I got tired of going out to the bush every winter. For the past 13 years Basnett has slowly built his cattle herd. Four years ago he felt secure with his cattle and seven quarters of land to farm full time. I always wanted cattle. The farm is an ideal location, he said.
Land is cheap and grass is plentiful.
It's pretty good cattle country, but it's iffy grain country. He said early frost and heavy clay gumbo can create havoc with crops. The family still has 500 acres of unharvested oats and barley sitting in the field because of a wet fall. Too much rain is really bad for us. The land may be ideal cattle country, but its remoteness creates problems when marketing his purebred cattle.