SPRUCE GROVE, Alta. — The beer is an acquired taste, but the potatoes go down like cattle candy.
The tasty tidbits are mixed with silage made from other feeds grown at Lewis Farms Ltd. for the 500 purebred Simmentals.
Culled potatoes come from the Lewis’s seed potato business, which is part of the farm operated and overseen by four different families within the clan. They include siblings Ken, Ray and Sandy and their spouses, along with parents, Jack and wife Laverne.
The sprawling farmyard near Spruce Grove, Alta., is neatly lined with seemingly endless turquoise buildings, the main ones sporting cherry red awnings. It includes a building to hold 20,000 gallons of stale beer from Molson’s that would otherwise be dumped into the sewer.
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Another building features a show ring and seating area that can hold 800 people. The adjacent barns can accommodate 110 bulls for buyers to view during the farm’s annual February bull sale, now in its 16th year, selling 150 bulls to Western Canadian buyers.
Beyond the yard, 3,500 acres of barley, wheat and peas grow in rotation with potatoes. The potatoes were first grown by the original farmers, Ellis and Ernie Lewis, 60 years ago. The Lewises’ 700 acres of seed potatoes were barely emerged by late June.
“That’s how the cattle came in, to eat the culled potatoes,” explained Ken. “They love em, rotten or not.”
A field of potatoes this year will become a field of wheat the next, helped by leftover nitrogen. Peas follow, then barley and maybe some wheat for the next three years.
“Whatever’s good for the potatoes, we grow,” he said.
By the fifth year, the Lewises silage a barley crop.
A mix mill combines the feed, which is monitored regularly by a nutritionist. Eight pounds of potatoes equals one of barley, while eight to 10 lb. of beer translates into one lb. of food energy, said Ken.
The advantages of the unusual ingredients are in maintaining moisture and making the pea straw more palatable for the cows. Putting spuds through the cattle also eliminates the risk of potato infections and the need to spread the tubers on the soil.
The animal’s rumen metabolizes alcohol before it gets into the blood system, said Ken. Blood tests on cattle fed up to five gallons of beer a day have not shown alcohol levels.
“With the mixer box, we can really be creative,” he said, noting bread and pastry often become part of feed rations in places like Australia.
The operation requires meticulous record keeping for what’s on the fields and in the barns and pastures. The cattle records are maintained by Ken’s wife Corrie, who with Sandy also fields calls from customers. Sandy, her husband Larry Buba, and Jack handle the crops. The Bubas live with their three children in the yard alongside Ken, Corrie and their two children.
Jack and Laverne moved into Stony Plain from the original homeplace, now a subdivision called Lewis Estates.
Roy and his wife Carol Shwetz live with their two children near Clyde and run active veterinary practices. Roy oversees herd health, bull fertility checks and “leading edge” production practices at Lewis Farms.
“We really work together and make big decisions as a group,” said Ken.
Roy said the farm is big enough to give everyone an area of expertise and responsibility.
He credited Ernie and Jack for that by delegating jobs and giving free reign.
“That creates more responsible people and makes decisions better and then they understand it too, rather than just work there,” said Roy.
“The big thing is having responsibility and not just the older generation thinking that they know how to do it all.”
Staff and equipment
Six full-time staff, 12 part-timers and casual help are needed at busier times. Phones visible in most of the buildings and vehicles keep open the lines of communication.
In addition to the purebred herd, Lewis Farms also runs a 300-head commercial cow-calf operation. It raises 300-400 replacement heifers with two other producers and markets them each November.
The farm also fattens steer and heifer calves that are not part of the breeding program at another farm.
Purebred calving runs from Dec. 20 to Feb. 20, while the rest calve in April.
Viewing the farm from a sport utility vehicle’s leather lined seats, Ken said the family’s comfortable lifestyle comes from its longevity as a business and loyal, repeat customers. The family provides service to customers, consistent quality and reasonable prices, he said.
Glossy magazines full of bulls for offer are published each year but most advertising comes by word of mouth and reputation. Ken once showed animals but prefers now to watch others.
“It’s more gratifying to have customers showing what they’ve purchased from us and being successful.”
Like the cattle industry, seed potatoes also rely on reputation and past performance to keep customers, said Larry Buba.
Some families he deals with include fathers who bought from Jack 40 years ago.
Larry said seed potato markets have been stable in recent years, but a surplus of processing potatoes could hurt profitability.
“If times get tough the advantage is that customers will stay with you, but you may not get the price you want,” he said.
He and Sandy always planned a life on the farm. He worked for Ken and she acquired an agriculture degree as her father and grandfather had done.
Their future is not as certain as in Grandfather Ernie’s day. With acreage owners nearby and land bordered by two major highways, Ken said care and attention must be taken with equipment on the road, and fences have to be “up to snuff.”
Non-farmers express concerns when the Lewises haul manure and land is coveted for acreages, driving the prices beyond affordable levels for agriculture.
“You’re not so concerned about your net worth going up, but about not being able to expand,” he said. “City people move to the country and don’t have the patience for farm equipment and rough roads.”
Another major road will soon cut through his land. Ken accepts the highway improvements as progress in the second most populous county in Alberta.
“You’ve got to come to grips with cities growing,” he shrugged. “Change happens.”
Their accessible location has benefitted their operation, providing easy access for the bull market, for shipping potatoes and for the nearby Molson’s plant to truck in the beer.
With an eye to the future, Lewis Farms bought a grass farm to the northwest near Sangudo.
For now, all enjoy life in the country, and “chasing kids” between dance shows, 4-H meetings and cattle competitions.
Lewis Farms’ future lies with the children, said Sandy. Shares allocated to all partners leave the door open to pass on the farm should the next generation want to get involved.
“Hopefully they can all find a piece,” Sandy said.
