SPRINGFIELD RANCH

THE RANCH

Springfield Ranch Ltd. is a beef cattle farm in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada. The ranch is located 25 km north of Williams Lake and extends on both sides of the Fraser River. The company consists of Springfield Ranch and Buckskin Ranch.

Cows and heifers of three breeds, Black- & Red-Angus and Hereford form our breeding herd. Bulls noted for the desirable characteristics of their offspring make up the male side of our herd. The reproduction of cattle happens on natural path, we do not use artificial fertilization.

The ranch operates in the cow-calf production and our goal is to produce strong and healthy calves. The calves are weaned in the fall and get sold in November. Each year we retain some of our yearling heifers as replacement for the cow herd.

The herd spends the summer months on Crown grazing land and private land where ponds, lakes and small creeks provide enough water. From autumn until late spring the cattle stay on ranch owned pastureland where they get fed additionally during the wintertime.

The production of winter feed during the summer is a labour-intensive activity but essential for the cattle production. The ranch grows a variety of forage crops from grass, alfalfa, oats to barley and corn. We produce enough hay bales and silage to feed our cattle during wintertime, no additional feed is purchased.

To simplify the irrigation process, reduce water use and to increase the amount of harvest we invested in pivot irrigation systems and hose reels. New technologies and methods play an important role in farm and ranch operations. We try to use them in order to increase efficiency and quality.

Cattle operations require extensive land and access to pasture and water. Springfield- & Buckskin-Ranch offers feed and water ample to the cattle. To avoid overgrazing we try to cultivate pastureland with caution and apply a careful management on the natural grasses.

Beef cattle farming is a key component of Canadian agriculture, and we are proud to play a role in that.

RANCH HISTORY

The history of Springfield Ranch spans a period of some 150 years dating back to the mid-1860’s.

Everything started in 1862, a large tract of arable land a mile south of Deep Creek was occupied by five returning miners. Very shortly they sold their preemptions to Frederick Townsend of Quesnelle Mouth.

Townsend rented the land to the Beck brothers, two young Englishmen. They kept up their English traditions on a certain field on the ranch, the field is still known as “the cricket field”.

In 1865, Townsend had sold the property, which now contained about a thousand acres, to John Colin Calbraith and his Partner John Frances Hawkes of Springfield, Ohio.

During the early 1870s, when John Calbraith left the Cariboo, he sold his shares in the ranch to his partner Hawkes, who renamed the Ranch to “Springfield Ranch”, after his hometown in Ohio.