The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) is pleased to feature the provincial stewardship award recipients in the running for the 2020 The Environmental Stewardship Award (TESA). The recipient of the CCA’s national award will be announced through a virtual presentation during the Canadian Beef Industry Conference in August. As always, a common theme among recipients is a profound sense of obligation to care for land and animals. Through sharing their stories, insights, beliefs and values, readers can gain perspective about the relationship between stewardship and cattle production, and the benefits of conservation to society.
In this issue, we feature Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) 2020 Environmental Stewardship Award recipient, Hagan Valley Ranch, owned and operated by Thomas and Felicity Hagan.
Manitoba Beef Producers 2020 Environmental Stewardship Award recipient, Hagan Valley Ranch
By: Janet Kanters
It is no secret that agriculture needs healthy ecosystems, and nowhere is that more important than in the beef sector. To achieve these healthy ecosystems, producers must find a balance between production, profit and the environment.
Thomas and Felicity Hagan have found that balance on Hagan Valley Ranch near Virden, Man. The couple is the 2020 recipient of The Environmental Stewardship Award from Manitoba Beef Producers and are now in the running for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) The Environmental Stewardship Award (TESA).
To Thomas Hagan, achieving a healthy ecosystem isn’t without its challenges, but perseverance and an understanding of the land – and the cattle that graze it – are the first steps to achieving it.
“We’re very focused on soil health, so that benefits us economically and obviously for environmental reasons,” said Hagan. We’re putting all kinds of carbon in the soil and our soil organic matter is going up every year.”
Thomas and Felicity, along with their children Rory and Ryan, raise cattle on 3,200 acres of native pasture. Their land is in one block – enabling them to focus on their grazing year-round – and is divided by a man-made water diversion that feeds Oak Lake.
They carry a nucleus cow herd of anywhere between 100 and 150 cows and background their calves every winter, depending on the market. They bring in anywhere from 200 to 250 heifer calves in the spring and breed them for approximately 42 days.
“We can run about 320 cows and their yearlings,” said Thomas. “So, we can run about 320 cows and about 300 yearlings. Our cow herd right now varies a lot as we buy and sell. Right now, we’re at about 200 cows and we have 300 yearlings.”
Over the years, the ranch has also brought in custom grazers – for 2020, they expect to bring in about 100 custom grazers. The decision on the number is made based on what grass is available that year and the weather outlook.
Hagan Valley Ranch is all about the grazing. It’s not easy, because a wide diversity of grass types comprises the land, and each type has to be managed differently. For instance, they have just over two and a half sections of marshland that is usually very wet in the spring and fall due to a waterway that flows through. The grasses don’t start growing until about June 1 and then grow very quickly, and although it has lower nutrient value than the highland grass on the property, the cows have learned to utilize it. Another three quarters of land is sandy soil with little to no vegetation growing on it. Finally, the ranch also has about a section of bush, an area difficult to graze and manage due to bush denseness and difficulty in erecting cross-fences. However, they have been able to divide these areas up into about 40-acre paddocks and are hoping to split them one more time.
One improvement project is to fence off a dugout on the ranch and install an aboveground watering system for the summer months. Not allowing cattle access to these dugout areas will minimize compaction, contamination and erosion, and the system can be relocated daily to also minimize compaction and help control unwanted plant species.
“We have a ton of focus on soil health. The more grass we grow, the more grass we can sell to ourselves essentially; it’s a huge part of our business,” said Thomas. “And, we don’t cut hay. it’s 3,200 acres and we graze the whole thing.”
The ranch’s grazing area is comprised of 45 permanent paddocks, and the Hagan’s are continuously increasing this number. They have kept a grazing chart for the last six years to monitor the length of time cattle are on a paddock and the recovery they give it.
“Fencing the land into similar grass and soil types helps to graze each paddock specific to its needs and minimize overgrazing certain areas of a paddock,” noted Thomas.
The Hagan’s grazing techniques also help reduce contamination to the dugout water. Moving the animals daily and sometimes twice a day allows the nutrients to be spread out and not concentrated to one area.
The Hagan’s benchmark their soils via soil testing to measure improvements and figure out what works with their land. Their first area of focus is the sandy soil with little to no vegetation.
“This year was year one and we look forward to seeing the improvements,” said Thomas. “We know that being able to measure soil health will allow us to make even better management decisions when it comes to grazing.”
The Hagan’s have been working closely with Manitoba Habitat over the past few years. With almost 100 per cent of their ranch comprised of native pasture, many different species live there. They have had people survey the birds at risk on their ranch and have noted an increase in different species over the years.
“Diversity in all areas is beneficial to the environment, which in turn will be beneficial to us,” said Thomas, who added they have completed regular Environmental Farm Plans, taken courses and used professional consultation in many areas. “Practicing good environmental stewardship is just part of the business – our main resource is our grassland, so environmental stewardship for us means this is going to be around for the next 30, 40, 50 years.”
With regard to the future, the Hagan’s have put a caveat on their land through Manitoba Habitat so it can never be broken; it will always stay grassland.
“We’re setting our place up so that my wife and I can retire here someday,” said Thomas. “Overall, we are getting to do what we love, and agriculture is a pretty exciting industry to be in right now as we believe we hold the key to fixing climate change.
“We want this earth to be a great place to live for generations to come, not a barren dust bowl that our kids will have to fix.”
MNP is the Platinum Sponsor for TESA.