Grazing With a Plan

Friday, October 30, 2026

How the English Ranch is rebuilding its pastures

By Mary Loggan

For Connor English, better grazing starts with giving grass time to recover.

That principle guides English Ranching, his family’s cattle operation near Rivers and Bradwardine, Man.

The ranch’s efforts to improve forage management, protect water quality, and build soil health have earned recognition beyond the farm gate. Connor, his wife Kyla, and his parents, Brian and Leanne English, received the Manitoba Beef Producers’ 2026 Manitoba Environmental Stewardship Award and are now finalists for the Canadian Cattle Association’s Environmental Stewardship Award.

The Englishes manage about 320 breeding cows on roughly 1,100 acres of owned and rented pasture and forage land.

Connor and Kyla operate a separate business from the same yard as Brian and Leanne, while working together on grazing and forage management.

“I think the economic sustainability as well as the ecological side of things go hand in hand,” Connor says.

“My goal is just to look at economic and ecological functions and how they can work together to put us in a better space for tomorrow and the next generation down the road.”

Farm beginnings

English’s connection to the ranch runs deep. His family homesteaded near Bradwardine in 1898.

Through the years, the operation included dairy cattle, poultry and grain before transitioning to beef cattle.

“My grandparents had a dairy, well before my time, and cash-cropped; lots of poultry as well. Then they transitioned more into grain through the ’90s.”

Livestock gradually became the main enterprise.

“My dad bought his first cows right before BSE hit,” he says. “He wasn’t full-fledged into it at that time. We have transitioned now to be completely livestock on the ranch.”

The herd is largely Black Angus, with some Hereford and Simmental influence.

The business focuses more on buying breeding stock that can add value within his grazing system.

“I look to bring in cattle that are undervalued and add value to them in some way,” he explains.

“I have been mostly using breeding stock, whether it be late-bred cows or young open cows, and finding a home to utilize them in a different system.”

English returned to the ranch in 2022 after obtaining his Animal Science Technology Diploma from Lakeland College.

Before coming home, he worked for Ryan Boyd and his family north of Brandon, where intensive grazing became a major influence.

“That’s probably where my interest and love for grazing and cattle really grew.

“They ran a very intensive grazing operation and a mixed farm with cash cropping as well. I learned a pile when

I was there and was able to bring that home with me.”

One of the first major changes after his return was moving more cropland into perennial forage.

About 95 per cent of the ranch’s land base is now in perennial forage, compared with about 45 per cent a decade ago.

“We started to make some significant changes at home that year, and probably the biggest one was seeding down perennial forages on cropland.”

Innovations

The English operation uses a rotational grazing system that keeps cattle concentrated on a limited area before moving them to fresh pasture. The approach gives grazed paddocks time to rest and regrow.

“At any given time, we are on about five per cent or less of our acres,” English says.

“The cattle are really on a small percentage of our land base, and that allows nature and the ecosystem to thrive within it.”

Grazing decisions vary with the cattle and conditions. Cow-calf pairs and yearlings move more often during the summer, while spring-calving cattle may have access to larger areas for longer.

The goal is to manage forage recovery rather than follow a rigid schedule.

“Whether it be a wet year or a dry year, we are having adequate rest and recovery across the ranch.

“That equates to, hopefully, lots of grass moving forward in the future.”

The ranch also stockpiles forage on about 30 per cent of its acres annually. Those acres can be grazed later or held in reserve, adding flexibility during dry periods or for winter feeding.

Water development has made the grazing system possible.

The operation pumps water from dugouts through underground pipelines to troughs in individual paddocks, allowing cattle to graze areas that were previously too far from water.

“Our water system is probably one of the major features that allows us to do some things differently than we could before.

“Getting water out onto some of the areas on our ranch was not possible before, and that really limited the amount of impact we could have on some acres for grazing.”

Reliable water also supports cattle health and performance.

“If cows are having to walk a mile in the middle of the summer to get water, we are just not going to get the effects on the pasture.

“The health of the animals and gains are not going to be anywhere where we need them to be.”

The ranch has fenced cattle out of the three creeks that cross the property and provides water through pasture troughs. Its grazing strategy includes actively grazed paddocks, buffer areas and stockpiled forage, supporting recovery and helping protect riparian areas.

An alleyway system connects the ranch, allowing cattle to move efficiently between pasture areas.

Temporary fencing allows English to adjust paddock size and grazing duration without building a permanent fence for every rotation.

“We have tried to develop an alleyway system that connects the entire ranch so we can move cows from one end to the other seamlessly. One person is definitely able to do that.”

Challenges

The system has been built step by step. The combined herd has grown, increasing demand for water, fencing, and winter-feeding options.

“Growth in the number of cows we are running was a very big change in just understanding quantities, especially on the water side of things,” he explains.

“It happened pretty quickly, but developing a system that could pump a lot of water in a short period of time was a big one.”

Winter water is still a challenge. The area is difficult for well drilling, and multiple test holes last year yielded only one limited water source.

“We had a guy out last summer, and I think we did half a dozen or more test holes and found absolutely nothing.

“On one quarter, we found five gallons a minute at 20 feet. That was all we could find.”

The ranch has developed shallow wells where possible, creating water access on land that previously could not be used for winter feeding. That has expanded options for bale grazing, silage feeding, corn grazing and swath grazing.

“We developed a couple of shallow well projects that have helped get water sites out onto some land that would not have had the opportunity to winter- feed cows in the past.

“That has really opened up a lot of opportunities for our winter-feeding program.”

The transition from crops to perennial forage has also required sustained investment.

Each new forage field needs fencing, water access and practical cattle routes before it fits into the wider rotation.

“It is a project to get everything tied together, and there are growing pains when you do not have fencing set up correctly or as you want it for the first couple of years.”

Looking ahead

English views the stewardship award as confirmation that the ranch is heading in the right direction.

He plans to keep adapting the system to weather, markets and the needs of the operation.

“I think we have always got to be evolving and trying to find what is best for your operation, your ranch, and what allows you to do what you want to do.”

He encourages ranchers interested in rotational grazing to learn from other producers, but not to copy a system without understanding whether it fits their own land, cattle and goals.

“I would definitely seek as much mentorship as possible,” he suggests.

“If you get into a situation and things are not working for you, there is a pretty good chance there are a dozen or 20 producers who are going through the same thing or have seen it before.”

For English, the long-term objective is clear: make decisions that strengthen both the ranch business and the landscape it depends on.

“When you know what you want to do and you have a plan to go and do it, it’s going to go a lot smoother.” BF