RESERCH & PRESENTATIONS

 
 
 

 

Click the sign above for property access permission

 


Meet the McRae Family of Bainsville, Ontario!

 

 

HISTORY

 

The McRae family has been farming at Lot 15 of Concession 1, Lancaster Township, Glengarry County, Ontario, Canada since 1904.  John F. McRae, a third generation farmer from Lot 18, Concession 10, Lancaster Township, bought the farm at an auction and sold his home farm to make a permanent move to our current location near the hamlet of Bainsville.  John F. managed the farm primarily as a dairy, and had several children with his wife, Lillie Ross of Curry Hill.

 

 

Generation 2

Succeeded by his son Lloyd, who married Elizabeth McNaughton, the farm was expanded to the east to include lot 14 and the west half of lot 13.  Lloyd’s herd management also gained him fame as a master breeder of Holstein cattle.  Lloyd and Elizabeth had four children and management of the farm was passed to their eldest son, Ron during the 1960s.

 

       

 

Generation 3

Ron married Carolyn Murray in 1964 and began growing grain corn shortly thereafter.  By the winter of 1969/70, grain corn production as a cash crop was competing with milk production as the main focus of the farm operation and the cows were sold.  A review of our dairy herd has been published in The Chosen Breed : A tale of men, women and the Canadian Holstein, vol. 1 by Edward Young Morwick, printed at Hamilton, Ontario by Seldon Griffin Graphics Inc., pp 352-355.

 

       

 

Generations 4 & 5

Ron & Carolyn have three children; Kim, Tracey and Shawn.  Shawn returned to the family business after a 4-year agronomy program at the University of Guelph (OAC ’94) and a one-year stint as an agronomist in Southern Alberta.  Shawn married Tara McDonell in 1999 and their children (generation 5) Duncan, Malcolm, Alastair and Molly will turn 9, 7, 4 and 3 respectively, in 2011.  Shawn & Tara were selected as finalists for the Ontario Outstanding Young Farmers’ Award in 2009.  Shawn is also an agricultural representative on the regional Source Water Protection Committee, and past president of the Glengarry Landowners’ Association, fighting for the property rights of farmers and rural landowners.