BOYLE — Active farm family with agricultural as the main source of income. Check. Maintain a high standard. Check. Promote agricultural and be proactive in new agriculture technologies. Check and check.
When looking for a farming family to nominate for a Farm Family Award, it wasn’t difficult for the Athabasca County Agricultural Services Board to check off all the boxes and nominate the mixed farming operation of brothers Ellwood and Fred Splane of Boyle, who remain humble and declined to be interviewed, but accepted the recognition at a ceremony in Edmonton Nov. 11.
The Splane farm began when father Erwin and his brother moved from the city and took a homestead in the Meanook area which turned out to be poor land, so he rented for a time until 1939 when he paid $1,100 for the home quarter and one other piece of land from the Municipal District of Cartier, now Athabasca County.
Ellwood and Fred grew up with four other siblings on the farm, and they caught the farming bug early on, passing it on to a third and fourth generation with David and Stephanie Splane, and Scott and Jill Splane.
The family has always been active in the community, church and through 4-H with Ellwood attending Vermillion Agricultural School to improve his farming skills and learn to weld. Scott also attended the same school.
As their father partially retired and became less active in farming life, Ellwood and Fred took on more responsibility and work, and now the next generations of Splanes are repeating the same cycle.
The women have been instrumental as well having gardens, helping with cattle and other chores. Fran would care for the children while Doris did fieldwork and together the women cared for their father, and mother-in-law, as well as a disabled son keeping every generation together on the farm for as long as possible.
Their farming operation includes 10 quarter sections of pastureland, 570 acres of hay land, 250 acres for silage, while other crops fill 3,500 acres, and a cow-calf herd of 350 head.
As part of their modern farming practices, they have four grain bin yards, two with grain dryers, one using natural gas and the other propane. They seed their grass seed with a heavy harrow Valmar seeder and maintain a full complement of equipment so they can both pit and bale silage which they bale using net wrap, the same with the hay.
For conservation they do zero tillage and rotate crops and pastures and of course they attend as many courses, conferences, and workshops as possible with David and Stephanie recently attending a grazing workshop.
And this award comes 50 years after their father won it in 1972 as a pioneer farmer with limited experience.
“The family is very proud of them,” said Doris, who received her own provincial centennial honour in 2005.
