W.A. Ranches Newsletter

Greetings, everyone!

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on activities at W.A. Ranches. Planned educational activities were switched to an online environment and outreach activities were cancelled. Research activities were allowed to continue due to the seasonal nature of ranching and the potential impact a cancelation could have on a student’s progress. We have awesome students, and the content of this newsletter highlights their projects and their commitment to the beef industry. 

We are thrilled to welcome three new assistant professors, whose research and teaching efforts will be closely associated with W.A. Ranches. They include Dr. Maria Camila Ceballos Betancourt, beef cattle welfare, Dr. Jennifer Pearson, bovine health management, and Dr. Mathieu Pruvot, beef health ecology. Additional information on each of these new faculty members is included in this newsletter.

Our General Manager, Matt Williams, has announced that he will retire at the end of January 2021. Matt has done a wonderful job managing the transition of W.A. Ranches from the Anderson-Chisholm family to the University of Calgary. Matt managed the cow-calf operation and was involved with educational, research, and outreach activities. His commitment to the cattle industry and efforts to share his wealth of information with the University of Calgary community have made us better and moved the vision of our donors forward. We will always be grateful for his enormous contribution. 

All of us at the University of Calgary and W.A. Ranches hope that you and those you care for are well. We look forward to the day we can host you at a WA workshop or public event.

Sincerely,

Ed Pajor, PhD
Director, W.A. Ranches at the University of Calgary.

Howdy,

As we move into the fall, getting ready to wean and market our calves, I would like to bring everyone up to date with the comings and goings at W.A. Ranches. Like everyone else in ranching, this has been a busy year.

The winter was pretty uneventful with the cow herd out grazing on the swaths. We moved into calving the first of April with one storm after another pounding the calving grounds. Everyone at the ranch dug in pretty deep, putting out bedding while keeping eyes peeled for any chilled down calves. All in all, we were pretty successful. Thanks, guys.

Moving into the branding season…well we didn’t do it. We just cut the bull calves, vaccinated, and put the calves in the data base. Then out to grass. Lots of grass this summer. Half the herd were out grazing on the leases near the Rockies, while the balance summered at our Cochrane North and East operations. Our yearlings grazed out at Jumping Pound.

Just like everyone else, we had a good result with our hay and silage crop. It looks like we’re in good shape with stored feed for the next couple of years. Just like the old timers from this country recommend.

We continue to buy in Black Angus bulls as we move the genetic program forward. All the bulls are purchased locally from our friends and neighbours. Like every rancher, we are concerned about keeping the quality of our cow herd moving in the right direction. Presently, we are following the business model in cow selection that worked well for the W.A. Ranch in the past. We purchased 100 high-quality heifers, as well as 100 bred cows as we replace our cull and open cows. However, in the near future the plan is to retain our own heifer calves as replacements.

In keeping with the spirit of the gift, the research component of the ranch continues to play a significant role in operations. We helped the scientists with five research projects this year. All for the benefit of the Canadian cattle industry.

As for me, I will be retiring at the end of January. It’s been a great two years. I’ve learned a lot, made some mistakes, and had some successes. I wish everyone at the Ranch and University thanks, best of luck, and happy trails.

Cheers,

Matt Williams
General Manager, W.A. Ranches

A long range development plan for UCalgary’s W.A. Ranches was approved and confirmed by the Government of Alberta this summer.

This plan, developed with community input over the past year, outlines what future substantial developments are planned for W.A. Ranches to meet academic and research needs and the needs of our community.

The plan can be viewed on the UCalgary website.

Maria joined UCVM on September 1, as an assistant professor in beef cattle welfare and behaviour. Maria did her undergraduate studies in animal science in at the National University of Colombia, and then worked in dairy and beef cattle welfare and behaviour research. She subsequently earned her MSc (2014) and PhD (2017) working on beef cattle behaviour, at São Paulo State University, in a well-recognized animal welfare program.

Maria has considerable experience in research in animal welfare and behaviour in cattle, swine, and other species. Most of her work was in South America, but she also spent five months in Australia (University of Melbourne) during her graduate studies. She has a strong publication record and also has extensive experience teaching and giving presentations. Her primary teaching duties at UCVM will be animal welfare and behaviour.

Jen started her new position as assistant professor in bovine health management, at UCVM on August 1. Jen did her undergraduate studies at Oregon State University, earning BAs in Science and Animal Science, followed by her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2012. She continued her training at the veterinary school in Cornell University, including an internship in the Ambulatory and Production Medicine section (2012-13) and an Ambulatory and Theriogenology Residency (2013-15). Thereafter, she pursued a PhD here at UCVM, under the supervision of Drs. Claire Windeyer and Ed Pajor. In her thesis research, she investigated the impacts of calving management, calf risk factors, and difficult calvings on the health and performance of beef calves. She successfully defended her thesis in 2019 and for the last year, she has been working as a postdoctoral scholar with Dr. Ed Pajor. In 2018, Jen became board certified in theriogenology.

Jen’s research interests focus on reproductive health in beef cattle, including cows, calves and bulls. She already has considerable experience in teaching, both at Cornell and at UCVM. 
 

Mathieu received his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) in France in 2008. During his veterinary education, he specialized in the field of veterinary epidemiology and epidemiological surveillance of tropical diseases, and completed his DVM thesis on the diagnostic and epidemiology of animal trypanosomiasis in Thailand. Mathieu did his MSc in epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Montpellier, Faculty of Medicine in France and conducted his MSc research on low pathogenic avian influenza modeling at UC Davis, CA. In 2014, he completed his PhD at the University of Calgary, on assessing the risk of pathogen transmission between wildlife and livestock in western Canada.

For the past six years, Mathieu has been working for the Wildlife Conservation Society as a wildlife epidemiologist, initially based in Cambodia, leading a large EU-funded One-Health project focused on developing wildlife health surveillance networks in Cambodia and Laos. He researched zoonotic disease risk related to bush-meat trade and consumption in Laos, and on the dynamics of rodent-borne pathogens along deforestation gradients. For the past two years, Mathieu was based at Colorado State University continuing on a range of projects linking health and conservation. Mathieu is looking forward to engaging with the diverse community of faculty members within UCVM and beyond, including on issues of animal and environmental health in the context of food production systems.