Heather Wright/The Independent

The St. Clair Region Conservation Authority and local cattlemen have reached an agreement for 187 acres of land to create a community pasture.

About 30 members of the Lambton Cattlemens’ Association expressed an interest in the idea of a large pasture area managed by an association with a feed per head of cattle.

There are 11 community pastures in Ontario. Last year, the Beef Farmers of Ontario reached out to conservation authorities across the province to see if there is land available that could be developed into pasture land.

St. Clair Region Conservation Authority responded saying it had available land in southern St. Clair Township, formerly Sombra Township.

The parcel is part of the McKeough upstream land on the McKeough floodway, 12 kilometres north of Wallaceburg. The cattlemen initially talked about using up to 600 acres of space.

The conservation authority has rented its vacant land in the past, but normally it is to farmers to grow cash crops. The community pasture is a first and required the conservation authority to take a close look at some of the issues which might come up.

June 26, the conservation authority approved an agreement with the Cattlemen for 187 acres for a five-year lease which will be automatically renewed for another five years.

The association will pay $125 per acre rental of the land. And it will erect about 11 km of five-strand wire perimeter fencing for about $170,000. If the cattlemens’ association ends the project, the conservation authority will own the fencing.

“Much of this agricultural land is identified as fragile land, meaning it is prone to erosion due to the physical features such as steeply sloped or poorly drained land and floodplains. Rather than pursuing permanent retirement of these lands, conversion to pasture provides an opportunity to better achieve a balance between revenue and environmental sustainability,” writes Kelli Smith, the authority’s land specialist.

Brooke-Alvinston Councillor Don McCabe, who is a member of the conservation authority, calls the community pasture plan “pioneering.

“You’ll definitely see the improvements of those soils in moving this to a pasture-based agrology versus the cash cropping that we’ve once done,” McCabe said.

“If it’s not going to grow anything, it might as well be grass and the animals will do the best job of maintaining it.”

Chad Anderson is a member of the Lambton Cattlemens’ Association and has been working on the project. He’s pleased the project is moving forward with the approval of the land. And he says the cattlemens’ association is working to secure financing and planning for the pastureland.

“We’ve got sponsorship money through the Lambton Cattlemen– we approved that this week. $15,000 and we also were able to obtain an interest-free loan from the Beef Farmers for $100,000 for our startup costs,” Anderson said. 

Anderson says it will cost over $200,000 in capital costs to prepare the land, including the cost of the fencing, a water system and to seed acres.

“After the wheat harvest, we can start getting the land ready for pasture. We’re not going to graze anything until 2027,” he said noting some of the area needs to be seeded and that would happen in 2026.  

“We’ve decided we’re going to sell hay in 2026 and then start grazing in 2027,” Anderson said. 

He hopes to be selling memberships into the community pasture soon to help generate more revenue to cover the $200,000 start-up costs.

“It’s an investment in the future. We intend for the community pasture to be around a long, long time,” says Anderson.