Breton-area farmer Shelby Blosky has been appointed as a board member to an association that is committed to promoting sustainable forage and livestock management practices in central Alberta.
The Grey Wooded Forage Association (GWFA) announced the appointment of its new chair and two new board members on July 20. GWFA currently has 11 board members.
Blosky and her husband run Double S Ranch Cattle Co. near Breton, Alta. and focus on direct marketing their naturally-raised farm products including bison, grass-fed beef, pastured chickens and eggs.
Although Blosky doesn’t come from an agricultural upbringing, she says she knew from an early age that she wanted to farm.
Today, as first-generation farmers, the Bloskys have faced many challenges and some learned hard-won lessons she wants to pass on.
“My vision for Grey Wooded Forage Association is to educate, inspire and involve the new generation of aspiring farmers and ranchers whether they are first generation or multi- generation,” said Blosky in a press release.
“We need to share our collective knowledge, promoting the regenerative narrative, so they can see there is ‘another way’ other than conventional farming.”
The second new board member, Brianna Gratton, is a techgronomist at Olds College’s Technology Access Centre for Livestock Production.
The chair of the board is Abby-Ann Redman. She works at Blue Rock Animal Nutrition as a ruminant nutritionist and recently became a producer of Icelandic sheep.
The GWFA was founded in 1984 by a small group of local producers who were interested in economical and environmentally-sustainable grazing and forage production.
Today, the association strives to be a leader in bringing proven industry information into practice on farms, serving members in the County of Wetaskiwin, Ponoka County, Lacombe County, Red Deer County, Clearwater County and Mountain View County.
