34 Story Idea? Email Paul.Nolan@Farms.com Better Farming | January 2024 Jessica Radau is helping to develop the next generation of leaders in the beef industry, while also being a young primary producer herself. Jessica has worked full-time at the Canadian Cattle Association as its youth leadership coordinator since 2020. Outside of her off-farm career, Jessica farms with her husband and his family at Coulee Crest Farms near Bowden, Alta. The Radau family raises about 200 commercial cows and 200 purebred Herefords. They also do some grain farming: They grow barley, wheat, canola, peas, silage and hay. Jessica and her husband Luke are the fourth generation on the farm. They work alongside Luke’s parents and with the help of his 94-year-old grandfather and a student from Olds College. “The farm started in 1927. It’s coming up to its 100th anniversary,” says Jessica. “My husband’s great grandpa bought purebred Herefords in 1944, and they’ve been raising them ever since.” The farm has a bred heifer sale every December and sells their bulls as yearlings and two-year-olds by private treaty each spring. They calve the purebred herd in March and April and the commercial cows in May. “We have a genetic program of breeding Herefords to Red Angus bulls to get a F1 cross, and then those are bred to Charolais for a terminal cross of those nice tan calves,” explains Jessica, noting the hybrid vigour that contributes to calf performance in the terminal cross. Sustainability is another driving force in the family’s farming practices. “In 2019, the farm was named the Alberta Environmental Stewardship Award winner. There’s a spruce coulee that runs through the farm that is deemed an environmentally significant area by Red Deer County,” explains Jessica. “It’s a really special spot on the farm and we take a lot of pride in being environmental stewards and using our practices to work in harmony with nature.” Coulee Crest Farms has been working to implement other sustainable practices like cross fencing for rotational grazing and installing solar waterers. Jessica has been involved in agriculture her whole life, starting on her own family’s farm. “I grew up on a grain and commercial cow-calf operation just south of High River, Alta., and I went through 4-H and really enjoyed that.” Jessica was in a variety of 4-H clubs including horse, beef, business and canine clubs. “After high school, I went to Lethbridge College and went through a business administration program in marketing where I met my husband, who was taking the agriculture sciences program.” After college Jessica worked on her own family farm while starting her industry career. “My parents ran the farm like a business but also a lifestyle. Because they ran it like the complicated business it is, we were able to have optimistic conversations about agriculture in general.” Her lifelong involvement in agriculture and her upbringing on her family Jessica and husband Luke Radau. Jessica Radau photo BUILDING A STRONG NEXT-GENERATION ‘I think that we are going to see a lot more young people involved in industry conversations.’ By Emily Croft UP CLOSE
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