About Me
I grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and come from an extended family of agricultural producers. With varied operations from mixed cow-calf, to exclusively cash crop I was exposed to various practices and methods of production early on. Upon completing high school, I attended the University of Saskatchewan for a brief time to study agriculture before stepping away to take a position in the oil and gas sector. I spent the next 14 years with various companies in multiple disciplines including transport and logistics, service rigs, and coiled tubing. My last 9 years have been spent as a manager with a fluid haul and industrial cleaning company based in Bonnyville, Alberta.
In 2016, my wife and I purchased our small acreage and started building our hobby farm. We expanded into a small herd of commercial cattle in 2018 and then purchased our first purebred speckle part in 2020. From that time, we have continued to grow taking on additional land and expanding our operations to include a direct farm-to-table venture supplying our local community with quality Beef, Pork and Chicken products.
Our family is active in local 4h and lacrosse and hopes to grow our purebred show cattle herd as the years go on.
Why Did I Choose Covers?
In 2020, we rented a new piece of land that had been in hay production for as long as anyone knew. The first year, we had good moisture and were only able to produce less than ¾ of a bale an acre. In the 2021 drought, we decided to graze the land instead and desperately searched for feed to bring in to get us through the year. We explored alternative feeding methods such as straw and liquid supplements which got us through, but our herd did not do as well as we had hoped. We survived but didn’t thrive. That winter my wife and I talked seriously about giving up and selling the livestock. Ultimately, our love for the farm led us to agree to give it one more try. We explored alternative practices that would help our small land base produce sufficient forage to feed our small herd. At that time we discovered Covers, the webinars and the educational component are what brought us in, and really helped guide our way of thinking.
That first year, we produced enough feed to allow a small carry over which we had never experienced before. We were sold and committed to moving as much of our practices to regenerate as we could. In August of 2023 after an even more successful year, Covers reached out and started the conversation about coming on board. I was thrilled to be able to join the team and help grow the company's reach in Alberta and help more farms experience the thrill of maximizing production potential through soil health and plant diversity."