The new year is about to start and the Applied Sustainable Ranching Program is ramping up for it’s next round of new students. Are you one of them?
See all the interesting career opportunities possible and the benefits from a program that focuses on sustainability and the environment while helping to build better communities.
Students made their way to 105 Mile to visit the Sandhill Lea Ranch, home of Lorne Landry and his amazing stock dogs. Lorne holds sheep dog trails on his property and he invited students to bring their dogs out to his ranch so they could get a taste of stock dog training.
Lorne produces grass fed beef and lamb and he has working stock dogs to help him out. Lorne’s stock dogs are trained to bring the lambs out to the pasture and to bring them back in. It was truly an amazing sight to see his dogs work. Calmly,with precision the dogs can move the flock one way or another, and go bring them home! Even from a very very far distance Lorne’s dog knew what it was supposed to do and did it effectively.
Working with the instincts of these herding dogs is the key to having a successful working stock dog. I think we left this stock dog clinic with a whole new appreciation for how a dog can work at a really high level and how this could be such a beneficial relationship and function on a ranching or farming operation.
Students got a chance to bring their dogs in with the sheep to participate, and try it out. Lorne was great. I think we were all a little scared of how the dogs were going to react, but Lorne was a great instructor and within a few minutes we could see what he was trying to get the dog to do and he took control when needed to make sure the sheep were safe and that the dog knew its role. 
All in all, a fantastic day with Lorne and students with the Applied Sustainable Ranching program. I know, for me- I want to get all the books he recommended and keep learning more.
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This week was a busy one as we have entered full swing into the diversification section of our applied skills course in the Applied Sustainable Ranching Program here at Thompson Rivers University in Williams Lake.
For our first diversification seminar we traveled out towards Soda Creek, along the Fraser River in the Cariboo and found ourselves at Fraser Bench Farm and home of Charlie and Lynda Archibald.
Lynda’s place is incredible, and a real testament to the idea of “staying in place” -she’s been on that site for thirty years, and the establishment of her trees, and berry bushes and flowers shows it. Lynda has a successful raspberry enterprise where she grows, picks and sells fresh and frozen berries. She is a great example of diversification as she has several businesses on her farm.
Lynda has created diversification with her apple orchard with apple sales, juice sales and she creates her own apple cider vinegar product that is in high demand. She is part of the Cariboo Grower’s co-op and grows onions and early garlic for them to sell in Williams Lake. Her set-up was simple and showed that with a little creativity setting up an additional enterprise on your ranch or farm could be easily established.
We enjoyed Lynda’s farm so much, spending a lot of time learning from her, but also a lot of time sitting on her deck in the warm micro-climate, basking in the sun and flowers.
No wonder she has invested so much of her time in this beautiful place, how could you not?
