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Who is Landon?
Landon is 22 years old and lives in La Crete, Alberta, where he was raised on the family farm. His family has been in the area for just a few generations - both of his grandfathers moved to the area from different provinces. After graduating from high school, Landon, who watched his dad learning things the hard way, made the decision, with the encouragement of his dad, to spend two years studying Agriculture Management at Olds College. When asked why he chose to pursue formal education, Landon replied, "To sum it up in one sentence, I one day want to run, or own, or manage my own outfit, so [what I learned in school will] help me one day."
After completing his schooling, Landon spent almost a year working on a ranch near Cochrane before returning to La Crete. When speaking of his decision to return, Landon said, "I would love to get a ranch job, you know, just have a job steady on a ranch. But, for me I would really like to take over Dad's farm. That's why I decided to go back to La Crete. That's just something that I decided, that it's better for me to be close to home, and help out whatever way I can."
Landon says his favourite job on the farm is "handling the cattle. So, pasture management; getting them into a new pasture, checking herd health. I guess calving would go into that, but after two months of calving you get pretty sick of that. Yeah, I really enjoy working with the cattle."
After completing his schooling, Landon spent almost a year working on a ranch near Cochrane before returning to La Crete. When speaking of his decision to return, Landon said, "I would love to get a ranch job, you know, just have a job steady on a ranch. But, for me I would really like to take over Dad's farm. That's why I decided to go back to La Crete. That's just something that I decided, that it's better for me to be close to home, and help out whatever way I can."
Landon says his favourite job on the farm is "handling the cattle. So, pasture management; getting them into a new pasture, checking herd health. I guess calving would go into that, but after two months of calving you get pretty sick of that. Yeah, I really enjoy working with the cattle."
History of the Ranch
The family farm started with Landon's dad, who began homesteading in 1985. Having grown up with "a very small farm base," he started off growing crops, and eventually turned the farm into the cattle ranch it is today. There are a few crops, like hay, corn and canola, still grown in the crop rotations on some of the land.
Landon speaks proudly of the way that his father has kept experimenting and trying new things through his years of farming. He explained that because the farm is so far north, they need to work harder to find grasses and legumes that will work well for their pastures. Many species that work well in other areas of Alberta may not establish well or last very long in the northern climate. Landon summed up his father's work, saying, "he's really tried to always improve. One thing's he always done, is he's always never said, 'This is good enough.' He's always researched and tried to improve... His main priority is the soil, so working the manure and the fertilizer back in the soil, getting it to decompose, and getting a good grass crop, and then pasture management. If you protect and try to improve your soil, that will take care of your grass, which in turn will take care of your cattle."
Looking to the Future
Looking back at the foundation his father has built, Landon looks forward to continuing to improve pasture management. Looking to the future, Landon told me that he would like to improve aspects of herd management and herd genetics. Mainly, he spoke of keeping better records and bringing in better genetics to improve the herd. If I had had time, I would have had Landon re-explain the model of genetic improvement he worked with on the ranch near Cochrane, but that conversation is a whole blog post on it's own.
In terms of ownership and management of the ranch, the future is still up in the air. Landon figures his dad will be looking to retire in the next five to ten years. The next generation would like to begin looking to take over, but they are also mindful of the need for their parents to retire comfortably after working hard for so many years to build up the farm to what it is today. Because of that, the family is doing some work on succession planning to ensure fair treatment for all involved. Landon, of course, would really like to take over the ranch, but he must also consider his three younger siblings. His eldest sister is married and is not really interested in the farm. The younger two still don't know, though Landon thinks his second sister is interested in coming back. His brother, like many young boys, is currently only interested in hockey. "We'll give him some years to decide," Landon says.
Challenges and Opportunities
When asked about challenges and opportunities related to being a young farmer, Landon spoke first of the opportunities he finds in technology, data collection, and education. He looks forward to using these to "be more efficient and [improve] how the farm runs."
In terms of challenges, Landon talked about increased land prices and inflation, combined with the lack of readily available land. These challenges are familiar to many young farmers, who know that "being young means you have to get creative on how you want to get in to farming." This creativity may be applied to increasing cash flow to invest in the farm, perhaps through an off-farm job. One of Landon's priorities is to be able to take over the ranch, while making sure that his parents have a decent retirement. Additionally, Landon spoke of the difficulty of hiring help on the farm, since labour costs are so high on small farms. Financial concerns such as those Landon spoke of are certainly a major challenge for many young farmers, which is a reason many get jobs off the farm. Landon is one farmer with an off-farm income, which we discussed at length in the second part of our conversation.
Landon speaks proudly of the way that his father has kept experimenting and trying new things through his years of farming. He explained that because the farm is so far north, they need to work harder to find grasses and legumes that will work well for their pastures. Many species that work well in other areas of Alberta may not establish well or last very long in the northern climate. Landon summed up his father's work, saying, "he's really tried to always improve. One thing's he always done, is he's always never said, 'This is good enough.' He's always researched and tried to improve... His main priority is the soil, so working the manure and the fertilizer back in the soil, getting it to decompose, and getting a good grass crop, and then pasture management. If you protect and try to improve your soil, that will take care of your grass, which in turn will take care of your cattle."
Looking to the Future
Looking back at the foundation his father has built, Landon looks forward to continuing to improve pasture management. Looking to the future, Landon told me that he would like to improve aspects of herd management and herd genetics. Mainly, he spoke of keeping better records and bringing in better genetics to improve the herd. If I had had time, I would have had Landon re-explain the model of genetic improvement he worked with on the ranch near Cochrane, but that conversation is a whole blog post on it's own.
In terms of ownership and management of the ranch, the future is still up in the air. Landon figures his dad will be looking to retire in the next five to ten years. The next generation would like to begin looking to take over, but they are also mindful of the need for their parents to retire comfortably after working hard for so many years to build up the farm to what it is today. Because of that, the family is doing some work on succession planning to ensure fair treatment for all involved. Landon, of course, would really like to take over the ranch, but he must also consider his three younger siblings. His eldest sister is married and is not really interested in the farm. The younger two still don't know, though Landon thinks his second sister is interested in coming back. His brother, like many young boys, is currently only interested in hockey. "We'll give him some years to decide," Landon says.
Challenges and Opportunities
When asked about challenges and opportunities related to being a young farmer, Landon spoke first of the opportunities he finds in technology, data collection, and education. He looks forward to using these to "be more efficient and [improve] how the farm runs."
In terms of challenges, Landon talked about increased land prices and inflation, combined with the lack of readily available land. These challenges are familiar to many young farmers, who know that "being young means you have to get creative on how you want to get in to farming." This creativity may be applied to increasing cash flow to invest in the farm, perhaps through an off-farm job. One of Landon's priorities is to be able to take over the ranch, while making sure that his parents have a decent retirement. Additionally, Landon spoke of the difficulty of hiring help on the farm, since labour costs are so high on small farms. Financial concerns such as those Landon spoke of are certainly a major challenge for many young farmers, which is a reason many get jobs off the farm. Landon is one farmer with an off-farm income, which we discussed at length in the second part of our conversation.
Looking forward to more on this page! Interesting read - thanks
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