A Grey County farmer is the winner of the Ontario Pasture Award.
It's sponsored by the Beef Farmers of Ontario, Mapleseed and the Ontario Forage Council.
Kevin Aitken of Maple-Dale Farms from the Holstein area is the winner. The award was presented at the BFO Annual General Meeting in Toronto.
For his environmental improvements and pasture management, Aitken will receive a cash award of $500 and a bag of forage seed courtesy of Mapleseed.
Maple-Dale Farms consists of 240 owned acres, 200 of which are in pasture, along with an additional 35 acres of rented land. Aitken runs a purebred Hereford operation with 97 cow-calf pairs and 15 Holstein dry cows on pasture, including those that are owned and also some that are custom grazed during the summer months.
In 2009, Aitken made the decision to seed all of his un-pastured land into a permanent pasture. Since then, 5,000 feet of waterline have been installed to provide fresh water to each paddock for a convenient water supply at all times.
The deadline for applications for the 2017 Ontario Pasture Award is November 30.
