The mandate of the Stockmen's Memorial Foundation is to commemorate and honour the history of the livestock industry.
On Thursday, February 20, they will be doing just this as the award-winning short documentary film Guardians of the Grasslands will have two showings followed by a panel discussion.
The film - which came to be last fall - details the Great Plains grasslands, the endangerment the ecosystem faces and the significant role cattle play in sustaining its survival.
"It will describe the history of the Waldron, but it will also describe a less heard view that cattle are helpful to the environment because they are the keystone species that help preserve and regenerate and improve the soil and the grasses over time mimicking what the buffalo did before Europeans arrived," explains Scott Grattidge, executive director with Stockmen's Memorial Foundation.
Following each viewing, a panel discussion will take place consisting of Mike Roberts, manager of the Waldron, Clay Chattaway, longtime director and past chairman of the Waldron Board of Directors, Bill Bateman, past owner of the King Brothers Ranch and Doug Wray, current Waldron shareholder, rancher and forage advocate.
The panel will touch on the origins of the Waldron Grazing Co-op and how it came to be as well as how it has evolved since it was first thought up. They will also explain how imperative it is to have cattle along the eastern slopes of the Rockies to maintain and manage the ecosystem.
The other side to the coin, sure to come up in discussion, is the theory that we should all be eating no animal products.
"A lot of this land would not be suited for crop farming. There is some down sides to crop farming as well such as planting a monoculture and using pesticides and herbicides and plowing up the lands," said Grattidge.
Also in attendace will be Annabelle Ward, a 4H member from Cremona issuing a speech outlining the benefits cows have on the environment.
The first screening will be at 10 a.m. with the second to follow at 1:30 p.m. Those interested in an informative presentation are welcome. Entry is by donation at Stockmen's Memorial Foundation located in the Cochrane RancheHouse.
