OH Ranch in Alberta: History, What It Raises, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
OH Ranch is a historic working ranch on the Highwood River west of Longview, Alberta, founded in 1883 and one of the province's best-known brands. It holds heritage rangeland status for its native fescue grassland, won the Alberta Beef Producers Environmental Stewardship Award in 2009, and was donated in 2012 to the Calgary Stampede Foundation. Few Alberta ranches combine this much history with documented conservation.
| Location | On the Highwood River, west of Longview, Alberta |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1883 (OH brand first registered 1881) |
| Sectors | Cattle ranching; native rangeland conservation; education |
| Scale | About 8,000 acres (Calgary Stampede); earlier owners managed a 16,000-acre heritage site |
| Why it is elite | Heritage rangeland designation; 2009 Alberta Beef Producers Environmental Stewardship Award; 2008 Growing Alberta award |
| Ownership | Calgary Stampede Foundation since a 2012 donation |
| Official website | Calgary Stampede page on the OH Ranch |
History of OH Ranch
The OH Ranch was founded in 1883 and has had five owners, among them Pat Burns, one of the founders of the Calgary Stampede. The OH brand was first registered in 1881 to Orville Hawkins Smith and Lafayette French.
In 1987 Daryl Doc Seaman bought the land and had a 16,000-acre site designated heritage rangeland, protecting native fescue grassland from development. He handed management of the conservation easement to the Nature Conservancy of Canada in 2008. After Seaman died in 2009, Bill Siebens bought the ranch with the intention of passing it to the Stampede.
In June 2012, Siebens donated 8,000 acres, with the buildings and the OH brand, to the Calgary Stampede Foundation as a centennial gift valued at 11 million dollars.
What OH Ranch Grows and Raises
The OH Ranch remains a working cattle operation that the Stampede describes as its first role as an active agricultural producer. The ranch is guided by three principles: preserving western authenticity, protecting the natural environment, and engaging rural and urban communities.
Alberta Beef Producers recognized the ranch's stewardship in 2009. Practices described include adjusting calving timing, rotating cattle through foothill and grassland pastures, using the Pekisko wintering range only in winter, fencing dugouts to protect riparian areas, hard crossings to limit bank erosion, and bio-engineering to repair flood damage.
The OH Ranch Education Program offers experiences to schools in Calgary and the surrounding area.
How OH Ranch Makes Money
Cattle production
The ranch runs cattle on native foothill range. Public sources do not publish herd size, sales or revenue, so none are stated.
Philanthropic ownership
Since 2012 the land has been held by the Calgary Stampede Foundation, which describes the ranch as a working operation connecting the organization to Alberta's agricultural roots.
Education and heritage programming
The OH Ranch Education Program brings school groups to the ranch. The Stampede describes education and community engagement as one of the ranch's guiding principles.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from OH Ranch
The first lesson is that conservation tools, like heritage rangeland designation and a conservation easement, can protect land that is expensive to hold. The designation kept the grassland intact through successive owners.
A second lesson is that a ranch brand is an asset. The OH name carried the property across five owners and into a charitable structure. Finally, grazing timing matters: moving calving away from the peak growing season and using winter range only in winter protected native grass while keeping the cattle productive.
Few ranches can say their brand has been registered since 1881, and fewer still have a rodeo as their landlord. At farm.FM, our farm satire writers appreciate that OH Ranch quietly runs cows while the Stampede handles the fireworks. Good farm humor needs an anchor, and a heritage rangeland that has outlasted five owners is about as solid as it gets. We reserve our ranch humor and farm jokes for the long drive to Longview, because the grass here is serious business.
The outlet behind those laughs, farm.FM, is the nation's first satirical farm site, complete with Tractor Tunes country music for farmers. A farm.FM humorist's archive shows what a week of it looks like.
How to Contact OH Ranch
Website: https://corporate.calgarystampede.com/about-us/our-ranches/oh-ranch
The ranch is owned by the Calgary Stampede Foundation. The page above does not print a ranch phone, email or address; it links to the general Calgary Stampede contact page. Confirm any visit or program inquiry with the Stampede.
OH Ranch Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Calgary Stampede: OH Ranch - Official owner page for the ranch
- Stampede receives centennial gift - Western Producer coverage of the 2012 donation
- ABP Environmental Stewardship Award: OH Ranch - Alberta Beef Producers award page
- Alberta Beef Producers Environmental Stewardship Award - Producer group page on the stewardship award that has honoured Alberta ranches since 1992
- Statistics Canada: Canadian Agriculture at a Glance (2021 Census) - Alberta farm counts, farm area, technology use and succession planning from the 2021 Census of Agriculture
OH Ranch FAQ
Where is the OH Ranch?
On the Highwood River, west of Longview, Alberta.
Who owns the OH Ranch?
The Calgary Stampede Foundation, since a 2012 donation by Bill Siebens.
When was it founded?
1883, with the OH brand first registered in 1881.
What awards has it won?
The 2009 Alberta Beef Producers Environmental Stewardship Award and a 2008 Growing Alberta award.
OH Ranch shows how history, conservation and community ownership can protect working grassland. For the wider picture, see our Alberta farms guide and the other profiled operations.