Big Cattle Operation Worries Local Resident - by Larry Powell
(See update in newer post.)
A long-time resident of the Roblin area of western Manitoba, Ray Spencer, has asked the Manitoba Department of Water Stewardship to look into an intensive livestock operation north of the town, near Boggy Creek.
The cattle in question with Langen Lk. in b.g. Many are members of the local San Clara/Boggy Creek Metis community. The Lake itself was named for Pat Langen, who used to live nearby.
Spencer, an angler, hunting guide, retired farmer and former livestock specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, has talked to some of the people who fish there. And they are worried the waste from the cattle is polluting the lake. (r.) He says some even fear the lake, noted for its walleye, may even die in a few years as a result. 
Another Beasley herd in the area, but away from the lake.
Another Beasley herd in the area, but away from the lake. Hundreds of Black Angus cattle are wintering on several fields in the immediate area, including the herd near the lake.
Almost every square meter of the frozen fields (l.) is covered with raw, solid cattle waste.
Spencer believes there are about 12 hundred cattle there, altogether.
In his words, "What concerns me is the wintering of all these livestock next to a conservation lake. The raw manure could drain right in."
He says overflow from the lake drains into the Shell River, a main waterway in the area.
But the owner of the livestock, John Beasley, does not believe this is happening.
He says he'd like to see test results from the lake water before he will accept it is being polluted.
Beasley claims he's "not exactly sure," even roughly, how many cattle he has.
In any case, he believes it's not the actual numbers, but the way they are managed, that's relevant.
Beasley believes he does what he can to keep pollution to a minimum.
He says he's planted trees, put up a fence which keeps the cattle back from the lake and an "off-site" watering system,(r.) 200 meters back from the water. He says he also grows perennial forage crops to keep nutrient buildup to a minimum.
He wonders whether those who are concerned would rather see cerial crops in the area, where lots of chemicals would be sprayed.
He says he has talked to those who fish in the lake and no one has complained to him, directly.
He says he fishes in the lake himself and "takes the fishery seriously."
Meanwhile, Spencer says he has asked Water Stewardship to investigate and believes an inspector will be out any day now.
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UPDATE - The Department of Conservation (not Water Stewardship) dispatched a rookie "Environmental Officer," Dave Yunker, to the scene yesterday. (Mar.24th) All he would say is, "It may look bad" with all that manure on the hill, but he'll have to check with his boss to find out if any regulations have been broken.
(He did say that Beasley has registered a manure management plan for his operation.) Stay tuned! l.p.
(Photos by l.p.)
==========PLEASE ALSO READ; Lake of the Prairies - the New Lake Winnipeg? - by Larry Powell
Comments
I have not formally met you, however since you have expressed concern over the well being of Langan Lake and our land stewardship I guess I will introduce myself. My name is Kelsey Dawn Beasley. I just wish to let you know of my distress over your blog and newspaper article in the Roblin Review and the public humiliation my family and I have endured by the way you have went about expressing your opinion.
You are completely justified in your actions and I appreciate your concern over this water quality issue, beleive me it is a concern of ours as well as our family resides within a 1/2 mile of Langan Lake, draws our water from the aquifer around and regularily consume the fish from it. However I feel you have misrepresented our ranch, which happens to be our livelyhood and something I am very passionate about.
Society often gets misguided by opinions and prejudices rather than facts. Firstly, we are not an intensive livestock operation. We are a large scale, low density cattle ranch. We are stewards of the land and have a great responsibility developing an understanding of rangeland ecosystems and management principles necessary to support them. We consider our entire land base when making these decisions as our entire landbase is located within the Shell River watershed. We reduce off farm inputs and the environmental hazards associated with chemical application and the reliance on non-renewable resources while building organic matter back up in our soils.
Our goal is to raise animals in a safe, sustainable way while enhancing our landscape for future generations. We are a third generation ranch, and we have a great honour in looking after this land for our kids and grandkids.
Our cattle are not confined at any time, in any season. We have a year round grazing system that incorporates winter feeding on perennial pastures. Our winter feeding system is primarily bale grazing. We utilize this system to lower our costs of production, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and tractor hours, enhance our soil heatlh and enhance our watershed by reducing soil erosion and improving our range condition.
Our grazing system is a detailed and thoughtful process that we constantly monitor, reasses and make changes accordingly. By incorporating a deffered, rest-rotational system we have to change the sequence of use of our fields from year to year so that a given field is never grazed the same time two years in a row and each range site is given adequate rest in the growing season to recover.
A similar rotational system is also incorporated into our winter management. We rotate our winter feeding sites so we are wintering on a different area every year to recapture our biomass loss and nutrient depletion when it walks off our place via pounds of beef or hualed off as feed. This has some limitations such as access to water and shelter and we are constantly making improvements such as planting shelter belts, improving off site water systems and reducing direct access to waterways. Please understand that we are only human and addressing these issues as quickly as possible as they are of great importance to us.
I would invite you to provide positive input and solutions to your concerns over our management practices. I think it is only fair, if you have a better way of doing things I would love to know about it. Besides it will only help our community, which we are all part of.
Thanks
Kelsey Dawn
I welcome comments such as the one you submitted, above.
(Kelsey Dawn Beasley and her husband, John, own the ranch mentioned in the story.)
I am delighted to hear of the numerous and obviously sophisticated steps you take to make your operation safe, sustainable and successful.
I suspect other operations could learn things from you, in this regard.
Still, I'm not sure how the rangeland management techniques and grazing rotations you employ really speak to the issue at hand - the pasturing of so many cattle next to the lake!
One of your points I would like to speak to is that the article contained "opinions and prejudice" on my part, rather than fact.
I believe you are confused here. I WROTE the article. Period.
The "opinions' expressed in it came from Mr. Spencer and Mr. Beasley. This was a NEWS STORY, not an opinion piece with "both sides," I believe, having been given fair and equal treatment.
As near as I can make out, there was a single word in the story which might have appeared to express an opinion. That was my reference to your operation as "intensive."
If that was a tad "subjective" on my part, I would suggest your statement that it is not "intensive," is also subjective. And relative.
When I was a kid, my dad used to keep six or so cows and a couple of pigs at any one time.
While I'm not so naive as to suggest such an operation would be viable today, it is a long way from the thousands of head we are talking about here, is it not?
Even though you will not reveal exact numbers, an informed source suggests your herd could be as large as 3,000 to 4,000.
So the article was a news story, not an opinion piece as is being suggested here.
If you still feel I shouldn't have used the word "intensive," I'd invite you to REVEAL THE REAL NUMBERS and let the public decide for itself!
I do appreciate, Kelsey Dawn, your recognition that I was "completely justified in my actions."
But you really should be thanking Mr. Spencer, not me. He is the one who brought this matter to public attention. I was the messenger.
While you say you appreciate my concern over this water quality issue, you really should direct that to Mr. Spencer. He was the one who initiated this, not me.
You told me when I called you, that you believed I had notified the authorities. I DID NOT. Mr. Spencer did that. He does not deny it....and that fact is mentioned in the first sentence of the story.
For me to have done this would not have been a proper role for a journalist to play.
This is another reason I'm confused why you believe I was somehow a party to this matter, other than to report on it!
I am truly sorry if you feel hurt or humiliated by this article.
I am sure the contributions you and your family make to the community are significant and appreciated.
I guess I'd look at it this way. The cattle industry, as a whole, wields a lot of power and influence in our society.
I believe it can survive a bit of critical scrutiny, now and then.
Best regards,
Larry Powell