involvement. organizations could no longer do the Through the Association’s efforts, Members of the Western required work, and more official disease control was addressed in an Stockgrowers Association outside associations formed. effective manner. After mange made its the Assiniboia Hotel in Medicine The first stock association on the first appearance in cattle country in Hat. Identified individuals include Canadian range was formed in 1882 1898 the WSGA worked closely with the Duncan McEachren, William Roper near Pincher Creek and aptly named government to quarantine and prevent Hull, Pat Burns, James Hargrave, the Pincher Creek Stock Association. indiscriminate drifting of cattle. Dipping Archie McLean, George Emerson, It was the first of a series of small, was made compulsory in 1904. The and A.E. Cross. (c. 1903) regional organizations which were organization also agitated for improved Glenbow Museum / NA-2006-1 H limited in effectiveness. When standards of cattle transportation,

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tackling the issues of shipping rates and G adequate care of cattle on trips to the Loading cattle onto a box car to east. Although the railway companies be shipped by rail. (c. 1901) Glenbow Museum / NA-3375-7 in the West needed all the freight traffic they could get to run a profit, they were F notoriously shoddy in how they The Northwest Cattle Company’s accommodated and cared for livestock. Brand registration in Henderson’s Other contentious issues included Northwest Brand Book. (c. 1901) compensation from railway companies when trains killed cattle or flying sparks from locomotives started prairie fires. The WSGA worked diligently to address these matters, and was given the power and authority to inspect ploughed fire guards and stockyards. The Association also helped monitor and control the problem of rustling, offering generous rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of thieves. Cattle theft actually increased with the population growth and many smaller cattle owners, who maintained membership in the organization and did not otherwise have the power to protect themselves, were especially grateful for this service. have brands registered with the Perhaps the most important Department of Agriculture. The function of the WSGA was to persuade association also demanded that the the territorial and federal governments distributor of brands be a trusted and to implement a proper method of stock experienced member of the cattle inspection. A branding system that was industry. Regulations (which were also binding across the entire cattle country made into law in 1899) guaranteed that was implemented by the government stock were inspected during loading in 1898. This made it compulsory to before shipment out of the country.

57

The End of the Early Ranching Era

The slowness of many cattlemen and dealt a blow to the entire industry G in adopting more adequate feeding in 1886-87, it wreaked havoc yet again Homesteaders on a wagon loaded requirements was one of a number of for the southern Alberta ranchers in with their belongings. (c. 1909) Glenbow Museum / NA-3536-1 reasons the glory period of big time 1906-07. Thousands of cattle were lost, ranching ended. It resulted in signalling the end of the open-range considerable loss in cattle quantity and system of cattle management. quality which eroded ownership If the winter of 1906-07 was the confidence. A government decision in exclamation mark that punctuated the 1892, which stated that the old lease era of the era of large ranching in arrangement restraining homestead southern Alberta, it was the arrival of entry would be cancelled in four years, the Canadian Pacific Railway way back was another key factor. The election of in 1883 was the beginning of the end. Wilfred Laurier’s Liberals in 1896 was Less than twenty years later, trains the major political reason for the carried farmers into ranch country, change in the shape of farming in the forever changing both the nature of West. Laurier favoured homesteading settlement in western Canada, as well over large-scale ranching, and the big as the face of the cattle industry. From operations became more localized as a rancher’s point of view, the CPR was a homesteaders moved in to begin two-edged sword; it created the outlet to smaller, mixed operations. Ranchers markets that lured entrepreneurs from F Front cover of a promotional could no longer simply set their cattle the East to invest in the cattle business publication issued by authority of free to wander and feed at will. Just as in the first place, but then it also was a the Minister of Immigration and the weather devastated the first major player in the more intensive Colonization in Ottawa. Cochrane Ranche operation in 1882-83 agricultural settlement later on. Glenbow Museum / NA-3818-6

59 packed courtrooms and widespread attention. Groups like the Alberta Settlers’ Association, formed in 1885, vigorously lobbied the government on behalf of settlers. Early in 1892 the Dominion government dealt a key legislative blow to the ranchers by stating that all old closed leases held by the large companies would be terminated in four years time. The cattlemen could purchase up to ten per cent of their leaseholds, but the effect of this decision was self-evident: the law that allowed for huge ranches was a thing of the past. Cattlemen in the early years of the twentieth century also faced marketing problems and falling cattle prices. G Antagonism between the settlers Confined to smaller landholdings and Barr colonists at the Saskatoon and the larger leaseholders began in the needing to spend increasing amounts station with wagons and teams. 1880s and intensified as homesteaders on land, fences, buildings and winter (c. April, 1903) arrived to share the land. Many feed for cattle, the once-large cattleman Glenbow Museum / NA-118-27 ranchers felt the squatters and farmers had difficulty competing with the cash were hindering their operations and, in grain farmer. Improved technology in the long run, endangering the whole chilling meat and keen competition industry. They complained that some from other countries placed Canadian were trying to establish bogus land beef in less demand. Dry farming claims, and even rustling stock to begin farms. The settlers had their complaints too, claiming that their stock often disappeared after cattle drives of the big “It would not be profitable for Single team of oxen ploughing a ranches had swept through their stockmen, in view of the field near Wainwright, Alberta. territory. Several court cases involving infrequency of severe winters, to (c. 1911) Glenbow Museum / NC-37-43 the settlers and large leaseholders took make specific provisions against H place in 1884, and some featured them every year, but in order to escape occasional disaster they must either do this or encourage the settlement of in their districts. Antagonism between ranchers and settlers is purely theoretical, such antagonism being forced by small, independent speculators forcing themselves upon the leases of the ranchers and entering into competition with them, and then demanding restitution for being forced to move, or refusing to pay Government rent.” - A.M. Burgess, Deputy Minister of the Interior, 1892

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F Haying with an overthrow stacker on the T.G. Levins Ranch near Kneehill, Alberta. (c. 1906) Glenbow Museum / NA-3154-7 technology had also progressed to the point where most areas of the Canadian West were suitable for farming. As the winter of 1906-07 approached, it would meet a cattle industry which was weakened and vulnerable. Whatever optimism cattlemen may have retained in the early 20th century was thrashed by the bleak winter that arrived exactly twenty years after the last one. Certainly there had been cold winters since 1887, but they paled in comparison to that of 1906-07. Nature sent out its warnings in the fall with beavers growing extra long caches, horses developing heavier-than-normal coats, and rabbits turning white earlier than usual. There was early cold followed by a severe November blizzard, and then bitter cold straight to areas where they could protect G through to February. themselves, but drifting and crusted Haystacks near a Ukrainian home By this time most ranchers and snow made grazing impossible. The near . (c. 1906) Glenbow Museum / NA-1000-8 cattlemen had put up at least some hay winter demanded a fearful toll from the for emergency purposes, but the sheer range stock and cut in half the total length of the cold period placed a strain number of cattle in the province. on even the most well-prepared. Cattle When the spring thaw finally on ranches with no stored hay had to arrived, the devastation was clear. fend for themselves, and the results Thousands of dead cattle lay heaped on were pitiful. Stock drifted instinctively fields, in coulees, and against fences

61 “The Shaddock Ranch, which had lost all its baby chicks as they piled in, one on the other, in hayland to the 1906 spring prairie fire, had the their desperate attempts to get down to the hay. Now Indians put up several stacks of hay, by contract, the Shaddock Boys found that they had not only to on the open prairie east of Twelve Mile Coulee. shovel away the snow drifts but had to haul dead These stacks were, of course, fenced and fire and dying cattle away before they could get at the guarded but early November storms piled snow little hay that was left. (When the land was settled up around and over the fences. This caused the in 1909, and before it could be plowed, the bones of ranch to re-fence on top of the drifts; but more cattle suffocated in that terrible winter of 1906 had driving snow made even that job useless as, in to be gathered. In some cases some piles of bones turn, the second fences were themselves drifted were bigger than some stacks of hay had been.)” over. Hungry cattle walked right over those drifts, - Charles H. McKinnon double decked fences and all, and floundered in. G More cattle followed piling in on the first animals. A pile of dead cattle on the Shaddock Ranch. Cattle were smothered to death As a result a lot were smothered to death like after breaking into a fenced-off hay stack. (c. Spring 1907) Glenbow Museum / NA-1636-1

“Lessees, ..... have wholly or in part released investor as formerly. The established rancher is not their holdings. The cause is partly the dread of a abandoning the business, but appears to be taking Provincial tax, partly on account of the winter advantage of these conditions in order to curtail losses of 1906-7, but chiefly because the stockmen expenses.” no longer fear the encroachment of other - Albert Helmer, ranchers, as the ranching business does not Government Ranch Inspector appear to present the same attractions to the new 1909

62 and buildings. Some even hung on trees. The “carrion spring” of 1907 saw a rash of ranch sales and although some cattlemen were relatively unscathed, others lost up to seventy per cent of their stock. One cattleman counted 640 head in fall, and only thirty-three in the spring. The Calgary region showed a loss of some sixty per cent of cattle, and Lethbridge area cattle owners lost about half of their total stock. In general, small farmers survived the winter better than the large ranchers because they were able give more care to a smaller number of cattle. Those who had some excess grain, such as the LK’s Lachlin McKinnon, were able to feed their cattle more than just hay. The likes of Pat Burns, George Lane, and A.E. Cross withdrew, homesteaders and the G not only pulled through without much government continued to move in and Dead cow and surviving calf in the loss, but they even expanded their settle Alberta’s cattle country. An Benyon area after the severe operations the following year. The isolated event in 1906 served as a winter of 1906-07. Glenbow Museum / NA-4035-22 overall effect, however, was to make potent symbol of the end of the early stock farmers out of many ranchers. era of large ranching. When the Almost as suddenly as the prestigious Cochrane Ranche was sold G G disappearance of the buffalo altered life to the Mormon Church, the era of the Cattle being fed on the Wineglass on the Alberta range in the late 1870s, large ranches was over. Elements of Ranch north of Brockett, Alberta on May 3rd, 1907. this bitter winter forever changed the early range life would certainly remain, Glenbow Museum / NC-43-32 way of life of the region. As cattlemen but it would never be the same again.

63

New Developments in Feeding and the Beef Business

In the first years of ranching, and One of the earliest and largest G especially prior to the building of the shipping points in the North-West Cattle in the stockyards at Alix, Canadian Pacific Railway, western Territories was located at Cayley, a Alberta. Livestock owners only stockmen did not have access to many small village a few miles south of High needed to transport their cattle to markets. These livestock pioneers sold River. When the main line of the the nearest railhead and the train took their product to the desired their beef directly to the Department of Canadian Pacific Railway was built, destination. (c. 1910) Indian Affairs, the North-West Mounted stockyards were constructed east of Glenbow Museum / NA-205-11 Police, and new settlers. The Calgary at Strathmore and east of construction of the railway provided Medicine Hat at Dunsmore. After the new markets as literally thousands of Calgary and Edmonton line was men were put to work across the constructed in 1892, a new shipping southern prairies. Pat Burns got much point was set up at Cayley. This centre of his start by making beef accessible to was a wonderful location for not only railway construction crews. With the the large ranches, but for all the railway in place, livestock owners only operations lying further south and west needed to transport their cattle to the of Strathmore. Every fall in the 1890s nearest railhead, and the train took thousands of cattle could be seen their product to the desired destination, trailing to Cayley. A record number or to the necessary sea transport. A came in 1899, when five huge outfits common scenario in the late 1880s saw including the Walrond, Oxley and Bar U southern Alberta ranchers sending their ranches drove in approximately two cattle by rail east to Montreal, where thousand head each, totalling a F Cattle eating grain from troughs they were placed on a ship which took staggering 10,000 cattle! The bawling in a feedlot operation. them to the stockyards of Great Britain. herds had to be held at locations Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture

65 CHAPTER ONE

E Shelters and hay storage on the J.A. W. Fraser Ranch near Jumping Pound Creek. Cattle owners began to shelter and feed their calves and weaker cows over the winter resulting in virtually no winter loss. (c. 1910) Glenbow Museum / NA-1292-1

outside Cayley as it took almost a week new developments. In fact, the of work to complete the loading. ranching region and livestock industry By the late 1880s virtually all cattle was dominated in the early years by owners were cutting hay and putting up relatively few individuals who owned some shelters to house weak cows and stock numbering over 400 head, a calves. The more advanced operations number arbitrarily chosen to indicate a were yarding all their calves and “large” ranch. Handling this number of feeding them throughout the winter. cattle required an investment of about The Bar U even brought all their $10,000, no small amount in those days. weaker cows into home shelters, and by Compared to the smaller farmer or the end of the decade they reportedly squatter, the men who could afford fed seven hundred calves and two such investments were reaping the hundred cows in sheds. Even bulls were benefits of a considerable profit despite kept close to home. These strategies some fluctuations in market prices. In resulted in virtually no winter loss. 1886 the Bar U reported a clear profit of Adequately refrigerated stockcars, over $133,000, and the Walrond Ranch warehouses and steamships invented in paid shareholders a 35% dividend in the last decade of the nineteenth the same year. In 1888, one year after century soon made it possible to send the disastrous winter, the Canadian beef dressed meat in excellent condition market was in such a buoyant state that throughout the entire year. This it was impossible to meet eastern progress would stimulate new strategies Canada’s demand for cattle. By 1890, for feeding cattle so larger stockmen cattle companies had firmly established could finish their stock in a way that themselves in the British market, and allowed for sales at times other than the livestock industry in Western the fall. Cattle owners with not much Canada was flourishing. stock faced the problem of not being Things changed significantly when able to fill an entire boxcar, and so the “middleman” entered the picture, access to adequate transport was visiting the individual cattle owners difficult for them; but the large and offering them immediate payment stockmen would thrive under these for their stock. The cattle buyer then

66 combined his purchases to easily fill exports from ranching country were G railway boxcars, while the producer steady and profitable in this time Interior of the Burns meat packing settled for a smaller but guaranteed period, and revealed the domination of plant in Calgary. Burns, whom profit. By the end of the century some the export industry in the entire cattle Grant MacEwan termed the “master merchant of meat” also buyers also doubled as meat packers, business. The southern Alberta built abattoirs and packing houses with the large firms of Pat Burns and ranching district alone accounted for near railway centres for easy Company of Calgary and the Gordon, almost half the yearly exports. access to market. (c. 1900) Ironside and Fares company of Once the homesteader began Glenbow Museum / NA-2351-4 Winnipeg dominating the industry. arriving in cattle country, there was Burns, whom Grant MacEwan termed a shift from public grazing to leased the “master merchant of meat” also acreages and direct ownership and, built abattoirs and packing houses near as a rule, herd sizes became smaller. railway centres for easy access to The influence of the big companies market. His dynamic success resulted declined. Many of the new ranchers in the shifting of the country’s meat who would flourish in the early part packing industry from eastern Canada of the century, like A.E. Cross, had to the West. worked on large ranches in the early By the turn of the century fully years and now bought their own half of the cattle shipped to Great smaller and more manageable spreads Britain came from western Canada. with an eye on adequate location. Prices for choice four-year old steers, Reduced acreages meant that cattle which reached $45 in 1897 remained at owners had to pasture their cattle more that excellent level until 1905. Beef carefully, and winter feed was often

67 CHAPTER ONE necessary. Some planted forage crops his A7 Ranche was well-established, and for feed, and winter shelter for cattle he also founded and held the majority went up on many operations. share in the Calgary Brewing and The beef market began declining Malting Company. Until 1910 Cross after 1906 with a beef surplus and shrewdly bought land from the falling prices. The picture that emerges government and railway in strategic during this period is one of an industry locations that provided adequate access in decline with fundamental economic to water and were close to shipping adjustment due to ongoing settlement. cars. By 1911 many homesteaders, While many large ranchers left the stung by the of the previous business altogether, those that year, were offering to sell quarter remained agitated for better conditions sections to Cross. After the winter of and would emerge as the leaders of the 1906-07, Cross wisely kept his herd cattle industry’s second generation. down to a size where he could A.E. Cross was a prime example of adequately feed them through the the new leadership in the ranching winter. He also diversified as much as community. By the turn of the century possible and generally received a top regional price for his cattle by stressing E quality through efficient feeding. In A.E. Cross (1861-1932) producing several hundred head for Owner of the A7 Ranche and President of the Calgary Brewing export market every year he and Malting Company. maintained a handsome business Glenbow Museum / NA-2307-21 outside of Alberta. Cross exhibited a rare combination of entrepreneurial spirit and caution that helped him to avoid unmanageable debt loads and thrive in the uncertain times of the early twentieth century. While A.E. Cross may have represented the new wave of successful cattleman in the twentieth century, Pat Burns was an absolute sensation as a buyer and businessman. From an industry point of view, Burns actually Calgary Malting and Brewing represented a transitional force, and his Company delivery wagon. (c. 1900) unique impact rested in the fact that he Glenbow Museum / NB-28-24 H helped revolutionize the cattle business and then dominated the industry that he changed. Burns’ beef business took off in 1886 when his friend William Mackenzie of the MacKenzie and Mann railway firm contracted him to supply meat to railway construction camps in Maine. This began a long and lucrative career for Burns as a meat trader. Mackenzie worked the same business arrangement with Burns while building railways in Saskatchewan and also constructing the Calgary and Edmonton Railway in 1890. A year later, Burns won the contract to furnish beef for the Blood Indian Reserve while at the same time providing wholesale for markets in Calgary.

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Burns’ meat business did not stop F there. By the turn of the century he was Patrick Burns ( 1856-1937) operating an abattoir near Calgary, and The “cattle king” as a young man. Glenbow Museum / NA-3965-65 had long since been shipping cattle to the West Coast and towns in the British Columbia interior. The sheer number of cattle he moved was staggering. It was estimated that in 1897 alone his operation processed almost 10,000 cattle and averaged a healthy sum of $40 per steer. His business quickly required enlarged abattoir facilities, and he added necessary components such as a power plant and cold storage rooms to prolong the slaughtering season. In the early part of the new century Burns bought up William Roper Hull’s string of meat shops and abattoir near Calgary. Over time, the “cattle king” Interior of Pat Burns and Company expanded into hogs, sheep, the dairy butcher shop. (c. 1900s) Glenbow Museum / NA-1149-4 business, poultry and eggs. H

69 G Burns changed the feeding industry marketing, and had about 45,000 tons of Pat Burns’ cattle herd near Olds, after he joined forces with Cornelius stacked wild hay. Alberta. Burns’ holding herds Duggan to buy land and hold cattle Burns accomplished what became the forerunner of the near Olds. These “holding herds” economists today call “vertical modern feedlot and helped became the forerunner of the modern integration” by controlling every step of stabilize his beefs supplies and feedlots, and helped Burns to stabilize the industrial process (in the beef prices. (c. 1904) Glenbow Museum / NA-301-1 his beef supplies and prices and move industry) from raw material to finished away from the old system of heavily product. He also accomplished the marketing cattle for low prices in the herculean task of coordinating his ranch fall. His system of cutting sufficient hay and slaughterhouse operations with his was not always copied by other future dairy operations, tanneries, ranchers who preferred leaving their creameries and numerous retail outlets cattle to graze on the range, knowing and secondary industries. As big and that the stock would lose weight in successful as Pat Burns got, he kept in winter but regain it in the spring. By touch with his humble origins by 1904 Burns was feeding about 30,000 keeping a dairy cow in the backyard of three to five-year-old steers for spring his opulent Calgary mansion.

E Pat Burns’ cow camp at Rocky Butte in the Cochrane area. From ranch spreads and feedlots, to packing plants and meat shops, Burns was able to control every step in the cattle industry. (c. 1920s) Glenbow Museum / NA-1092-17

E E The Pat Burns meat market located on the main floor of the in Calgary on the corner of 8th Avenue and 2nd Street S.E. (c. 1913) Glenbow Museum / NA-1469-38

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71

Looking To A Future of More Efficient Feeding

Pat Burns had anticipated the sending only the best fully-grown and G modern custom feedlot with his holding well-finished animals to market while Burns Feedlot in Calgary at the herd system, where large numbers of retaining lighter and rougher stock for corner of present day Glenbow and cattle were fed systematically and local consumption. The slow-paced Deerfoot Trails. Glenbow Museum / NA-4538-5 intensely for year-round marketing. At drives to railway cars and other the turn of the century the individual markets that allowed for adequate cattle farmer and rancher simply did grazing was also becoming a thing of not have the scale of operation and the past. financial means to imitate Burns. Homesteading settlement limited Nonetheless there was a gradual shift the size of livestock operations, and toward more careful cattle management placed stress on the grazing land and “finishing.” Necessity was the needed to feed cattle. It soon became mother of this trend, for the days were geographically impossible for cattle passing when cattlemen could leisurely owners to let their stock roam to graze, hold and feed their cattle for four or and moving cattle from one pasture to F five years while maintaining another became a more precise and Cattle in a feedlot operation. Note the shelter covering stacked hay manageable production costs. They carefully monitored process. The in the background. could no longer enjoy the luxury of devastation brought about by harsh and Photo Courtesy of Ted Pritchett

73 G bitterly cold winters only hastened the helped the large cattle owners for a Native Indians haying in the Fort development of more intense feeding time, but when the political forces Macleod area of Alberta. Putting practices. Livestock owners had to store turned against them, cattlemen in the up hay for winter feed became an hay in larger quantities but because drier areas followed the lead of integral part of ranching as cowboys notoriously hated haying, Mormon settlers in the area bitterly cold winters hasten the operations like the Shaddock Ranch and constructed systems. need for more intense feeding hired native Indians from nearby This not only supplied cattle with practices. Fort Macleod Museum / 80-38-2 reserves to do the job. essential water, but allowed the cattle Another concern brought on by owners to adequately water land that increased population was year-round was used to grow hay crops. The access to water supplies, especially in irrigated districts in southern Alberta semi-arid locations. The development would eventually prove to be the of the various livestock organizations birthplace of the first large-scale that lobbied for stock watering reserves custom feedlots.

E Cattle grazing next to a canal on the ranch at Big Bend on September 21st, 1902. City of Lethbridge Archives / P19640356050

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F grass in fall was not entirely Lachlin and Sarah McKinnon’s satisfactory; market supplies were wedding photo on September 20th, excessive at that time of year, and that 1893. Lachlin was born in 1865 in meant lower prices. By feeding grain Durnham, Ontario. He came west as well as hay to those first cattle in 1887 and worked at the Military through the winter, McKinnon found Colonization Co. before buying his they gained significant weight and own ranch on the Bow River. improved in quality. When spring came Glenbow Museum / NA-2198-1 around he put them back on grass before selling them for a handsome price, given the market need. That first year’s experience was so profitable that from then on Lachlin McKinnon seeded and fed to his cattle every winter, and even found the to be a useful supplement. When scores of cattlemen were devastated by the winter of 1906-07, McKinnon reported no loss in animal number or weight. Lachlin McKinnon’s feeding strategy was certainly progressive for Grain wagons at an elevator in One pioneer who showed great its time, but cattle owners with smaller Olds, Alberta. Grain became a foresight in diversifying his feeding operations, and particularly those who staple of feedlot diets as the technique was Lachlin McKinnon of the practised mixed farming, were really agricultural industry realized that LK Ranch. McKinnon learned from his the first to consistently feed hay and cattle could be raised and finished early years working for the Military even excess grain to their cattle. Central in Alberta. (c. 1905) Glenbow Museum / NA-2574-51 Colonization Company that Alberta farmers and ranchers from H would soon suffer depletion, and while there he got ample experience making hay. When he got his own spread in 1894, McKinnon immediately put up one hundred tons of hay for feed. Even with that, some cold and snowy winters forced him to purchase extra amounts. McKinnon also fenced off land close to home for holding and feeding his herds, and for a fee would allow Burns’ cattle to feed there during their winter drives. The actual method of delivering the hay to hungry cattle was usually done with a team of horses pulling a hay rack on sleigh runners to the specified feed grounds. The dinner would then be unloaded in a circular fashion to allow weaker animals to get at the food as easily as the others. In the spring of 1902 McKinnon went one step further and seeded thirty acres of “Bonanza” oats, threshed it in the fall, and then used some of the grain to finish a few cattle that winter. He did it in part because the usual practise of disposing of beef steers right off the

75 G High River north to Red Deer led the twenty-five pounds while on a hay Cattle at the Buchanan feedlot in way in this practise. A carefully and grain ration. Springbank, just west of Calgary. prepared estimate of the number of While men like McKinnon and Steers were being taken off the cattle on feed in during other small farmers were seeing the range and made “market ready” the winter of 1908-09 showed that cows value of more intense feeding right on through the winter by being fed fed on small-scale operations their home spreads, researchers at the hay and grain. outnumbered those on large ones by a experimental government farm in Glenbow Museum / NA-3420-20 scale of three to one. Larger cattlemen Brandon were coming to the same observed this and sometimes paid conclusions after conducting tests of farmers to make and supply necessary the merits of careful outdoor winter feed. Ranchers like Ed Maunsell often feeding. These findings would find an made such arrangements, and the avid supporter in Dr. J.G. Rutherford, Pearson farm south of Calgary Veterinary Director-General and consistently made their feed grounds Livestock Commissioner of the available in order to winter feed large Dominion government. His report of numbers of Burns’ cattle. 1909 dealt with the overall health and A traveller observing the cattle state of the cattle business in the West. business in the first decade of the 20th While acknowledging that there was century would notice the majority of still much territory untouched by the range stock across the foothills and settler, Rutherford emphasized that this southern Alberta area still feeding on virgin area was shrinking rapidly, and the range throughout the year, but that the free, easy and somewhat increasing amounts of tame hay, fodder wasteful methods of the rancher and grain was also being grown. Steers needed to be replaced by those of the were “fitted” for market by being taken farmer-feeder. He urged the appropriate off the range and trimmed to prime preparation of abundant feeds, proper condition through the feeding of hay observation, control and housing of and grain. It was observed that an cattle, and an especially careful process animal not only held its “grass flesh” of winter feeding. Rutherford went as when hay-fed in winter, but actually far as to say that apart from financial gained eighty to one hundred and limitations, the practice followed by

76 FROM START TO FINISH many owners of not laying in at least enough fodder to sustain life through winter was inexcusable, cruel and reprehensible. He suggested improvements in feeding and care of the livestock during the train trip to market, and made a strong plea for developing necessary technology to establish a chilled meat trade. The latter industry would be important given the fear in the international market concerning reports of disease. With respect to cattle management, Rutherford made it clear that no wild, grass-finished cattle should be shipped for export, given the resources present for winter feeding and the singular advantage it would mean in stock quality. He observed that when feeding was liberal and judicious and good water available, the grass flesh was not only at the government experimental farm G held, but gains on hay and grain could in Brandon. His report included Cattle being winter fed from a hay actually reach as high as 400 pounds. detailed suggestions as to the types, rack near Benyon. (c. 1911) Such cattle were then ready for the amounts and percentages of feed, Glenbow Museum / NA-4195-9 spring market when shipping facilities watering practises, and the construction were generally better, and the higher of buildings, fences and troughs. He demand could bring in more dollars. proposed methods of land restoration Cattle in a feedlot at Swift’s Rutherford argued for the through fertilization and made strong packing plant in Edmonton, superiority of outdoor as opposed to suggestions for carrying of cattle Alberta. (c. 1913) Glenbow Museum / NA-1328-2488 indoor feeding based on detailed testing through winter until June. H

77 CHAPTER ONE

By 1912, cattlemen were forced to change their from the start, which is kept before them constantly feeding practices in order to remain in an for six or eight months. One hundred bushels of increasingly competitive marketplace. corn is reckoned as the requirement of an ordinary steer during the feeding period. This method gives “The method of feeding which is now being rapid gains, producing better cattle, which make generally followed and which, after an experience better prices, than where limited grain rations are of twenty years of cattle feeding, the most of the fed. The disposition of a thoroughly fattened steer time in Alberta. I have myself found to give the is changed; he becomes docile and contented, ships most satisfactory results, I will describe better, and thus brings a better price at the end of briefly...First, let me say that I strongly favour his life’s journey. We have just as good of cattle feeding in the open, and that I am convinced that here as in the United States. Chopped barley, many of those who attempt feeding cattle do not and oats are fully equal to corn as a fattening feed grain with sufficient liberality to obtain the ration, but we must give the cattle all they will eat best results. This, I believe, is one reason why of it, and when we learn to do this, I contend that Canadian cattle are generally quoted on the our cattle will not sell at a lower price on the British Liverpool market one cent per pound lower than market than United States cattle.” United States cattle. In the United States feeding - Leroy Kelly districts, cattle are put on a full feed of corn almost

“Before the turn of the century [the range] was hay up to two pounds of oats a day and got through all open and if you went out and mowed around a the winter just fine on it. Because the cows did so hunk of grass and put your name on a stake and good on it, the next year he moved the steers up said it was yours you claimed that grass and you closer to home and fed them up to six pounds of could keep it for hay. Well, around 1902 my dad grain a piece a day and the grass. Did that for a was running out of hay but he had that little field couple of years, then he fenced them in and turned that he grew oats on. Most people grew wheat for it into a feedlot.” money but this [market] was closer and you could - Edwin McKinnon get cash right out of the guy’s pocket. So he G supplemented the cows that were feeding on this Cutting hay with a horse drawn mower. (n.d.) Glenbow Museum / NA-4170-5

78 These new methods and techniques the realities of population growth. G would mean hard work as well as There would be a need for better Longhorns on the feed grounds at careful and precise planning, but it was disease control, improved breeds, and a ranch in southern Alberta. confidently believed that the best beef more diversified and superior (c. 1900) Glenbow Museum / NA-4035-199 could be raised and finished in Alberta. marketing techniques. Central to all For that to happen, the animals had to this would be a more intense, careful be marketed in good condition and at and efficient system of feeding and reasonable cost. Though the home preparing cattle for market. The most market would remain strong, beef successful cattlemen were already production would also exceed local seeing the value of this; many more requirements. A revolution in the would have to embrace it in the years livestock industry was coming, given to come.

F Cattle at Swift’s feedlot in Edmonton. (c. 1913) Glenbow Museum / NA-1328-2487

79 CHAPTER ONE

G Unloading hay from a horse drawn wagon into the loft a barn. As harsh winters took their toll on livestock totals, hay became a valuable commodity for winter feed. The most successful cattlemen took this concept a step further by implementing a more intense system of feeding which prepared cattle for market year round. Glenbow Museum / NC-60-83

E Winter view of a ranch on Kneehill Creek near Carbon. Note the hay stacked on top of the feed barns and cattle being fed in the foreground. Glenbow Museum / NA-4657-12

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G Jace Mayberry with a hired man driving a wagon load of hay in front of D.M. Lobey dry goods and groceries. The bales are tied with wire. (c. 1930) Glenbow Museum / NA-4172-1

F Stacking hay on William Andrews’ farm east of De Winton. (c. 1903) Glenbow Museum / NA-3849-2

81 chapter two THE YEARS OF CHALLENGE AND CHANGE

The Changing West in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

he trickle of settlement at the homesteading years. Between 1895 to G T Scraping a pig on the Hewson turn of the century became a flood by 1914 it leaped from 30,000 to 474,000, (Darragh) Ranch near Fort Macleod. 1907, forever altering Alberta and its and in the new century’s first eleven (c. 1900) Glenbow Museum / NA-1128-4 agricultural industry. The practise of years the number of people in the cattle feeding would grow and province doubled. By World War I more F intensify, both on individual cattle than 400,000 homestead entries were in Innisfail, Alberta. farms and as a commercial activity. recorded in Saskatchewan and Alberta, As the agricultural sector took The need for diversification that and a great deal of the land that had root in Alberta’s economy, grain elevators became a symbol of the combined grain and cattle management once been occupied by ranchers gave literal and figurative change in the would be vital to the evolution in way to settlers’ ploughs. The amount of ranching frontier. (c. 1900) feeding technique. Whereas early prairie land broken for field crops grew Glenbow Museum / NA-3596-1 ranchers fed their animals on grass, exponentially in the first three decades cattlemen in the new era supplemented of the new century as wheat was F Preceding page nature’s diet with hay and some grain. considered the ticket to prosperity. Steam tractor breaking land on the Canadian wheatlands. Within a generation the use of grain as Many newcomers stocked their A 30 h.p. engine was used to pull a finishing ration would be the rule. operations with pigs, chickens and a 10 stubble ploughs and a draw Statistics clearly reveal the dramatic few cattle, and this livestock would harrow. (c. 1910) population growth in Alberta during the serve the important purpose of Glenbow Museum / NA-884-8

85 CHAPTER TWO

E Checking freight at the CPR station in Olds, Alberta. Glenbow Museum / NA-2105-3

consuming grain when market prices transportation that linked cattle feeders fell. These developments set the stage to their markets, some railway for more intensive and widespread companies began irrigation projects cattle feeding in the future. vital to sustaining and enriching land Alberta’s growth at the turn of the for agriculture. Within a few years, century was augmented by a growing family farms became dispersed widely network of railways that zig-zagged between the 49th and 60th parallels their way across the province. The CPR with heavy settlement along the was especially eager to build lines east Calgary and Edmonton Railway and of and Lacombe in order to from Red Deer south to Fort Macleod. tap the agricultural wealth of the Numerous towns sprouted along the parklands between the Calgary- rail line, and fences sprang Immigrant train en route to the Edmonton line and the Saskatchewan up as farmers defined their territory . (c. 1883) Glenbow Museum / NA-669-3 border. In addition to providing an and provided boundaries for their H essential and improved means of farming operations.

86 FROM START TO FINISH Homesteader infatuation with the possibilities of grain farming made sense because wheat was a crop well- suited to the land. Originally a drought- tolerant grass, wheat could subsist admirably on what moisture the prairies afforded, and soon crops were seen rippling across the provincial . In 1906 the western Canadian wheat harvest exceeded 100 million bushels for the first time; five years later the same area produced double that amount, and in the glorious year of 1915 the West’s wheat crop jumped to over 300 million bushes. That year most farmers were easily able to meet their debts, purchase new equipment and machinery, upgrade or replace their original homes and place considerable orders from their Eaton’s catalogue. Some were even able to Canadian West. Canada gained an G purchase that spectacular new outstanding place in world commerce Stooked wheat in a field near Gem, invention called the motorcar. because of the grain trade . Alberta. The 1915 crop year stands out as one of the most The romance with wheat continued This development forced cattle successful harvests in Alberta’s into the next decade, and by 1923 ranchers to acknowledge changes in the history. This land yielded 70 Canada was number one in the world way agriculture would be carried out in bushels per acre. (Oct. 15, 1915) in grain production and maintained the future. Although they were not so Glenbow Museum / NA-2179-34 that pace throughout the roaring naive to think their hold over the open twenties. At its height in 1928, total range would last forever, even the most production exceeded 566 million innovative cattlemen were challenged bushels. The period between the close by the astounding rate of settlement. of World War I and the Great Ranchers who once based their Depression in the thirties marked the enterprises on one head of cattle per high point of the wheat economy in the ten to thirty acres were now confronted

F on Arrid Carlson’s farm north of , Alberta on September 26th, 1915. Glenbow Museum / NA-4046-1

87 CHAPTER TWO with homesteaders prepared to base distinguish them from the original their entire operation on 160 to 320 inhabitants, but the new political and acres. Some cattlemen sold out social structure contrasted sharply completely, reasoning that money with the early British and Canadian gained from selling appreciated land ranching establishment. was preferable to risking new and The unstoppable march of progress unproven methods of cattle raising. meant that the glorious old days of Other ranchers moved to less crowded driving and feeding cattle on the open areas of the province, and some simply plains was largely over. Old-timers scaled down. looked to “the last great roundup of American cattlemen and farmers 1907” as a symbolic event that marked that immigrated preferred to settle in the passing of the era where a cowboy southeastern areas of the province and could ride miles without any sign of many became successful and influential, fences or farms. As early as 1901 a directing much of their product to the Pincher Creek rancher bluntly admitted Chicago market. The once dominant to the Macleod Gazette that the day of British and Canadian cattlemen stayed the free range was over, and that the in the western foothills region, only alternative to change was to get generally decreased their operations, out of the cattle business. As abrupt an and continued to prepare cattle for assessment as that was, the fact is that Cattle grazing in a southern Britain. The reconfiguration of grazing many ranchers did sell out after 1907, Alberta coulee valley during the country also changed the region’s social and this only accelerated the influx of depression years. (c. 1930) and cultural structure. Not only did the grain farmers. Others embraced change City of Lethbridge Archives / P19754409074 H economic pursuits of most newcomers and incorporated new techniques, but

88 FROM START TO FINISH

most tried to preserve as much as the first decade of the twentieth. G possible the work styles reminiscent Leisure pursuits such as horse racing The F. Collicutt Ranch near of the glory days of the open range. and polo continued but other sports Crossfield, Alberta was an example Throughout all this, the wheat grower like fox hunting were curtailed due to of diversification in the cattle industry. Mixed farming practices happily took centre stage and only later increased fencing. In the social realm, and the development of feed crops did he realize the need to embrace a the ranching community remained allowed for greater flexibility to more cautious and diversified strong and the Ranchmen’s Club adapt to adverse conditions. approach to farming. flourished. Leading personalities (c. 1924) Glenbow Museum / ND-8-99 Despite a reduction in scope, cattle among the cattlemen who took centre ranching continued to be a profitable stage in the new century included and important business in southern George Lane and A.E. Cross from the Alberta, and a strong and stable foothills region and the seemingly geographical centre of the ranching omnipresent Pat Burns. Together with community was maintained. The core businessman Archie J. McLean, these area of “cattle country” reached north men spearheaded the first Calgary from Fort Macleod and the Oldman Stampede in 1912. River and around the flanks of the Ranchers and farmers eventually Porcupine Hills up to Millarville, overcame their antagonism of earlier Priddis, and Cochrane in the Bow days and learned to live together as Valley. Much of the lifestyle that politicking gave way to mutual respect ranchers enjoyed in the late nineteenth and the recognition that they had to century also continued to be visible in cooperate to survive new realities in

89 CHAPTER TWO the marketplace. They also influenced By the early 1940s, having together each another in ways that would survived difficult times, farmers and revolutionize the cattle feeding ranchers had created a new agricultural industry. Within a generation Alberta reality in Alberta. The effects of this for farmers became stock-raisers, and cattle cattle feeding practice was significant. ranchers embraced practices like It was not uncommon to see a well- sowing tame hay and various feed conducted ranch surrounded by several crops, and bought tractors and haying hundred acres of highly tilled land, equipment to produce their own feed seeded to coarse grains which would be oats. Many smaller stockmen became chopped to “beef in the making” over mixed farmers. The social distinction the winter. The old idea of only raising between ranchers and farmers blurred, “grass beef” and selling once a year was and their work became more long gone; grain, forage crops and hay Eight binders at work near interdependent. This new cooperative became staples in cattle feeding and if Rosebud. Many farmers became mindset between farmer and cattleman cattle owners were not preparing their stockmen and many ranchers took was inevitable, given the fact that a own feed, they were contracting out to up mixed farming practices. The major one-crop wheat economy and a get it done. Often owners would sell social distinction between the two minor local one-crop beef economy their cattle to operators who were groups blurred and a cooperative could not coexist for any length of time. capable of finishing or hire farmers mindset resulted. (n.d.) The foundation for a more varied and to feed their cattle hay and grain in Glenbow Museum / NC-26-270 H planned economy was being laid down. order to prepare them for market.

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“The lush, long grass is gone. Cattle now must or tables in my feed lot standing about two feet be fed all through the winter months. Great high, fourteen feet long and two feet wide with sides quantities of hay must be put up. Many herds are of four and six inches. On these, whole oats are driven out of the hills at the approach of winter to poured, starting with a light ration and working feed on the wheat and oat straw stacks of the up until they have all they will eat hungrily. The prairie farmer. Ranching has become stock object is to keep the babies fat, so that they may go farming, but as an industry it is by no means dead. out onto the green grass plump and sleek. Now, we We have been forced to change our methods. The plan to sell out beef at two years old, and when first easy, general way of bringing in cattle, turning they weigh one thousand pounds or eleven hundred them out to graze, and rounding them up to sell pounds....a two year old [used to be] gangling, lank, has had to change to the more arduous system of and unfinished, but with feed and the proper time, feeding and caring for them at all times. There is he is now baby beef. This is one reason why now more expense, more anxiety, more attention Herefords have become so popular. They develop to detail, and less profit. Now our weaning calves early and evenly. A Shorthorn grows first and are put into feed lots with an open shed facing fattens afterward.” south. Low racks are placed along the sides or down - Frederick William Ings the centre into which the feed is put, easily within the reach of the little fellows. We feed them oat G bundles, hay, native or cultivated, and wheat Cattle grazing in central Alberta. By the 1910s, raising cattle on grass alone bundles, if they are cut green, and make good feed. had become a thing of the past. Farmers were forced to rethink the entire My calves get Timothy hay, sweet clover, oat process of cattle ranching. Only those who were able to adapt survived this bundles, and good oat straw. There are flat troughs transition in the cattle industry. (c. 1900) Glenbow Museum / ND-8-143

91

Progress On a Number of Fronts

Tremendous progress was made government started agricultural schools G in the agricultural industry during the in Olds, Vermilion and Claresholm in Advance Rumely Oil-Pull tractor on first half of the twentieth century. With 1913. Cattle rearing and stock feeding a railway flat car in Calgary. It is believed that this new piece of smaller herds, limited pasture, and tests began, and professorial staff farming technology was brought to volatile markets, the cattle feeder lectured at agricultural meetings and Calgary for an Agricultural embraced innovation and depended on served as livestock judges at county Exhibition. (c. June 1919) the contributions of scientific fairs and shows. Glenbow Museum / NA-5354-7 agriculture. Cattle feeding became more There were advances in the widespread and intense with the need veterinary sciences that resulted in to more efficiently finish cattle for year- many common livestock ailments being round markets. Feeders recognized and controlled or eliminated. Cattle owners utilized new machinery and methods. were eventually able to inoculate cattle Advanced strategies in cattle housing against various diseases, and cures for and the layout of fences and troughs cattle abortion and milk fever were reflected a more streamlined approach discovered. Expensive livestock was to fattening and finishing cattle. less frequently destroyed because All the western provinces diagnosis improved and new cures for established schools of agriculture to diseases were discovered and applied. encourage research in animal science The establishment of the Health of and husbandry, and range Animals Branch in the Northwest management. In 1906 the Manitoba Territories in 1902 provided a body Agricultural College was built, and dedicated to eradicating livestock F the establishment in 1910 of the epidemics, and the Contagious ‘Doc’ J.A. Dunnigan administering Saskatchewan Agricultural College Diseases Act in 1903 assisted the new Blackleg serum to a steer in a introduced to the West a scientific organization. The federal government chute at the Burns feedlot in Calgary. The remnants of dehorning dimension to agriculture that had also played a leading role in educating can be seen on the ground. already existed at Guelph’s Ontario cattle owners about disease, and after (c. 1921) Agricultural College. The Alberta 1905 both Alberta and Saskatchewan Glenbow Museum / NA-4974-4

93 CHAPTER TWO received their own veterinary superintendents under the federal Health of Animals Branch. Tuberculin testing, blackleg inoculation and dipping for mange constituted three of the most important functions of veterinary inspectors. It took some time before feeding strategy incorporated medicinal purposes, mainly because feeding itself was a relatively uncomplicated and uncontrolled process in the early days. As time went on however, feeders on ranches like the LK saw the wisdom of combining additives such as sulphur with the regular feed in order to treat diseases like coccidiocis. Cattle would not consume the substance directly because of its bitterness, but when combined with some tasty feed it was found that a little bit of hay helped the medicine go down. Another important sign of progress was a developing press that provided farmers and ranchers with a valuable educational vehicle. Monthly periodicals like the Nor’-West Farmer and Canadian Cattlemen offered practical advice on a wide range of topics. Large-scale and speedier production and specialization were also key features of the agricultural revolution, just as they were for all

G Veterinary inspector watching cattle swim through a dipping vat of a solution prepared to treat the spread of mange. (c. 1910) City of Lethbridge Archives / P19770285050

E Vaccinating calves with the Blackleg vaccine. “It [the needle] has to be inserted in a fold of the skin on the shoulder and under the skin. When done in the spring and in the fall, it renders the animal immune against Blackleg.” (c. 1905) Glenbow Museum / NA-1966-47

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“We continued to join in the regular roundups beasts which we would cut out for him in the fall. as our stock would often wander to distant parts Their brands were often just blotches and scabs of the range country and the dipping was still a and it generally took a great deal of extra time and necessary operation in which we took part. The patience to sort them all out. The dipping was a roundup became more and more complicated as source of trouble as many of the farmers would the farmers increased their small herds and often not be convinced that it was necessary to dip their came to help, mounted bareback on a plow horse stock and often refused to pay the assessment per wearing a blind and a couple of mongrel head for animals receiving the treatment. It dogs running and yelping in every direction. As a required the combined efforts of the two regular rule these fellows were far more of a nuisance than mange inspectors, Campbell Evans along with Gus they were of any use and the dogs naturally added Holmes, to persuade them to dip their stock and to the confusion. Occasionally a farmer would then pay the dipping fees.” come on foot. His few cattle were raised by hand - Lachlin McKinnon and were gentle when turned loose in the spring G and he would often refuse even to claim the wild Dipping cattle at a federal government constructed vat in southern Alberta. Fort Macleod Museum / 80-92-1

“I left school the end of June 1929. I arrived at was shovelled into the feed troughs. The drinking the Old Place at the river and started to work for water for the beef cattle was pumped by hand from LK Ranch and Farming Company. The main effort, shallow wells into wooden troughs. One forkfull of besides the usual chores and the small amount of cut feed, one shovel-full of ground grain and twenty farming that was left to do was directed towards strokes on the pump for each animal was about readying the corrals and equipment of the feedlot average. This labour intensive system was operation for the next winter. The grain grinding gradually changed into the highly mechanized facility was improved and a temporary feed storage situation that we have today. Feed additives were place was made out of bundle racks. They were a new thing and some were good, like making black used for threshing and were placed on edge to form loam available. The cattle seemed to like it. a rectangle eight feet high. The feed put through Although it was not until later, when it was the feedcutter was blown into this rectangle. This developed that antibiotics were discovered and feed was then measured onto the feed wagon by cultured on black loam. Ground flax was added the fork-full. Then grain measured on the top of it and was later proven to be detrimental. Salt, from the chop-bin, by the scoop-full. Then the load bonemeal and powdered limestone are still used.” - Edwin A. McKinnon

95 CHAPTER TWO

E Breaking land at Standard. A water wagon is behind the Reeves steam engine, replenishing its water supply. (c. 1920) Glenbow Museum / NA-3969-68

sectors of business during the industrial replaced the earlier machinery. Those revolution. They resulted in the who had the means embraced the new evolution of modern methods of farming technology. George Lane of the Bar U and ranching, and the introduction of Ranch bought the biggest steam tractor new and better machinery. available in 1912, and Charles Noble of Mechanization in Alberta occurred the Cameron Ranch sent ten steamers more quickly on southern farms than to break land in 1918, accompanied by in the north but regardless of the pace one hundred men working around the Baling hay from stack. Balers and of change, progress was unstoppable. clock to break 400 acres of ground daily. threshing machines driven by belt The number of horses on Alberta Cattlemen also employed better power from steam engines farms between 1921 and 1951 dropped methods, materials and strategies in replaced hayslides and manual significantly as literal horsepower was building barns, corrals and fences, and separators. The Letz Mill took replaced by steam tractors, gas tractors, over time various feed crushers and advantage of steam power to and trucks. A variety of ploughs, mixers made life easier for those who create feed for animals by cultivators and seeders, hay cutters, fed cattle. Alex Gillespie was one cattle chopping and mixing rations. binders and threshing machines owner who used a “Letz mill” to Fort Macleod, Alberta. (c. 1900) became necessities over the years, prepare feed. Gillespie fed cattle on a Glenbow Museum / NA-3263-3 H and eventually balers and combines small spread near Calgary and around 1930 purchased the mill to cut oat straw into silage. Straw was forked in from one end and combined with surplus grain. The feed mixture was chopped by grinding plates in the mill and the finished product fell into a receptacle at the bottom of the machine. From there a blower would propel it into a wagon, which was used to transport the feed to troughs where the hungry animals eagerly waited. Sometimes the standard feed of hay, straw and oat grain was supplemented by a surface sprinkling of linseed or soybean meal, and salt and monocalcium mix was occasionally added as well.

96 Gillespie’s Letz mill was powered Progressive stockmen in Alberta G by a 15-30 McCormick Deering tractor always saw the need for irrigation Chopping feed in a hammer mill at equipped with a threshing machine because of unpredictable weather and the E.P. Ranch on the Pekisko Creek. This hammer mill is belt belt. Within a couple of years the mill especially in dry land areas that propelled by a production model was augmented by an overhead bin extended eastward from the foothills. Fordson tractor. (c. 1923) with sloping floor that fed grain into As early as 1878 John Glenn, a farmer Glenbow Museum / NA-4613-9 the machine. The grain for the bin was south of Calgary, took water from Fish stored in movable granaries. This “state- Creek to irrigate twenty acres. The of-the-art” equipment certainly did not farmers from Springbank, west of eliminate the need for hard work. Straw Calgary, organized a district irrigation and hay was forked in manually and project in 1896, taking water from Elbow finished feed had to be shovelled into River to irrigate up to 20,000 acres. the blower for transfer to the wagon. The more widespread development Once there, the feed ration was of irrigation was a gradual but delivered to the troughs via a shovel or continuous process that began in the special fork. Early feeders like Gillespie 1890s and unfolded in three phases. moved the food to his animals in a Soon after the North West Irrigation wagon or box set on sleighs and pulled Act, became law in 1894, large by horse teams. The process was slow, irrigation companies like the Galt but this was before the time when Railway Company began to operate. gasoline powered trucks, automobiles The Canadian Pacific Railway, with a and tractors revolutionized and soft spot in its heart for developing quickened work on farms and ranches. southern Alberta’s agricultural When modern and speedier machinery economy, also set out to make dry did become available, Eastern-based lands blossom with alfalfa, vegetables, farm implement firms set up an sugar beets and cattle. extensive network of distributorships The first phase of irrigation was the throughout western Canada and made company-built or commercial phase, enticing credit term offers to farmers. and lasted until the 1920s. This gave

97 CHAPTER TWO only 8400 people Lethbridge hosted the Seventh International Dry Farming Congress in October of 1912, and researchers and leaders of the new science gathered to discuss new methods and approaches. More than 40,000 people passed through the city’s gates during the six-day event, and the congress attracted delegates from Russia, Germany, Austria, Holland, Persia and China. Authorities informed the public about new machinery, cultivation and summer fallowing practice as well as range management and the growing of grasses and legumes. They exchanged information on the use of farm power and windbreaks, and the behaviour of G way to the districts phase after the markets. Lethbridge thus became the Cattle grazing next to an irrigation Irrigation Districts Act was passed in leading Canadian city in the new canal in southern Alberta. After 1915. During this time the provincial science of irrigation. This was a time the North West Irrigation Act went government supervised a number of when land-hungry immigrants were into effect in 1894, irrigation individually owned and operated rushing in; in 1910 alone the Lethbridge canals became a common site in the drier regions of southern projects. A more strictly government- Lands Office reported almost five Alberta. (c. 1901) developed phase began after the thousand homestead applications. City of Lethbridge Archives / P19640356004 second World War. Stockmen had always led the way in Towns such as Bassano and Brooks embracing irrigation techniques with a sprung up and grew because of the view to improving methods of feeding development of irrigation, but their stock and replacing more wasteful Lethbridge soon became the centre open range methods with intensive associated with the new and growing ranch farming. These new ranch practise. While still a fledgling city of farmers participated in the first

E A horse powered pile driver on the main irrigation canal in the Monarch area of the Eastern Irrigation District. (c. 1922) Glenbow Museum / NA-5200-108

98 FROM START TO FINISH tentative experiments in irrigation which involved diverting creeks to increase hay cropping. They also controlled calf crops by herding bulls separately from cows and began fencing more extensively to protect herds from scrub bulls. Once the calving season was regulated, calves were weaned in the fall so mothers had a chance to recover before facing the difficulties of winter. Charles Noble was a good example of a farmer and cattleman who carefully and thoughtfully embraced innovation and progress in the years of challenge and change. One of the many Americans who came north to Canada at the turn of the century in response to the promise of fertile fields and the good life, Noble homesteaded near Claresholm in 1902. He later bought developed the innovative “Noble blade” G five thousand acres of land near which was used to effectively cultivate The original Noble blade invented Lethbridge where he commenced a and plough land so easily ravaged by by Charles Noble in 1936, large-scale farming operation. He would human overuse and nature’s patented in 1942 and restored for eventually place over 30,000 acres the town of ’s 60th unpredictabilities. under cultivation, harvest excellent anniversary in 1969 (shown here). By operating as he did, Noble crops, irrigate and fertilize his land, Glenbow Museum / NA-4884-29 illustrated what would be necessary for and feed livestock. Over the years cattlemen, farmers and feeders to be Noble kept in step with the latest successful in the first half of the developments in mechanization and twentieth century. He was an astute incorporated equipment deemed businessman, he never stopped necessary for his operation. He educating himself about the agricultural business, and he exemplified the wisdom of diversification. Certainly F Charles S. Noble; innovative other cattlemen and farmers who were farmer and stockgrower. The town more specialized were also successful, of Nobleford was named after him. but Noble’s example reflects how the (c. 1920s) Glenbow Museum / NA-4884-2 cattle business from 1907 to World War II underwent certain fundamental changes; grain farming became a fixture in Alberta, advanced, and the market economy became more complex and unpredictable. Some became victims of change; others, like Noble, met the challenge by integrating grain and cattle management to maximize land fertility and feed his cattle.

99

Depression and Diversification

The first half of the twentieth good and marginal agricultural lands. G century was not a problem-free time of Scientific studies conducted over the Threshing machine and progress; it was marked by some bitter years would confirm that the plains Minneapolis tractor partially realities that broke the heart and region south of and east buried by wind blown soil. The drive wheels of this tractor are willpower of numerous once-optimistic of the foothills was a water-deficient spec’d at 84” giving a good homesteaders. The century began with area, and that these and many parts of indication of the amount of government propaganda promising Palliser’s triangle should never have drifting. Ironically, the threshing fortune, and lured many to stake their been broken for grain growing machine is covered to protect it fortunes in grain farming. Soon cattle purposes. During the good years from moisture and rain. (c. 1933) could only stare forlornly through extravagant use of machinery on Glenbow Museum / NA-2291-2 barbed wire fences at thousands of marginal lands exacted an insidious and acres of wheat covering land once heavy toll as farmers mined the land used for grazing. instead of conserving it. The early Excitement sometimes results in prosperity of the twentieth century had caution being thrown to the wind. a quality of artificiality about it, and the Wheat ascended the throne as king, but confidence that abounded among it would prove to be an unpredictable farmers in the first decade of the and even fickle monarch. Settlers who twentieth century gradually evaporated. F entered the West in the early twentieth Fields that once produced Soil piling up against a fence at century were not able to discriminate, wonderful harvests became damaged the Agricultural Experimental Farm especially on the basis of the and impoverished. The newcomers station near Lethbridge. (c. 1920s) government’s propaganda, between operated on an extensive rather than Glenbow Museum / NA-4357-2

101 CHAPTER TWO intensive basis, hoping that large area up over-relying on grain crops in the farming would make up for small profit arid regions, and when drought came in per acre. Few were thinking about the late teens, disaster followed. potential damage to the land, especially As early as 1912 some farmers who in the heady years of growth and were buoyant about the prospects of healthy income. Hindsight would reveal winter wheat were dismayed by poor that these practices gave rise to waste yields. A series of dry years that began and thus in the very heyday of their in 1917 combined with grasshopper triumph, many farmers were sowing infestation and a drop in world grain the seeds of future problems. Soil prices to deliver a triple blow to the inevitably lost its fibre under a one-crop once-optimistic farmer. Things got so Brush fence made of poplar economy; erosion became more acute; bad that southern ranchers imported branches laid out to stop soil weeds increased; losses from insects hay from as far away as Edmonton. The drifting in the Namaka Lake and plant disease grew as a problem government stepped in to help in 1920, region. (April 29, 1931) and soil fertility diminished. Farmers buying and shipping feed from Glenbow Museum / NA-2179-53 H inexperienced in the new land ended northern farmers to those in need elsewhere in the province. There was full-time work for many men willing to haul sheaves from fields to box cars, and then load them for transport to areas where hungry cattle waited. The feed weighed at elevators sold for as high as forty dollars a ton. In 1921 there was widespread drought in Palliser’s triangle, and within five years more than 10,000 Alberta farms had been abandoned. Where once a small flow of immigrants become a flood within a few years, now the same momentum could be seen operating in reverse; from 1905 to 1930 nearly 46% of all homesteaders failed and a whopping seven of ten eventually abandoned their land. The dirty thirties continued the downward slide of the wheat economy. In 1930 grain receipts fell to $73 million from the 1929 total of $135 million, and in the disastrous year of 1937, the total would plunge to $16 million. Throughout this time the federal government stepped in to help, beginning dry land reclamation projects in the 1920s that involved a system of cultivation and tilling to prevent moisture loss. But the cultivation literally pulverized the soil in a manner that would cause it to be easily blown about. This in turn led to the dust storms of the “dirty thirties”, when further drought and wind made a mockery of the so-called “modern” farming techniques of the previous decade. By the time the federal government established the Prairie

102 FROM START TO FINISH

“The [Southern Alberta Survey] board says you When there is some ready to sell he would then must keep some stock and milk cows and have pigs have 40 to 45 head of stock around him. It would and chickens. Quite so. No farm is a farm without take at least 800 acres to pasture this much stock, them. Now comes the rub to a nice little farm like and I refer to our late member, Archie McLean, to that in the dry belt. I has been conceded and proven verify this statement. Mr. McLean had the good by the best authorities and those that have tried sense to sell and get out when once the free range it, that 25 acres perhaps is only sufficient for was coming to an end. So much for our nice little pasturage. Now a man must have six horses to plow dry farm.” with, to make a living off the land. He must have - Wm G. Wenbourne fifteen cows. There will be calves and so forth till Letter to the editor, some will be ready for market, thirty or forty head. Lethbridge Herald, 1922

“The relentless winter of 1919-20 settled down gone. Prices fell lower and lower. It would have to take its tremendous toll of cattle. Feed was scarce paid us to have gone out and shot what cattle we after a summer of drought. Crops were poor, the had that fall. Jim Wallace was broke and so was straw of what wheat grew was short and dry; oats, many another cattle man. No one in the business which need more moisture, were not in existence; has ever quite recovered from that year.” hay was thin and scarce. The country was - Frederick William Ings practically without feed. The winter started the last Born and raised in week of September and was Charlottetown, P.E.I., Fred with us, hard and steady, Ings spent his youth in till the last of May. Prices England, and on the of all fodder soared to sea. In 1882 he moved to unheard of heights. I the west where he worked bought hay shipped in moving cattle into the bales from the North, at mountains to supply $65.00 a ton. A ton of hay camps of the C.P.R. goes like summer snow surveyors and engineers. before a bunch of hungry In 1883 he purchased land cattle. Tons innumerable on the north fork of the were needed to carry even Highwood River calling it small herds through. A the Rio Alto Ranch. He bunch like Mr. Wallace bought his first cattle from had, cost many tens of Oliver Henry Smith and thousands of dollars to took ownership of the feed. That was not the end. familiar OH brand. He In the spring, if we could continued to operate the be said to have had spring Rio Alto Ranch in that year, the cattle lay partnership with his down and died - hundreds brother Walter until 1902. of cattle that had been kept At that time, he purchased alive to this point with feed Joe Trollinger’s stopping worth almost its weight in gold. Mr. Wallace had place on Mosquito Creek between Fort Macleod and no beef to ship in the spring. What was left was Fort Calgary and established the Midway Ranch gaunt and thin. It took all summer to bring them which he ran until his death in 1936. back to the condition they had been in when that blizzard broke, and then the Fordney Tariff Bill G went through in the U.S.A. and our market was Frederick William Ings. (c. 1920) Glenbow Museum / NA-3627-27

103 CHAPTER TWO

“Palliser’ s triange” “fertile belt” EDMONTON N or th

S a s k a t RED DEER ch e r w ve a i n R

CALGARY R SASKATOON e d A R. r ow D e s lb v s E e i i B e n ow r iver R R i

b R S n o o i i u

a n v th e w e O r e h R l ive Sa c R r ska t d i man u’ A v Q p e MEDICINE HAT pel le R r LETHBRIDGE iver REGINA WINNIPEG BRANDON CANADA

S UN o r ITIED u ve STATES r i i R s d Ri e v R e r

Palliser’s Triangle

From 1857 to 1859, the Royal Geographic time span between 1870 and 1882 has been Society of Britain sponsored a careful scientific termed the “free grass” years as the newly expedition of western Canada under the formed Canadian government was yet to impose leadership of . Palliser’s three-year strict legislation regarding settlement. study of virtually the entire region from the Red Palliser’s report was not be the only River to the resulted in a influential one; twenty years after his comprehensive report, and division of the region conclusions, another expedition was carried out into zones of varying agricultural potential. by University of Toronto biologist James Macoun. Palliser judged millions of acres across the In an official 1882 report entitled “Manitoba and northern regions to be a “fertile belt”, but he also The Great North West”, Macoun vigorously concluded that much of the southern country argued that western Canada contained immense was too dry for farming. The latter region tracts of land that represented a veritable stretched eastward from southern Alberta into agricultural Eden. In fact, he claimed that southern Saskatchewan, and northward to form Palliser’s “triangle” was virtually nonexistent, what became known as “Palliser’s triangle”. and that there was an abundance of fertile soil These conclusions provided a strong rationale for and grass for grazing. The federal government of cattle ranching as opposed to farming. Wilfred Laurier, anxious to settle the West with There was a period between Palliser’s report homesteaders, leaned heavily on accounts such and the beginning of the first large ranch in as Macoun’s and highlighted them when southern Alberta of about twenty years. This advertising the region to potential homesteaders.

104 Farm Rehabilitation Act of 1935, there A cyclical market economy, G was common admission that a great combined with harsh weather and the Dairy cattle and hogs at George deal of southern Alberta had been unfit fragility of natural resources eventually Lane’s mixed farming operation at for the type of farming done, and that convinced cattlemen of the need for Namaka. Diversification to include such practises allowed ranchers insufficient agricultural research had diversification. Soon milk cows and to be less dependant on any one led to devastating consequences. even pigs were part of many farms, source of income. (c. 1922) While wheat farming was in its allowing for cash flow from cream and Glenbow Museum / ND-8-121 heyday in the second decade of the pork. The cattle herd could consume century, a number of voices began excess grain. Farmers who diversified calling for diversification, but as soon as farmers were convinced of the merits of mixed operation, a good crop would come along and diversification would “I have dried out five years in be forgotten. In time, however, the succession. I have had a leg broke wisdom of harmonizing , grain twice and fractured once; a little crops and livestock was generally over two years ago I could have recognized. Diversification would allow drawed all the money I wanted to cattle to contribute manure to fertilize off the bank to buy feed during the fields and improve soil, and crops could coming winter, but I would not be sold for cash or (in the case of have it. I said I had bought feed glutted markets) used to feed and finish for cattle for two years and I livestock. Combining cattle feeding would not do it a third. I went and with grain farming would also balance sold them. I went to the bank and natural resources that would in turn paid every cent that I owed them.“ result in good nutrition, good soil, and -Charles Harod, 1922 good farming.

105 G this way became among the most self- spring should not be over- Charles Noble standing waist high sufficient in the West. In addition to grazed in the previous fall or winter. in a wheat crop on Noble Farms. selling wheat they could butcher Weight gain decreases in cattle were Noble wisely used a variety of homegrown feeds including livestock when they needed meat, found to coincide with a decrease in surplus and low grade to drink milk from their cows, eat eggs adequate protein content, but an feed and market cattle. (c. 1911) and pork, make their own butter, and increase of carbohydrates in forage Glenbow Museum / NA-4884-16 cook with cream. Though wheat fed during autumn allowed cattle to remained the primary cash crop, withstand low winter temperatures. considerable land was reclaimed for its Agricultural researchers urged natural use. By the thirties livestock cattlemen to consider deferred and numbers rose and so did land dedicated practices to allow to pasture, fodder and feed grains. maximum feeding value per unit Mixed farming was firmly in place area of pasture. after World War II. The practical application of these Cattle feeders in the years of findings became critical during the challenge and change had access to 1920s when old markets disappeared valuable scientific findings from and new ones demanded a higher research centres which also encouraged quality of meat, due in part to the mixed farming as a means of balancing introduction of a beef grading system in income. Available information educated 1928. With operations more limited in the cattle owner on the nutritional size, ranchers had to intensify their value of feeds and strategies for operations to improve herd quality. feeding. In 1926 the University of The dirty thirties only accentuated this Alberta’s College of Agriculture need for resourcefulness. Thoughtful produced research showing that the feeders increasingly used grain for feed feeding of alfalfa followed by oat hay and some smaller farmers used had excellent nutritional value, “screenings”, the weed seeds and especially when protein supplements broken kernels of oats, wheat and were lacking. In order to combine barley, as a food supplement. sufficient roughage with green grass Screenings could be acquired from that was high in protein and water government elevators or flour mills, content, scientists also suggested that and were delivered in box cars.

106 FROM START TO FINISH Often as fine as dust, this supplement good years. Noble wisely used a variety provided decent nutrition and saved of homegrown feeds including surplus already busy farmers from more work and low grade wheats, and excess oats grinding grain and straw. and barley to feed and market cattle. Even though thousands of drought- Roughage was used in cereal silage driven refugees began leaving Alberta form, cut before it reached maturity so in the twenties and thirties, it was clear it could offer high food value. Even the that progressive cattle owners and weeds growing in the crops were feeders who diversified could survive arrested and translated to useful and the worst of times. Charles Noble was edible feed. In 1934, during a time an excellent example. His respect for when cattle feeding and the livestock the land and skill in blending the industry was in the throes of drought various components of the farming and depression, Noble shipped a good business helped him succeed despite quantity of Red Leaf beef cattle to suffering some huge financial losses Britain through the Southern Alberta during the difficult years. Co-operative Association. The cattle Armed with knowledge and sent had been purchased the autumn experience in both the cattle and grain before and brought to a profitable finish business, Noble operated a fine feeding through the winter by following a Railway cattle cars were used to operation. His farm was located near careful feeding plan. Charles Noble transport cattle to the larger the town of Nobleford (named after illustrated how cattle feeding was eastern markets. Many of these him), and though it was neither the becoming a more strategic and even animals were exported to Britain smallest nor largest feedlot in Alberta, scientific enterprise within a more and other foreign countries. Photo Courtesy of Ted Pritchett it was successful in both the lean and diversified agricultural approach. H

107

Life and Times in the Cattle Business

By 1920 a traveller across a “typical” large operation in the teens G southern Alberta would have passed a and twenties, consisting of nearly 1,500 Aerial view showing cattle being variety of agricultural enterprises acres of deeded land and some 20,000 cut out in corrals for branding and differing in scale, objectives and acres of leased territory. Most of the shipment. The grazing cattle in the methods. Many grain farms would have deeded property was eventually fenced, background are separated by a barbed wire fence. been seen in the eastern part of the some crop land broken, and the ranch City of Lethbridge Archives / P19760205010 province, with some cattle grazing in operation featured about 600 cattle. The bottom lands. Toward the foothills a EP represented a trend in which cattle number of modestly sized ranches, owners, regardless of size, had to numbering their herds in the hundreds improve their herds and intensify rather than thousands, would be their operations. observed. The more accessible fields This situation was exactly what the were fenced and land was broken to federal and provincial governments grow fodder crops. On the impressive wanted. They believed more cattle grazing areas in higher foothills and could be produced for market with reserves, some purebred herds of thousands of farmers providing high F cattle and young steers would be seen quality stock, as opposed to a smaller The EP Ranch in the Rocky feeding to their heart’s delight. The EP number of huge operations. While Foothills was a typical large ranch in the 1920s. Ranch centered near Pekisko Creek was some larger herds still remained, Photo Courtesy of Grant MacEwan

109 CHAPTER TWO middle-sized ranchmen became the application that he had changed with norm, but the largest ranching the times and was willing to do all operations still fared better than the kinds of ranch work. smaller ones when faced with Ranchers in the foothills region got difficulties. The bigger cattle companies into the regular habit of preparing more could absorb losses during poor years, feed for their cattle. This meant getting and so tended to be more economically hay ready for the winter, and because secure. Once they adjusted their most cattlemen finished their own grazing methods to fit the region’s animals for market, they did so on grass climatic realities, particularly through in summer and hay in winter. To w a rd proper feed supplies and shelter for this end, cattle ranchers were especially cold winters, they had even healthier receptive to new haying equipment yearly returns. which could speed up the laborious Some of these adjustments were task. George Lane of the Bar U Ranch slow in coming. While there was used a powerful steam tractor fitted to obviously economic advantage to be drive two big threshing separators at gained by new procedures such as the same time. When the threshing Wintering cattle on hay near putting up hay for winter, many ranch crew was in place, as many as ten Cypress Hills. Once ranchers hands simply did not like such work teams hauled sheaves to the equipment. adjusted their grazing methods to because it meant replacing the well- The use of feed grains would become fit the region’s climatic realities, known “cowboy” tasks with work even more popular in the middle of the particularly through proper feed deemed less dignified. Fear of 1930s, but in the early years it was supplies and shelter for cold unemployment changed many minds, simply too expensive and inconvenient winters, they had even healthier however; in 1921, an experienced for ranches in the eastern and southern yearly returns. cowboy seeking employment on the regions of the province to plant crops or Saskatchewan Archives / R.B10527 H Cross ranch stated in his letter of haul in grain from distant fields.

110 With soil damaged by overseeding, community pastures and resettlement G range management became of farms on better soils where crop Threshing in the Highwood River increasingly important over time. The production improved. Grass was area. As ranchers began to dissemination of information through allowed to recover naturally and decrease their herd size and intensify their feeding practices, agricultural societies, colleges and other areas were reseeded on they also began the process of research centres helped farmers and these community pastures. finishing their own cattle for ranchers understand adequate range No region of western Canada market. Threshing machines made management, seeding techniques, and escaped the pervasive impact of the the task of separating grain the behaviour of native grasses. depression, but foothills ranchers were easier and the number of grain Summer fallowing and spared the stereotypic image of rolling crops soon increased. Grain from were the most common strategies dust clouds that led many to abandon these crops was not only used to employed to increase production. The farms. That is not to suggest that feed cattle during the winter Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act, passed ranchers escaped the dirty thirties months, but also as a finishing by the federal government in 1935, unscathed. A spring snowstorm and ration during the rest of the year. (c. 1907) Glenbow Museum / NA-2800-6 provided for the establishment of heavy spring rains in 1933 delayed spring work in much of the foothills region, and by mid-July drought conditions had settled in. That year the EP Ranch crops yielded less than a third of their normal amounts of fodder. The winter of 1935 was bitterly cold, and dust storms followed in May. Feed F supplies dried up and cattle shrunk. Grass recovery programs on ‘heavily grazed’ pastures gave During the drought period it was not nature time to rejuvenate itself unusual to see sand drifted to the top and sustain land for future use. of fence posts, and only the top of Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture

111 CHAPTER TWO

machinery levers poking out of the change was the gradual introduction of G drifts. On one farm, a sand drift new breeds of cattle. In the early years A dust storm at Cereal, Alberta. reached half way up the roof of a horse of cattle raising in the West, the need Soil drifts reached the tops of fence posts and rendered the land stable and extended out to a point one for quantity was far more important barren and stripped of nutrients hundred yards away. than animal quality. Improvement in and moisture. (c. 1930s) The LK Ranch also faced the cattle had to wait until sufficient Glenbow Museum / NA-2543-45 standard difficulties of the thirties, but numbers resulted in inferior stock and managed by exporting to a more steady the need to reject animals of ill shape foreign market, tightening the belt on and questionable quality. As a result, spending, and simplifying feeding research conducted at government procedures. The LK men served their experimental stations before 1925 gave cattle available oats and wheat, and the little attention to and livestock itself would seek out problems associated with livestock necessary supplements, even if it breeding and housing. meant licking sand. Foothills cattle From the first day that cattle set owners and feeders who exhibited their hooves on the Alberta rangelands, resourcefulness (and were perhaps a three breeds were dominant. The first little lucky) made it through the purebred Shorthorns were brought into depression, and the forties brought Alberta by Kenneth MacKenzie and better days. In general, cattle production Walter Lynch even before the era of decreased only slightly from the days of large ranches, and Aberdeen Angus the homesteaders. In fact, a 1941 survey were first bred and introduced to the of 218 ranches in southern Alberta West by Walter Gordon-Cumming at the showed that the average ranch size was Quorn Ranch in 1889. But it was the red just over 10,000 acres, indicating the and white faced Herefords that extensive scale on which operations ultimately became the leader in breed carried on after the grim thirties. popularity. They were present on Another important development Matthew Cochrane’s first ranch west during the years of challenge and of Calgary in the early 1880s, spread

112 FROM START TO FINISH quickly, and experienced a boom period during World War I. Herefords established their dominance throughout the province because of their adaptability to the rigorous and unpredictable conditions. As World War II began, 80 percent of the cattle in Alberta had Hereford breeding, and that included 17 percent of Hereford- Shorthorn crosses. The remainder were herds where no particular breed predominated. Smaller ranches (less than 100 cattle) allowed more indiscriminate mixed breeding, while those running up to 800 head favoured the Hereford. On the large ranches featuring over 800 head, Herefords were the norm but other breeds were also gradually introduced. G In the years leading up to World Herd of polled Aberdeen Angus War II, cattle owners became cattle at the Cathro place. (n.d.) increasingly aware of the value of good Glenbow Museum / NC-26-276 sires. Growing interest in a higher class of Herefords reached a climax after World War I, and this corresponded to a growing demand for superior bulls. Between 1918 and 1930 new European breeds were introduced so that by the F end of this period western Shorthorn bull. Shorthorns were could count at least fifteen types of one of the three dominant beef cattle in Alberta. This animal cattle, even though not all were belonged to George Allenby of necessary. Individual voices were also Crossfield. (c. 1930s) occasionally heard encouraging Glenbow Museum / NC-26-76

F “Domino 49th” from Frank Collicutt’s spring herd. This was Champion bull at the Royal Winter Fair. (c. 1931) Glenbow Museum / NA-2040-1

113 CHAPTER TWO cattlemen to breed better. A.E. Cross’s exhibitions and judging, and were cattle returned great prices in 1916, and enormously popular among stockmen. he urged fellow ranchers to follow his One of the most exciting competitions practice of better breeding as a means took place at the Calgary Summer Fair of higher profits. Between 1910 and in 1917 when numerous cattlemen 1930 many stockmen across the prairies from across the country entered their stabilized the industry by organizing finest stock. Recognizing their bodies such as the Saskatchewan importance, provincial governments Livestock Cooperative Marketing began to annually fund exhibitions, Association. These co-ops were formed appointed Superintendents of Fairs, to improve and maintain better return and even supplied judges capable of on investment. The logic was simple: evaluating the stock. The fairs also by pooling livestock for sale through a helped establish breeding standards. central agency, each contributing Eventually spring and winter fairs member enjoyed returns directly became as popular as autumn ones, related to livestock quality. This same and the sale of pedigree bulls became type of organizing trend took place an important component of the events. among stock breeders themselves, It was at these fairs that Junior Beef especially after the provinces of Alberta Clubs and later 4-H clubs were formed. and Saskatchewan were formed in 1905. The effect of improved breeding on Of all the ways western stockman cattle feeding was direct. New breeds acquired knowledge of improved represented variations in animal breeding methods, perhaps none was constitution and meat type, and each more important than local agricultural breed required unique feeding 4H beef club showing fairs and exhibitions held in numerous strategies to optimally finish animals calves at a fair in Olds. (c. 1942) Glenbow Museum / NA-2986-10 communities throughout the West. for market. In later years market H These events featured livestock analysis would be become an important

114 FROM START TO FINISH

F Beefalo or Cattalo were a cross between domestic cattle and . This unusual breed stemmed from an attempt to develop the perfect large, heavily muscled beef animal. The breed developed a small cult following during its tenure, however the larger shoulders inherited from its bison ancestry made calving difficult and interest in the breed was short-lived. (c. 1940) City of Lethbridge Archives / P19760200047

component in determining which meat about five years for increased numbers type and quality (and representative to glut the markets and drive prices breed) was preferred by different down, resulting in some smaller cattle markets. Gradually the cattle feeding owners being driven out of business. business was becoming specialized as The cycle then reversed as cattle the market diversified. numbers went down and prices rose The market for Alberta beef again. High points in the cycle of beef producers exhibited a cyclical pattern production in the West occurred in in the first half of the century. When 1882, 1902, 1915 and 1928. Other prices rose, as they did between 1910 to variables such as the onset of war, 1914, producers were attracted and increasing settlement, and lease herds expanded. It would then take changes also affected markets, but

“The CPR outdid itself in getting cattle through, sometimes even stopped a “crack” silk train to hook us on. Those transcontinental freights, rushing Oriental silk from Pacific ports to New England textile mills, had priority over everything on the line, and they could get our cattle through with just one stop en route, which saved two feeds along the way. It was quite a thrill to get word of a silk train coming....One who did go on a trip was an adventurous young Albertan named Harry Hays, who returned to make a fortune exporting cattle, and went on to become Canadian minister of agriculture; it was he, of course, who opened up the North American continent to European cattle. But that’s another story. It was quite a joke on Harry that a silk train came through on his wedding day. The knot was hurriedly tied, and Harry kissed the bride, and departed, all alone, in the caboose.” G Harry Hayes: cattleman; Canadian minister of agriculture; and developer of - Edwin McKinnon the Hays Converter cattle breed. Photo Courtesy of Ted Pritchett

115 CHAPTER TWO whenever hard times hit, the small British markets and the protection of producer usually paid the biggest price. the big ranchers’ lease arrangements Major oil discoveries in the Turner with government. The organized and Valley in 1924 introduced a new player effective activity of this group revealed in the economic development of that ranchers still held significant power Alberta, and some ranchers (especially in Alberta’s agricultural community. those who held mineral rights on their Political strategy and solidarity was deeded land) became involved in the especially important when farmers and exploration activity. But in its day-to- ranchers faced the devastating blows day operation, western stock-raising delivered by nature’s unpredictabilities changed little. Cattle branding, rustling, and depressed market conditions. The wolf bounties, range fires, cattle disease “dirty thirties” were perhaps the most control and concern for favourable laws significant ten years in western continued to be the traditional issues Canada’s history, a watershed era which engaged by the cattlemen’s scarred and transformed the region. organizations. The key organizations The stock market crash of 1929 were also changing, as regionalization provided the initial shock, and the required new political strategies. When effects were immediate. Between 1929 the Western Stockgrowers’ Association to 1930 the number of cattle shipped to experienced funding problems and was the United States fell from 160,000 to unable to adequately galvanize the 9,000. While some foothills ranchers cattle community, George Lane escaped the worst ravages of drought spearheaded the establishment of the conditions, they bore the full brunt of Cattlemen’s Protective Association of world trade disruptions. After the Western Canada in 1919. A year later phenomenal demand and exceptional the organization was renamed the Stock prices of the late 1920s, the bottom fell Growers’ Protective Association to out on livestock prices in 1931, appear more inclusive. The association reaching their lowest price in thirty busied itself with issues such as the years They continued dropping in the treatment and control of mange, and thirties. Nothing in the decade was the prevention of market deterioration. more depressing than the dust storms, Its efforts led to improved access to and 1937 was the most ominous in that

“The export beef off the ranges had another hard condition to contend with when ready for market. The fat animals of the Alberta prairies are wonderfully fit when the grass of the fall has matured and the animals have “trimmed to solid meat and marbled flesh”, but the long haul, the handling, transferring, crowding in cars and jamming up chutes and into the strange interiors of vessels, the pitching, tossing voyage, all count to worry the wild, nervous range stock. Bruised, battered, worried out of hundreds of pounds of the fat they carried when crowded up the first loading chute, they landed in England, where almost average shrinkage of nine to ten per cent, was the immediately butchery awaited them, and the usual result of the long journey.” bruises, cuts and jams showed all over the butchered meats. This hurt their sale, and the - Leroy Kelly reduction in weight during shipment subtracted G considerably from the pockets of the owners. An Loading cattle onto box cars. (c. 1900) Glenbow Museum / NA-1368-13

116 regard. Before the summer of that year in farm and ranch receipts. The G ended, Palliser’s triangle was reduced to rebound of cattle operations in the The -like conditions in the desert-like conditions, and it was clear 1940s is exemplified in the accounts of area know as Palliser’s Triangle, the fodder growth would not meet the EP Ranch, when stock sales grew left the land scarred and transformed as soil drift inhibited livestock needs. The government from $1,500 in 1940 to $7,500 in 1947. any substantial fodder growth. stepped in to help ship cattle to areas of Though management had been Hanna, Alberta (c. 1930s) better feeding, and bought up to 90,000 pessimistic about the economic outlook Glenbow Museum / NA-4179-15 head to be shipped to stockyards or in the late 1930s, the new decade feedlots in eastern Canada. brought positive developments. In the second half of the decade, Cattle that had been fed and facing feed shortages, producers often finished on ranches such as the EP had no choice but to market their cattle usually found their way to the Calgary to the point where packing plants were Stockyards in those days. These reporting losses. The federal stockyards, which was Alberta’s major government helped by paying both the terminal marketing facility, was built in producer and packer a cent per pound 1903 by Pat Burns and a number of for cattle. The cattle industry hit its low other shareholders, and followed the point in 1937, due to severe drought business pattern of similar stockyards and a spring storm. Conditions then in major U.S. cities. At the time it was improved so that by 1940 all classes of built the auction market system had yet stock were selling for about $2 per to be established. At first the Calgary hundredweight, an increase over the Stockyards conducted its own business, previous 19-year average. Increased but by 1910 various commission firms during the last three years had set up and battled over the cattle of the decade coincided with a growth brought in by ranchers and feeders.

117 CHAPTER TWO

“Some cattle were headed for Cayley from the got a hold of Pat Burns and he brought down a OH ranch, there was the buyer or drover who had crew from the packing house. He had connections these cattle that got into the alkaline water and everywhere. He got the railroad to ship down a few damn near died, at least they tried to die. They got refrigeration cars. They were able to salvage a few. nitrate poisoning. They just lose the use of their [The buyer] worked for Pat Burns who was legs and drop and they slaughtered them as fast probably the biggest drover of the bunch.” as they could. They tried to anyway, they got Dick, - Elden Seney the butcher at Nanton to come out and he butchered a bunch of them but they were going G down so fast that they couldn’t keep up. So they Skinning beef on the Alberta prairie. (c. 1912) Glenbow Museum / NA-777-28

“When I was a kid, we roughed calves through the steers. Dad and his brothers liked to trail to the winter, and I mean rough. If they weighed 380 Calgary, where, as their string of big old three-year- pounds at weaning, they went out next spring at olds headed through a residential area, the “drag” 400 and disappeared in the bush till November, would see the leaders up in front and take a when they’d weigh 450. A year later they might go shortcut through the roses and petunias. This went 800; eventually, as grass fat three and four-year- on through the thirties until one day when they olds, they’d go to market at 1,100 or 1,200 pounds. had their steers lined out along a thoroughfare, a Dad was of the old school, where the main criteria lady stepped out on her porch and shook a for a cow was easy wintering and dropping a calf tablecloth or bedspread. Pop! Snap! Crash! Those each spring. It didn’t matter what some judge steers went in all directions, taking clotheslines and might pick; Dad wasn’t the least bit interested in fences with ‘em. A cop was there with a warrant showing. I was never in 4-H. Dad saw no sense in when we finally reached the stockyards, and we leading cattle; he was more for chasin’ ‘em – within never trailed through Calgary again.” reason – consistent with the business of selling pounds. A high point of the CL year was shipping - Marshall Copithorne

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The cattle feeder typically delivered From the Stockyard’s opening until G his cattle to the Stockyards, which World War II, most cattle brought in After the stockyards in Calgary would then distribute locally. If the came from a relatively narrow became instrumental in the provincial market was full, the animals perimeter around Calgary. Even by the marketing of cattle, wagon loads of hay could be seen headed for would be fed and prepared for eastern late thirties and early forties most cattle the larger hay market hubs. (n.d.) Canadian or foreign destinations. For owners and feeders were too remote Fort Macleod Museum / 80-38-1 many years the Stockyards used loose from the city to truck cattle all the way hay as the principal diet for held cattle. in, so they drove them to local railway This feed would be purchased from shipping points where rail cars took farmers around Calgary who would them the rest of the way. haul it in by horse and wagon. Hay The growth of the Calgary trails creased the landscape, winding Stockyards coincided with the their way along paths of least resistance development of the meat packing into this haymarket hub. More than one industry that was also spearheaded by farmer would weigh, sell and unload Pat Burns. Meat packing was in high his feed, treat himself to dinner at a gear during the roaring twenties when Calgary restaurant, and then head back everyone involved seemed to make home before dark. money. Burns expanded his operation

F Beef cattle headed for the Strathmore stockyards. Cattle were often shipped by rail from outlying areas to the Calgary market instead of transporting them by truck or trailing them all the way into the city limits. (n.d.) Glenbow Museum / NB-39-26

119 CHAPTER TWO

G across Canada, and several other plants packing company visiting a cattle The Pat Burns & Company packing and abattoirs joined to form Canada feeder to view sorted cattle and make plant near the Burns feedlot and Packers. Swift Canadian and Union bids on behalf of their employers. the Calgary stockyards. (c. 1910s) Packers were also successful Drovers and independent buyers also Glenbow Museum / NB-16-371 organizations. When Burns and travelled to range areas, but they Company was sold to the Dominion tended to have a poor reputation Securities Corporation Limited of because they often presented the Toronto in 1928, the era of branch-plant producer with a “take it or leave it” packing began in Alberta. offer. When market information By the time World War II began, the became more readily available to butcher and feeder markets were the cattlemen, drovers became two principal destinations for cattle. A unnecessary. A few ranchers also held great many animals were termed “two- private auctions that they developed way”, being suitable for either purpose. and ran themselves, and these became Centres for butcher cattle were located popular because of convenience and in Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto, lower costs. feeder cattle had several outlets, and The important development of the number of feedlots were growing. community auction sales were initiated The larger packing houses also sent by Don E. Ball of Edmonton in the fall buyers to purchase stock at ranches or of 1938. Though stockmen were initially shipping points. It was not uncommon apprehensive because the system was to see buyers from more than one new and allowed strangers to name the

120 FROM START TO FINISH price and take livestock, they were eventually won over by Ball’s careful public relations work and a system of guarantees. Ball and his associate, Charles Franklin, gradually managed to get interested stockmen to support their business, and its success resulted in the Community Auction Sales in Alberta. Soon these sales were taking place in a number of towns throughout southern Alberta. The auction market system made millions of dollars for stock growers, helped stabilize the industry, and encouraged both old and F new cattlemen in the business. There The auction ring at a community are dozens of auctions markets across cattle sale in Pincher Creek, Alberta today, and they serve as a Alberta. (c. Sept. 1953) important link between the cattle Glenbow Museum / NA-4510-120 Glenbow Museum / NA-4510-119 producer and the feedlot operator. H

121

Cattle Feeding in the Years of Challenge and Change

The period from the end of the early as 1888 the Nor’-West Farmer G open range to World War II saw a slow advised that providing a supply of more Hereford steers penned in a but steady increase in more planned palatable or concentrated food to make feedlot. These animals, owned by and precise cattle feeding. Cattle up the shortage caused by the drying Leslie Towers of Jumping Pound, eventually topped the Chicago owners who did some grain farming (or out of natural grasses would allow market at $8.75/lb. (c. 1938) had access to grain) were able to feed cattle to maintain their plumpness. The Glenbow Museum / NA-691-2 and even finish cattle throughout the publication also recommended a daily winter. Long before feeding became a addition of turnips for supplement. In large-scale business enterprise, addition to testing feeds, nineteenth- however, research in how to better century scientists addressed issues of fatten and finish livestock for greater general diet, and made suggestions for profit was humming along at places like mixing hays and crops. For example, the Brandon and Indian Head Brandon scientists contrasted the (Saskatchewan) Dominion weight of cattle fattened on corn with F Experimental Stations. Various rations those on brome hay, and with both Margie Buckley feeding cattle at a were tested after 1880 as researchers diets supplemented by turnips, chop Jumping Pound feedlot west of sought to determine each fodder crop’s and bran. This meant that by the 1890s Calgary. (c. 1918) value in the stages of a steer’s life. As cattle owners could access information Glenbow Museum / NA-3017-4

123 CHAPTER TWO to identify qualities they wanted in their cattle on grass in summer and steers, and how to more adequately some hay in winter. Further south, feed in order to achieve those ranchers in irrigated areas began to add characteristics. The Brandon oat straw and even newer supplements researchers eventually recommended such as turnips and oil cake to the corn silage as a supplement to more traditional feeds. traditional feed crops, and suggested One major drawback to the seeding that carefully planned feeding of forage crops in these early years was programmes for prescribed periods cost. Succulent feeds such as alfalfa and could mean more dollars. This early bromegrass were priced beyond the work revealed that improved feeding reach of most small or mixed farmers, would greatly assist cattle owners, and while others did not possess the skills many carefully noted the conclusions needed for successful maturation of and recommendations, especially for such crops. Furthermore, forage crops fall and winter rationing. diverted valuable wheat fields to a non- Whether or not they had access to marketable commodity for up to five these feed options, most small cattle years, and so for many the investment Cattle in a corral used for feeding. owners at the turn of the century had did not make sense, given the cost and After the turn of the century, built small corrals in order to feed units effort. Yet another drawback was the cattle owners began to build feed of twenty-five cattle. Homesteaders and need for adequate water supply in order pens to hold about 20 - 25 head. early mixed farmers in the more to seed land in drier regions. Irrigation These cattle were primarily fed on northern regions of the province found systems that developed in the south and hay. The man in the background is it easy to feed a bit of grain to their few southeastern parts of Alberta allowed riding a horse drawn swather used cattle. Foothills ranchers were slower to cattlemen in those areas to experiment for such haying purposes. Glenbow Museum / NB-39-570 seed crops, choosing instead to continue with alternative feeds more readily than H the time-honoured practise of raising their fellow cattlemen in other areas.

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F Aerial view of 2000 head of Pat Burns’ cattle being trailed from the Bar U Ranch to Burns’ Calgary feedlot. This was the last drive of the Burns empire cattle. New and improved methods of transporting cattle soon took over. (c. 1949) Glenbow Museum / NA-2575-6

Native grasslands in the parklands between Calgary and Edmonton. It was area of Olds and Didsbury soon gained two-way traffic, with young cattle being an excellent reputation among shipped in and fat four year-olds going cattlemen in Alberta, and so it is not out to market. Burns and Duggan were surprising that Pat Burns’ pioneers in carrying out a new plan of entrepreneurial spirit resulted in his winter feeding and fattening of mature “holding herds” being established there steers with hay. By 1902 Burns’ was before the turn of the century. Earlier, finishing up to 30,000 head every year Burns’ beef camps had been set up to and depending on the severity of winter, feed railway crews. Partnering with the amount of hay required ranged Cornelius Duggan and assisted by from one to three tons per animal. capable men like Walter Wake, Burns’ The beef camps and holding herds feeding programme allowed him to were precursors of the modern feedlot, finish cattle for the markets on a but they were obviously not as refined gradual basis and throughout the year. as today’s modern methods. Neither Before this time the general practise were the feeding practices of early was to slaughter four year-old cattle ranches. They would simply set aside when they came off the range. Unlike some land and build necessary fences most ranchers, Burns cut and stacked and troughs to hold and feed stock. If immense amounts of hay for winter they did not have enough members in feeding and did not maintain a breeding the family who could do the work, they herd. The holding herd system also would hire ranch hands, homesteaders provided a guaranteed income for or native Indians to help put up hay. small cattlemen who did not have Some cattle finishers purchased haying the resources to finish their livestock. equipment and rented it out to farmers Burns would buy both young and thin to get the job done in return for a stock as well as older cattle and finish portion of the hay. Other enterprising them for his slaughter house and farmers bought their own machinery packing plants, or send them to other and spent all summer putting up hay markets. His holding herd centre in for early feeders or for Burns’ herds. Olds also became the most important Some of the early independent shipping point for cattle on the line feeders were Einar Stephenson of

125 G Lacombe and the McKinnons of the LK The terrible winter of 1907-08, The LK Ranch, established by Ranch. The LK was started by Lachlin combined with diminishing land and Lachlin McKinnon in 1895, on the McKinnon in 1895 and located close to increased cropping, forced cattlemen Bow River southeast of Calgary. the Bow River near Langdon. In 1897 to limit their sizes of herds and to feed The board in the foreground was used to carry the weather report. McKinnon broke land for feed crop and, them more adequately and intensely. (c. 1914) Glenbow Museum / NA-2511-7 when his hay ran out in the winter of When government experimental farms 1902, used oats as a supplement to continued to demonstrate that feeding grass, feeding his cattle up to two grain to livestock over winter could pounds a day. The cows did well on this result in handsome profits, wild hay feed, so the following year McKinnon was gradually replaced by cultivated fenced an area with an adequate water hay and fodder crops on many cattle supply and fed grain to steers. He not operations. Over time oats and barley only considered feeding grain a meal were introduced and fed in valuable option when crops were increasing quantities. abundant, but also when they were so George Lane of the Bar U was one sparse that threshing did not seem rancher who began to feed his cattle profitable. In 1918, when McKinnon’s every winter starting in 1912. Feed was oats crop was light, he decided to pitch cheap, and Lane reasoned that it was the sheaves right into a machine feeder. much more economical and He also took advantage of a wonderful businesslike than the old system of brome grass crop two years later by wintering cattle on the range when cutting it for seed rather than hay, and cattle were cheap and feed was scarce. used the straw for feeding. Many cattle In those days it was still profitable to owners in the future would follow leave cattle on the range and absorb McKinnon’s strategy, and even if the inevitable losses of at least five per cent initial goal was to feed in a limited of the herd. With cattle worth $50 a manner, many of those who did it head, Lane concluded that it was worth successfully would inevitably expand feeding the herd to eliminate loss and their feeding practises. have animals in shape for market at

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and cattle owners in the early years F found the process precarious. Several George Lane, an astute cattle and times throughout the first half of the businessman, was a vocal twentieth century severe proponent of mixed farming operations in Alberta. He felt that caused an almost total failure of feed in order to be proficient at raising supplies and water facilities. These cattle, grain and hay must be included local droughts, such as the grown for feed. This is the same 1917-18 dry period near Pincher Creek. fundamental philosophy used by Rancher F.M. Baker sent his own the feeding industry today. haying crews to Peace River to cut and Glenbow Museum / NB-9-57 bale hay to be transported down to his ranch. Unfortunately, delivery problems resulted in the hay arriving long after the need was greatest. Another challenge facing feeders was the propensity of cattle to gorge on either hay or grain when presented with a free choice. The problem was alleviated in part with the introduction any time, ready to sell when they of machines such as the Letz mill commanded the highest price. So in which cut and mixed the two items. Of 1912 Lane fed 3,500 beef cattle on equal importance was feeding strategy frosted wheat, and he made his way and adhering to a carefully thought out to the United States to consult with plan. In the 1920s, the LK Ranch’s authorities regarding the growth of feeders would meticulously measure alfalfa. Later that year, three hundred the hay and grain thrown into the Making sunflower silage on the of his beef steers received the highest cutter. Once the combined feed was Kerfoot Ranch in Grand Valley near prices ever paid for cattle in Chicago. delivered by wagon to the troughs, the Cochrane. A horse and rake are The first cattle feeding enterprises worker would thoroughly mix the being used to pack the feed in the faced common challenges, regardless of ration and scoop adequate portions bunker. (c. 1924) Glenbow Museum / NA-4286-3 their size, and many small time feeders to the hungry animals. H

127 G Cattle feeders would soon become The first outstanding (and certainly The feedlot and stockyards of the increasingly dependent on favourable the largest) cattle feeding operation Pat Burns cattle empire. A markets, where the smallest drop in that could at all be compared to a precursor to the modern feedlot, prices could wipe out profit margins. modern feedlot was the Burns Ranches’ Burns finished 6000 head of cattle Yet it was not uncommon to see more feedlot located in what is Calgary today. per year. His stockyards were said and more large ranchers finishing their It started in 1922, and was gradually to have been larger than the CPRs. own cattle. Often their choice of feeds expanded over the following decades. (c. 1910s) Glenbow Museum / NB-16-373 was not wide-ranging, but most saw In the early years two hundred steers value in breaking some land to seed a were fed on sunflowers, and within six feed crop, and did their haying in the years the yards had the capacity to hold fall with a view to bring their stock to and feed two thousand head every year. market size. Other successful feeding By 1950 the Burns feedlot was turning operations saw fit to expand. The LK out almost six thousand cattle a year. purchased the XL Ranch in 1921, used The cattle feeding enterprise the new land for summer grazing and throughout Alberta benefited trailed the cattle to the home area for immensely from the work done and wintering and grain finishing. By the lessons learned on the Burns feedlot end of the decade the LK broke 1500 over the years, as almost every type more acres of sod for seeding wheat, and mixture of feed was used and barley and oats. These coarse grains tested there. were used for finishing and Lachlin Further south, the cattle feeding McKinnon was soon able to ship his industry began to take off in the late beef to markets across Canada as well 1920s, and was boosted by the revival as to Great Britain. of the Raymond sugar factory in 1930.

128 FROM START TO FINISH Before the arrival of the sugar industry, most cattle was sent directly to slaughter off the grass or were shipped to eastern Canada for finishing, but the sugar beets and by-products allowed feedlot operators and irrigation farmers to join forces in order to finish cattle. The Southern Alberta Cooperative Association started contract feeding of beef cattle in 1928, as 3000 head of cattle were placed in feedlots for winter fattening. Ranchers supplied the range cattle and split the profits of winter gain with the feedlot operators and irrigation farmers. Eventually the process was simplified and feedlot management purchased cattle outright. A second sugar beet factory was built at Picture Butte in 1936 and another was built near Taber, meaning more available beef pulp for feedlots. As a and molasses from the factory would G result, many more farmers and then be brought and mixed with the Cattle in pens at a Lethbridge area ranchers contributed their cattle barley, and the meal would be shovelled feedlot. These cattle are being fed to the growing feed enterprise. into bunkline feeders. Numerous beet a mixed ration of sugar beets and The feedlot near the Picture Butte farmers in the southern areas also hay. (c. 1953) Glenbow Museum / NA-4510-88a factory illustrated some distinctive constructed feedlot facilities on their feeding techniques. Workers would farms, because the abundant supplies load and transport ground barley using made it relatively easy to feed out a shovels, old large wagons and a team carload or two of cattle for the winter. of horses, and then spread the ration The Riverside Ranch near Lethbridge evenly on a floor. A load of beet pulp was one such operation which could

F Front end loader filling a dump truck full of sugar beets for delivery to a local feedlot. Sugar beets and their by-products became a staple in feedlot diets with the arrival of sugar beet factories in southern Alberta. (c. 1953) Glenbow Museum / NA-4510-92

129 CHAPTER TWO feed their Angus cattle a choice of where the ultimate profit was divided abundant hay, brome and blue grass, on the basis of each party’s investment. crested wheat and sweet clover. J.F. Murray was one early feedlot Early experimentations in feeding operator who fed for himself and would lay the foundation for the others. He arrived in the Picture Butte breeder-feeder contract systems of the district in 1927 with two cows, but future. The process was well adapted to within a couple of decades was Alberta, where the southern portions handling and feeding hundreds provided purer grazing areas and of cattle for himself and others. irrigated crop land, and the central and Market realities continually northern portions had abundant feed influenced progressive cattlemen for supplemental winter feeding and to prepare cattle for market all year finishing. The feeders would benefit round, and to finish cattle to more ranchers who found it unfeasible to precise specifications. What George finish on their own. The process Lane realized in 1912 became common involved ranchers placing cattle on knowledge after a beef grading system shares with the feeder-finisher in the of “blue” and “red” grades was put in established feeding area. The latter place in 1928 under federal government would use his feed to finish the cattle supervision. Canadian packing plants to desired requirements. Mutual grew in numbers and located closer to agreement required discussion on regional sources of supply, and the factors such as age, rate of gain on feed introduction of self-service retail outlets in an area, cost of feed, water supply in 1935 increased the power of the and general care of the animal. It was consumer in demanding products. sometimes difficult for producers and Cattlemen from the thirties onward feeders to reconcile their differences needed to become more cognizant of regarding contractual agreements, but costs and strategies involved in a popular contract in the early thirties finishing and marketing their product was the “Inventoried Investment Plan” to a higher quality. A popular practise

E Custom feedlots came into being as ranchers and farmers began to work cooperatively to feed cattle. For a per pound fee, farmers with an overabundance of grain could finish ranchers cattle to their desired requirements. In return, ranchers would have a finished animal that would go for considerably more in the marketplace. (c. 1953) Glenbow Museum / NA-4510-87

130 that emerged at the time was lightly seeding oats in late summer in order to produce a “” used for fattening cattle. Two year-old steers were then let loose on the green growth, fed there for a couple of months, and finished on grain. By the early thirties the two standard methods of fitting cattle for market, outside of selling them as feeders, were to supplement feeding by grain on grass, and complete contract feeding off the range. Many cattlemen were winter feeding on the range across Alberta and, depending on their location, relied heavily on oats, rye, wheat, “prairie wool” or slough hay, clover, alfalfa and corn. The general practise was to capitalize on cattle for market) and the commercial G complementary feeding areas. Stocker feedlots that took flight in the fifties. Lachlin McKinnon and family on and feeder cattle were produced on the Throughout these years, their homestead south of more central plains area and, if sold as agriculturalists at the Lethbridge Foremost, Alberta. The McKinnon’s were one of Alberta’s pioneers in finished stock, were finished on grass. Experimental Farm continued their the feeding industry. (c. 1910s) About 10% of range stock at this time research in beef feeding and the Glenbow Museum / NA-2604-32 was finished in range feedlots on finishing of beef calves, and supplementary grain, hay, and determined costs and returns on calves concentrates. This was done in central finished under contract feeding trials. and northern areas where farming was Ranchers like the Gilchrist brothers the dominant activity and winter feeds raised stock and sold them to the were more readily available. Dominion Range Experiment Station One of the early feeders who used for this research. It was generally found his operation to manage his own cattle that cattle were better finished in as well as feed for others was Edwin feedlots and commanded higher prices McKinnon, son of Lachlin McKinnon on the market, and this only provided of the LK Ranch. In 1936 the younger more impetus for the cattle owner to McKinnon began his “Running M” engage in feeding. ranch near Airdrie, and worked eight The smaller feedlots in the south sections. He eventually fed as many as got a boost from the Alberta 3500 cattle, which included six hundred government in the mid-thirties through of his own. Ed McKinnon creatively an organized “feeder association” designed a silage pit to store cut feed program. Upon recommendation of the and roughage mixed with oats, and his Minister of Agriculture, the Legislature finished cattle found a willing customer passed the Feeder Association in the Union Packing plant fourteen Guarantee Act in 1937. This provided miles away. The Running M grew to the a means by which prospective feeders point where an office was set up in could secure credit necessary to Calgary, from which an auditor kept purchase feeder livestock. Individual track of the financial picture. By being cattlemen were encouraged to register one of the largest and earliest “local” their own brand, and the banks lent ranchers who began to finish cattle for them money to encourage cattle others as well as himself, McKinnon acquisition, while the owner was proved to be a transitional figure expected to provide the feed. The between the early years of feeding Provincial Treasurer provided a (when cattle owners fed their own maximum 25% guarantee on the

131 CHAPTER TWO borrowed money. Government calamity would not be short-term, they appointed supervisors were put in place developed relief plans. The cattlemen to oversee the acquisition process and also devised methods to counter the monitor the enterprise. This initiative depression difficulties through the lured many people who had sufficient activities of the Western Stock Growers’ money and interest (even some who Association under the leadership of had never raised cattle) to get into the Kenneth Coppock. Approximately two feeding business. Some of these new and a half million government dollars feeders were able to build a legitimate were spent to replenish local stocks of business, and the initiative paved the grains and hay. The buyer was paid for way for Alberta’s eventual large feeder freight charges and expenses. A associations. It also provided an processing policy was designed to move important new destination for cattle poorer quality stock from farms and from local stockmen. During the 1938- producers to the abattoirs, and a freight 39 feeding season six associations were feeder policy allowed for the transport operating successfully and the number of foundation herds from hard-pressed almost tripled in four years. ranches and farms to winter feeding The severe drought years of the areas. Feed was also moved to cattle by Cattle being loaded into box cars for shipment during the drought thirties, combined with problems with means of a policy where free freight years. By taking advantage of the gophers, grasshoppers, army worms was given when forage and grain was freight feeder policy, hard pressed and other natural plagues hit the cattle shipped to foundation herds in their ranchers could transport their feeding industry hard. The most home location. Eventually an optional cattle to feeding areas where obvious and pressing problem was marketing policy allowed cattlemen there was feed available to winter finding adequate feed. Haying yielded with surplus stock to ship them to and finish their cattle. The buyer little, feed grain was scarce and matters holding pastures before sending them was paid for the freight charges got so bad in some areas that livestock to markets in Winnipeg. and expenses. (c. 1930s) was fed Russian thistle! When Even successful ranchers like the Saskatchewan Archives / R.A5103 H governments realized the natural Hargraves needed to move their cattle

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F Fields that were ravaged by the drought were obtained by the government under the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act of 1935 and turned into community pasture. (c. 1937) Glenbow Museum / NA-2223-4

to irrigated land during the difficult regulate the grazing process. By times. From 1931 to 1935, cattle regrassing where needed, the carrying numbers in the drought areas of the capacity of the range was increased. province grew from 490,000 to 630,000, Whereas at the outset of the due in part to the strategy whereby feed programme it was estimated that fifty- from other areas of the province was eight acres were needed to feed one transported to places of need. While cow for a season, within two decades Charles Noble diversified his these measures helped livestock the carrying capacity was tripled. feeding activities to include owners in some ways, they also saved Crested wheatgrass was found to be animals other than beef. This “pig cattle that could not be sold profitably an outstanding drought-resistant grass. village” was part of a joint effort on the market. By the late 1930s The formation of the Red Label with other feeders to supply bacon surplus numbers of cattle needed to be Feeder Association in the early thirties for Britain during the war years. bought outright by the government. also helped many feedlot owners join (c. 1942-43) Glenbow Museum / NA-4884-27 The government’s Prairie Farm forces and tackle financial difficulties. H Rehabilitation Act of 1935 also urged water conservation and improved land use. Money was given to create dams and dugouts that retained water for many farms. In addition to providing water for cattle, these moves helped to water fields for hay crops and coarse grains used for feeding. The government also attempted to reclaim and restore damaged land through reseeding of perennial wheatgrass. Better lands were targeted for new and improved cultivation methods and management. Fields too badly ravaged by the drought were obtained by surrender, exchange or lease and turned into community pastures. Local stockmen organized to arrange and

133 CHAPTER TWO

G Seventeen members joined in 1936, and rule rather than the exception, and Threshing near Olds. Successful together represented businesses that ranches such as the EP reflected the grain farming operations often finished hundreds of cattle. This standard practise of growing feed crops allocated a large portion of their Association developed a feeding plan such as oats and barley. Feeding produce to go toward feed for for baby beef that involved following expenses at the EP, as throughout all of cattle. Cattle owners and their specified conditions supplied by the Alberta, increased from the late thirties partners took advantage of an grower, but dependent upon the market onward. These expenditures included over abundance of grain by converting it into beef and price. So the feeding business purchase of cover crops, stubble increased their revenue per bushel progressed slowly through the grazing, hay and grain, miscellaneous ratio by fattening cattle. (c. 1912) depression, and by surviving the concentrates and mineral feeds, as well Glenbow Museum / NA-2105-6 difficult years it entrenched itself in as arrangements made for contract Alberta’s agricultural business. The feeding. In fact, feeders who contracted rationale was obvious; grain that to finish other people’s cattle would brought very low prices on the market increase significantly after the War, and could be used when converted to beef. eventually result in the establishment By 1940 cattle feeding was no longer a of commercial operations such as small enterprise; it was a growing Western Feedlots. business that would soon become a Harold Riley of the Canadian multi-million dollar one. Cattlemen wrote in 1941 that there was The decade of the forties saw the no longer the same dependence placed cattle industry rebound, and many on the native hay crop as in former ranches that enjoyed renewed success years, and that it was a common sight did so in part because of better range to see well-run ranches surrounded by management and improved feeding several hundred acres of highly tilled techniques. Cattlemen who fed their land, seeded to coarse grains which are cattle supplements to grass became the put through the chopper and fed on the

134 FROM START TO FINISH ranch to “beef in the making” during and costs for fencing and water the winter season. The old idea of provision entered the equation as well. raising “grass beef” only, and disposing In the foothills, northern slopes were of it once a year had been largely used in summer because the brushes discarded, and the production of beef provides shelter from flies and sun, the year round was in vogue. The and the southern slopes were grazed in development had been accelerated by winter because, being free of brushes, the establishment of co-operative and they tended to be swept dry when privately maintained feedlots in many chinook winds delivered their centres. This intensification of feeding tempering effect. On the prairies, procedures was also illustrated by certain fields were sometimes reserved Riley’s anecdotal observation of a for spring or fall primarily to utilize rancher who ordered a carload of stock stock-water resources. Many ranchers salt with one half iodized and the other also segregated various classes of cattle half plain. Riley mused that in the early in different fields, but this reflected days of the industry, an enterprising livestock management as much as rancher might have purchased just a it did range management. Rounding up cattle in southern few sacks of raw coarse salt or some As the Second World War Alberta. As range management chunks of quarried rock salt, but that approached the individual cattle owner evolved, it maintained the basic in 1941 things were much different. was becoming a more careful and fundamental grazing strategies – Cattle ranchers also gradually devoted feeder, and the emerging the availability of a good water developed their own systems of range feedlot enterprise was starting to take source and the abundance of management, but they were not shape. Eyes were turning to southern thick, natural foragable grasses for grazing. (c. 1930) complex. Suitability and convenience Alberta where irrigated crop land and City of Lethbridge Archives / P19760205040 were key factors in grazing strategies, the development of the sugar beet H

135 G industry offered potential for more logical and inevitable. The future would A crane loading sugar beets into intensive feeding enterprises. The reveal that statement to also be an the bed of a pick-up enroute to a establishment of sugar refineries made accurate prediction. The entire cattle feedlot in the Lethbridge area. available a beet pulp which, when feeding industry – from the individual Beet pulp, when used to make a properly rationed with a mixture of feeder to the large-scale enterprises and silage mixture, was considered a very effective, readily available crushed grains, provided a very associations – was poised to grow after feed for finishing. (c. 1953) effective fattening and finishing feed. the War, and grow it would. Glenbow Museum / NA-4510-93 The extensive irrigation systems When the twentieth century began, between Lethbridge and Medicine Hat the cattle feeding industry was largely also produced wonderful corn and an informal and individual process in alfalfa crops, as well as the more which individual cattlemen arranged standard grains such as wheat and oats. for winter feeding by hiring help for It was clear that the fine crops would be haying, and used available feed to as useful for cattle feeding as they were supplement what nature provided on for the volatile grain markets. Though grazing pastures. There were some farmers soon began selling alfalfa to localized beef camps, such as those cattlemen, it made more sense to bring run by Pat Burns, where finishing took cattle to areas where grain was grown. place on a larger scale. Over time many The ranching and grain industry were ranchers began finishing their own becoming more complementary and cattle using hay and other available mutually dependent. Entrepreneurial feed to supplement grazing. A number stockmen were seeing the potential of other farmer/entrepreneurs also value of working cooperatively to structured their operations to feed establish feedlots close to refineries. cattle through contractual agreements A government report on Alberta’s with neighbouring cattlemen. Most of cattle industry in the early forties these never rose to fame, but they laid concluded that the expansion of the the foundation for today’s highly feedlot business in Alberta appeared specialized procedure. They

136 FROM START TO FINISH

F The owners and operators of a small feedlot in the Lethbridge area. Note the haystack, threshing machine and feed pens in the background. (c. 1953) Glenbow Museum / NA-4510-91

experimented with different feeds and “When they started the sugar silages, used manure to fertilize their beets around Taber, they would fields, and housed the cattle in various import a lot of sugar beet helpers types and combinations of corrals, feed to harvest their crop. In those pens and barns. days, the late ‘40s, they went in The evolution of cattle feeding into with a big cleaver and cut the tops a more specialized activity was a off the beets. Most times they function of the grain and cattle would cut off part of the beet as industries realizing the benefits of well as the top. They would pile mutuality and cooperation, especially the beet tops in small piles and, in light of the growing population and whether it snowed or not, you changing market realities. could always see the piles....I Cattle feeding and finishing became shipped cows to these beet fields. more important as the market I could fatten the cattle on the beet demanded cattle of better quality on a tops - the sugar in the beet. At one year-round basis, and cattlemen chose time I fed more cows than anyone to focus on the cow-calf end of the in Alberta when I was able to feed business. Scientific advances and the them on beet tops and grain. I’d sheer complexity of the agricultural fed a lot of cows on these beet tops industry created a niche for specialists until they got new methods of who could custom finish cattle under harvesting beets. When they could optimum conditions on both small and clip the tops off with machines large scales. The progressive feedlots of there were no more left-over beet men like Pat Burns, Lachlin McKinnon portions for feed.” and Charles Noble would give way to more advanced feedlot operations that - Luther Evenson reflected the latest in procedures, techniques and equipment.

137 chapter three THE YEARS OF PROGRESS AND SPECIALIZATION

The Growth of the Feeding Industry in the Modern Era

By the end of World War II, Cattlemen were certainly feeding G Alberta’s cattle and grain industries and finishing their stock in a focused Although feed grains became the basis for effective gains in feeder had survived difficult years, learned and strategic manner prior to World cattle, hay and other naturally to coexist, and were poised for further War II. By the late thirties and early foragable grasses remained a development and growth. With the forties people like Ed McKinnon had ration for feedlot diets. population set to explode after the war, expanded their feeding enterprises to Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture the virtues and possibilities of cattle finish stock for other ranchers who feeding were limitless. Nevertheless, wanted to specialize in the cow-calf end even the most optimistic cattle owners of the business. Slowly the stage was F would have had difficulty predicting or being set for larger scale “commercial” After World War II, specialization imagining what actually happened feeding, and this trend would grow as in the beef industry set the stage for large scale commercial during the following generation. The many individuals saw the opportunity feedlots to operate. Many took feedlot industry enlarged and evolved of success in finishing for others. advantage the “grain glut” and a to become a commercial enterprise These developments in feeding positive marketplace to finish offering highly specialized custom went hand in hand with diversification cattle for hungry consumers. feeding. This development was and changes in the international Photo Courtesy of Alberta Cattle Commission (ACC) accompanied by a growing dependence marketplace. A grain glut in Canada on scientific agriculture, with the result was created by the recovery of the that the last half of the twentieth European farming enterprise after the F Preceding page century saw cattle production and the war, and converting grain to beef was a Looking west over the feed pens at feeding industry embrace state-of-the- logical and even necessary strategy for Western Feedlots toward the art technology. western Canadian farmers. Increased Rocky Mountains. Photo Courtesy of ACC

141 CHAPTER THREE cattle production had been encouraged even heavy old bulls selling as high as as part of the war effort, and beef $500 each, compared to $10 a head only markets were satisfactory at the time. eighteen years earlier. Many farmers When restrictions against the export of who reaped this type of income cattle to the United States were lifted in celebrated their good fortune, and were 1948, significantly more markets were able to finally repay the obligations reopened to Canadian cattlemen. A incurred during the great depression. new peak in livestock production was Feeding practises on many farms reached from the late war years until during the forties were still not very the end of the forties, due to this sophisticated. Small farmers fed simply, combination of an increased demand sometimes carrying feed in five-gallon for good quality beef and the need to pails and finishing their yearlings and convert excess grain. early calves over a prolonged period. While wheat remained the principal The quantity of grain fed was gradually cash crop and had historically been the increased until the animal’s stomach feed grain of choice, it was barley (in its could accommodate the free choice various strains) that eventually became of a grain ration. The use of self feeders the most popular feed grain. The later helped to maintained the animal’s Stacking hay using a tractor and a amount of land sown to pasture, hunger by offering an almost constant bale rack. Mechanization began to fodder and feed grains also grew. This but limited supply of food. replace horse power which allowed combination of good crops, rising grain Practices changed, and even ranchers and stock farmers a prices and steadily reduced costs revolutionized, as mechanization and more efficient means to feed translated into handsome revenues hay-making methods improved and livestock. (c. 1960) from livestock sales. Beef prices cattle owners and feeders availed City of Lethbridge Archives / P19760204052 H reached new heights in 1951, with themselves of the latest equipment.

142 Chalmers, and the old-style racks G needed to be redesigned with open Filling a grainor corn bin at sides. These new additions meant that Handley-Jensen Livestock Co. heavy horses were no longer needed, Plant located at Picture Butte. (c. 1965) City of Lethbridge Archives / and surplus draft horses were sold off P19754409160 many farms and ranches in the forties. The era of the work horse ended when trucks became popular, but many ranchers still kept horses to maintain F the tradition of riding the range. A 1200 pound round hay bale. The postwar cattle business in The availability of new equipment offered incentives of decreased western Canada boomed until the labour and increased efficiency. onslaught of the foot-and-mouth Corel Professional Photos epidemic in 1952. Fearing the effects of Rancher Tom Hargrave was one cattle the disease, the United States placed an owner who took advantage of these embargo on Canadian cattle, which left developments by buying a tractor and Alberta producers with only a home front end loose hay loader in 1944. The market. A banner year in grain tractor pulled the hay mower and then production also produced a huge grain could load the bunched hay onto a rack. surplus. Once the disease scare Hargrave eventually purchased one of subsided, southern Alberta cattlemen the first round hay balers, an Allys- lost no time in seeing the possibility of

143 1952 Foot and Mouth Epidemic In February, 1952, infection from an unestablished source sparked a foot-and-mouth outbreak near Regina, Saskatchewan. The Canadian government moved swiftly to contain the disease, the United States and several Provinces, including Alberta, closed their borders to livestock imports from Saskatchewan, and the Regina Livestock Show and the Calgary Bull Sale were cancelled. A forty mile area around Regina was quarantined and over 1,500 infected or exposed cattle were rounded up and destroyed. Despite these efforts, renewed outbreaks of the disease occurred in the buffer zones around the quarantined area. Following containment of the disease and subsequent testing, the Canadian government officially declared the epidemic over on August 19, 1952. The U.S. government lifted the ban on livestock imports later that year, and programs and policies, including floor pricing, were put in place to compensate livestock owners for losses which had exceeded $14 million. -Based on an unpublished work by Max Foran.

F Hereford steer showing typical signs of Foot and Mouth disease. (c. 1952) Saskatchewan Archives

G 238 cattle being herded into a burial pit for the first mass destruction in Canada of bovine infected with Foot and Mouth disease. (c. 1952) Saskatchewan Archives

144 FROM START TO FINISH feeders could study some excellent “There was a fellow in examples of success in the Medicine Hat by the name of Dirk northwestern United States. Shoulton. He was a big Dutchman Despite this growth in commercial and when he came back from the feeding in the United States, the coastal war he was really a wheeler states of Washington, Oregon and dealer and he got in the Ford were experiencing rapid Agency and he sold Ford cars and population growth, and American trucks like you wouldn’t believe cattle numbers were not keeping pace. but nobody had any money, so Prices for Alberta cattle were high, and they’d pay him in grain and he exports moved south of the border as had piles, no mountains of grain well as to eastern and western Canada. and so Dirk got into the Feeding The Alberta cattleman was in much business, got a feedlot, bought better shape financially that just a few some cattle and fed them the grain year earlier, and the crystal ball he’d been paid for by selling the continued to present an optimistic cars. He had a young fella by the picture. Cattlemen needed to be name of Dick Gray working for informed better than ever, and him. Eventually Dick Gray split especially familiar with the latest away from Shoultan and started in livestock marketing. Valley Feeders by Lethbridge.” Alberta shared in the growing trend, observable across North America - Eion Chisholm throughout the fifties, of utilizing grain to finish beef cattle. The use of corn silage in the early part of the decade marketing the grain “on the hoof”, enabled central and eastern Canadian resulting in higher prices for both producers to finish cattle more grain and cattle. Some entrepreneurial economically than their western merchants accepted grain in exchange counterparts and so the large feedlot for consumer products such as cars, industry had its genesis in eastern snowmobiles and television sets. They Canada; however, the advantageous then sold the grain to existing feeders climate and would or began their own commercial soon make it the leader in customized Alberta’s moderate temperatures allow owners to feed their cattle feedlots. Finishing cattle in summer cattle feeding. Moderate temperatures allowed for production of high-energy in outdoor pens all year round. grew in popularity, and some farmers Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture left their soil operations entirely in crops and maintenance of cattle in H favour of finishing livestock. South of the border, commercial and custom feeding was also a growing business. Large-scale feeding operations were in full swing by the late thirties and expanded after World War II. A combination of increased incomes, declining prices for feed, a stronger consumer demand for better quality beef and the development of improved technological methods of raising and feeding cattle produced this growth after the war. By the late fifties the state of California had seven times as many cattle on feed as it had twenty years earlier, and Washington and ’s feed cattle increased by sixfold in the same time period. Prospective Alberta

145 CHAPTER THREE outdoor pens all year, and the ideal agricultural scientists and engineers location placed feedlots in proximity to worked hard to control the effects of feeder cattle and Canadian and natural hazards and provide mechanical American packing plants. assistance in reducing costs. Throughout the fifties, new Einar Stephenson of Lacombe was machinery such as power hayers and an example of a local farmer-feeder fully automated balers became who was on the cutting edge of the commonplace. Hydraulic forks, shovels feeding industry at this time. In 1954, and other attachments for tractors when many farmers had trouble eliminated some of the drudgery of putting up hay because of wet weather, cleaning stables and pens. Electric Stephenson ensiled 3000 tons of feed. water heaters kept stock tanks from These were pit silos scooped out of the freezing and semi-automatic grinding, side of a hill, measuring about 24 feet mixing and pumping units helped the by 200 feet. He covered the silage with The fifties saw the introduction of cattle feeder provide food and water for a thin layer of earth, which admirably a variety of methods for storing silage. The silage pit had its the animals. Grass and forage crops preserved the feed. beginnings a few decades earlier. were cut and shredded by automatic Stephenson also used fancy new With the development of different field harvesters that could also directly power equipment to load and distribute covering techniques, pits have load wagons which were then his silage, cut straw and forage, and remained one of the most cost mechanically unloaded into trench, pit grind grain. He saved time using tractor effective and practical means of or upright silos. Grass silage and forage power take-off, and a combination feed storage. Upright silos have crops grew in popularity, and plant power mixer and unloader in spreading also increased in popularity, breeders were providing new varieties feed to his steers. During the summer especially in feedlots where of crops to circumvent some of the the animals drank water made available space is limited. Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture perennial problems such as rust, root by a twenty-foot dam, and at freeze-up H rot and early frosts. At the same time, time water was pumped into troughs by

146 FROM START TO FINISH

a well equipped pressure system, with imminent, and indeed sprung to life G oil heaters preventing ice from forming with the founding of Western Feedlots Spreading hay from a round bale on the tanks. Stephenson fed older near Strathmore. An increasing using a manure spreader. As stock cattle a mixture of ground wheat and population provided limitless farmers looked toward mechaniza- tion and technology, innovative barley plus cut straw and silage, and possibilities for beef cattle production ideas resulted in the development calves received some ground oats in in North America, and offered the of new techniques. addition to wheat and barley. promise of stable and profitable Photo Courtesy of Ted Pritchett The number of cattle fed each year markets for cattle from Alberta feedlots. in farm and commercial feedlots in In addition to cash returns, Alberta in the late fifties was not specialization in the feedlot industry accurately recorded, but clearly more would promote soil conservation and cattle were being finished in the adequate waste disposal, provide a wise province than ever before. The use of forage and other crops, and serve difficulty of cash marketing of grain as a profitable way to manage labour accentuated the importance of livestock and capital. marketings as the main source of As the sixties began, cattle feeding income, and record numbers of cattle was in full swing and periodicals such were fed in feedlots during the winter as the Canadian Cattlemen were and summer of 1957. Exports of beef devoting significant articles discussing cattle and calves to the United States the new developments. In October of increased from just over 6000 in 1956 to 1961 no less than 116 Alberta feeders, over 100,000 in 1957. In 1958 that figure farmers and other members of the would double to over 200,000 head! Of agricultural community toured Idaho, equal importance was the fact that carefully questioned two dozen feedlot significantly more steers and heifers operators and top men in allied were graded at higher levels in 1957 industries, and observed their compared to twenty years earlier. operations in detail. The inquisitiveness The end of the decade saw Alberta’s of the Albertans was admired by host feeding industry poised for further Frank Shields of Boise, secretary of the growth, and the birth of the commercial Idaho Cattle Feeders Association. The feedlot north of the border was event actually turned out to be an

147 CHAPTER THREE

E A feed pen in southern Alberta. Feedlot layouts and facilities vary according to individual need. Board fences can be used to protect livestock from prevailing winds, and straw bedding can be used to limit soil acidity. One constant is that it is profitable to build feeding operations near packing plants. Photo Courtesy of ACC

intensive forum on rations, feeding, The development of profitable and management strategy. The feedlot businesses within Alberta soon Albertans learned that feedlot layouts meant that prospective feeders no can (and should) vary according to longer needed to leave the province to individual need, and that it was learn from “experts.” In November of profitable to build feeding operations 1961 the first annual Feed Industry in proximity to packing plants. Conference in Alberta was held in Consistency in feeding was seen Edmonton, and two years later some By 1963 livestock production in as the key to success, and a number of 250 cattle breeders from a wide area of Alberta represented well over half alternative feeds such as pelleted beet central Alberta hit the road to visit a of the total cash income for pulp, corn silage, steam-rolled barley number of farmer-feeders in the Red farming. Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture H and potatoes were carefully studied. Deer area. They concluded their stay by participating and attending the fall “Feeders Day” program put on by the Department of Animal Science from the . By 1963 livestock production in Alberta represented well over half of the total cash income for farming. Ranching and feeding was becoming more specialized as the functions of ownership and management became more complex. Farm units became larger and risk of loss grew significantly, resulting in an increase of livestock sharing, feeding and leasing arrangements. Cattlemen needed more feed, facilities and labour than they could easily afford or risk, while farmers and landowners who had extra pasture, grain, facilities and labour needed to use these resources to

148 FROM START TO FINISH greater advantage. Logic dictated that the pooling and sharing of resources through feeding arrangements would minimize risk. As a result, the evolution of cattle feeding in the sixties was due to this emergence of more specialized and integrated sectors. It seems entirely fitting that, in a decade known for cultural upheaval and other radical changes, the first computers (called “electronic data processing” in those days) also made their appearance in some of the larger American feedlots. The Noble Cattle Company of Kernan, California developed its own data processing centre and used programs specially designed to benefit the feedlot operator. The computer could be fed information sized feeding operation that began in G about purchased animals (such as this time period was King and Son Computers aid in the cattle weight, origin, days needed for Ranches near High River. Their outside feeding process by performing such tasks as calculating potential fattening), and would return feedlot had a 4000 head capacity, with profit, analyzing feed, developing information about potential profit, feed pens built to hold 100 to 350 head. feeding programs and general analysis, feeding programs and data King’s feedlot exhibited admirable data accounting. accounting. Computers eventually ingenuity; gravelled feed alleys, Photo Courtesy of ACC made their way onto Alberta’s feedlots provided easy passage for vehicles, and have become invaluable tools. eight foot board fences on the north Though customized, commercial and west gave livestock protection from feeding in the sixties was already prevailing winds, and straw bedding represented by Western Feedlots, Valley was chosen over wood chips to limit Feeders and the Lakeside operation, soil acidity. King would later build a countless other Alberta cattle owners 1000 head slatted floor barn, with a were also feeding their own stock using scraper under the floor that separated the latest methods and machines. An manure into liquids and solids. Twenty example of a successful, moderately thousand gallons of this liquid manure

F Gravelled feed alleys provide easy passage for vehicles delivering feed for the cattle. Photo Courtesy of Ted Pritchett

149 CHAPTER THREE farmers with just a handful of cattle also continued to feed and finish their animals with effective simplicity. Eldon Seney of Blackie, who years earlier had built a few simple bunk feeders to begin feeding grain to his cattle, designed a bucket device that, when attached to his tractor, could carry and spread manure on his fields for fertilization. Farmers and ranchers with larger numbers also built pens with a driveway between them, so that a tractor and stoneboat could be driven through and feed shovelled into troughs on either side. By 1967 it was clear that no phase of beef cattle raising had advanced as rapidly as cattle finishing, due to consumer demand for higher grade G (or “slurry”) was pumped daily into a beef and the grain glut. In fact, the Spreading manure on feed crops holding pond and later used for cattle feeder had become a “specialist”, at Western Feedlots. Many of the fertilizer to grow corn, barley and oats. a combination stockgrower and feedlot operations are cyclical in The special sprayer for the task was businessman who incorporated the nature. Manure is generally used bought in the United States, and the latest technological changes to operate as a fertilizer to grow corn, barley process was so successful that the more efficiently. By this time, the and oats which are then fed back corn crop needed no other commercial modern feedlot represented a complete into the cattle. Photo Courtesy of ACC fertilizer. King also used the solid break with the early range traditions. component of the manure to concoct Allowing cattle to graze at will on the a backgrounding or finishing ration open plains had been replaced by which was mixed with cut straw or controlled feeding, and grass diet and hay, blown in a Harvestore, and fed simple treatments were supplanted by back to the cattle. special starter and finishing rations, Although modern and larger-scale growth hormones, systemic insecticides feeding such as that carried out by the and animal tranquillizers. The cattle King family was becoming more feeder on the cutting edge used push- common, it must not be forgotten that button controlled feed mixers, had

“With James L. and his wife Vivian now in “We farmed out at Blackie for 57 years until charge, the feed lot had expanded to a year-round 1979. We didn’t have too much in the way of cattle operation. Most of the lot itself was switched to an because there wasn’t any grass out there and there alley and fence line feeding method. The water still isn’t but we fed a little, we had a few cows pumps and trough heaters were now electrified, around all the time, then we started feeding a little but the feeding was still carried on with the same for. There were times when there was only three system of team and wagon. The measurement of bushel grain quota’s to the acre and you couldn’t the was still done by counting roughage farm on that so we went to growing flax, cannola by the forkful and grain supplement by the scoop when it came along as a cash crop then we’d feed shovelful. Although the same old heave it on heave a little to try to get some dollars out of our grain it off method seemed rather outdated, it did provide and trying to cover up any money for income tax the feeder with what could be called the `personal so in case one year we got hailed out we’d have touch’”. something to live on.” - Charles H. McKinnon - Elden Seney

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improvements in technology, and the F development of higher yielding and An insecticide oiler strategically more disease-resistant varieties of placed in a opening where cattle grain. An increased use of chemicals have to pass in order to get water. Photo Courtesy of Ted Pritchett and fertilizers improved and enhanced soil fertility. Surplus grain was initially exported to the Soviet Union, but soon farmers were faced with a grain glut and low prices. Feeding livestock continued to be a common-sense and convenient way to convert the grain to dollars and so grain consumption per head in Alberta increased fifty-five percent between 1960 and 1972. In the postwar years the largest and most familiar sales outlets for cattle feeders were the public stockyards, located in bigger centres on main railroad lines. Stockyards handling a large volume of trade set prices for the entire industry, as commission agents, grinder plants set up right on the brokers and packer-buyers bought and feedlot, and utilized automatic sold at the auction ring. From 1903 to Hungry cattle waiting for their feeding devices. 1950 all livestock bought and sold at the feed. Between 1960 and 1972, In the late sixties much of the Calgary Stockyards were handled by feeding livestock was a common- world experienced a dramatic increase private treaty, where the buyer sense and convenient way to in grain yields. This was a result of contacted an agent privately and made convert the grain into dollars. Photo Courtesy of Ted Pritchett generally favourable weather conditions, a deal. In July of 1950 the Calgary H

151 G yards converted to competitive auction By the 1960s, cattle were Cattle going down the alley at the selling, becoming the first major transported to market more quickly stockyards in Lethbridge. terminal livestock market on the North and efficiently. Trucks, in use since the (March 9, 1954) American continent to do so. In twenties, were boasting air conditioned Glenbow Museum / NA-4510-421 addition to the auction ring at the semi-trailers and a load capacity equal public stockyards, other popular sales to a standard 36-foot rail car. The outlets in the sixties were the country railways also made a comeback, auctions and cooperative “community” auction companies. The Alberta Auction Markets Association was incorporated in 1955, becoming a focal point in many communities and creating a marketplace for the cattle owner to buy, sell and trade with the highest bidder. Some cattlemen sold directly to packers (which slaughtered, processed and cured meat) and the beef packing industry included larger firms E Tom S. Lanier inspecting a fat beef such as Canada Packers and Burns, herd on a ranch in the Wilson medium-sized packers operating across Siding area near Lethbridge. provincial borders, and local and small (c. 1963) Glenbow Museum / NA-4213-2 town-and-country operators.

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F By the 1960s, cattle were transported to market more quickly and efficiently. Trucks, in use since the twenties, were boasting a load capacity equal to a standard 36-foot rail car. Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture

improving their cars with adjustable and only around 15 percent came from shutters, sun-reflecting aluminium- operations over 1600 acres in size. painted roofs and 50-foot units for So despite the growth of large feedlots increased capacity. Cars also featured and the continuing presence of large better brakes and suspension systems ranching operations, the small farmer and non-skid floors that decreased who owned and feed only a few cattle vibration and bounce, which cut down continued to be a vital part of Alberta’s on injury and animal loss. agricultural community. As the seventies dawned, Alberta The feeding businesses that popped boasted approximately three million up all over the southern half of the cattle, about half of Western Canada’s province in the seventies were a total. Of those, almost half came from product of many entrepreneurs small farms less than a section in size, investing capital and borrowed money

“We started feeding cattle....just after the war. We moved from Black Diamond and we got our own place....just north of Cochrane. We struggled but we got by. I spent those years pitching bundles for four different farmers, feeding cattle and handling feed. We had 35 or 40 head and a couple of big old Angus bulls. We also fed a couple dozen of our neighbours cattle which we would haul water and feed for. He had too many for his own place. Over the years some would die, some we would sell some but we managed. We also had some crop land. Hay mostly. We sold some of it and kept some. We’d stack the hay in big piles, two stories high. In the winter the snow got so deep we had to spend hours shovelling our way just to get to it. Often deer would climb on top and eat our winter feed. We’d chase them off okay usually.” G - Archie Hehn Angus cattle grazing in summer pasture. Photo Courtesy of Ted Pritchett

153 G to “get in the business,” hoping for a of 1970 Thorlakson started by feeding Cattle lined up at the feeding quick dollar and a way of reducing tax 111 animals, and had to manage with troughs at Western Feedlots. In exposure. The success of some was buildings that lacked insulation, and the seventies, many entrepreneurs enhanced by federal Agricultural some unreliable machinery. Though invested capital and borrowed Research stations that provided he had to learn the accounting and money to “get in the business,” hoping for a quick dollar and a way important information on technology business end of the operation from of reducing tax exposure. and procedures. When times became scratch, Thorlakson’s feedlot grew Photo Courtesy of ACC more difficult and the outlook for remarkably. What made it work was feeders was no longer as rosy, the buying abundant barley on credit and number of “city” investors such as offering his clients 100% custom doctors and lawyers declined as the feeding. Thorlakson added one or two initial rush flattened and the market pens a year, and in 1975 he and a evened itself out. partner were able to purchase a Some of these entrepreneurs Strathmore area feedlot, naming it became very successful. Ben Cattleland Feedyards. Today Cattleland Thorlakson, owner of Thorlakson has a capacity of 25,000 head and Feedyards and Cattleland Feedyards, Thorlakson Feedyards has an 18,000 exemplified a “modern” feedlot operator head capacity. who turned a few dollars and a lot of From the 1970s to the 1990s the tenacity into a profitable operation. cattle feeding industry in Alberta Beginning with shoestring budget and experienced steady growth. Though depending on a line of credit from the beef cow numbers on Alberta farms bank, he purchased a quarter section of and ranches increased more in north- land in 1970 and built six pens to feed central and than in 1200 head. In his wildest dreams, he any other parts of the province, the saw the feedlot one day having a heart of the feedlot industry shifted to capacity for 3000 cattle. In November southern Alberta. Eventually the

154 FROM START TO FINISH highest concentration of feedlots in all “If someone were to ask me of western Canada was to be found what I thought had the biggest south of the Trans-Canada highway impact on the industry over the which runs through Calgary. Not last 30 years [‘66-’96], I would have surprisingly, the majority of large to say - The Federal Government packing plants were established in the allowing the importation of the same area, as their proximity to cattle European breeds. This, plus the sources improved efficiency. There was technology of Artificial also a recognizable trend toward large Insemination and Embryo custom lots feeding the majority of the Transplant, which has allowed the province’s cattle. By the mid-eighties, proliferation of superior genetics only about one in ten feedlots had a that have filtered down to the capacity for more than 10,000 cattle, yet commercial industry. This is best that group fed almost forty percent of illustrated when you compare the the cattle in the province. In other weights of the first fed calves going words, most cattle owners owned only out of the feedlots in March or a few feeders, and a relatively small early April, 15 to 20 years ago – number of cattle feeders had a large 1025 - 1050 lbs. was good. Now number of animals. Feedlot expansion weights at the same time of year and efficiency of this kind are closer to 1150 - 1250. No doubt corresponded with the evolution of improved nutrition and implants the packing plant business, feedgrain also contributed to this improved production, improved transportation performance. ...Feedlots are now and improvements in technology such reaching the size in Canada that as the introduction of more efficient Western Feedlots in High River is were common only in the United feed converters. an example of a large feeding operation in southern Alberta. By States a few years back...Selection At the end of the eighties Alberta the mid-eighties, ten percent of pressure on superior genetics at retained its longstanding position as the largest beef cattle producing province, the feedlots fed almost forty the seed stock level will continue.” percent of the cattle. holding over forty percent of the - Bill Hartall Photo Courtesy of ACC Canadian beef cow herd, about the H

155 CHAPTER THREE same as its share in 1956. Although more than sixty percent of the total feedlot numbers declined in the provincial farm gate receipt. Alberta country between 1986 and 1991, this farms in the mid-nineties averaged fifty decline was mostly in Ontario. The six cattle, and though most did not keep average Alberta feedlot was four times cattle as their primary product they the size of Ontario’s. Alberta had also were primarily used to convert feed. grown in its share of the national On operations dedicated to cow-calf slaughter numbers between 1980 and production, cattle owners weaned and 1992 to where it represented almost sold their cattle to the feedlot. As a half of the country’s total. Feedlots result there were over four thousand across the province marketed to the feedlots in the province ranging in size United States because of price and from 100 to over 30,000 head of cattle in flexibility, and also sent cattle to 1993. Some of the larger operations Ontario, Saskatchewan, and packing finished over 100,000 head yearly and plants in Edmonton, High River, one hundred largest feedlots finished In 1993 there were over four Brooks and Calgary. over half of Alberta’s beef cattle! thousand feedlots in the province The importance of Alberta’s feedlot As the century comes to a close, ranging in size from 100 to over industry is illustrated by the fact that it is not an exaggeration to say that 30,000 head of cattle. between 1980 and 1995 the livestock Alberta’s cattle feeding industry is alive Photo Courtesy of ACC H and feeding industries represented and well. The province’s slaughter

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cattle exports to the United States G “Some 10 or 11 years ago jumped from 205,000 in 1991 to 350,000 By the mid-nineties, Alberta farms averaged 56 cattle. Most owners [1985], our leaner exotic cross in 1992, and in 1994 Alberta produced almost two million head of slaughter did not keep cattle as their Canadian cattle seemed to gain primary product. Feed conversion cattle, representing two billion dollars considerable acceptability with was the main directive. Eventually, the American packers, resulting in in cash sales. Cattle exports also secure most cattle ended up being the U.S. market becoming “part of some 400 million dollars in foreign finished in a commercial feedlot our market.” Considerable numbers exchange. The growth of the cattle operation. Photo Courtesy of ACC of Alberta cattle would move feeding industry in the last half century south. This certainly gave the has been spectacular, and individual Alberta feedlot operator another feeders deserve full credit. Through option on the bid system. Over the their hard work, knowledge of cattle, years we’ve sent cattle to I.B.P. in and business acumen they have created Washington; Washington Beef; an industry that serves the consumer, Montfort in Colorado and Millers increases our wealth, and gives all in . Cattle that went [there] Albertans a reason to be proud. was done through order buyers.” - Bill Hartall

157

The Maturation of the Industry: The Contribution of Science

The period following World War II Health of Animals Branch led the way. G could well be described as the age of Brucellosis (Bang’s disease) and bovine Immunizing cattle against disease. scientific agriculture, and no history of tuberculosis were two devastating Veterinary medicine grew into agriculture in Alberta is complete diseases eventually controlled through maturity in the modern era, based without a tribute to scientists. Their careful inspection and vaccination, on intense scientific investigation and applied research. work resulted in new methods and saving cattlemen millions of dollars. Photo Courtesy of ACC improvements in cattle raising and Since early in the century, feeding. Cattle owners certainly relied vaccinees could be purchased and on their own knowledge throughout the applied during branding. As cattle years, and were always able to feeding grew into a separate and “troubleshoot” when problems such as specialized industry, veterinarians bloat struck an animal. Yet from the became even more important. The beginning they acknowledged the need financial margin of risk in the cattle for trained animal doctors and relied on business shrunk given new market the expertise of these professionals. realities, and it paid to have Veterinary medicine grew into veterinarians on call to ensure the maturity in the modern era, based on health of animals and prompt intense scientific investigation and treatment of problems. The sheer F applied research. Animal scientists at number of animals that came to the Bovine embryos as seen under the universities and government research same feedlot from different sources, lens of a microscope. centres and the federal government’s and then spent time together in closed Photo Courtesy of Alta Genetics Inc.

159 “The worst disaster I ever had at Western was an outbreak of red nose. We’d never had red nose in this country and this was way back in the 60s. The Provincial Veterinary director [Ed Valentine] and I went fishing one time and I said to him, the one thing that scares me half to death is if we ever got red nose in here. And he says, oh, you won’t get it, I said that they got it in Montana, what’s to stop it from getting in here. He says we’ve never had it and we never will. And by golly within a year the head cowboy come in one day and he says Eion come have a look at this pen of steer, I can’t figure them out. He says they’re sicker than hell. We had 1400 or 1500 head of cattle on feed when So I went out and I looked at them and by this it happened. As soon as we got vaccine from time we had a vet in Strathmore so I phoned John Chicago it shut off. In the meantime I think we Bradley and the three of us went through those lost in the neighbourhood of 100 head of cattle. I cattle and they were just drooling clear fluid had to get on the phone and tell all the owners standing with their head down between their legs what had happened, some lost 6, some lost 8 and and John says I suspect this is red nose [IBR]. Inter- this one fella, he was a good customer of ours for nasal ... doesn’t matter. Anyhow, we didn’t have years, he lived out at Big Stone. I phoned him and any vaccine in Alberta because the Vet branch said we got some bad news for ya. We had some wouldn’t allow it. They said if we ever started to tough luck at the feedlot and I lost 24 of your steers, vaccinate with a live vaccine you’d just spread it. out of about 100. Well he says, oh hell, I lose that So we got a hold of Ed Valentine and he agreed to many in one storm.” let us bring in some vaccine. By golly a day or a day and a half is gone by and the next pen has got G - Eion Chisholm it now, from drinking out of the same water trough. Cattle with IBR. Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture

products derived from the latest in DNA technology. Genetic improvements allow for progress in herd development where superior characteristics such as higher reproductive rates, leanness of meat, and disease resistance are enhanced. These directions were kick started in the war years with the establishment of an artificial breeding centre at the Olds Agricultural School, which also provided the basis for general public acceptance of artificial insemination. With the advent of frozen semen and importation of both frozen and chilled semen from British Columbia and Ontario, artificial insemination soon became a widespread practice. G pens, raised the possibility of As a result, product improvement Spraying for mange. contagious diseases wreaking havoc. through reproductive technology has Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture In addition to relying on the become an integral part of the livestock expertise of veterinarians, cattle feeders business. Modern artificial today profit from biotechnological insemination (AI) and embryo transfer companies offering health and growth (ET) centres in the province have

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F Embryo transfer allows cattle to be engineered with optimum genetic material improving the quality of the calf. Genetic improvements allow for progress in herd development through the enhancement of superior traits and characteristics. Photo Courtesy of Alta Genetics Inc.

developed to serve the industry The introduction of “exotic” breeds with innovative research and genetic began in the sixties and also enhanced technology. AI involves the fertilization breed quality. The French Charolais Charolais cattle in a southern of cows by mechanical means, and is cattle boasted exceptional growth rate Alberta cow-calf operation. The helpful in improving herd performance. and muscling, and they were followed introduction of “exotic” breeds Frozen semen can be obtained and by Limousins, Maine-Anjou, Bond- and subsequent cross breeding effectively used from the world’s leading d’Aquitaine and Salers. Other exotics programs have opened up new sires without the trouble of transporting include the giant Chianina, Swiss opportunities in the quest for the perfect beef animal. bulls and waiting for nature to take its Simmentals and German Gelbvieh Photo Courtesy of Deryk Bodington course. Embryo transfers are a natural cattle. These were introduced to produce H extension of the AI industry, and involve the fertilization of more than one ovum from selected bulls. The ova are then transferred into surrogate mothers for gestation. The practise of embryo transplants lengthens the span of a cow’s calving capacity, offers access to a wide pool of genetic material, and generally improves the quality of the calf. Advances in reproductive technology have been valuable when combined with the developing method of performance testing, which helps determine herd quality. Producers can judge their cattle through a home test and then improve production efficiency by selective breeding, where bulls with superior genetic qualities are mated with selected cows to create a better offspring. The Hays Converter is an example of a beef breed that appeared through effective cross-breeding.

161 CHAPTER THREE more muscled, hardy and faster growing II and was well established in the West animals, as the trend toward generating by 1960. Firms such as Shur-Gain, leaner cattle became increasingly United Feed, Triple West and Lakeside important given the demands of a more Industries became large and well- calorie-conscious market. Despite these known in the mixing and additions, the historically dominant manufacturing of high energy livestock “English” breeds of Hereford, Aberdeen feed that significantly improved the Angus and Shorthorn remain popular conversion rate of cattle. This feeding across the province. industry grew hand in hand with the Yet another realistic effort to establishment of commercial feedlots, produce better and more efficient beef but those who fed their own cattle also took place in 1970 when a number of remained primary customers of the Alberta cattle producers began feed grain manufacturers and suppliers. Beefboosters, a crossbreeding program The cost of the preparation of feed, whose goal was to create consistent when combined with the other feed- synthetic strains of commercial cattle related aspects of the business, can by tapping the hybrid vigour of various comprise up to 80% of livestock breeds. By 1990 the organization had production expenses. New feed grown from the three original active production requires careful attention to Barley in a silage pit. The use breeding units to twenty-eight breeding adequate nutrition, which is achieved of high energy livestock feed herds, which supplied bulls to over one by recognizing the latest research on significantly improved the hundred customers. nutrients. Auxiliary feeding practices conversion rate of cattle. Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture The entire feed industry also that consider supplements, H developed significantly since World War concentrates and replacements

162 for traditional feed is a growing area of protein units and fibre than corn. G study, and cattle owners have access to Barley-fed cattle are the foundation of Alberta’s wide open spaces allow findings through agricultural journals Alberta beef’s claim of tenderness and for ample growth of a variety of and government publications. flavour in meat. Other feedgrains that grains which have become a staple in feedlot diets. Nutrition research has resulted in the have been time-tested are wheat, oats Photo Courtesy of ACC development of rumensin, an additive and mixed grain. which can improve feed efficiency in The breed, sex, age, weight and cattle. By augmenting the animal’s grades of feeders are all factors to be natural process of chewing and considered as the feedlot manager digesting food, rumensin allows for the decides on a feeding programme. production of more beef on less feed. It Different groups of livestock have also aids in the protection of diseases different energy level requirements and and generally allows for a more so feeding is a dynamic process, where profitable feeding program. the first month is usually the most Both cow-calf operators and critical period. Rations need to be backgrounders use forages such as palatable so that animals begin eating alfalfa, timothy, clover, wheatgrasses immediately upon arrival to the feedlot, and rye grasses. Forage can be obtained in order to reduce stress and threat of from cereal, legume/grass and corn illness that develops in transport. silage. This in turn requires good Rations are also varied in the early, pasture and range management which middle and late feeding periods. Feeds has also been an important area of used in the feedlot include grain, discussion and research in recent years. minerals, fat, hay and various additives. Alberta’s wide open spaces allows for Nutrients within each feed or additive ample growth of barley, which is the are carefully considered so as to prime feedlot feed source. Barley is a “customize” the process for maximum high protein, high energy feed source effect, and produce the best grade and that has been found to contain more marbling of meat. Since the late fifties

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E necessary equipment requires the Advances in feed processing has careful integration of space, shelter, seen grain moisturized, rolled, feed, water, waste management and flaked, roasted, micronized, handling facilities, while at the same popped and gelatinized, all in time keeping in mind the type of beef order to improve digestibility. Photo Courtesy of Deidre Williams being produced. These requirements also need to be adapted to natural site features on which the feedlot rests. Feeding systems and equipment have evolved to the point where agricultural engineers now prepare detailed guide books for the feeder. Over the years, grain processing and feed mixing has been done by hammer mills, burr mills, roller mills, electric blender-grinders, portable grinder- mixers or horizontal mobile mixer- feeders. Feeding methods include self- feeding or creep feeding, and can advances in processing has seen grain involve chain and slat feeders, auger- moisturized, rolled, flaked, roasted, type bunk feeders or the feed bunk micronized, popped and gelatinized, and cart. Feeding has also become a Construction of proper housing all in order to improve digestibility. computerized process. Ed Miller, who facilities to provide adequate The development of the feedlot runs a 11,000 head feedlot east of Acme, shelter for extreme weather industry has also meant advances and Alberta, is a strong supporter of strict conditions can help to avoid considerable research in cattle housing feedlot management that is monitored unnecessary set backs in gains. Photo Courtesy of ACC and feedlot facilities. Construction of by computer. According to Miller, giving H housing and arrangement of other up his computerized bunk management

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F New forms of animal identification and monitoring are being developed at a rapid rate. The use of ear tags, electronic implants and computerized readers will become commonplace in the modern era of cattle feeding. Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture

industry that deal with everything from F the role of feedlot consultants and the A computerized feed management economics of feedlot management to system is considered a necessity manure management and feedlot for efficient modern feedlot diseases and parasites. As the twentieth operations. Photo Courtesy of ACC century comes to a close, industry representatives are analyzing new forms of animal identification and monitoring the use of ear tags, electronic implants and computer relays. Ultrasound and electronic grading methods allow for backfat measurement of live cattle and estimates of lean meat yield while the animal is still alive. Video imaging is a current strategy employed to estimate carcass lean meat percentages. Cameras are used to send digitized representations that a computer program then translates into estimates. Science and technology has revolutionized and transformed the cattle and feeding industry, and will continue to do so. Only the imagination system would be comparable to selling can limit what kind of progress is his truck and going back to a horse- possible for the future in feeding drawn carriage! technology and cattle management. The study of feedlot structures and The availability of funding for research feeding systems and equipment are and the affordability of new techniques only two aspects of what has become and resources for operators remain a full-fledged discipline. Animal standard limitations, but what has been researchers have produced full-length accomplished is impressive and the textbooks on the feedlot and feedlot future remains exciting.

165

The Evolution of the Industry: Business and Commercial Aspects

Cattle feeding since the war years grading terminology became “A”, “B” and G has become big business, and as a “C”, and was based on a combination of As a consumer driven industry, business requires the feeder to have a quality and quantity. Additional grades providing beef information and keen understanding of the marketplace. conveyed fat content and general meat receiving feedback is necessary in order to keep in touch with Consumer demand has also changed quality, and these were important, consumer demands. over the years, and the emergence of a given the growing consumer preference Photo Courtesy of ACC global economy means cattle feeders for leaner meat. Over the years, must avail themselves of the latest Alberta’s feeders have done a superb resources to remain competitive. job producing high quality beef, while Quality of product is vital for any at the same time meeting specific business to thrive, and for over four market demands. Almost 97 percent of decades the “red” and “blue” grades Alberta’s feedlot animals grade out to initially established by the federal Canada A, AA or AAA. government remained the standard Agriculture Canada implemented measures of meat. Eventually the the new Beef Carcass Grading F grades of “choice”, “good” and Regulations in 1992, providing a Quality of product is vital for any “standard” were added and in 1972 the improved means of measuring prices business to thrive, including the system was overhauled. The new and communicating quality. A major beef industry. Photo Courtesy of ACC

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“In the early fifties, the University of Alberta they felt through the hide – actually, gobs of fat. took a championship at Toronto with a Shorthorn We at U of A were as quick as anybody to be steer of the standard type suspicious. Certainly I that put on fat in patches. was when I came home The judge called that from Minnesota in 1955 steer ‘”...the best fleshed thinking, “Let’s find out animal I ever put my what’s really under the hands on in my life”, his hide. That should be actual statement. And simple.” Of course, it somebody took a picture wasn’t simple. You can’t of the rib eye of that steer really tell what’s hidden (an unusual thing to do under the rind of fat in the 1950s), which has without cutting through allowed us to see that it to the rib eye, as in had six square inches of quartering. And in those lean and was covered by days sides weren’t a three-inch rind of fat. The point is that the experts quartered before grading. That would require a in those days never saw a carcass; yet they talked major change in the system.” a lot about ‘fleshing’, meaning what they thought - Roy Berg Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture

change in the system was the The beef slaughtering and introduction of a marbling grade, which processing industry is closely measures the dispersion of fat deposits connected with the feeding sector, and within the muscle tissue. Not only does so the packing business expanded as marbling now effect the grade the entire cattle industry grew. assignment, but it communicates the Alberta’s slaughter steer marketings flavour and juiciness of the meat. more than doubled between 1958 and The beef processing industry is These developments have affected 1988, and cattle passing through closely connected with the feeding feeding technique, which always needs federally inspected plants in the sector, and so the packing to adapt to new market demands. For province rose 42 percent between 1969 business expanded as the entire example, the Japanese and Americans and 1988. The number of packing cattle industry grew. prefer a more marbled product which plants grew from fifteen to twenty-nine Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture H necessitates longer feeding periods. in that time period so Canada’s packing industry became firmly concentrated in Alberta, reaching the point where 1.35 million cattle were processed in 1992. In 1993 there were nine beef processing plants in Alberta, with seven located in and south of Calgary, and the average number of animals processed per plant in Alberta was the highest in Canada. Historically most of the cattle finished for slaughter in western Canada went to eastern Canada where the population was highest, but with growing markets and proximity to the northwestern United States, Canadian cattle heading to the American west coast has increased. From 1987 to 1992 exports of slaughter steers and heifers from Canada to the U.S. more than

168 FROM START TO FINISH quadrupled. Packers have constantly developed new export markets and products, including consumers in the Pacific Rim countries and as well as the traditional American market. Changing market trends require companies such as Lakeside Packers to carefully service regional markets that express different demands. For example, Quebeckers like very lean beef, with tenderness not as important a factor, and the growing Asian market demands large carcasses and a dark red colour of meat. Regardless of meat type, all markets are sensitive to any cattle with a history of health problems and body or brand damage. Since the War, most cattle were sold through the public stockyards by livestock commission agents, and the bids at a set time and either choose G auction markets were an important the successful buyer or puts the cattle The final product is the result of player, serving as a mid-point between up for another bid. carefully directed feedback from the cattle raiser and the feeder. Over Cattle marketing has now entered the most important variable in the the last four decades, however, there the electronic age. Marketing systems feeding process. Consumer demands always prompt changes has been a strong trend to marketing that involve computers, tele-auctions, in the industry’s feeding practises. directly from feedlots to packing plants. and video auctions offer a progressive Photo Courtesy of ACC Between 1966 and 1978 the percentage and convenient means of buying and of cattle slaughtered in Alberta that selling cattle without compromising went directly from the feeder to the efficiency. The first Canadian satellite packer jumped twenty-five percent. livestock auction sale was held in A familiar practise has seen larger Morningside, Alberta in October of feedlots offering their cattle for sale on 1993, made possible by three Alberta a specific day each week, with packers member markets working together. sending their buyers to examine the The auction featured a live auctioneer livestock and submit a sealed bid. The with current bid prices electronically feedlot representative then examines all flashed on a TV screen as bids

F Cattle owner going over a pen of steers with a buyer. Sealed bid selling has proven successful for the vast majority feedlot operators. Photo Courtesy of Ted Pritchett

169 G progressed. Herds on screen had been The introduction of these and other The Calgary Stockyards shut down previously videoed grazing in pastures modern forms of marketing cattle in 1989 after over 100 years of or pens. The sale was viewable across contributed to the death of the eighty- operation. This drawing was North America, and those not owning six year-old Calgary Stockyards in found in the Calgary Herald satellite dishes could participate via December of 1989. One hundred on September 30th, 1893. phone-in centres. The satellite system thousand cattle were still sold through provided a major step forward in the historic yards in 1988, but that was modern marketing. a far cry from the glory years when as Computer and satellite many as 375,000 head passed through communication technology has allowed the yards annually. Trading in live cattle futures for more informed decision making in Futures trading was developed in opened on the Chicago Mercantile the management of livestock in the the last century in the United States Exchange in 1964. The Exchange feeding and cow-calf sectors. and has evolved to stabilize prices and functions as a centralized market Computers provide rapid and accurate facilitate trading. Trading in live cattle place where buyers and sellers access to an animal’s history and futures opened on the Chicago come together to trade performance records, and satellite and Mercantile Exchange in 1964, commodities. remote sensing equipment allow for functioning as a centralized market Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture H more accurate crop forecasts. place where buyers and sellers come together to trade commodities at a mutually agreeable price in the form of futures contracts. Canada does not have similar centralization due to small cattle markets, so the Chicago market is accessed by Canadians. The futures contract is an agreement that publicly sets a price and date of delivery of a designated product within a geographic area. The business of cattle raising and feeding has also profited from progress in other areas historically associated with the industry. Irrigation continued to expand after World War II, so that by 1960 Alberta boasted about 600,000 acres of irrigated land. Significant expansion after 1973 resulting in over

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F An irrigation canal in southern Alberta. Irrigation plays a vital role in cattle feeding by providing high quality drinking water for livestock in dry areas. Manure disposal is easier and less expensive on irrigated land as increased moisture facilitates decomposition. Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture

one million irrigated acres by 1988. The barley for energy. Irrigation also plays a growth of irrigated land corresponded vital role in cattle feeding by providing with the rapid expansion of feeding high quality drinking water for livestock activity in southern Alberta in the in dry areas; a 20,000 head feedlot can sixties and seventies, and huge use over one quarter of a million increases in provincial slaughter gallons of water per day. Furthermore, marketings. Most of the expansion of manure disposal is easier and less irrigated lands occurred in the southern expensive on irrigated land as increased area of the province and has been moisture facilitates decomposition. managed by various Irrigation Districts. Transportation has also affected As a result, semi-arid areas have been the development and location of cattle transformed into productive regions, feeding in Alberta. Expanded highways, and reduced the risk associated with the creation of safer road networks in crop production. Corn and cereal silage rural Alberta, and the arrival of semi- have emerged as valuable cash crops trailers has allowed cattle producers, and large feedlots are utilizing irrigated feeders and packers to overcome the barley silage for roughage and grain earlier constraints of location. Major

171 G transportation routes have especially exist for larger feedlot operations of The arrival of semi-trailers has helped southern Alberta cattle feeders 10,000 to 30,000 head, as the larger allowed cattle producers, feeders who had the advantage of proximity to operations have lower unit costs for and packers to overcome the the growing American markets. feed and other inputs, and appear to earlier constraints of location. Photos Courtesy of ACC Cattle feeders have become be more effective buyers and sellers students of business and economics, of cattle. Trends show feedlot numbers and the important economic principle decreasing in North America, with of “economies of size” is applicable and a smaller number of operations valuable for the feeding industry. accounting for a larger share of The concept suggests that optimum fed cattle marketings. economies of size in any business To reduce costs and improved derive from the ability to spread the profitability, various risk management large initial capital costs and costs of strategies are also vital for forward specialization – for example, skilled contracting and strategic industry labour and management, specialized alliances. Cattle feeders need to stay machinery, research and development abreast of new technology and work – over a greater volume of output. It is closely with the grocery trade to very important for feedlot owners and develop marketing and promotional managers to study what the optimum strategies that are designed to better size of a commercial finishing serve consumer needs. All this needs operation is in Alberta and what the to take place without losing competitive important elements are that create the advantage in animal health, genetics best and most profitable economy of and feeding, which ensures the size. Substantial economies of scale highest possible product.

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173

Specialization in the Industry: Ranchers and Feeders Working Together

Specialization has been the ride their horses regularly to monitor G characteristic trend within the Canadian the herds. Many smaller farmers also The traditional cowboy activities cattle industry in the modern era, and maintain cows and so every year of branding, calving and fall round- feedlots have become one of the major thousands of calves, commonly called up remain an integral part of the cow-calf operator’s yearly routine. players. Virtually all slaughter steers feeder cattle or stockers, are sold to John McQuarrie, Corel Professional Photos and heifers in Canada are now finished feedlot operations either directly or in feedlots, which means that feedlot through other stocker operators who operators work hand in hand with the raise the cattle on winter forage and cow-calf operators in producing cattle summer pasture. Some producers also for market. raise beef cattle from birth until they The growth of the feeding are ready for the trip to the packer. industry has not meant the complete The traditional and time-honoured F disappearance of some longstanding spring calving and fall round-up Many ranchers specifically traditions such as ranchers riding the activities remain busy times for the operate cow-calf herds where Alberta range; in fact, the province still rancher or cow-calf operator, as herds every year thousands of older boasts the greatest number of cow-calf are watched closely for health problems calves are sold to feedlot operators in the country, and many and given adequate feed. Six month old operations. Corel Professional Photos

175 CHAPTER THREE calves are weaned from their mothers quality of pasture desired. Grazing in fall at a weight of up to five hundred associations are another resource for pounds, and are also vaccinated, stockmen needing range. These branded, dehorned and castrated. The associations operate as a syndicate on cattle owner may then “background” deeded land. A range’s “carrying the animal, which means feeding it capacity” has been measured as the over the winter. To do this, forage crops number of animal units (one 990 pound may be grown and harvested, but beef cow is equivalent to an animal unit) a cows are fed little or no grain particular field can carry. To maximize throughout their lives. A huge carrying capacity of rangeland and proportion of cattle owners that insure adequate recovery of grasses, regularly background own small cattle owners exercise rotation, numbers of cattle. deferred grazing and complementary Progressive cattle owners whose grazing strategies. An intensive and focus is the cow-calf business and who planned grazing program, given its may do some backgrounding recognize relatively low overhead, allows the importance of keeping inventory of backgrounders to market forage their use of rangeland. Finding through cattle and prepare weaned adequate range for cattle has become calves for the feedlot. Cattle grazing in a cow-calf an increasing challenge for stockmen While some of the calves may be operation. To maximize carrying and the availability of grazing reserves, retained and fed by the producer and capacity of rangeland and insure so vital in the terrible 1930s, has others kept for breeding purposes, most adequate recovery of grasses, continued to be an important resource. are raised for the feedlot. The financing cattle owners exercise rotation, Stockmen wanting to place cattle on a necessary to establish and maintain a deferred grazing, and reserve gain permission from local large-scale finishing operation is complementary grazing strategies. John McQuarrie, Corel Professional Photos advisory boards and are levied a charge beyond most cattle producers. The H on the basis of head per month and the feedlot is also important for the cow-

176 FROM START TO FINISH calf producer because of increased buyers may produce a higher price. The costs and risks associated with his own September to November period, called operation. Research has shown that the “fall run,” is when most calves total cost of grain in custom feedlots make the transition from the cow-calf is lower than required for cattle fed in operator to the feedlot. farm feedlots (in every area of Alberta). When the feedlot purchases a young The cost of wintering calves is also unfinished calf from the rancher or higher than feedlot costs for finishing farmer, the animal is usually a recently feeder cattle. Land investment for feed weaned six month old calf, or a stocker involves significant money, labour, that has spent a second summer on machinery, fencing and health costs, grass. Purchased cattle are classified as and these have all risen dramatically feedlot calves, wintered calves, yearling in the last quarter century. Feedlot cattle or two year old cattle. Weighing operators are also in an excellent anywhere between 500 and 800 pounds, position to know the market value of these animals are gradually introduced cattle at any one time because of their to a high energy diet that allows them constant buying and selling. to gain up to three pounds a day. They Furthermore, the finishing of cattle are also gradually moved from hay feed demands large amounts of risk capital to a diet of grain and silage. One key in today’s competitive market, so it has component is the feed’s “DE” (or been a natural and necessary digestible energy) which varies from progression for the feeding and cow-calf grain to grain. The DE value is only industries to specialize and yet work one variable in establishing a feeding closely together. program; cost of grains and protein, and When thinking of moving cattle off vitamin and mineral content are also the ranch or farm, “preconditioning” is important. Additives may also be used an important strategy. It is a program to to increase the rate of gain or feed minimize economic losses caused by efficiency. During the last few months stress and disease when calves are of its feeding, the beef animal is moved from cow herd to feedlot. brought to a proper finish, as four Preconditioning methods include pounds of grain produces a pound dehorning, castration, parasite control, of carcass beef. vaccination and weaning. In 1981 the Animals ready for market are about Minister of Agriculture established an two years old and usually weigh Advisory Committee to guide the new between 1000 to 1100 pounds. They are Alberta Certified Preconditioned Feeder sometimes shipped by truck or rail to Program (ACPF). This committee the public stockyards or local auction includes members from representative and sold to the highest bidder, but the of the cow-calf industry, as well as most popular method of selling Alberta Agriculture, Alberta Veterinary slaughter cattle is directly to the packer. Medical Association and the Alberta Whatever the route or method, the final Cattle Feeders Association. destination is the packing plant where Most feedlots conveniently the beef is processed and distributed to purchase feeder calves through local the hungry consumer. auction markets. Cattle are categorized This integrated system of beef into uniform groups, based on animal management requires feedlot and cow- type and weight. Feedlot operators calf operators to each fulfil an often look for specific types of calves important role. Their cooperation in depending on how the market is carrying out specialized activities has interpreted. Today that process has resulted in a well coordinated system been enhanced by video and computer which spreads out the business risks auctions. The process often involves a and ensures a steady flow of cattle number of independent commission from producer to customer. agents or salaried buyers, and more

177

The Birth of the Custom Feedlot

Interest in specialized feeding and their Calgary packing plant (and G finishing grew as the 1950s progressed. occasionally fed a few cattle for others), The feed pens at Western The cattle industry was diversifying, and though it was the most advanced Feedlots. Photo Courtesy of ACC and cow-calf operators had their hands and largest operation of the day, it did full producing feeder cattle on land that not custom feed for others. Feeding had been grazed for almost two operations took the form of individual generations. Many of them did not live farmer-feeders of varying sizes, in areas of the province where grain including some larger ones like Edwin and roughages were abundant. McKinnon’s Running M Ranch. Converting feeder cattle into finished Those who foresaw that specialized beef by a more specialized method was custom feedlots could offer improved logical given the market demands and a and precise care, feeding and marketing need to keep pace with progress. The of their cattle were motivated by the practise of customized commercial booming commercial feedlot industry feeding, whereby cattle were placed in in the United States. The experience a feedlot for backgrounding and/or south of the border offered an finishing, was a natural step. important model of success to be Prior to the late fifties, none of studied and adapted for the local Alberta’s feeders were completely or context. The first large feedlots even predominantly commercial in emerged in California where there F their approach. The Burns company was an abundance of forages and other Packing and levelling out silage at had fed significant numbers of cattle for feeds. Similar intensive operations Western Feedlots. Photo Courtesy of ACC

179 CHAPTER THREE

G eventually formed and thrived in Western Feedlots The entrance to Western’s Custom Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. It was In the 1950s Eion Chisholm served Round T Feedlot. observed that feedlot managers there as secretary-manager of the Western Photo Courtesy of Western Feedlots could lobby more effectively than cow- Stockgrowers’ Association (WSGA) and calf producers with packing houses to worked on the small Pyramid Ranch get maximum prices for finished cattle. just west of Calgary. The “Pyramid”, These operators had access to improved owned by a group of Shriners primarily communications systems that allowed to keep horses, also allowed Chisholm for better access to market prices and the opportunity to feed three hundred projections. As feed grain technology cattle, but he was interested in feeding also became more advanced, it made more. It would not be long before he did. sense for ranchers and cattle farmers to In 1958 the WSGA sent Chisholm to focus on the cow-calf business and a cattlemen’s convention in the United allow the new specialists to finish States and while there he visited and sell their cattle. Montfort Feedlots in Greeley, Colorado. Back in Canada, government It was a typical American feedlot that publications in the late fifties offered Chisholm determined to be ten to strategies to promote the establishment fifteen years ahead of what was of feedlots, and entrepreneurs were happening in Alberta. What Chisholm ready to invest money in the new saw impressed him in a big way. enterprise. Also needed were Montfort was feeding 19,000 head of experienced people of vision and cattle, which he described as “pretty courage who would take the risk of terrific for that time.” This was beginning the first commercial feedlots. Chisholm’s first glimpse of feeding on Thankfully, Alberta has never been a large scale. He could not wait to get short of those individuals. back to Canada to tell his friends what

180 FROM START TO FINISH

F Cattle at Western Feedlots’ Strathmore facility. Photo Courtesy of Western Feedlots

he had seen, because he could not shareholder base, and inside a couple imagine why the same setup would of hours raised enough capital to start not work in Alberta. a company called Western Feedlots. When he returned, Chisholm Charlie McKinnon served as the first approached Charlie McKinnon, who president and early supporters included had coached him during his early Bert Hargrave, Cec Barber, Eugene feeding days at the Pyramid Ranch, and Burton and Neil Harvie. These men they discussed the possibility of starting spread the word to their neighbours, a commercial operation in Alberta. explaining that a large-scale operation Concluding that there was sufficient would provide the advantages of cattle, feed and markets, the logic economy that come with size and seemed straightforward to them. But volume. Many ranchers who sold most they needed some capital and cattle of their stock off grass in the fall were owners willing to place their livestock anxious to spread their marketing while on a feedlot, so that meant selling the still maintaining title to their cattle idea to their friends in the industry. from one year to the next. By availing They did not have to do much themselves of a commercial feedlot convincing. A group of cattlemen operation, they could capitalize on got together in Calgary, formed a better price situations and adjust

“I rented a place on top of the hill and decided when I had a visit from the city’s founding fathers. to feed my own cattle, that was the start of my [They] said I was inside the restriction zone and troubles. Twenty acres. The owner was planning they wanted me out of there. I said well look I just to build a house. It had a little old tar paper shack moved the cattle in, got the feed for the winter. Give barn and two corrals. There was water and this me until the first of April and I’ll be gone. So finally old boy had apparently milked Jersey cows there after a lot of negotiation they agreed. That was until he sold it. So I rented it got two loads of cattle my first shot at feeding cattle.” in there, one from Bert Hargrave and the other was from being able to borrow $2500 from the bank. - Eion Chisholm That bought a herd of cattle. I just got setup there

181 CHAPTER THREE

“It was the fall of ‘58 and I happened to be maybe you got something there. He says, I’d like sitting at the Calgary market sitting beside Percy to try it. Suppose you could handle 300 steers for Copithorne, one of the bigger ranchers in the me. I says you bet, how do you want to feed ‘em Cochrane area. He had his cattle there, a couple of Percy, cause at that time there wasn’t any set hundred of big 2 and 3 year old steers. They were programs. Well, he says what will it cost me by the selling for 12 - 14 cents a pound, and he turns to day? I says give me a couple of minutes to figure it me and says, You know Eion, I just can’t make it out and I’ll call you back. I think I quoted him 45 at that and I says well you damned old fool it serves cents a day if you can picture that. Anyhow, we you right. You should be feeding them. Oh no, he feed the cattle out. They did well and in February says, that’s a different business than ranching. we sold them for 22 cents/pound. After that I had Those feedlots he says, I won’t have any part of a customer for life.” that. About 2 or 3 nights later the phone rang and - Eion Chisholm it was Percy. He said you know I’ve been thinking,

marketings to income tax requirements. And so the first commercial feedlot in The newly formed company pulled Alberta was born, ushering in the first together $40,000 by subscription, and large-scale custom feeding operation in bought 528 acres of what was originally the province. a grain and livestock farm near Western Feedlot’s layout and Strathmore for $32 per acre. In addition capacity introduced a new reality in to being a tremendous boon for Alberta, where the average farmer or Strathmore, the location had many rancher might have attached two or benefits from a feeder’s point of view: three feeding pens to a barn for winter it was within an hour of huge packing feeding in order to convert cheap grain plants in Calgary such as Burns, Swift’s, and keep hired men employed in Union, and Canada Packers, close to the winter. These cattle feeding strategies Western Irrigation District where feed were effective but simple. Early self Cattle, pen riders, and the feed was abundant, and near the CPR line feeders featured storage bins with truck at Western Feedlots. that could conveniently transport their troughs on each side that refilled as the Western’s layout and capacity product. The owners decided that it cattle ate. Some feeders still used scoop introduced a new reality for would be sound business to handle shovels and a wagon pulled by a team custom feeding in Alberta. customer cattle as well as their own, of horses to get the feed into troughs. Photo Courtesy of Western Feedlots H while charging the same rate for both. Most of the grain processed was put through a grinder similar in working principle to the old hammer mill, where two corrugated plates ran against one another and cracked the grain to make “mill”. Americans at the time were far ahead in feed preparation, already having experimented with popped grain and steam rolling. The farmer-feeders in Alberta simply could not afford the equipment necessary for this type of feed preparation, so the formation of Western Feedlots represented a significant step forward in incorporating modern techniques and machinery. Western Feedlots began operations in October of 1958, with ten acres of corrals and facilities equipped to handle

182 FROM START TO FINISH two thousand cattle. Pens were laid out many figuring the scheme to be a little with central alleys so that grain and crazy, but in time many more probably supplements could be augured directly wished they would have thought of the into troughs from power feed mixers. idea first. More than a few cattle The days when Chisholm caught owners were hesitant to give Western pneumonia using a scoop shovel were Feedlots their cattle because the new over! In order to provide water for a and unproven method was deemed too couple of thousand head, Chisholm risky. Despite difficulty in attracting hired an expert to install a water clientele the first couple of years, the system complete from well to heaters, original group of ranchers who formed able to pump 36,000 gallons per day. Western Feedlots faithfully provided They fed seven hundred cattle that first feeder cattle to stabilize the business year, and because no one can run such until others began to see the value of an operation alone, Chisholm hired the new approach. Ontario cattleman Ross Weaver to be The original land base of 520 acres the first foreman. According to may have seemed extravagant at first, Chisholm, feeding in 1958 was an art, but the decision proved brilliant given and that “the man on the lot has to do the need for a place to transport huge the feeding and be with the cattle amounts of manure that quickly piled every day to know when to add and up in the pens. With sufficient land to when to cut back.” Chisholm did not meet that need, fertilizing techniques have a uniform feeding plan for the evolved over the years. Horse-drawn first while, feeding either for the day, manure spreaders were first used and the month, or the gain. later Chisholm contracted with a cat Loading the feed truck at Western. The feedlot attracted more than a owner to clean the pens, with trucks Photo Courtesy of Western Feedlots few visitors in the early days, with distributing the fertilizer on the field. H

183 CHAPTER THREE Still later, dump trucks would deposit Another method was to spread barley the manure in rows and a grader would on top of the silage, and then top the do the spreading. The benefit to the soil mixture with molasses, producing a was dramatic; land that had been very concoction that Chisholm said was sandy produced a healthy crop of oats “like shredded wheat.” When that got the first year of seeding, and two years too expensive to maintain, barley alone later Chisholm harvested sixty bushels was used as a spread and, despite the an acre off one of the fields. It was all fact that it germinated and grew, the due to the abundance of fertilizer and covering provided an edible seal. These sufficient moisture. methods all remained more economical Despite the great potential for than constructing vertical silos. crops, not many were harvested over Chisholm soon acquired new grain the years; instead, Chisholm bought processing and feeding equipment. A hay and grain and relied heavily on state-of-the-art stainless steel steam silage which was harvested early and roller was imported from Kansas to stored in bunker pits. These pits were process grain, as moisturizing was seen simple holes in the ground (usually into to be the best way to convert grain to the side of a hill) that were dug out by a pounds. By 1968 a modern mill was front end. A tractor with a front end built, complete with two steam rollers loader was also used to pour in and and a cooler, with the capacity to mix push down the silage. A number of molasses and tallow. Western’s feed mill different covers were used. One of the at the Strathmore site burned down in earliest was a plastic cover held down 1989, but the company decided the Cattle in the feed pens at Western by old car tires, but bits of plastic equipment was too expensive to replace Feedlots. Photo Courtesy of Western Feedlots inevitably found their way into the and today they use a tempering method H silage and ultimately into the cattle. where grain is soaked before rolling.

184 FROM START TO FINISH At first Chisholm’s three employees The only government regulated could and had to do every job. The day activity at Western (and other began at 7 a.m. with the mixing of feed commercial feedlots) involved animal that included hay, barley, and health. Drug administration and sometimes wheat and supplements. vaccination required certain public Soon after, the “feed wagon” – a box standards, and use of qualified mounted on a truck – was on the go. veterinarians offered the necessary After feeding ended, sick cattle were expertise and needed assurance. Cattle tended and fed in an area aptly named going for immediate and local slaughter the “hospital.” This was before a did not require government approval veterinarian was available in but foreign imports (for example, feeder Strathmore. The workers were cattle from the United States) were experienced with cattle and could subject to checks for diseases such as recognize and treat common problems tuberculosis. This was especially such as pinkeye, shipping fever, bloat important in the early days when even and foot rot. In later years available one diseased animal might infect an veterinarians were hired to be on call, entire herd. Finished cattle for export and paid for each animal tended. and slaughter also required a visual Veterinarians have become a vital veterinary inspection for warts, resource over the years, offering their ringworm or external deformity. expertise in overseeing procedures and The product quality at Western administering treatments. Feedlots developed through market Most cattle were sent to the pressures, and both producers and stockyards in the early years, where packers found the standards to be more they were consigned to a commission than adequate and uniform. Satisfied merchant and sold one group at a time consumers who shopped for meat at through the auction ring. This system, Safeway stores in southern Alberta over strongly supported by the huge Burns the years could be confident that much operation, was the method that Western of their beef came from animals fed initially followed. It soon became and grown at Western Feedlots. apparent that the process had its Alberta’s first commercial feedlot difficulties. Commission merchants grew steadily and maintained its status had marketing networks across the as one of the leading commercial country that cattle owners and feeders feedlots in Alberta. In 1959 Chisholm were not privy to, and so Chisholm and was feeding over one thousand head, some of his colleagues saw the benefits and numbers steadily increased over of taking marketing into their own the years. Profits were always hands. They began a new system reinvested in order to build more pens, where feedlot operators weighed their improve equipment, and hire more own cattle and then let packers bid help. Western thrived in the sixties and while the animals were still inside the seventies when dozens of feedlot feedlot. Packers were not thrilled with operations popped up all over the this process, but the system worked and landscape. An extension was built near other commercial feedlots followed suit High River despite many delays caused in the 1960s. Over the years, the local by detailed environmental studies. market got roughly three out of every Western Feedlots continues to finish four cattle finished at Western Feedlots. thousands of cattle every year, and There was never a year when cattle maintains its high standards. As the failed to be exported, and that exercise first large commercial and custom was greatly enhanced by improvements feedlot in Alberta, it holds a unique and in trucking and other means of honoured place in the history of cattle transporting livestock. feeding in the province.

185 CHAPTER THREE

G Valley Feeders plus cost of feed. In 1984, two years Valley Feeders operation located After Eion Chisholm and his friends after Harold Annett’s death, the in the Oldman River bottom near blazed the commercial feedlot trail, it expanding City of Lethbridge purchased Lethbridge. In the very first year was only a matter of time before other the feedlot land from Annett’s widow of their operation, Annett and Gray informed cattlemen and entrepreneurs and the second-oldest large commercial developed some of the 140 acres of river bottom land. (c. 1960) would begin their own operations. feedlot in Alberta passed into history. City of Lethbridge Archives / P19760205036 Early in the 1960s, two friends living During its lifetime, however, it was a in Medicine Hat saw the potential for shining story of success. a commercial, custom feedlot near Surrounded by an abundance of Lethbridge. The men were Harold cattle owners willing to have their Annett and Dick Gray. Annett had cattle finished commercially, Valley already established Alberta Western Feeders actually began feeding its first Beef, his own packing plant, in cattle long before all the corrals were Medicine Hat in 1961. Soon they finished, and by the time it was purchased 255 acres just outside the incorporated, the fledgling operation limits, and Valley had finished over eight hundred head. Feeders was officially incorporated on In fact, Dick Gray stated that he would September 5, 1963. Located on what have been happier if business would was originally a mine which had have started a little slower! The original subsequently filled with water, the land sixteen pens were designed to hold 75 provided an unlimited water supply for cattle each. The animals were fed twice the irrigation of 140 acres of river a day from a fence-line unloader, as a bottom land right next to the feedlot. dial on the mill automatically weighed There was ample hay, grain and cattle, the grain in each load. The feed was and with packing plants nearby the bought largely through the Canada operation had an accessible market. Packers Feed Mill in Lethbridge. Annett and Gray would operate Most of the early patrons were Valley Feeders as co-owners until commission men and livestock buyers, Annett’s death in 1982, after which the but along with colleague Eion Chisholm business was dismantled. In their of Western Feedlots, Dick Gray took working arrangement Annett provided marketing into his own hands and the major financial commitment and treatied cattle with Swift’s and Canada Gray was the hands-on manager. They Packers. Gray would go to both packers focused strictly on contract agreements, and simply ask for bids on the cattle running their operation on yardage before moving them off the feedlot.

186 FROM START TO FINISH This process was not without difficulties, prevent repeated problems. Valley as packers tended to be suspicious of Feeders featured the latest advances in feeder scales, and were unhappy to lose modern equipment, and in the late control of the marketing and pricing sixties Annett and Gray added forty process. But Gray was tenacious and his more acres to the originally purchased perseverance paid off, allowing feeders land. The operation grew consistently to exercise more power on behalf of over the years reaching a capacity of themselves and the cattle owners. nearly 30,000 cattle. As the second of the first three large Harold Annett’s love of the feedlot custom feedlots in Alberta, Valley and cattle business extended beyond Feeders was progressive and expanded. his joint enterprise with Gray. Back in In the very first year of their operation, Medicine Hat, where he co-managed Annett and Gray developed some of the Valley Feeders from a distance, Annett 140 acres of river bottom land, resulting began another custom feedlot in 1968 Filling the feed troughs at Valley in a magnificent yield of irrigated called Fed Rite Beef, where he finished Feeders. The operation grew alfalfa and fodder corn. Gray set up a cattle for his packing plant. This feedlot consistently over the years working arrangement with a local was 650 acres in size and provided reaching a capacity of nearly veterinarian to maximize animal health ample land for growing corn and the 30,000 cattle. (c. 1965) City of Lethbridge Archives / P19754409097 and investigate all deaths with a view to breeding of his beloved Herefords. H

187 G Lakeside Feeders The first feedlot pens at Lakeside Lakeside Farm Industries Ltd. Harold Annett of Valley Feeders Feeders were constructed in 1966, Lakeside’s feed mill has the was one of the early entrepreneurs to located near the Trans-Canada Highway capability of producing 600 tonnes of rolling each day. own both a packing plant and feedlot, two miles west of Brooks. The location Photo Courtesy of Lakeside Farms Ltd. reflecting the interdependence of offered sandy soil which aided drainage, various sectors connected to the and access to almost unlimited hay, business of cattle feeding. As grain supplies and feeder cattle. impressive as Annett’s expansion was, Lakeside originally consisted of his business would pale in comparison fourteen pens capable of holding two to that of Lakeside Feeders, the last of thousand cattle. The feed bunks were the three early large commercial all fence-line, and were filled with a operations to begin in Alberta. combined mixture of chopped hay and Beginning as a strict feeding operation, grain prepared in a Grain-o-vator. The Lakeside would diversify and evolve to first cattle in Lakeside’s pens began become a prototype of a modern feedlot feeding on October 2, 1966. The featuring a packing plant, feed mill and operation quickly doubled in size and research centre. then just kept on growing. Jim Wilfley was one of the key men Before the Lakeside feeding involved in the birth of Lakeside enterprise was a year old, management Feeders. A senior partner in the new began a milling operation and in 1969 venture, Wilfley had run an adjacent they merged the two interests to create small cow-calf operation. In order to Lakeside Farm Industries. The plan and build the feedlot wisely, he operation grew so rapidly that by 1974 spent two months visiting feedlots in Lakeside had constructed a packing the United States and took on Garry plant and welcomed a Japanese trading Evans as his partner. Lakeside’s other company to become a partner, creating original shareholders were Tor a unique opportunity to serve the Wigemyr and Garnet Altwasser, and growing Asian market. During the together with Wilfley they continue as economic slowdown in the late the senior management team. seventies Lakeside consolidated holding

188 FROM START TO FINISH companies and sold assets in order to Lakeside Packers is a major beef reconfigure the business and ensure slaughtering plant and in addition to long term success. Over the years it processing meat has developed new developed its milling, packing, fertilizer markets for offal. In 1984 a cattle hide and research facilities to become a curing plant was built to process green more multifaceted cattle operation. hides and maximize carcass by- Today the feedlot operation has products. The rural location of the reached a 30,000 head capacity, due packing plant provided space for a in part to its location in the heart of waste water treatment facility that the Eastern Irrigation District which provides nutrients for growing silage. supplies ample moisture and a The fertilizer plant was upgraded in dependable supply of forage. A wide 1981 and has used the traditional dry variety of foodstuffs are carefully granular as well as liquid fertilizer, analyzed for optimum nutrients and anhydrous ammonia and “fertigation”, computer evaluated to result in rations the application of fertilizer using that achieve the lowest cost per pound irrigation systems. of grain. About half of the cattle at The research division of Lakeside’s Lakeside are owned by the company. It fertilizer plant studies soil samples, was one of the early feedlot companies analyzes plant tissues and offers to use computers to keep inventories advisory and consulting services on and measure cattle performance. fertilization. Applied research toward Clientele can get break-even prices the actual feeding process began in calculated at any time during the 1972 and pens began being built in feeding process to allow sale at the 1978 for the purpose of studying cattle. desired time. When selling time does Researchers also do soil, feed and arrive, finished cattle are sorted and water testing, and crop research. offered to packer buyers in a The research centre provides contract closed bid sale. research on behalf of major firms in From the beginning, Lakeside’s Canada and the United States. milling operation stood alongside the With the business of feeding feedlot to provide feed for producers in serving as its cornerstone, Lakeside central and southern Alberta, as well as Farm Industries Ltd. was the third of south of the border. It includes a steam the three original large feedlots in flaking system and pelleting facilities, Alberta. Its continued development uses computer technology to insure over the last three decades provides sound nutritional levels, and works Albertans with a microcosm of how closely with the research and the beef industry has become more laboratory department. diversified and specialized.

F Aerial view of Lakeside in 1969. With a capacity of 8000 head when this photo was taken, Lakeside was one of the first large custom feedlots in Alberta. Photo Courtesy of Lakeside Farms Ltd.

189 CHAPTER THREE

G The Gillespie Feedlot Alex Gillespie at the Bonny Brook Feedlot in 1976. Photo Courtesy of Ted Pritchett

“My father Alex Gillespie came back to My earliest memory of the feedlot was in the Calgary after a few years of farming at very early 1930’s when straw and grain were the Strathmore, east of Hanna. He didn’t go feedlot ration. A Letz mill was purchased to cut homesteading but wanted to farm. Most of his the straw to a length of silage. It had grinding time was spent working with a man with a steam plates on the same shaft to grind grain and it outfit, breaking land. The steam tractor pulled 10 would mix in the bottom and went into a blower breaking plows. The plows had a platform on that blew it up into a wagon. In the beginning the them that Dad stood on. At the end of the field Letz had a feeder to fork the straw onto. This mill each plow had a lever that lifted each plow up. was run with a 15-30 McCormick Deering tractor When it turned around they all had to be and a 120 foot threshing machine belt. lowered again. In about 1933 an overhead bin with a sloping When returning to Calgary he got a job floor was put up with an overhead bin for grain. working for Pat Burns delivering meat to the The Letz mill was underneath at ground level with butcher shops around Calgary. He did this with a an open side for forking in straw to the feed mill. well manicured and spotless team and wagon. Grain would come down from above and the This was his pride and joy. ground ration would be blown upstairs to the Around 1923 he acquired about 12 acres where sloped floor bin. The team and wagon would pull the goes under the CN Railway in along the side and be easily filled. There were 2 east Calgary. This was outside the city limits until graineries pulled alongside to hold grain for about 1950. He started feeding hogs and storage. The grain from these bins was fed out to eventually a few cattle. He was one of the first to the corner of these bins into a pit with a blower feed screenings. At that time they were being put that blew it up overhead of the Letz. All of the in the dump. grain was handled with a shovel (#10 scoop) into

190 FROM START TO FINISH the bin and across the bin to the blower. All of the livestock waterers, plastic sheeting, plastic pipe, feed ration was handled with a shovel or a wide augers, feed wagons, automatic scale mounted, close tined fork. All of the straw that went into the heated cabs with radio and computer phone, oil or mill was with a fork. We never knew what bales natural gas heating, propane, front end loaders, were until in the 1940’s. In the 1930’s everything legs for farm use, post hole augers, treated posts, imaginable was used to work. All kinds of teams, heated shops, t.v.’s, truck mounted manure wagons, trucks and sleighs. I’m afraid the only spreaders and on and on. Everything listed above names that I can remember that hauled is Homer is so necessary today in a feedlot. Carr - Innisfail, Extrand Bros. - Carstairs, Vern & The Frayn’s and Cox’s were half brothers, 8 of Gordon Aikens - Ogden, Charles Tucker - , them from Springbank. All of them worked at the Howden’s - Sheppard, Eddie One-Spot - Sarcee, feedlot at one time or another. Alf for 8 years, Hugh Bennett - Reddington, and many others. Norman for 12 years, also Alex, Bill and Wilf We never had any hay at the feedlot in the 30’s, Martin from Lake district. We always but there was always some oat bundles to feed the milked a cow, sometimes two. team. It seemed once in a while we would have some Mother had the hardest job of all raising 4 of linseed meal or soybean meal to sprinkle on top of us kids (I was the oldest) and cooking for 4 or 5 a load of feed for supplement. For the most part it guys. Until around 1939 there was no power, it was salt and monocalcium mixed that was used. was coal and wood heat. We had to carry water in In about 1922 Dad put in a 10 ton platform and carry it out and chop fire wood. It was before beam scale to weigh feed and cattle. Ollie built a fridges and deep freezes. Some winters Hazel Bray stock rack on skids that could be pulled onto the from Red Deer Lake would help and sometimes scale to weigh the cattle. Most of the cattle that ever Edna Burwash from Balzac would help. They left the lot were weighed on that scale. Every year washed some clothes for the men as well. There it had a government approved sticker put on it. were no coin operated washers in those days. The I always remembers helping Mickey Dirrane only other was the Chinese Laundry and they or Bud Sewall sort cattle in the alley. Mickey was would get their dress shirts and some red and blue Burn’s cattle buyer and Bud was Union Packing or label underwear done there. In the early 30’s Dad Mayland’s buyer. In about 1938 I was 10 or 12 brought Mom a new washing machine. It had a years old on a spring day Pat Burns was down at two cycle gas engine in it. It ran pretty good for a the lot. He had some one driving him as he was year or two and then it started balking, it was almost blind then. hard to stop. Mom would heat water in boilers, on Most of the winters were cold with deep snow. the kitchen stove and put in the washer. Then The feeding was done in fall, winter and spring when we couldn’t get the engine to go the water Norman Frayn did most of the grinding. In the would go cold. I wanted so bad to know about gas evening after grinding all day he would look after engines and sometimes I couldn’t make it start. the Letz and tractor. The cutter head knives would I’m sure that must have been where I learned to need sharpening and the grinding plates would swear. I would finally have to get Alf to come and need adjusted or changed. Every morning before 7 help. Regardless of what you seer on TV Maytag a.m. he would be out there building a fire under will be in my mind forever. We had that machine the 15-30 to warm it up. They used No. 40 oil in until after we got the power around 1939. the tractor so it had to be warm to turn over. Often Watering the cattle could sometimes take up a I saw flames up past the frame of the tractor. I lot of time. We had two wells. There was an don’t know why it never caught fire. International 1 cylinder engine on one well and a All tractors in those days were steel wheeled McLeods pump engine on the other. The cribbing and you had to start them with a crank. The mid on the well had to be extended up about 8 feet to 30’s were the first rubber tires on tractors and it where the pump and engine was to get enough took some time for them to catch on. He had to height for a gravity steel pipe to reach to the far heat the water for the tractor as well. You had corral. On the days when the engine ran it was better not forget to drain the engine when it was great but some days, usually when it was 10 below last used. The tractor was never froze up to break F or colder it could be a 2 or 3 hour job. You had anything that I remember. It was the days before to have a pail of warm water with you too as those antifreeze or it was just becoming available in the engines had to be drained. I always have to stop mid 30’s. Also the 30’s was before plywood, plaster and watch how rice a flat bed trailer full of these board, insulation, electric power, running water, engines run when at pioneer day shows. Don’t

191 CHAPTER THREE forget - watch that the water trough doesn’t run had a large scoop with two handles on it and two over, then when it is full go back and shut it off small wheels that we could wheel back and forth and drain it. with feed from the back of the car and dump into About 1940 was when 3 ton trucks started to the wagon. By the end of the 1940’s we were haul cattle. There were no trailers then. Before feeding about 1200 head. that all cattle were trailed to and from the feedlot, Somewhere around 1949 Burns packing plant mostly from the Stockyards or from railroad workers went on strike on short notice. They had loading chutes, or in from the country. About 1946 something like 500 head of cattle in their yard to Dad purchased a grain auger which was a big slaughter. Mickey Dirrane, Burn’s buyer asked help. Before that all grain was handled with a Dad if we could handle them for a short time. shovel and all straw handled with a fork. Farm When those cattle came down we had cattle trucks didn’t have hoists on them either, so there everywhere but in the house yard. Shorty Ross and were some shortline companies making truck Harold Bissell came with those cattle to help us loaders that ran off the PTO. You could use them look after them. to load from the ground or out of a bin and also to Dad was a wheeler dealer in the cattle unload out of the box. They were awfully heavy business. Often he would go out to someone’s place and awkward to handle, but better than what we to buy their cattle and they would come to the were used to. Some models were an auger and feedlot. By 1940 he was better established. He some were a box type with paddles. bought Crosses ranch steers, two or three different There was an open shed in most corrals to years. 300 head of Q Ranch steers of Wildhorse keep the snow off their backs and for shade. two or three times. Gilchrist Bros. Rube, Joe, Chay Bedding was put in these sheds at times. In the and Bill, 300 head, Indian steers from Gleichen, summer time we could spend time cleaning these Ross Ranch steer from Lost River. They were all sheds with a team and dump wagon and fork. British breeds in those days. Dad’s own O7 Ranch Our feedlot would handle 900 head. There was steers from the ranch at Dorothy, 300 head. In the Bill Mackie feedlot close to us and Tom Farrell those days everything was pretty well two year old had a feedlot next to us. On the otherside of us and often three year old steers that was fed. I right where Deerfoot Trail and Glenmore Trail always thought that Dad owned everything that meet today, Burn’s Ranches had an up to date was fed there. I only remember two instances that style feedlot. They had an elevator with a leg in it we weighed everything, that went to a pen. One of and three phase power to run a hammer mill, a those deals was for C.C. Matthews Angus cattle. cook house for the men, a large garage below the We never fed calves and I don’t remember feeding cook house for two nice three ton trucks. They had yearlings. a lot of farming as well, so there was machine We didn’t have feed alleys like feedlots have storage and a machinery repair part to their shop. today. We had troughs made out of 2 x 8 x16' It had heat in it as well as an office. All of their planks 4' wide on skids that we moved from time roughage was hauled in bales (mostly hay). The to time in the corral. We had to drive into each railroad spur hauled their grain. They had a nice pen to feed. big barn for the teams too. That barn is in We had very few plank fences. Most of the pens Heritage Park now. I believe they could handle had 8’ high slab fences all around for shelter, 4500 head. especially the outside fences. We used bigger posts When the Second World War was on, help was than today so they wouldn’t rot off so fast. There nearly impossible to find. Grinding straw and were no treated posts in those days either so when grain required a lot of labour. So Dad got into the corrals got a little age on them we were fairly feeding wheat and barley screenings. It was safe like in the winter time, but when the ground shipped in box cars to a siding a half mile from was thawed in the summer and a high strong the lot. The Canada Malting Co. screenings was wind came up, you could be sure there would be mostly small barley, wild oats and weed seeds. some posts broken off. To repair a broken post you Wheat screenings came from the Renown Flour had to dig out the old stump. The top plank was Mill, it all made really good feed. Once in a while always tied with No. 9 wire to the post. The spikes we would get a carload from Buckerfields at the were smooth and wouldn’t hold like today. There west coast (Prince Rupert). You could be sure were no spiral spikes or coated nails then. The before you started to unload that it would be first posts that were treated was sometime after nearly straight dust. To unload the box cars we the Second World War, and as I remember it was

192 FROM START TO FINISH called osmose. It was a tar liquid that you painted located a half mile east and a half mile south of on a ground level about 15" where the post would the sugar factory. Eleanor and I have been past rot off and over the paint you would wrap with tar there at different times. I see it is still there. My paper. Even today around our own place after a job was to haul straw for roughage and bedding. strong wind I hope and look to see if the wind We had a 2 ton truck with a 30' trailer for hauling breaks are all up. straw from all around Picture Butte, Iron Springs I was there for 26 years until Eleanor and I got and Shaunessy. All straw in those days was in married in l952. Then we only went back to visit. straw piles as it was all stook threshed. Most of From 1951 Slim Sonnie (my Father-in-law) led those piles you could haul out of for days before screenings to the cattle all the while until 1958. cleaning them up. That was a nice job for Bert and Dr. Larry Sparrow teamed up and fed cattle until I. Forking loose straw in that windy country and it all came to an end. After Bill and Larry took trying to get it to stay in the rack and make a over Jimmie Paul of Saul & McDonald built some decent load. Harold Bishop of Picture Butte built troughs and they fed the Alberta Distillery Soup that lot in 1941 and ran it for 3 years. Lloyd for a few years. Tytlandsvik ran it for 4 years, Slim Sonnie and By the middle 60’s the city was crowding all family for 3 years until about 1951. Then shortly around the feedlot. Feedlots are undesirable to city after that Dad sold the feedlot to Harry Watson for living. The city finally expropriated the land. $1.00. Harry was a business partner and friend. About 1941 Covercropping Cattle in the Some of the feedlots close to Picture Butte were Cayley, Nanton, Claresholm and area was R.L. McMillan lot, Hymie Cohen, Green, Bob getting started and Dad got into that in a big way. Mitchell, and Harry Kane feedlots. Others that I know were in it as well like Augie Maybe we don’t realize how much bigger Sauer, George Denoon of Parslow & Denoon. A framed cows have become. Around 1954 there cover crop was seeding oats in the middle of July were a few purebred Hereford cows at the feedlot. and pasturing it until late in the fall. Each fall he They had been there for quite a while. Slim Sonnie may have over l000 head on cover crop all over my lather-in-law was at the feedlot when those that area. After the cover crop season when it was cows were shipped to the yards. Three of those either eaten off or the snow got too deep. The cattle cows weighed 1630 lbs. There was a lot of talk that were finished went to the packing plant. about how much they weighed. They were some of Claude Shackle was a Canada Packers buyer that the biggest cows to ever come to the yards. Those was in that area a lot. The rest of the cattle would cows were way over fat. Of course there area a lot go to the feedlot. For cattle that weren’t being of cows bigger than that today. shipped to the commission firms at the Calgary I never seem to get over the cattleliners of stockyards the CPR had a much higher freight today, especially the 3 axle liners. The size and charge. The next closest unloading chute on the amount of cattle they hold and the rigs that pull railroad was Turner Siding which was south of them compared to the way things were done 60 and Heritage Drive now. We had to years ago. They seem to me to be a palace on trail the cattle from there. wheels for the cattle and the driver. The way the Dad then decided to build a feedlot at Picture feedlots and feed mills are put together, I never Butte. It was a closer and a cheaper haul from tire of seeing and looking at them. cover crop. The sugar beet pulp, molasses and What changes will there be in the next 30 grain made good feed and a cheap gain. I spent a years in the cattle and feedlot industry? I hope I couple of winters there. Loyd Tytlandsvik was have really good health and watch what happens, running the lot there at the time. His brother Bert by that time I will be l00 years. I really can’t hope Landis was hauling beet pulp and helping me for more than that.” when he could hauling straw. Again hauling pulp was done with a team and wagon. A sharp shawed - Delbert Gillespie team to be able to get out of the sugar beet pit. We had to grind the grain with a hammer mill but the beet pulp was loaded up at the sugar factory with a drag line and weighed. Then molasses was added on top when we got back to the feedlot grain was added. You had to have a contract to get pulp and molasses for feeding cattle. The feedlot was

193

Today’s Cattle Feeder and the Modern Feedlot

Ask any feeder for the key to respect the value of this research, G success, and he will probably say that and incorporate the growing literature Monitoring feed. Feeding is a highly programmed process, keeping pace with change is a offering advice on everything from feed taking into account the proper fundamental requirement. From guidelines to construction of facilities. mixture of grains and the days when cattle owners scoop The modern feeder needs to supplements, types of cattle shovelled grain, to today’s use of trailer- balance and plan land distribution, being fed, and market demand. mounted mechanical feeders, there study the latest technological changes Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture have been constant changes throughout and carefully weigh consumer the feeding industry. Those keeping demands. Feeding itself is a highly pace have maintained viable operations. programmed process, taking into A relatively small number of huge account the proper mixture of grains feeding operations cumulatively feed and supplements, types of cattle being a large majority of the cattle in Alberta. fed, and market demand. Feedlot F That means the large feedlot operations financial management has become a Aerial view of Lloyd Sproule’s have had to grow and constantly refine complex business that requires highly feedlot near Pincher Creek in their methods and equipment. With trained personnel with appropriate 1992. Alberta fed cattle cattle management and feeding expertise. Administration of large production now approaches 1.4 billion head which represents well increasingly becoming a matter of feedlots often takes place in an office over half of the total Canadian fed scientific study, feeders and cattlemen with trained accountants and managers slaughter and export cattle. on the cutting edge of industry must using the latest in computer Photo Courtesy of Lloyd Sproule

195 CHAPTER THREE programming to produce least-cost The older method often resulted in ration formulations and programs for severe shrinkage, no assurance of sale, growing, finishing and selling cattle. and the cattle owner and feedlot In the area of feed processing, the operator being at the whim of buyers. roller has long since replaced the Bidding gives more power to the cattle hammer mill. Over the years the owner. When Western Feedlots and feedlot owner has seen extruding, Valley Feeders began the process they tempering, pelleting, micro popping were boycotted by some packers, but and steam flaking all represent the in time the system took hold and the latest trends. Supplements have cattle and feedlot owners were the improved, as have the manner in which winners. The beef grading system has they are blended into feed. Advances in also changed, allowing for feeders to animal health has meant increased custom feed their cattle to meet market numbers and varieties of vaccines and demands in a more precise manner. more effective products for parasite Feedlot finishing of cattle demands control, and better breeding has considerable risk capital, and even a produced more “efficient” cattle. In the relatively small operation requires huge early years of feeding many cattle went investments in land, buildings and to market at two years of age, weighing equipment. It has been estimated that The silage pit at a feedlot 1100 pounds. With the advent of a feedlot with a 400 head capacity operation. The sheer size of the crossbreeding and the importation of involves half a million dollars of modern feedlot demands European breeds, they are now coming investment. Profits depend on how considerable risk capital. Even a to market at fifteen months of age or the selling price compares to feeding relatively small operation requires less and averaging 1200 pounds. expenses, as well as housing, huge investments in land, Marketing changes have resulted in veterinary, and transportation costs. buildings, and equipment. Photo Courtesy of Alberta Agriculture the bidding system replacing the public History has revealed a cyclical nature H market and auction method of selling. to beef and cattle market prices that

196 FROM START TO FINISH results in three to four years of higher biggest challenge facing any modern prices followed by three to four years of feedlot operator today is the volatility lower ones. Successful feedlot operators of markets. As a result, the ability to require an entrepreneurial spirit, and a identify and manage finances requires high plane of knowledge regarding familiarity with risk management tools. production practices, pricing feeder On the sales side, an important and cattle and alternative marketing options. popular risk management method is to The construction of adequate maintain self-owned cattle to spread feedlot facilities requires significant out costs. Most of the cattle at investment and planning. Lots consist Thorlakson Feedyards are owned by of receiving and shipping facilities, a Thorlakson himself. Knowing the scale, a series of sorting alleys and markets and being open to increased holding pens, feed pens, concrete feed sales to the Pacific Rim countries bunks and feed alleys, cattle processing represents an important wave of the facilities (for vaccinating and branding) future, so networking with important and a hospital with isolation pens. Pens organizations such as Canadian Beef also need to be designed to permit Export Federation is vital. adequate drainage for waste. Feed mills Of all the skills that can benefit the that process grain require galvanized feeder today, management prowess and storage bins, silage pits and various business astuteness rank near the top, other storage systems. because the feedlot business is capital Modern feedlot operations also intensive. Building a 25,000 head need to listen to environmentally- feedlot would require anywhere from conscious researchers and consultants. five to eight million dollars and This means consideration of sites, stocking it could up the total to well taking into account slope for drainage over ten million. The feedlot manager and thoroughly studying distance must definitely be a shrewd separation, watercourses and strata. businessman. Thorlakson’s gross sales The use of settling or evaporation exceed forty million dollars, which ponds is an important strategy in means that he and his managers work manure discharge and monitoring. with databases and spreadsheets on a Ben Thorlakson is one feeder daily basis. Most large feedlots hire who has stayed on the cutting edge of controllers who have accounting change while maintaining success. He designations and significant work has operations managers overseeing the experience. day-to-day work in his feedlots near The biggest need in starting a Airdrie and Strathmore. Over the years feedlot today would be capital. Beyond Thorlakson has established an that, the operator would benefit from impressive bull test station, and experience and knowledge in continues to farm land for feed. agriculture, business and mechanics. Workers at his research facility (Animal Entrepreneurial skill is essential, as Research International) conduct tests in all feedlot owners need to maximize communication with the Bureau of profits while minimizing risk exposure, Veterinary Drugs and the Food and which requires striking a balance Drug Administration in the United between aggressiveness and calm States. He has also developed a garden objectivity. People who make economic supply division where compost steer mistakes do not last long in the manure is used to prepare topsoil mixes business. Despite all the need for and fertilizer blends for the home business prowess and the value of gardener. Thorlakson still oversees the formal education, pioneering feedlot buying of cattle at Thorlakson operator Eion Chisholm maintains that Feedyards, but has no time for any day- “knowing all about cattle” is still a to-day responsibilities at Cattleland. valuable skill. Ben Thorlakson believes that the

197 CHAPTER THREE

1997 Environmental Stewardship Award The company’s commitment to the consumer is to produce an end product that is safe and of When Highland View Farms Limited was consistently high quality. A research and founded in 1976 by Jack Kotelko and his son development program, currently located on site, Bernard, it comprised 400 acres of mixed crops focuses on beef production, animal health and and a small number of purebred cattle. In the environmental issues. The operation functions period from 1976 to 1982, lucrative grain prices under the philosophy of dedication to quality enticed the company to concentrate its energy on assurance and environmental sustainability. increasing its land base. When Michael Kotelko For environmental considerations to be joined the company as vice-president in 1981, the effective, they must be taken into account from the changing world economy was encouraging farmers first point of construction. The Highland Feeders’ to diversify. Bernard and Michael quickly feedlot took advantage of the natural sloping recognized the vulnerability of being involved conditions of the land in construction of the solely in primary grain production. Two years facilities. The site is landscaped on a clay base later, as a value-added alternative to the straight with a slight slope to optimize drainage, and the selling of grain, they purchased 50 feeder cattle to runoff is contained. Water wells are located to finish for slaughter. Feeding cattle impressed upon minimize the chance of percolation, and the family the potential for enhancing subsurface clay soils provide an excellent barrier sustainability and profitability. to migration. Waste material is recycled as In 1993, Highland View Farms became fertilizer onto the surrounding 3,800 acres, and the Highland Feeders Limited. Still owned and resulting silage crop is fed back to the cattle. operated by brothers Bernard and Michael, the Daily maintenance of the operation is designed company currently has a feeding (standing) to maintain control of the feedlot’s environment. capacity of 25,000 head. One of the ten largest As an example, manure is piled within the pens to feedlot operations in Canada, Highland Feeders is limit the surface area exposed to the air and reduce a significant competitor in producing beef for the evolved odours. The piles’ dried surface provides a North American market. barrier to both odour and insects escaping, and

198 FROM START TO FINISH sets of pen were built at different times thereby creating an ideal situation to measure changes in flow rates and volumes for pens already in use as well as for the introduction of new pens. This research allows for the measurement of soil infiltration levels, runoff volumes and water movement. Chemical and microbiological information about the nature of runoff can also be obtained. This data can be used to characterize an optimal drainage lagoon. Eventually this information will help define a runoff model that will provide an engineering tool for facility design or even for the reclamation of old sites. This also controls the adverse effect that continuously should refine or provide alternatives to current moist conditions can have on cattle hooves. methods of handling, collecting and utilizing Environmentally sound siting and planning manure as a valuable resource. By quantifying of feedlots requires that runoff does not have a some of the costs involved and describing the negative impact on surrounding watersheds. benefits, this exercise provides the industry with There is increasing societal pressure on the research on practices that are sustainable and livestock feeding industry to contain and treat improve the environment. runoff. To do the necessary designs and advise Cattle feeding is an industry with high public on treatment, there has to be an accumulation of visibility and participation in environmental base data on quantity and quality of runoff from initiatives is the natural progression of concern for an active feedlot. environmental accountability. By optimizing The company’s pro-active approach to research management practices, cattle feeders ensure that includes a feedlot pen runoff study in cooperation they are protecting the environment. with Alberta Agriculture, Northeastern Conservation Connection, Alberta Environmental Protection and the Alberta Cattle Commission. O All photographs Water quality and waste management monitoring facilities at Highland Feeders. The goal of the study is to provide hydrological Photos Courtesy of ACC data or information about the properties, distribution and movement of water in western Canadian feedlots. The majority of information collected has been from three sites. Each site comprises 14 to 20 pens that are engineered to optimize runoff collection. Each set of pens has its own culvert that feeds into a drainage lagoon. Flow measurements for each set of pens can be taken independently. Feedlot designers believe that as cattle are introduced to new pens, the mixture of the soil and manure that builds up in the pens changes the runoff rate and volumes draining from the pens. The four

199

The Role of Organizations

Throughout history, Canadian important organizations. Canfax was G stockmen have formed organizations to established by a group of progressive Cartoon illustrating the ACC and the CCA working together to protect and sustain their interests, and cattlemen in 1971 under the umbrella strengthen Alberta’s cattle provide an educational role. Recent of the CCA. It is a non-profit market industry. Photo Courtesy of ACC years have seen the birth of an information service that attempts to increasing number of bodies that collect, analyze and communicate perform these functions, and cattle information in a unbiased manner. feeders have recognized the value of Canfax has been embraced by cattle formal and informal networks that raisers and feeders who want to allow for strength in numbers. strengthen their bargaining power. The Canadian Cattlemen’s They benefit from weekly summaries Association (CCA) was formed in 1932 and the Trends publication that provides and has served as a national voice for break-even analysis, slaughter statistics, stockmen, which includes feeders. It is carcass weights, trade information and structured to represent every phase of feed grain prices. In short, Canfax puts the beef industry and provide feeders into a position to get top dollar leadership for all sectors. Some of the for their product. Two other important issues the CCA engages are trade, bodies are the Beef Information Centre, animal health, environment and animal formed in 1973 to provide a nationwide care, fiscal and monetary policy and public relations function, and the F Cover photo of the Alberta Cattle grading and inspection issues. Canada Beef Export Federation, Feeders’ Association brochure. The CCA has given birth to other established under the umbrella of the Photo Courtesy of ACC

201 CHAPTER THREE CCA in 1989 to improve export results number of provincial locations for the Canadian cattle industry. including various educational The Alberta Cattle Commission institutions and agricultural schools. (ACC) was formed in 1969 to provide a Specialists address feedlot operators on securely funded and effective voice for matters such as starting calves, feedlot cattle producers. Over the years it has diseases and nutrition. The government represented the province’s beef also offers environmental studies on industry on critical issues such as key issues impacting feeders. Codes of economics, animal welfare and practise for areas like humane animal environment. It also develops and management and transportation are a supports programs and services function of the cattle industry’s own enabling the cattle producers to keep in concerns operating in conjunction with touch with consumer needs and apply government awareness and initiative. technical information into their In 1995 a code of practice for the safe practical operations. The ACC also and economic handling of animal approaches the government with manures was prepared by the Intensive cattlemen’s concerns. Livestock Operations Committee and The Feeder Associations program printed by Alberta Agriculture’s Food that began as a result of the and Rural Development Branch. The government’s 1937 Feeder Association committee is represented by over a Guarantee Act has been especially dozen organizations, including the helpful to smaller farmers who Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association. background and “grass” cattle in order to sell them to custom feedlots in Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association southern Alberta. The program has As early as 1961, a number of provided these farmer-feeders with Alberta’s feedlot operators began to financial help to use surplus feedstuffs discuss the possibility of forming a for feeding purposes, or to market feed organization within the Western Stock “on the hoof.” More specifically, it Growers’ Association to specifically allows cash-strapped farmers to secure address their needs. The organization loans through a government-monitored was not able to get off the ground at but cooperatively run organization. that time, but the idea did not die. What Although the livestock that are was needed was a specific cause to purchased are technically owned by the galvanize support, and that came in the local feeder association, the care, early seventies when the grading feeding and marketing are the system underwent change. The responsibility of the individual system’s alteration resulted in an member. Each association is a oversupply of cattle whose quality had cooperative with a Board of Directors been discounted, and Valley Feeder’s that approve and monitor the loan Dick Gray did not hesitate to speak out. money. Today there are sixty-two He was also concerned about the feeder associations spread throughout banning in Canada (but not in the many communities in Alberta. Together United States) of DES, a steroid used to they represent just under 11,000 stimulate growth. Cattlemen believed individual members, 600,000 feeder that fears concerning the potentially cattle and take in almost 400 million harmful effects of the drug were dollars of loan money. inaccurate and overblown, and the The province’s Agriculture banning served as a rallying cry for Department has provided a valuable feeders. In 1972 approximately one research function for feeders over the hundred feeders and packers met in years. In addition to pouring out Lethbridge to tackle the issue. It was information on cattle feeding, the from this meeting that the Alberta government communicates with Cattle Feeders’ Association (ACFA) feeders through research trials, would form to provide a new voice for workshops and demonstrations in a the industry.

202 FROM START TO FINISH Gray’s concerns may have provided that year to refurbish a monthly the spark needed to begin a lobby newsletter entitled “Round Up” by group, but other ranchers like providing regular columns and Lakeside’s Jim Wilfley also felt the time informative articles written by was right for an organization that would association leaders and feedlot responsibly and consistently educate operators. The publication has grown the cattle feeder and capture the substantially and continues to be attention of government. Wilfley was a printed today under the name “News quiet and effective driving force who Round-Up”. The organization also networked with other cattle feeders. published its first annual yearbook in Organizational meetings led to the conjunction with their 1982 annual association being informally pulled convention, which commemorated the together in 1972, and then incorporated ACFA’s tenth anniversary. Through in January of 1973. What had begun as these various publications, conventions a single issue movement grew to and public relations moves the ACFA embrace wider concerns distinct from gained financial and organizational those addressed by the Western Stock strength. Growers’ Association. The annual yearbook, aptly titled The ACFA did not experience a the “Round-Up Annual”, brought in meteoric rise to power; in fact, for the significant revenue the first year, and first few years it experienced financial has continued to provide a valuable difficulties and struggled to establish an summary of the key issues facing identity separate from the powerful Alberta cattle feeders. The first edition’s Western Stock Growers’ Association. articles discussed the new trends in The organization nevertheless helped electronic marketing, the value of individual feeders by supporting the feedlot stock horses, and provided a sealed bids system in the late seventies comparison of Canadian and American as well as the development of the agri-credit sources. In subsequent Canfax marketing system. years, the annual has continued to In 1978 the ACFA turned its focus to summarize the state of the feeding fund raising because of significant debt industry and provide valuable and decided to organize its own information for feeders. The 1984 convention to move out from under the annual featured marketing as its theme, shadow of the Western Stock Growers’ and the following year the articles Association. The first separate ACFA focused on “realities of beef cycles, convention in Red Deer took place economics and politics.” Though the early in 1980. It included a suppliers’ 1986 edition centred attention on the area and “trade show” that offered feed prospects for the year ahead, the and veterinary supplies, livestock, publication stopped articulating a forage and feed handling equipment, theme and instead based articles solely and information from banks, insurance on newsworthiness and timeliness. companies and commodity brokers. Over the years the ACFA has The purpose was to educate as well as provided a strong voice for feeders in raise money. The Association recruited discussions with government, has good speakers and that first successful churned out important educational convention began a tradition of popular resources, and kept feeders abreast of and profitable annual meetings. Under the latest developments in the feeding the presidency of Ben Thorlakson in industry. A practical example of this is 1980 and 1981, the ACFA formally broke the inclusion of the first annual Cattle away from the Western Stock Growers’ Feeders’ Directory as part of the Round- Association and also created the Alberta Up Annual in 1992. The directory Feed Grain Users’ Association. features information on over forty The ACFA hired Don Saynor as various producers and service their first full-time General Manager in professionals that aid the cattle feeder. 1979 and it was Saynor’s idea in June of They range from silage truckers and

203 CHAPTER THREE nutritional experts to bull testing members and industry. The motto of stations and accountants. the ACFA focused on “serving the needs General manager Saynor resigned of our membership.” in the fall of 1991 and was replaced by The decade of the 90s brought about Ron Axelson. With the introduction of dramatic changes in the cattle feeding the Alberta Environment Protection industry and created new expectations and Enhancement Act, the ACFA’s of the ACFA. A demand for higher environment committee became an standards in both food safety and important body as the new decade product quality came from an promised more vigilance on the part of increasingly informed consumer, and environmentalists. In 1992 the ACFA the expansion of Alberta’s livestock worked with various government industry put cattle feeding under departments to draft an intensive intense environmental scrutiny. “livestock operations waste In 1997 the ACFA Board re-designed management code of practice.” the association’s strategic plan in order Under the leadership of president to establish a clear direction for the Lance Carnine and general manager future, and to make use of recently Axelson, the ACFA engaged a renewed developed technology. The new strategy for changing times in 1993, mission was to provide a forum for the reshaping and sharpening its vision to exchange of ideas and to represent the even better serve the cattle feeder in cattle feeding industry on important the years ahead. More specifically, the issues. It has become the association’s ACFA developed a strategy statement priority to provide members with a which committed itself to be a constant stream of high quality membership-needs driven organization. information aimed at transforming That means providing a forum for the cattle feeding into a knowledge based analysis of trends, issues, opportunities industry with a global perspective. and accomplishments that impact the Electronic information services, cattle feeding industry. They research and technology transfer, committed themselves to interpret and training workshops, and procedure and report on issues of government, trade best practise manuals have been added and economic and consumer trends to a menu of services that ACFA offers that affect the feeder, and develop and to its membership. deliver services to assist members. The Since its inception, the ACFA has ACFA pledged to represent the interests been led by a series of presidents of cattle feeders before all levels of elected for two-year terms. All of the government and legislation, and to presidents have, without exception, enhance the profile and image of its been cattle feeders themselves.

“I purchased a quarter section of land in hardly would start. But we got through the winter. September 1970 and built six pens that would have What made it work was that farmers couldn’t sell a capacity of 1200 head. I thought at that time their barley and it was trading at 50 cents a bushel. that if all went well, someday I might expand to as So we would arrange to buy barley on credit and high as 3000 head. It was 100% custom. I didn’t we custom fed through contacts I had as a feed have any money and I built the feedlot on a real salesman where I had garnered some customers shoe string. Materials were cheap. Concrete was for custom feeding. We had no idea about $17 /cubic yard, lumber was $70 / thousand and accounting but survived the first year and went labour was $2.25 / hour. I put my first cattle, 111 on from there.” head, on November 11, 1970. It was a tough winter, we didn’t have an insulated shop and we were - Ben Thorlakson, ACFA President ‘80-’81 working with terribly old equipment; tractors that

204 FROM START TO FINISH

The Challenge of Ranching

You wake up and the sun is shining bright. Your feeling really good and your ready to fight. Your ready to meet the challenge of what lays ahead. You stretch and yawn and get out of bed. You go on a tour to check for grasshoppers and grass. You have a flat tire and run out of gas. As you walk along you’ve got time for thought. Maybe you should have sold when really you bought. That pen of steers you bought at 84-85. You sold for a dollar twenty two thats dressed not alive. That works out to sixty nine cents on the hoof. Feeding cattle is a gamble this poem is the proof. You notice the grasshoppers are taking there share. The cards seem to be stacked and it just isn’t fair. You’ve got a pup when really you need a dog, and you’ve got an auger that just won’t aug. The feedlot is filling up pen by pen. They’re going to get sick it’s just a matter of when? You pick rock and cultivate to grow your own grain. But it’s windy and dusty and simply won’t rain. You get all primed up to go travelling some where. A tractor breaks down and you loose some more hair. You get subsidies, loans, grants and such but compared to the expenses it still isn’t much. You scratch and figure then you let out a curse. The markets gone from bad to considerably worse. You phone up Can-Fax to get the market that day. You just learn them cattle simply won’t pay. You find you can lock in a loss of a hundred dollar bill. But you really don’t want to swallow that big a pill. So you keep’em on feed until their well over fat. Now there above the weight breaks and they don’t like’em like that. You won’t have to worry about tax cause profit there’s none. You hope you still own the place when the banker gets done. You tell your wife no when she wants to buy a new horse. She wants to take him racing on that three barrel course. Please don’t get mad, try and understand honey. We need to buy cattle, they’ll make us more money.

-John Gattey (started in ‘84 finished in May ‘95)

205

What the Future Holds

Cattle feeding in Alberta has had a ranging from 100 to 50,000 head in size. G long and successful history. It has A whopping seventy-five percent of State of the art facilities at Western Feedlots near High River. grown and modernized to where it Alberta’s finished cattle come from 500 Agriculture Canada’s research in now contributes billions of dollars of these operations, many of them high- the early nineties projected a and thousands of jobs to the province. capacity, modern feedlots that use the continued expansion of Canada’s A healthy feeding industry has in turn latest feeding techniques. Alberta’s fed cattle and beef sector with farm benefited the cow-calf rancher and cattle production now approaches 1.4 output increasing as much as farmer, and contributed to the billion head, which represents well over three percent every year. development of a thoroughly half of the total Canadian fed slaughter Photo Courtesy of ACC progressive packing industry, which and export market. This industry helps creates more jobs and profits for the economy to the tune of over ten Albertans. The cattle feeder is also billion dollars! an important player in a diversified The cattle industry in Alberta also agricultural industry, as he uses feed has a bright future and is well-prepared resources and grain and roughage by- for international competition. products otherwise unsuitable for Agriculture Canada’s research in the human food production. early nineties projected a continued Alberta’s beef industry and feeding expansion of Canada’s cattle and beef sector is on solid footing in the sector with farm output increasing as twentieth century’s final decade. much as three percent every year. F Feed pens and the Rocky Provincial cattle numbers account for Feedlots in the province are among Mountains at W.C. Ranch near one-third of the Canadian total, and the most competitive and successful Pincher Creek. there are over 4500 feedlots in Alberta, in North America, situated close to both Photo Courtesy of Laura Leyshon-Thuresson

207 CHAPTER THREE feeder cattle and Canadian and Cattle feeders will also need to American beef-packing plants. interface with non-agricultural Future challenges for the beef components of society. Environmental industry include gaining unimpeded concerns related to water, odour and access to American markets, holding noise pollution have to be translated market share while improving quality into workable guidelines. Public health and consistency, and maintaining cost aspects of primary food production and control. It is also important to capitalize animal welfare issues are an ongoing on new markets in Mexico and the concern to the consuming public, and Pacific rim countries. The industry will so the feeding industry must address need to continue finding more efficient those issues in order to maintain a ways of feeding cattle, and stay positive and responsible public image. informed of new research and Animal rights activists and the general techniques through organizations like public also have to be educated about the Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association. the progressive and responsible manner Consumer trends and the public’s in which cattle are handled and nutritional concerns must be heard and managed by feeders. met. Critical challenges in the nineties Looking into the crystal ball is not also include educating consumers about a precise science, but common sense fat, calories, cholesterol, new products, may be dictating some new directions and cooking information. This will in the cattle industry. One secret to Educating consumers will be an require organizations such as the success in the future will be continually important issue facing cattle Alberta Cattle Commission to fund improving communication among the feeders in the future. Photo Courtesy of ACC research and be a strong voice on consumer, packer, feedlot owner and H behalf of the feeder. cow-calf operator to effect a smoother

208 and more profitable transition of cattle cattle. A custom feedlot of that type can G through the system. An area where operate with about half of the workers The homelot of Cor Van Raay Farms Ltd in Iron Springs, Alberta. changes could be seen is branding that a commercial operation requires. Cor Van Raay owns all of the cattle practise. More money can be made New feedlots continue to open but in each of his four feedlots. from hides unmarked by the traditional there are not many that can start from He has a total capacity of over burnt brand, but this is a message that scratch and be economically viable. 90,000 head which turns over will need to move from the consumer Nevertheless, there is every reason to approximately twice a year. and through every sector to the cow- expect that both commercial and Photo Courtesy of Cor Van Raay Farms Ltd. calf producer. Any changes would private feeding will continue into the involve new strategies for the feedlot next century as the second generation operator. For example, new types of ear of commercial feeding in the province tags for identification and information begins. The Alberta landscape will could be monitored by computer, and continue to feature the large feedlot would allow for a clean hide and and the small farmer-feeder. Cow-calf ultimately provide a better price operators who background will also for the animal. remain important contributors to the Cattle feeding in Alberta is feeding industry. experiencing certain trends in the final For all its advances, cattle feeding decade of the twentieth century. Most in Alberta is still a matter of combining custom, commercial feedlot owners are cattle and feed to meet the demands of stocking their pens with their own the consumer. As long as Albertans cattle as a strategy to control financial enjoy beef and use the numerous by- risk. Not only does it spread out the products from cattle, there will be a costs, but it also requires less place for the feeder in the agricultural maintenance, tracking and billing. industry. As we have seen, that place is There are some examples of successful a proud one, as the cattle feeder has large feedlot operators, like southern been an integral part of Alberta’s Alberta’s Cor Van Raay, who own all the history, economy and culture.

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211 McDougall, R. The Cochrane Ranch 1881-1894. A Schmidt, J. “Albertans Tour Idaho Feedlots” Canadian Local History. Unpublished manuscript, 1968. Cattlemen, November, 1961, pp. 8-9, 19, 37. McCreath, C. “Eion Chisholm - Blazing That Old Seney, Eldon. “Cattle Feeders Take a Stroll Down Cattle Trail” Alberta Beef, November, 1992, pp. 7-19. Memory Lane” News Round-Up, Vol. 23, 3, pp.1-6. McElary, L.W. Cattle Finishing in Alberta. Edmonton: Seney, Eldon. Personal Interview, Oct. 23, 1995. Department of Animal Science, University of Serecon Management Consultants. Environmental Alberta, 1958. Risk Assessment for the Alberta Beef Cattle Industry. McKinnon, C.H. Events of LK Ranch. Edmonton: Alberta Cattle Commission, 1992. Phoenix Press, 1979. Smith, L. Economics of Feeding Cattle in North-Central McKinnon, Edwin. Personal Interview. Oct 24, 1995. and Northern Alberta. Edmonton: Alberta McKinnon, L. Lachlin McKinnon, Pioneer, 1865-1948. Agriculture, 1981. Calgary: John D. McAra, no date. Smith, L. Economics of Feeding Cattle in South Central Mercer, R.N. (Ed.) Trails. A 50-year history of the and Southern Alberta. Edmonton: Alberta Canadian Cattlemans’ Association and the industry Agriculture, 1980. surrounding it. Markham: Broadwater Farm Spector, David. Agriculture on the Prairies, 1870-1940. Services, 1982. Ottawa: Parks Canada, 1983. Michael, H.H. The Hargrave Ranching Legacy. Stegner, Wallace. Wolf Willow. New York: Viking Unpublished manuscript, Glenbow Archives, 1987. Press, 1955. Mossey, Pete ed., The Cypress Club, 1903-1983, Stout, Lorne. “Canada’s Outstanding Cattle Feeding Medicine Hat Alberta: Homes Printing, 1983 Operation” Canadian Cattlemen, February, 1950, Naftel, William. “The Cochrane Ranch”. Canadian pp. 11, 14-15. Historic Sites No. 16. Occasional Papers in Swindlehurst, E.B. Alberta Agriculture. A Short Archaeology and History. Ottawa: Indian and History. Edmonton: Alberta Department of Northern Affairs, 1977. Agriculture, 1967. “New Custom Lot at Brooks” Canadian Cattlemen, Tatro, Harry. Survey of Alberta Ranches. December, 1966, p. 8. Supplementary Report. Stockmens Library,1976. “New Custom Feedlot at Lethbridge” Canadian Tatro, Harry. Survey of Alberta Ranches. Stockmens Cattlemen, September, 1963, pp. 19-20. Library, 1974. Nor’-West Farmer, October, 1888: 261 Thomas, L. “What Do Packers Want?” Canadian Ono, Y. “Japan’s Market For Canadian Beef Cattlemen, August, 1995, p. 17. Expanding Rapidly” Canada Beef’s Partner Thomas, L. “Strict Bunk Management Pays Off” Newsletter. 1994.4 # 15 - Japanese Translation Canadian Cattlemen, April, 1995, pp. 40-42. Palme, L. “Integration in the Feeding Industry” In Thomas, L. “Beefbooster 20 Years Later” Canadian Thompson, G.B. & O’Mary, C. (Eds) The Feedlot. Cattlemen December, 1989, pp. 24-25. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, 1983. Thorlakson, Ben. Owner of Thorlakson Feedyards. Perry, T.W. “Feed Preparation” In Thompson, G.B. & Personal Interview, Nov. 14, 1995 O’Mary, C. (Eds) The Feedlot. Philadelphia: Lea & Topham, Harvey L. History of Irrigation in Western Febiger, 1983. Canada. Government of Canada, 1982. Riley, Harold W. “The Growth and Development of Vrooman, C.W., Chattaway, G.D. & Stewart, Andrew. the Western Canadian Ranching Industry” Cattle Ranching in Western Canada. Ottawa: Canadian Cattlemen, March, 1941, pp. 511 - 526. Dominion of Canada, Department of Rudd, F. Albert. “Production and Marketing of Beef Agriculture, 1946. Cattle From the Short Grass Plains Area of Ward, Fay. The Cowboy at Work. Norman & London: Canada” Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1987. Alberta, 1935. Whitaker, James W. Feedlot Empire: Beef cattle feeding Rode, L.M., Hironaka, R. & Bowden, D.M. Feeding in Illinois and Iowa, 1840-1900. Ames, Iowa: The Beef Cows and Heifers. Ottawa: Agriculture Iowa State University Press, 1975. Canada, 1992. Wood, Edward, J. “The Mormon Church and the Roseneder, Jan. The McDonald Family of Cochrane Cochrane Ranch,” Canadian and the Mount Royal Ranche: Cattlemen, Vol. 8, Sept. 1945, p. 84 An Introductory History. Calgary: Alberta Family Zell, J. “Closeout on the Calgary Stockyards” Round- Historical Society, 1993. Up Annual, January, 1990, pp. 20-25.

212 Index

Symbols Carnine, Lance 204 Cattleland Feedyards 154 1997 Environmental Stewardship Award 198 Chisholm, Eion 145, 160, 180, 181, 183, 184, 197 76 Ranch 32, 37, 39 Circle Ranch 32, 39, 44 A City of Calgary 18 A7 Ranche 11, 33, 68 CK Ranch 37 Alberta Agriculture 177 CL Ranch 36 Alberta Auction Markets Association 152 Cochrane, Matthew 13, 16, 21, 47, 48, , 49, 50, 112 Alberta Cattle Commission 202 Cochrane Ranche 13, 21, 29, 49, 59, 63 Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association 177, 200, 201, Contagious Diseases Act 93 202, 203, 204 Copithorne, John 35 Alberta Certified Preconditioned Feeder Program Copithorne, Marshall 36, 118 177 Copithorne, Richard 35 Alberta Settlers’ Association 60 Coppock, Kenneth 132 Alberta Stock Growers’ Association 54 Cor Van Raay Farms Ltd. 209 Alberta Veterinary Medical Association 177 Craig, John 27, 29, 47 Alta Genetics Inc. 161 Cross, A.E. 11, 22, 33, 39, 52, 63, 67, 68, 89, 114 Altwasser, Garnet 188 Cross Z Ranch 36 Anne, Betty Burrows 52 Cross Ranch 110 Annett, Harold 186, 187 D Axelson, Ron 204 Davies Ranch 39 B Dawson, G.M. 13 Baker, F.M. 127 Day, Tony 32 Ball, Don 120 Deer Creek Ranch 36, 37 Bar U (see North-West Cattle Company) Duggan, Cornelius 125 Barber, Cec 181 Dunnigan, Doc J.A. 93 Bedingfeld, A.K. & Frank 31 Dominion Land Policy 13, 16, 17 Berg, Roy 168 E Bow Valley Ranch 37, 38, 39 Edward, Prince of Wales 27, 31 Brisbin, James 17 EP Ranch 31, 109, 117, 134 British American Ranche Company 22 Evans, Garry 188 British Columbia 12 Evenson, Luther 137 Brower Ranch 42 Brown, Kootenai 50 F Buchanan feedlot 76 Fed Rite Beef 187 Buffalo Head Ranch 39 Flying E Ranch 39 Buckley, Margie 123 Flying R 35 Burgess, A.M. 48, 61 Foran, Max 7, 144 Burns, Pat 27, 29, 31, 37, 38, 39, 63, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, Franklin, Charles 121 73, 75, 89, 119, 120, 125, 128, 136, 137, 152, 179 Burton, Eugene 181 G C Gattey, John 205 George Armstrong 52 C.K. Ranch 39 Gilchrist Brothers 36 Canada Packers 152 Gillespie, Alex 96, 97, 190, 191, 192, 193 Canadian Agricultural Coal and Colonization Com- Gillespie, Delbert 190, 191, 192, 193 pany 32 Glengarry Ranch 31, 39 Canadian Beef Export Federation 197 Glenn, John 16, 97 Canadian Cattlemen’s Association 201 Gray, Dick 145, 186, 187, 202 Canadian Pacific Railway 18, 59, 65, 97, 86, 115 Gordon, Ironside and Fares Company 67 Canfax 201 Gordon Ranch 38, 39 Carnine, John 204 Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College 93

213 H LK Ranch 37, 75, 112, 126, 127, 128, 131 Lost River Ranche 36 Hargrave, Bert 181 Lynch, Tom 24, 34 Hargrave, Hope Michael 35 Hargrave, James 34, 132 M Hargrave Ranching Co. 34, 132 MacDonald, John A. 13, 27 Hargrave, Tom 143 MacKenzie, William 31, 68 Harod, Charles 104 Mackay, D.E. 53 Hartall, Bill 155, 157 Mackie Ranch 39 Harrison, Joseph 31 MacLean, A.J. 39, 89 Harvie, Neil 181 Macoun, James 104 Hay Creek Ranch 32 Manitoba Agricultural College 93 Hayes, Harry 115 Mann, Donald 31 Hehn, Archie 153 Marquis of Lorne 16 Helmer, Albert 62 Martin, C.W. 30 Henry, Billy 42 Maunsell, Ed 76 Herchmer, L.H. 51 Mayberry, Jace 81 Herron, John 50 McDougall, John 14 Hewson (Darragh) Ranch 85 McEachran, Duncan 29 Highland View Farms Limited 198, 199 McIntyre Ranch 31 Hudson’s Bay Company 13 McKenzie, Kenneth 14 Hugh, Sir Allan 24 McKinnon, Charles 62, 150, 181 Hull, William Roper 37, 69 McKinnon, Edwin 78, 95, 115, 131, 141, 179 I McKinnon, Lachlin 37, 75, 76, 95, 126, 128, 131, 137 Military Colonization Company 32, 52, 75 Idaho Cattle Feeders Association 147 Miller, Ed 164 I.G. Baker Company 50 Millar, Herb 24 Imperial Ranch 39 Minto Ranch 39 Ings, Frederick William 26, 53, 91, 103 Montagu, J. Leeds 44 J Mormon Church 22, 63, 74 J.A.W. Fraser Ranch 66 Murray, J.F. 130 K N Kanouse, Fred 14 Neilson Ranch 39 Kelly and Palmer 37 Noble Cattle Company 149 Kelly, Leroy 50, 51, 53, 78, 116 Noble, Charles 96, 99, 106, 107, 137 Kerfoot Ranch 127 North West Mounted Police 14, 16, 21, 22, 31, 34 Kerfoot, William 22, 49, 50 North-West Cattle Company 24, 25, 26, 27, 31, 39, 47, King and Son Ranches 149, 150 65, 66, 96, 110, 126 Kuck Brothers Ranch 39 Nose Hill Ranch 39 L O Lakeside Feeders 149, 188, 189 OH brand 38 Lakeside Industries 162 Olds Agricultural School 160 Lakeside Packers 169 Oxley Ranche Company 21, 27, 28, 29, 47, 65 Lane, George 24, 27, 39, 63, 89, 96, 105, 110, 116, P 126, 127, 130 Palliser, John 104 Lanier, Tom S. 152 Palliser’s Triangle 101, 104, 117 Laurier, Wilfred 59, 104 Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act 111, 133 Lazy H Ranch 39 Pincher Creek Stock Association 56 Lazy J Ranch 35 Pyramid Ranch 180, 181 Lineham Ranch 39 Lister, John Kaye 32

214 Q V Q Ranch 36, 37 Valley Feeders 145, 149, 186, 187, 202, Quirk Ranch 39 W Quorn Ranch 30, 34, 54, 112 W.C. Ranch 207 R Walker, Major James. 22 Ranchmen’s Club 18, 19 Walrond, John 29 Rawlinson Brothers Ranch 37 Walrond Ranche 21, 29, 30, 37, 39, 47, 65, 66 Red Label Feeder Association 133 Wake, Walter 125 Red Leaf beef 107 Ware, John 24, 34 Red River, Manitoba 13 Weaver, Ross 183 Reid Ranch 39 Wenbourne, William 103 Ricardo Ranch 37, 39 Western Feedlots 147, 154, 155, 180, 181, 182, 183, Riley, Harold 134 184, 185, 207 Rio Alto Ranch 37, 38, 39 Western Stockgrowers Association 56, 116, 132, 180 Riverside Ranch 129 White, Frank 23 Ross Ranch 39 Whitemud Ranch 36 Ross, Walter 35 Whitemud Ranche 37 Running M Ranch 179 Wigemyr, Tor 188 Rutherford, Dr. J.G. 76, 77 Wilfred Laurier 59 William Andrews Farm 81 S Wilfley, Jim 188, 203 Saskatchewan Agricultural College 93 Winder Ranche Company 31 Selkirk, Alexander 13 X Seney, Elden 118, 150 Shaddock Ranch 62 XL Ranch 128 Sheriff King Ranch 39 Shields, Frank 147 Shoulton, Dirk 145 Shur-Gain 162 South-West Stock Association 18 Southern Alberta Cooperative Association 129 Stephenson, Einar 146 Stewart, Captain John 14 Stimson, Fred 22, 24, 31 Stock Growers’ Protective Association 116 Strange, Thomas 32 Swift Feedlot 79 Swift Packing plant 77, 120 T Ten Ranch 39 Thorlakson, Ben 154, 197, 203, 204 Thorlakson Feedyards 154, 197 Towers, Leslie 123 Triple West 162 Turkey Track Ranch 32 U Union Stockyards in Chicago 12 United Feed 162

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