Rancher David Zirnhelt is the new Cariboo Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) president.
“I became president while I was in Mexico,” he said chuckling, before he explained he was asked by the president if he would be willing to take on the role and submitted a letter indicating he would for the board to consider.
A director-at-large for several years, Zirnhelt said it was an honour to be asked and he is quite excited.
“It will keep me up to speed on water, fire, economics and climate issues.”
Crawling out of COVID and starting to get to know one another and meet with each other has been difficult, he added.
“You can’t have a viable succession plan if you are only dealing with people remotely.”
Not everyone is capable to meet via Internet platforms, but he is hopeful more of the cattlemen’s association members will be in the future.
One of the first challenges for the new board will be looking at membership and seeing if they need to have different kinds of memberships for smaller operators or hobby operators.
“There is strength in numbers, but our traditional role has changed,” he said, noting they used to be the group that people consulted with about land tenures on range, about range matters and new licensing, that sort of thing.”
That is no longer the case because there are so many more things government does that affect us.”
“I said, taking on the presidency, with the respect to the opportunities we have, that we have to share the leadership and to do that we need to know what our organization is about.”
Last fall, the CCA applied for grant funding to hire two part-time positions to help the association develop its capacity for communications and inclusive governance, recruit members from recent ranch land purchasers, including First Nations and existing ranch non-members.
Disappointed they were not successful, Zirnhelt said there were two studies they want to do.
One is in-depth about soil, based on samples ranchers are taking in order to fine tune recommendations for managing crops, rotation of crops and managing of hay and forage.
The other is an economic study based on census data to look at the profitability of operations to see which ones are in the long-term.
“The cost of production studies we’ve had done in Canada might have half a dozen ranches or certainly less than a dozen in B.C. and there are many kinds of ranches in B.C.”
Through the two studies, the CCA wants to be able to tell the region’s story for themselves, to newcomers in the business and would-be investors.
To build capacity, the CCA needs part-time staff at least for two years, he said.
“The workload is such that you cannot just leave it to a couple of volunteers.”
Presently, there is a very-much part-time secretary and administration.
“This has been a challenge, because if we just say, ‘no it’s not a profitable business,’ then what are the young people going to do? They are going to go elsewhere and this is becoming epidemic in farming where retiring generation is not providing a smooth path toward succession of their farm or ranch.”
Many have, many have not, he added.
He was asked to stay on the association as an older mentor director to help young people get ready to take on roles.
”I have a couple of people to work with including vice-president Lisa Holm, who ranches at Big Lake, and second vice-president Jordan Greer from the Chilco Ranch.”
He said both are very interested, but are newer to directorship so there is a lot to learn from how to handle government, neighbours and fellow ranchers.
“There are ways to protest if you don’t like something, but above all you have to be prepared to put your position forth, very forcefully.”
Zirnhelt wants to open the door for dialogue with First Nations, which is part of the strategic plan developed in 2019 that has guided the board ever since.
Some members of the association have talked about erecting a billboard that would say, welcome to open range country, you will see livestock, be careful.
“It would be putting a positive step forward.”
Zirnelt is also a regular columnist for Black Press Media.
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