Irvine Farm Ltd

Great-great-grandfather Thomas Selph was a drayman in England delivering kegs to local pubs. After a hard day’s work, he was sharing a cola with one of the patrons who offered to sell his homestead in Canada. A deal was struck in that establishment in the small town of Irvine, hence the idea for name of the herd’s prefix! After arriving in Vegreville, Alberta in 1914, four Ayrshires were purchased. They were shipped by rail from eastern Canada, believed to be from Burnside and the Selwood farms. Over the course of his management, three dairy barns were built. Great-uncle Ken Selph was the only son and a bachelor until he was 57 years old; he enticed his nephew Douglas Wyllie to join him in 1961. They ventured into a hog operation but soon found the dairy to be most profitable. Hence the current dairy barn was built in 1974. In 1979 the farm was incorporated and Douglas took over. Douglas, being an equipment operator before becoming involved in agriculture, enjoyed the crop production side of the operation. Douglas managed to keep his four sons busy and out of trouble. The farm grew in acreage continually. The middle two sons, Lorne and Brent remained home to farm; their responsibilities included management of the dairy. All natural service was used until 1981. Herd sires were purchased from Alberta herds including Woodlands, Hethergrove and Glen Nethy. The odd 4-H calf was also purchased. Many summer holidays were spent touring the local summer fairs under supervision of great Uncle Ken. A few grand champions here and there and the odd All-Western nominations were received. Once the boys received AI instructions in 1981, the herd started to improve at a quicker pace. Emphasis leaned towards production, so the reward of a larger milk check was always appreciated. The last several years young sire usage would be in the 90% plus range. Today, Irvine Ayrshires are climbing in the LPI rankings in Canada. In 2007, they were ranked number one best-managed dairy herd in North East region of Alberta. A smattering of Excellent cows have been raised, numerous VG cows all with strong production traits make up the herd’s portfolio. All that said, the goals of raising a young sire or having a class production leader have yet to be achieved. Today, Douglas and Joyce Wyllie are enjoying semi-retirement lifestyle. Their past few winters have been spent in a warmer climate of the southern U.S.; come spring they return home to plant their share of 2800 acres of crop land and plant the family garden. Emphasis has always been placed on harvesting quality forage to maximize the dairy herd’s performance. The fifth generation is now coming of age and contributing to the work force. Irvine Farm has come a long way since the inception of Thomas Selph becoming a farmer. We will let you imagine what the future holds for this farm.