Western Irrigation District Memories – Gerald and Dorothy Geeraert

By John Godsman Times Contributor

Gerald’s family name originated at Flanders, Belgium before the family moved to Holland in the 1800s. His grandfather, Peter C. Geeraert, emigrated to Rockyford with two brothers in 1910, where they purchased land from the CPR. Peter stayed here, but one brother returned to Holland and the other moved to Minnesota.
Peter decided to purchase land between two creeks so that he always had water, as irrigation was unavailable in those early days. The 1940s were recorded as being quite dry; then came the 1950s which were wet until around 1959-1960, when it became dry again and the new irrigation equipment became much sought after. A relative, Uncle Carl Geeraert, owned and operated a John Deere and GM dealership which sold irrigation equipment, which was being sold as fast as he could get his hands on it.
Gerald’s father, Peter B. Geeraert, born 1927 at the farm, was the first irrigator, starting in the late 1950s with a hand move system. Initially, he used this system on the pasture for his cows which was very labour intensive, ultimately leading to it being parked along the fence line.
Gerald was born in 1953 in Calgary and attended school at St Rita’s through Grade 10, with high school completed elsewhere. This was followed by a diploma in agriculture mechanics at Olds College before returning to farm with his Dad. In 1980, his brother Dale started farming with him, until Dale passed in 2016. Initially, they used a volume gun for two years, before replacing this with wheel lines in the early 1980s, and he still uses them today. As previously mentioned, the wheel moves were very labour intensive and there were frequent breakdowns. The irregular shape of his fields prohibits the use of the more modern pivots.
Gerald met Dorothy Koester at school and they were married in 1975; they have three children and seven grandchildren. Gerald and Dorothy are happy to have their son Chris and his wife Angela taking on the career of operating the farm. They believe the future of irrigation is very bright.
Western Irrigation District has completed substantial work relining canals, replacing ditches with pipelines and increasing the number of acres serviced. New pivots are being installed permitting more diversity in crops, and the cattle industry is able to grow more alfalfa and silage type crops.