About TK Ranch - Our History and Commitment

TK Ranch History

In 1956, Thomas Koehler (TK) Biggs moved from New York to Alberta and began TK Ranch. He tells many stories of his first trip to what would become TK Ranch. His neighbour met him in Coronation on a very cold December morning. They set out for the ranch by horse and sleigh and had to stop three times to change teams. He arrived very late at night to a house that had no indoor plumbing or heating.

Soon after Tom met and married Mary Hallet, daughter of local pioneer Jack Hallet, and they raised 5 children: Ralph, Dylan, Andrea, John and David. Over the years Tom and Mary instilled a love and respect for the prairie in their children. Tom, a greenhorn to many locals, had an open mind about alternative ways of managing the land that enhanced the grasslands and biodiversity. Mary was an artist and outspoken advocate for the wild prairie and captured the spirituality of the land in her beautiful artwork. In 1992 Mary built one of the first straw bale houses in Alberta made entirely of natural resources and recycled materials that set the stage for others to follow.

In 1985 Tom and Mary's son Dylan was introduced to Holistic Management - a goal oriented decision making model that is based on environmental, social and financial sustainability. The Center for Holistic Management, founded by Allan Savory (Holistic Management International) was one of the first organizations that advocated making decisions with a triple bottom line - essentially that a person couldn't make a sound decision based on dollars only - that the environmental and social consequences of that decision also had to be considered equally. Dylan became very involved with Holistic Management and was one of the first people to promote it to producers in Canada as a sustainable approach to land management. In 1990 Dylan was invited to speak about holistic management at a Nature Trust of Alberta meeting and that is where he met Colleen Nelson, his future wife.

Dylan and Colleen made a good match - Colleen was an active member of the environmental community in Alberta - sitting on the boards of both the Alberta Wilderness Association and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. She had attended the University of Alberta and graduated with a degree in Recreation Administration - what is an Environmental Sciences degree today. Holistic management intrigued Colleen as she had studied integrated resource management (managing pieces of an ecosystem in isolation of each other) and the problems it created for managing wilderness and wildlife. Meeting a rancher dedicated to increasing the biodiversity of the endangered Northern Fescue Grasslands, to organic production and to animal welfare made her decision to move to TK Ranch an easy one.

TK Ranch - Our Commitment Today

Since that time Dylan and Colleen have worked tirelessly to set a sustainable example for other producers to follow. They began TK Ranch Natural Meats in 1995 to offer consumers an environmentally sustainable and local choice. As one of the first producers to offer natural grass-fed beef in Alberta they broke a very difficult trail for others to follow. Both Dylan and Colleen continue to speak publicly about sustainable agriculture and the loss of the small family farm. They have mentored many farm families to transition to sustainable agriculture and direct marketing. Dylan and Colleen's four daughters - Jocelyn, Julia, Maria and Hannah - are very involved with the ranch and provide a future for TK Ranch. Tom (TK) continues to be active on the ranch and can often be found helping fill meat orders, moving cows or playing cards with his grand-daughters. Sadly Mary passed away from cancer in 2006 but her legacy of artwork and her love for her family remain.