Working ranch donated to vet school

C A L G A R Y • A father and daughter with a passion for the beef industry have donated an entire working ranch — land, buildings, a 1,000-head herd of cattle and all — to the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

In terms of monetary value, W.A. Ranches — located northeast of Cochrane and valued at $44 million — is the largest gift of a ranch that has ever been made to a North American university. At 19,000 acres, it represents the biggest gift of ranch property in terms of sheer size in Canadian university history.

“This is a transformational donation,” said University of Calgary president Elizabeth Cannon. “This provides a platform which is unique in Canada, if not in North America, and really will propel our faculty of veterinary medicine to the global stage.”

The donation was made by businessman and philanthropist J.C. (Jack) Anderson, 90, and his daughter Wynne Chisholm, 61. The pair have operated W.A. Ranches since 2005, when Anderson — then 77 — decided to get back into the cattle industry after giving it up decades before to focus on his oil and gas interests.

W.A. Ranches has long had a close relationship with the U of C’s veterinary medicine program, opening up its gates to practicum students seeking firsthand experience with cattle as well as donating $5 million to the university in 2014 to establish the Anderson-Chisholm Chair in Animal Care and Welfare.

“There are only three grandkids in our family and all have chosen careers outside of agriculture. So we were looking at what our next steps were and what we might do,” Chisholm said.

“We just thought it was an area the university was missing.”

The family requested that their five full-time employees be able to keep their jobs when the ranch changes hands in November. While the family will no longer have a direct role in the ranch’s management or operation, Chisholm said their deep love for the land and the cattle means they aren’t willing to step back entirely.

“It was important to us that we would still be allowed to come onto the ranch, particularly at calving time, and see the animals,” she said.

“My dad will probably still want to do a drivearound weekly like he does now, to be able to see what’s happening.”