Cor Van Raay Leaves Strong Legacy

Aug 04, 2021

The agriculture sector is mourning the loss of a prominent player.

Cor Van Raay lived in the Lethbridge area, but was known across the Prairies.

He passed away on Thursday, July 29th at the age of 85 and is being remembered as a prominent cattle and grain farmer, entrepreneur and philanthropist.

According to his obituary, he started his farming career in Alberta growing beets, and would later add barley, potatoes, and wheat to his crops. In time, he bought land and cattle, and developed large feedlots, and honed his marketing skills. In later years, he successfully extended his farming enterprises into West Central Saskatchewan.

He received many honors including the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal, induction into the Alberta Hall of Fame, Picture Butte's Citizen of the Year award, and an Honorary Doctor of Law from the University of Lethbridge.

He will be remembered with a funeral mass Thursday at 11 am at St. Martha's Catholic Parish at Lethbridge.

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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.