Agri Leader

OB Colony – Marwayne, AB
Many Enterprises at OB Colony
Beef Feedlot and
Dairy are Featured
OB Colony was established in 1957 as a division
of Thompson Colony, Fort MacLeod. They are located
near Marwayne, AB, only 30 minutes northwest
of the City of Lloydminster. The interesting
name, OB, is derived from Mr O’Brian, a Texan,
from whom the first 3000 acres were purchased
in 1954.
Sam Hofer, who manages the carpentry shop
and all construction (and there has been a lot of
building recently), describes the farming operations.
“Today OB Colony owns 9800 acres with
about 8600ac seeded in crops – 3000 in wheat,
3000 canola, 700 peas, 1750 in barley (both grain
and silage), 70 to 80 in potatoes and 160 in silage
corn. The corn and potatoes are irrigated but the balance
is dryland farming. The rest of the land is pasture
with a generous amount of lakes and marshes.”
The potatoes supply the Cold Lake, AB air-force base
and are also sold to local grocery stores.
“The Colony’s two crop sprayers led naturally to custom
spraying in the region, now up to about 20,000 acres
total spring and fall. However, the labour requirement
for this operation is high and custom spraying may be
reduced.”
The operations traditionally were beef – a cow/calf
herd of 500 cows, all pure bred Hereford, and a feedlot
with 1400 capacity (the feedlot and the 160 lactating
cow dairy enterprise are featured later). The beef cow
herd was sold about six years ago. “An unfortunate decision
with today’s beef prices,” states Sam. “Diversification
is essential as rarely can we predict the future
accurately.”
(right) Sam Hofer and Robert Kassian, Hi-Pro Colony Sales Manager.
The fine wolf skin on the wall was hunted and tanned by Sam.
Below, the OB Colony at Marwayne, AB
Other livestock include a flock of 110 ewes where
the Colony made major feeding changes recently. Sam
explains, “We went to complete feed starting with Hi-
Pro’s 18% Lamb Creep right through the grower and
finisher stage instead of our on-farm mixing. Lambs
achieved market weight a month earlier! Also, we have
seen many fewer problems since we used the Hi-Pro 1
to 1 Mineral. Foot rot was an issue on our alkaline soils
but it is gone.”
“…rarely can we predict
the future accurately.”
The Colony’s poultry enterprises were dealt a serious
blow when a Salmonella out-break spread through
the central and northern region of Alberta in February
2015. It affected many producers, including six Colonies.
AGRI LEADER » 2016
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