EASTEND, Sask. – Carved in wood the sign reads Stewards of the Land.
It was given by the Saskatchewan Stock Growers’ Association to the province’s first winners of an award for environmentally sound practices in managing livestock and land. Set back from a long, lonely, creek-punctuated stretch of rolling road, Ron and Roberta Wolfater’s farm is an oasis in the middle of the country that early surveyor John Palliser found so intimidating.
Palliser must have been concentrating on the horizon rather than watching where he was walking. The open and rough prairie was abundant with a complex web of well adapted life, one that has nearly been lost through modern agricultural cultivation and the introduction of non-native grass and plant species.
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Protecting the only resource farmers truly have, the Wolfaters recognized the damage that had already been done to the ranch they bought in 1974. The steps that earned them the stewardship award included holding back grazing of their 200 head of cattle until the plants are strong enough to withstand herd pressures.
Angus and Angus cross cattle are the bread and butter of the family farm. Using rye and tame hay land allows the couple to graze their cattle early without stressing natural pasture, while water hauling allows for the use of portable fencing to keep animals moving across hay land without damaging the later cut.
Regular customers first
Selling surplus, high quality hay also plays a role in the operation. Even with prices strong and demand high, the pair has chosen to service regular customers and hold down the price to ensure future sales.
Zero tillage practices became the norm for the 1,100 acres of cropped and tame hay land on the farm. Using a zero tillage seeder rented from a neighbor, they have improved both the health and production of the soil.
“This can be a very dry country. Soil erosion can happen easily and do a lot of damage. Whether you crop the land or graze it, you have to always be aware of the impact your actions have on the land,” said Ron.
Drought and a depressed cattle market have caused the couple to look to the oldest resource available to farmers. Native species are now a focus of the Wolfaters’ business.
Mining, oil and gas and pipeline companies are being forced to improve their land reclamation practices. The couple has found a growing market for the seed of now-rare native species that have evolved over thousands of years on their ranch land.
“We recognized early that some of this seed demands very high prices,” said Roberta.
What the Wolfaters didn’t know was how difficult it would be to harvest and handle this resource. Ron developed a harvesting machine by looking at the few and very expensive equipment pieces that existed for harvesting native species.
“We knew what it needed to do and how we could improve on it and build it for less. We’re farmers. We built it,” said Ron.
A pull-type seed stripper with a rotating brush carefully takes only the mature seeds from the plants at widely variable heights of growth. Some plants must still be harvested by hand but most are done with the stripper.
Labor intensive procedure
Getting the seeds back to the farm is the easy part. Separating the often tiny, heavily bearded seeds from one another and cleaning them calls for intensive labor. Once separated into different plant types, the finished product is loaded into mini-bulk bags and delivered to waiting customers.
“Various plants are ready at various times beginning in August,” said Roberta. “There are usually only three prime days for harvesting any one plant. After that, the yields begin to drop. If the weather doesn’t co-operate there will be no harvest. Some years some plants do better than others. It is highly variable.”
In the future the Wolfaters hope for a bigger harvest from their own land and to start custom harvesting native plants on the farms and ranches of others.
“With the cattle business being tough, this improves our cash flow and gives us another option to improve revenues from agriculture … . And it makes us feel good to know we are part of the solution rather than the problem,” said Ron.
