Alberta 4-H club supports local hospital

May 23, 2018

Proceeds from a cattle sale will benefit the High River Hospital’s maternity ward

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

An Alberta 4-H club donated the proceeds from a cattle sale to help a local hospital improve its maternity care.

Between private donations and the sale of a 1,225-pound steer, the Longview 4-H Beef Club raised $42,700 for the High River District Health Care Foundation. The High River Hospital will use the funding for maternity ward renovations.

That feeling may be because the department holds a special place in members’ hearts, said Cathy Couey, fund development and communications officer for the foundation.

A number of community members have been born at the High River Hospital, she said.

Longview 4-H has donated proceeds from cattle sales to the local hospital for the past six years.

L to R: Cathy Couey, May and John Lockhart, Club Leader Stephen Hughes, and 4-H member Cole Cartwright with the donation steer.
Photo: HighRiverOnline

In total, the club has donated over $200,000 to the hospital. Some donations helped High River Hospital purchase Panda Warmers last year, which are used for weighing and resuscitating newborns.

And members recently heard about their donations hard at work, Couey said.

“Just a few days before the (May 21) sale, there was a story on Twitter about an original Longview 4-H beef club member delivering a baby and needing that warmer,” she said. “The members felt pretty good knowing the donations were making a real difference.”

Local producers are also part of the equation.

May and John Lockhart from High River, Alta. raised and processed the steer on behalf of the beef club and have been doing so for six consecutive years.

The ranchers continue to find ways to give back to the community, said Stephen Hughes, Longview 4-H Beef Club leader.

“They’ve been long-term supporters of this project,” he told Farms.com today. “I know that they donated the meat back to the hospital, so it’s a story that has many positive aspects to it.”

Projects like these are a good way to bring communities together, Hughes and Couey said.

“Hospitals are certainly important to any rural community,” Hughes said. “A lot of people in the community get involved on this project and it’s just a tremendous feeling.”

“It’s great that the young people in the 4-H club are so involved in the community,” Couey said. “They’re tomorrow’s community leaders and an impressive group of young people. It’s fantastic that this club is so committed to teaching young people about giving back.”

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.