About Lazy E | Eric Tarrant

I built this from nothing, and I'm proud of that.

I grew up on an acreage just south and west of High River. I always knew I wanted to farm from a young age, it was just where I saw myself. We had good neighbours who were generous enough to let me ride along in the tractor whenever they were doing fieldwork, answer my endless questions, and teach me things I still use today.

My extended family had a farm down in Pincher Creek. I didn't get there often, mostly holidays but I loved it every time. When that operation was sold while I was a young teenager. It made me realize that if I was going to farm, I was going to have to find my own way to do it.

That's exactly what I did. I did my research, ran the math, and bought my first batch of feeder cattle in the fall of 2023. The math held, they made money, and that was the moment I knew I was going to make this work.

Not long after, I found out my neighbours were moving on. I approached the landlords about renting the cropland and managed to put a deal together. That gave me the room to start growing my own feed and pasture to graze my own cattle. I now run a rotation of barley, wheat, and peas, and I've started some small-scale trials with annual forage crops I can graze directly. The operation is lean by design. Equipment costs are too high to justify owning it all, so I hire out a lot of the field work and keep my focus on the animals, the fences, and the relationships that hold this kind of community together.

Relationships are hard-earned out here. The farms surrounding me go back four and five generations. Breaking into that world as a young guy with no family name in agriculture takes patience. I've been fortunate to have a number of established producers in the area who have been generous with their time talking through costs, equipment, and what it actually takes to build trust in a community like this.

All of our cattle are sourced from local ranches I know, trust, and support. Every animal is raised antibiotic-free and hormone-free and that matters to me, and I think it should matter to you too.

I started selling direct because I believe we've overcomplicated the food system, and the consumer is paying for it. Cutting out some of that chain means you get a better product for a fairer price, and I get a fair return for my work. That seems right to me.