Chilco Ranch practices honoured

Hanceville’s Chilco Ranch-Miller Ranches Ltd. is this year’s recipient of the BC Cattlemen’s Association Ranch Sustainability Award.

Four generations are involved in the ranch, with Jordan and Crystal Grier, their children Connor and Taylor, as well as Justin Grier and Meghan Cave accepting the award at the BC Cattlemen’s Association annual general meeting in Kamloops, June 3.

“We are recognizing the ranch for the attributes of environmental sustainability and ranch sustainability,” says Brett Squair, chair of BCCA’s Environmental Stewardship Committee. “They stood out for excellent management of grasslands and riparian ecosystems.”

The ranch is situated on 20,000 deeded acres in Hanceville, about 90 kilometres west of Williams Lake. The ranch manages another 150,000 acres of grazing tenure.

Working with the dry Chilcotin grasslands is key to the ranch’s success.

“Native grass is the most important piece of the puzzle,” notes Jordan Grier. “We have to find a way to grow grass with no moisture, and the best way to do that is to rest it. That is sustainability in nature’s form.”

Grier says they focus on timing and frequency in their grazing rotations.

“We haven’t really done much other than that,” he says.

A project with Ducks Unlimited that began in 1992 is an important part of their operations.

A network of weir-controlled lakes connected by 65 kilometres of ditches provides water for cattle and forage irrigation.

“Without this water system there would be nothing here. There is just no water,” Grier explains.

Community and the four-generation family are a huge part of their journey, he adds.

“It takes a community to be running ranches and helping with kids,” he says. “Sustainability to us is family, community and everything else to keep everybody going. I really hope we can bring this forward in the future and make it better every year.”

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