Member Blogs

So, this year  we started pricing out a gps system. I talked to a few neighbours and friends to see what they had tried, what they were using and what was working for them. Ulimately, price was the deciding factor for us, due to the small size of our operation. I wanted auto steer but Dad wasn't sold on the idea, so we checked out all types of systems but couldnt find anything that was what we were looking for for the price we were willing to pay.

I have a confession to make. Sometimes I am a really bad farmer. No, not in the sense that I am joyriding recklessly in a combine at midnight or pouring giant vats of used motor oil into the nearby river. No, no, nothing like that. More in the sense that sometimes I fantasize about living in an apartment in a very busy city, working a 9-5, coming home at the end of the day to watch TV the whole evening through. Most often these fantasies creep up at the most inopportune times, like when the pigs' waterer has froze up when its pitch black and -36 C. Or when a pen of uber-fragrant and amourous buck kids escapes from their Alkatraz-esque pen and all come hop into the van as you are loading the freshly bathed children and you're running late for church. Sometimes it seems that a day off is a distant memory (was it 5 months ago? 6? When was that we took the afternoon off?). Often I have a hard time remembering what my feet feel like in real shoes, not clompy, manure-packed green rubber boots. And why is it so hard to feel very glamourous in coveralls covered in placenta and who-knows-what-else?

At this moment I should be cleaning my house and getting supper ready for the family as tonight we have the three older kids Christmas concert.   But instead I write....not because I actually am all geared up to do it right now instead it is my way of avoiding all that should be getting done.  

Is it important to own the land you farm?  This concept has been presented to "young adults" in agriculture a lot lately.  Call me crazy but this concept just doesn't sit well with me.  I have no problem seeing the potential of this concept working, I think that a lot of young or older people in agriculture are being very successful farming this way.  

Hey everyone...My wife and I have a ranch just outside of Thorsby, Ab which is about 40 minutes south of Edmonton. We both graduated from the U of A with Animal Science degrees in 2006. After 3 years of set-up and aquiring breeding stock we are finally off the ground.

We decided to run sheep as the set up costs are much less than for cattle. We also could maximize our dollars/acre as we can run a lot more sheep. We decided on Dorpers and Katahdins as they do not require shearing and have a much milder taste to the meat. The double garage was outfitted with a commercial freezer and we are direct marketing the meat off the farm....

Check out our website and let us know what you think!

www.tangleridgeranch.ca


Thanks

Shayne and Vicky Horn