Church Ranch is a fifth generation family operation founded at Balzac, Alberta in 1900 by WJ and Annie Church. Their son Bert began a purebred Hereford herd in 1948, which has remained in continuous operation since. The ranch is currently operated by Gordon and Rosemary Church, their daughter Colleen and her husband Rob, their son Neal and his wife Joelle, along with Neal & Joelle’s three boys Hayden, Ethan and Avery.

​

The cowherd currently consists of 200 purebred Hereford cows and 300 Hereford cross commercial females. The Church family began consigning bulls to the Calgary Bull Sale in 1955, and also consigned bulls to the Lethbridge Bull Sale and more recently the Medicine Hat Bull Sale. In February 2024, we held our first Church Ranch Bull Sale at Balog Auction in Lethbridge and were incredibly grateful for the support shown by our long time repeat customers.

​

All of us in the Church family would like to thank the Alberta Hereford Association, not only for the honor of this award, but also for all of the work put in by the members and Board of Directors to advance the Hereford breed. The Hereford industry has provided us with the opportunity to meet many amazing people and develop life-long friendships with our fellow breeders and commercial customers.