WOLSELEY, Sask. – Tammy and Greg Delinte stack the dishwasher after lunch while son Logan practices roping.
He stands behind them, a few feet away, unconsciously and incessantly looping and twirling the tightly twisted rope through the air. The swishing sound is constant.
“That’s all he does,” said Greg. “I have to tell him to hang it up every once in a while.”
Perhaps all parents experience this when their teenager finds something he loves to do and practises it every waking hour. Young Logan is no exception.
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At 13 years of age, he’s already a seasoned ranch roping champion.
He was the youngest competitor in the ranch horse sale competition at Canadian Western Agribition in 2009 and has the makings of a cowboy like his father.
Tammy and Greg expect Logan will soon join the family’s ranch rodeo team, which has competed two years at Agribition.
A cowboy at heart, Greg grew up in the saddle on a three generation family ranch near Cowley, Alta.
Tammy had a small town upbringing a short distance down the road in Pincher Creek, Alta., but often visited ranch friends and went riding.
She remembers a brief romance with Greg in elementary school.
“We went out for two weeks in Grade 8. And then I dumped him.”
They have been married since 1992 and have two children: Megan, 15, and Logan, 13.
Greg worked as a cowhand at the Gang, Waldron and McIntyre ranches in Alberta and also drove a truck for five years.
Tired of Greg being on the road, away from a growing young family, and needing a ranch to call their own, the Delintes looked east of their Rocky Mountain view to the flatter and more affordable Prairies.
In 2003, they found a ranch near Wolseley.
“I guess you could say it chose us because it was affordable,” Greg said.
Added Tammy: “Didn’t want to work for anybody either. Have your own place where you don’t have to deal with the boss because you are the boss.”
Making the transition to a prairie vista did not come without a learning curve.
BSE hit in 2003 and like many producers, the Delintes are just now experiencing a rebound in cattle prices. They can’t help wondering how long the boom will last.
They also had to get used to prairie winter cold.
Greg describes winters in southern Alberta as a walk in the park compared to Saskatchewan.
“When we first moved out, we had a tractor with no cab and he fed (cattle) like that the first year and he almost died,” Tammy said.
Added Greg: “People back home asked me how I like Saskatchewan. I said I didn’t get to see much because I had a mitt here and a mitt here (pointing to his face) and these two (pointing at his legs) to try and steer with. It was hard. It was freezer burn. It wasn’t a tan.”
The Delintes’ 200 head cow-calf operation is a full-time job for Greg, while Tammy works part time at the local feed mill. The children help with the ranch work after school.
“Very handy, they’re very confident, but I get after them sometimes when I shouldn’t. But I see things before they do,” Greg said.
The family often spends weekends attending high school rodeos for Logan or ranch roping events where both father and son compete.
“It’s fun because we go and camp with everybody,” Tammy said. “It’s more of a camping outing, really.”
The Delintes are confident that their chosen lifestyle will reap future dividends.
They are eager to support their children as they pursue their interests, but they have one rule: they must give it their best effort.
“We’ve always said, whatever you guys want to do, we’ll make it happen … but no half ass stuff,” she said.
Greg said he would like to see the children eventually take a more active role in the ranch.
“When your kids take an interest in what you’re doing, I gleam. That’s bonus big time,” he said.
However, he is going to try steering Logan away from being a cowhand.
“I would want him to be more. A cowboy is somebody that is more or less too lazy to have a real job and too honest to steal.
“I don’t want him to just ride around and look at cows and think it’s romantic. If he wants to train horses, I think he should go to somebody that’s in the niche … or go get his education first and then do what he wants.”
