Albert Mutcher’s advice to young cattle producers is to grow the herd slowly and leverage government incentives and programs.  Photo: Mallorey Bergen

A lifetime in the beef industry

After several decades in the cattle business, Albert Mutcher’s love for ranching remains constant

Seven decades ago, Albert Mutcher was doing many of the same things he does now. When he was just starting his agricultural career, he walked through his pastures west of Carman, Man., checking on his recently purchased herd of cattle. The future stretched far and wide in front of him, full of opportunity and as […] Read more

Henry's farm consists of 30 acres, 20 of which are used for grazing and hay for his cattle.

Cattle ranching on Vancouver Island

While the climate is milder than the Prairies, island producers must contend with a small land base, high land prices and the cost of ferries

Vancouver Island contains a variety of landscapes: beaches with shells and the corpses of moon jellyfish, the frigid water of the Pacific Ocean washing in and out. A rugged, snow-capped mountain range looms over the island. Redwood trees reach high into the sky, the forest floor sheltered and mossy. There are grasslands here, too, in […] Read more


Young farmers and ranchers want formal succession plans, partly to give their children the chance to take over the operation.

Most farms lack a succession plan

While formal succession plans were rare for previous generations, the next generation of farmers and ranchers is pushing for them

On the second floor of the Queensbury Convention Centre at Agribition, the Grain Expo takes place every year. Around the edge of the room, booths are set up, surrounding the tables attendees sit at. Everyone sits watching the panel of producers walking onto the brightly lit stage. Steve Sanden and his son, Josh Sanden, are […] Read more

“I’ve been really blessed that a sense of family and history and roots and legacy have always been real for my family.” – Rachel Herbert.

Alberta author busts myths about history of women in ranching

Rachel Herbert mined her own family’s ranching legacy to document the roles women played in establishing and sustaining family ranches

When Rachel Herbert thinks about ranching, she thinks about all the women who came before her. She thinks of her great-grandmother, pulling the ranch through the Great Depression after her husband’s death. She thinks of her grandmother, who raised her family on the ranch, and her own mother, who found her way back to it […] Read more


It’s important for producers to have a support network when it comes to things like succession planning, says Elaine Froese.

Succession support: Talking with peers helps producers in transition

Whether it’s a formal peer group or an informal network, producers in the middle of succession planning are connecting with each other

For Andrea van Iterson, discussing succession planning with her peers from her time in the Canadian Cattle Young Leaders Program is like therapy. “It’s kind of like mental health. The more we have conversations about it, the less stigma there is about talking about it.” Van Iterson lives and ranches near Westwold, B.C., where her […] Read more

“I’m hoping to not be the first generation and the last generation of ranchers at Difficulty Ranch. My kids are very involved in the environmental aspects, they ask lots of questions.” – Sean LaBrie.

Retired police officer finds passion in ranching

PEOPLE: Sean LaBrie found a second career as a rancher, and a zeal for restoring the land on his Didsbury-area ranch

When Sean LaBrie started his career with the Calgary Police Service, he likely didn’t realize that by the time he retired he’d be on a ranch an hour outside of the city, raising cattle on 640 acres. At that point in his life, cattle were barely more than a passing thought. Now, they’re his way […] Read more


When we think about reducing overhead, we often see we can get along with less equipment or fewer horses, but we are emotionally attached, and it becomes very difficult.

The essentials for profitable ranching: Part two

Burke Teichert discusses the remaining three essentials, as he sees them

In my last article I introduced the “five essentials” for profitable ranching and discussed the first two. The five essentials are: We will now continue. Planning and decision-making tools Acquire and use a good set of planning and decision-making tools. Today’s computers and cell phones make this job quite easy. We need accurate information to […] Read more

Don Campbell poses by the cow herd in April 2023.

Don Campbell on lifelong learning and personal growth

This long-time rancher and educator reflects on how holistic management has helped him make better decisions

Meadow Lake rancher Don Campbell has long been a holistic management advocate and a catalyst for change. Campbell and his wife Bev are household names within the global holistic management community, but Campbell also garnered a mainstream audience of beef and forage producers as a long-time contributor to Canadian Cattlemen. Campbell’s career as a rancher and […] Read more


“I fundamentally believe in farmers and ranchers and their ability to make the world better.” – James Rebanks with son Isaac, Lake District, U.K.

U.K. author explores regenerative practices on farm

James Rebanks’s first novel celebrated traditional practices, but since publication, he’s been looking for better ways to farm

James Rebanks is proud of his farming heritage — in fact, he wrote a best-selling novel featuring traditional farming practices in the U.K. But he wants to do better. Rebanks is from the Lake District of the U.K., an area popular with tourists because of the rolling mountains inset with sapphire-blue lakes. The Rebanks family […] Read more

Roxanne and Kevin Ziola, along with daughters Josi and Cami, ranch near Red Deer, Alta.

Alberta ranching family teaches cattle to forage through snow

Roxanne and Kevin Ziola transitioned their operation from a mixed farm to a grass-fed ranch, where winter grazing is a key part of their production

A panel of three producers sits at the front of a room filled to bursting with farmers and professionals in the industry. It’s a chilly day in December in Edmonton, Alta., at the Western Canada Soil Health and Grazing Conference, but these producers don’t mind the cold — in fact, they often use it to […] Read more