ONEFOUR, Alta. – During the summer in Alberta, Onefour makes the supper hour news nearly every night.
The lonely Agriculture Canada research outpost in the southeastern corner of the province is frequently the provincial hot spot during the weather report.
Windswept and isolated, this semi-arid region is home to endangered species like the piping plover. The rare birds are joined by rattlesnakes, cactus, yucca plants and lichen-sheathed rocks.
This 42,000 acre spread has provided the practical side of beef cattle research and range management since1927.
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“This substation takes the science and puts it in the field in range conditions,” said station manager Allan Ross.
Agriculture Canada started range research in Onefour because it was known that prairie grasslands were both under-used and over grazed. The station’s mandate was to find ways to improve and enhance natural rangeland in a fragile environment.
It was a challenge from the start.
Located south of Manyberries, the area receives no more than 300 millimetres of precipitation annually. There is little snow in winter and tree-bending winds are a constant companion.
The native short grass can support no more than one animal per 60 acres.
The area was chosen because it was available. Some homesteaders were willing to sell, and to obtain a provincial lease, the government had to own land as well. The centre consists of 17 quarter sections of deeded land with the remainder leased from the province. The substation can keep the lease as long as the government continues to do research there.
The spot is called Onefour because it is located in Township 1, Range 4. A name was needed to locate a post office on the site.
Due to budget cutbacks, the crew has been reduced to a skeleton staff compared to what it once was.
A community hall, school and skating rink were built for the staff, their families and surrounding community. Today, staff children are bused to school in Manyberries.
Research continues, but the focus has changed over time. Two separate herds of Charolais and Angus totaling 500 cows are studied in a variety of feeding trials and meat quality assessments. They have also been useful in drought research.
Onefour struggles with drought every three years on average and scientists have seen the adverse effects these conditions have on animal productivity.
For comparative purposes the substation co-operates with the Agriculture Canada research centre in Brandon, where grazing patterns and climate are vastly different.
