A Taber, Alberta area feedlot operation has been named a co-recipient of the Alltech Canada Planet of Plenty Award.

Shipwheel Cattle Feeders’ Andrea Stroeve-Sawa says all of their management decisions are made through the lens of their holistic goal.

“We’ve been involved with holistic management since I was born. My Dad took one of the first courses from Allan Savory in the early 80s, and I was there. I was only six months old, so I tell everybody I learned holistic management through osmosis because I was just there,” Stroeve-Sawa said.

Stroeve-Sawa says they have a holistic goal in everything they do.

“Part of a holistic goal is you have a vision of what your future resource base is to look like, and then everything that you are going to add in needs to align with your holistic goal.”

REGISTER: Alltech ONE Ideas Conference

On top of feeding cattle, Stroeve-Sawa says they have found many ways to diversify including a cow-calf operation on top of other initiatives.

“We do multiple different types of compost, and we have a bunch of little other. What should I say enterprises that we’re adding, so we added pasture chickens last year, we added vermicomposting last year, fungal compost, and an orchard last year and we added pollinators the year before.”

Alltech’s Beef Account Manager for Alberta, Vicky Horn, says what makes Shipwheel jump off the page is that it is a place of constant learning.

“She always brings new ideas, whether it’s looking at new ways to build soil carbon or exploring the microbiome of the soil, or is there are new ways we can improve animal health or handling,” Horn said.

READ MORE: Alltech ONE Ideas Conference to be virtual for second straight year

Horn adds Stroeve-Sawa has really been a thought leader in the industry.

“Not only is she constantly exploring and curious, but she’s engaging her staff in those, and then she’s seeking out those researchers and those mentors to come on and actually gather that data and put those numbers together.”

The other Canadian recipient is Lyn, Ontario-based Burnbrae Farms.

Alltech President and CEO Dr. Mark Lyons also praised the Canadian farms.

“It is our privilege to honour Burnbrae Farms and Shipwheel Cattle Feeders as role models in sustainable agriculture,” Lyons said.

Alltech created the Planet of Plenty Awards to reward those who are furthering a world of abundance through nutritional and digital technologies, innovation, and sustainable management practices in the agri-food sector.

“The Alltech ONE Ideas Conference will be held virtually June 22 – 24. To register, click here.

Margaret Hudson, CEO and president of Burnbrae Farms, and Andrea Stroeve-Sawa, manager of Shipwheel Cattle Feeders, will be speaking during the Awarding Sustainability workshop during the conference.