Women in Cochrane and Rocky View County involved with Alberta’s agricultural industry will be receiving a special master-class lesson with the "Ladies Livestock Lesson" coming to town this weekend.
LLL is a Red-Bow Agricultural Partnership event that will be hosted on Jan. 19 at the Cochrane RancheHouse. In partnership with the Stockmen’s Memorial Foundation’s Bunkhouse Bonanza, a special event will take place on Jan. 20 that has already sold out.
Delaney McNaughton is an agricultural services officer with Rocky View County, member of the Red-Bow Agricultural Partnership (RBAP), Ladies Livestock Lessons member, and chair of Ranching Opportunities. She explained that RBAP consists of several municipal partners across central and southern Alberta, and resource partners in the same region.
“Some of those partners include Foothills Forage & Grazing Association, Grey Wooded Forage Association, Cows & Fish, Lakeland College, and Olds College,” McNaughton said. “The purpose of the partnership is to share resources, information, knowledge and facilitating networking opportunities for the benefit of sustainable agriculture within the rural communities in which they operate.”
LLL has been hosted by RBAP since 2007. The workshop is designed for women involved or interested in the profession of managing livestock.
“It was developed with the goals of encouraging and educating women in the business and to facilitate the opportunity to expand their professional network,” Naughton explained. “We offer hands on activities, classroom sessions and the opportunity for women to socialize and connect with other women in the industry.”
Naughton said interest in this year’s event is exceptionally high, which resulted in the event selling out.
“It is exciting that we will have a room full of female producers who are able to collaborate and discuss innovations together,” Naughton said. “Rocky View County has been a part of hosting LLL since 2007 and we are excited to bring it so close to home again.
“We are very fortunate to have facilities like the beautiful Cochrane RancheHouse available to us.”
Overall, Naughton said the LLL serves to support producers in making impactful management changes by giving access to expertise, funding opportunities, and a network of other producers in the region.
“The ongoing conversation around sustainability, environmental impacts, growing pressure around food scarcity, and resiliency of the agriculture industry in Alberta is a main driver in the continued need for municipalities to partner and offer such events,” Naughton said.
