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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • JULY 2017
Fraser Lake ranchers honoured for excellence
Janice and Trevor Tapp of Copper-T Ranch in
Fraser Lake were joined by award sponsors after receiving the BC
Cattlemen’s Association 2017 Ranch
Sustainability Award during the BCCA AGM in Kamloops, May 26. DAVID SCHMIDT PHOTO
Water a key focus of
stewardship practices
by DAVID SCHMIDT KAMLOOPS – When the
RCMP transferred Trevor Tapp to Fraser Lake, he decided to make the move permanent. Tapp bought a ranch when
he retired and after starting with a Christmas gift of two heifers, he and his wife Janice have expanded Copper-T Ranch to 1,000 deeded and 200 leased acres located around the Stern and Perry Creeks which flow into Fraser Lake. The lake supplies water for the 80 purebred Hereford cow-calf pairs that call the ranch home, and a multitude of wildlife. In 2005, the Tapps completed an Environmental Farm Plan, updating it in 2015. They are focused on excellence, enrolling in the Verified Beef Plus Program and achieving five-star status in the Canadian Hereford Association’s Total Herd Excellence program. At the BC Cattlemen’s
Association annual meeting in Kamloops, May 26, they earned their most recent accolade, receiving the 2017 Ranch Sustainability Award. The award was renamed this year after being established as the BCCA Environmental Stewardship Award in 1995. In presenting the award,
BCCA communications manager Holly Jackson noted the Tapps are fully committed to water quality. They keep all their cattle out of water sources and don’t fertilize fields next to the lake to avoid potential leaching. They practice rotational grazing of both their tame and bush pastures and use energy-free waterers.
Not only is the sustainability of the land and its environment important to the Tapps but so is the sustainability of the ranch. Since they have no children of their own, they recently brought Bill Lloyd and Janice Richardson and their daughter, Jessie, onto the ranch with the intent of passing it on to them in future.
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