One of Canada’s oldest and largest ranches is for sale.
The 540,000 acre Douglas Lake Ranch in southern British Columbia near Merritt is for sale for $103 million.
The ranch is owned by the Woodward family, who owned the department store chain. Charles Woodward’s sons Kip and John have managed the ranch since their father’s death, said Al Kanji, the family’s financial adviser with KPMG in Vancouver.
Kanji said the ranch is not for sale because of financial reasons.
“If you think it’s financial duress or distress you couldn’t be (more) far wrong than that. The time was right to sell and do something else in life,” said Kanji.
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The ranch has 15,000 head of cattle, including 7,000 cows and 6,600 calves each spring, which are included in the sale price.
“It’s for sale, lock, stock and barrel,” said Kanji.
Lorne Leach, executive director of the British Columbia Cattlemen’s Association, said he hopes the new buyers will maintain the operation as a working cattle ranch.
Leach said his group has seen disturbing signs the sale of the ranch may be a sign of the future in B.C. One of its directors recently sold his ranch and moved to Alberta because he felt like he was a “blight on the earth.”
There are concerns it will be increasingly difficult to maintain a viable ranch with growing environmental, forestry and land-use controls, said Leach.
