The Secret of a Six-Generation Family Farm

By Leeann Minogue

The Colborn family of Delisle, Saskatchewan, has found the secret to keeping a farm in the family for at least six generations. As Ron Colborn, a fourth-generation farmer, puts it: “It’s family first, then farm.”

The Colborn farm was established in 1910 when William and Elizabeth Colborn settled on land with a winding creek that reminded them of the homestead they’d left behind in England. Their son Henry, the second generation, brought machinery and thrashing operations on to the farm. Henry also got the family started in the poultry business, retrofitting their horse barn into a chicken barn.

Henry’s sons, Keith and Cliff, were the third generation of Colborns on the farm. The brothers kept grain farming and expanded the poultry business. The hen house they built in 1951 is still in use today as the farm’s calving barn. Keith and Cliff ran their grain and poultry operations together as one business, a decision that kept the farm together for the next generation. The brothers found working together to be more efficient than running two separate farms, and they enjoyed working together, despite the occasional disagreement. “You share the work,” Cliff says.

When the fourth generation started working on the farm it was time for the Colborns to expand. Keith’s sons Ken and Ron led the drive to invest in more farmland and expand their cattle herd to take advantage of natural pasture they already held. In 1975, they doubled the size of their poultry flock and renovated the poultry barn. Ken and Ron’s cousin Darren came back to the farm with an interest in both poultry and grain production. After surviving drought and low prices in the 1980s and early 1990s, Ken, Ron and Darren expanded all three areas of the farm: grain production, cattle, and eggs.

Many family farms split up long before the fourth generation takes control. New spouses, children, and different points of view often lead siblings and cousins to split large family farms into smaller, individual operations. But the Colborn family has kept their farm together into the fifth generation, ironing out their differences so they can keep working together.

The fifth generation of Colborns, Ken’s son Shawn and Ron’s son Jeff, have teamed up with their second cousin Darren to create the Colborn Farm Joint Venture. They’re investing in new technology and machinery to increase crop yields. They’re still selling beef cattle, and also raising cross-bred Red Angus/Red Simmental heifers for sale to other cattle producers. They’ve built an enriched hen housing barn with more space for hens to behave naturally. The Colborns approach reinvesting in the farm with the belief that it’s important to learn from their ancestors while also innovating sustainably.

By farming together, the fifth generation is giving their children—the sixth generation—the opportunity to experience the same type of childhood they had, riding dirt bikes, snowmobiles and horses, and seeing their cousins every day. “We grew up with our cousins,” Shawn says.

The Colborns have no plans to stop at a five-generation family farm. “We’re not thinking about today, we’re thinking about 10 years down the road,” says Ken Colborn. The Colborns are still building up their farm, making room for future children to take their place in the business. Ken says, “We don’t ever want to see this place get sold. We’ve got too much in it.”