Explore the roots of Alberta ranching at a national historic site geared to learning adventures, while living the cowboy life on an award-winning, ‘green friendly’ ranch. Discover how to mix work, play and education with a ranch holiday.

Shaunere Lane knew when she was a girl in San Antonio, Texas that she wanted to tend to cattle on a ranch. She’s living her dream with husband Brian and their young family in Canadian ranch country. They host families, couples and single people seeking adventure at their working ranch at Claresholm in Alberta’s Porcupine Hills, two hours south of Calgary.

The ranch is just 45 minutes away from the Bar U Ranch, a Canadian national historic site that is a gateway into the history of ranching in Western Canada. This is an opportunity for guests to live in the moment while working and playing at a real ranch, and then stroll back in time at a major ranching attraction.

You can take a look at Alberta travel packages and read on to learn about Brown Creek Ranch and the Bar U.

Cowhand’s Week at Brown Creek Ranch

The Cowhand’s Week is a favourite vacation at Brown Creek Ranch. You spend six nights and seven days at the working cattle ranch “doing things the old West ways,” says Shaunere. You’re at a family operated cattle ranch that only takes one family or couple or person at a time, so your experience is very much tailored to you.

You can expect to do cattle work, which is moving cattle from one pasture or area to another. And if you’re looking to get in touch with your inner veterinarian, you’re in the right place. “You could help with doctoring if an animal needs to be treated,” says Shaunere.

Guests get to see the calves from that year that are growing alongside their mothers, and there is an abundance of wildlife -- deer and elk and wild birds in the area – that you might see while on horseback or on a hike. You can ride in the scenic Porcupine Hills that surround the ranch.

Get the Green Perspective

“We can show someone from another country from our lives as ranchers,” says Shaunere. “We care about the land and we are stewards of the land and the animals. It’s important to see that animals are raised in a clean and healthy environment.  If everyone cares about their little corner of the world, it makes the world a better place.”

The Lanes have won the Alberta Environmental Stewardship Award and the National Environmental Stewardship Award. The awards are based on caring for the land that you ranch, including pasture and water management.

Relax by the Creek

You’ll stay in a private guest home right at Brown Creek, “so if you open your windows at night you can hear the creek burbling,” says Shaunere. “Many of our guests like to kick back with a good book or catch up with some journaling.”

The meals are held in the main house. It’s all home made, from the bread to the pies, along with and home-raised Alberta beef. Expect a lot of steaks and roasts and the joys of barbequing in the summer.

Enjoy Shopping, Cowboy Style

Guests can wander the Frontier Western Store in Claresholm for western clothing and tack. “People can pick up mementos but if they have their own horses and they come from a ways away, they might be able to find that special something here,” says Shaunere. There are also antique stores to explore in nearby Nanton.

Visit Bar U Ranch

The Bar U Ranch National Historic Site in nearby Longview (about 45-minutes northeast of Brown Creek Ranch) “really offers a lot of history on how people came and settled the land,” says Shaunere.

The Bar U helped to shape ranching in Canada for many cattlemen. Open range ranching didn’t involve much infrastructure, so there were few buildings at the site in the beginning. But as most large ranches in the 1880s have gone the way of the dinosaur, the Bar U survives.

You can enjoy cowboy poetry and music events at the Bar U, along with ranch horse competitions, rodeos, First Nations days, and more during the summer. There is also John Ware day, featuring the life of legendary Alberta cowboy John Ware.

Ware was an American who began his life as a South Carolina slave. He rose to fame as an expert Bar U cattleman and rider when hiring on to help drive a starter herd of shorthorns up from Idaho.