DENVER, Colo. — Entering a major livestock show is a good promotional tool for breeders looking to buy and sell new cattle genetics.
The icing on the cake is winning the big prizes in a circle of tough competitors.
This year, Blairs.Ag Cattle Co. of Lanigan, Sask., and its partners won the grand champion bull during the Red Angus show held Jan. 9 at the National Western Stock Show in Denver.
The bull, Damar Trump C512, is owned by Blairs.Ag, Yackley Red Angus of South Dakota, Rust Mountain Ranch of North Dakota and Thomas Ranch of South Dakota and lives in the United States.
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The show judge described the bull, which was born in 2015, as a “really nice, stout calf.”
Blairs also won three division champions, two reserve division champions and premier exhibitor.
The reserve champion bull went to Howard Schneider of Northline Angus of Ardrosson, Alta., with a bull named Red NL GFA Crush 16B.
It is owned with Goad Family Angus of Clandonald, Alta., and Collier Diamond C Cattle Co. of Stephenville, Texas.
It was also grand champion bull at Farmfair International in Edmonton in 2015, the Fort Worth Stock Show in 2016 and Houston Stock Show in 2016.
Northline also won intermediate champion with Red Northline Revival 122C. It was the champion yearling junior bull at Farmfair in 2016.
The Schneiders show at numerous events to promote their Red and Black Angus cattle to breeders looking for new genetics.
“People can see how your cattle are doing,” Schneider said at the Denver show.
He has successfully shown and sold cattle in Texas, where there is a strong Brahman influence. People are looking for new Angus cattle to create the Brangus, he said.
Rebuilding that business after years of border closures due to BSE constraints has taken years, he said, but the markets have recovered, and the deals look more attractive to Americans now that the Canadian dollar is sitting at 75 cents.
He is back to selling live cattle, embryos and semen across Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Many people may shy away from the winter shows because of calving in January and February, but the Northline calves are born in May and June.
The cattle catch up in size, and Schneider believes it is better for the cows to calve on grass.
“It makes more sense than calving in the cold,” he said.
“There is less work, and you have healthier calves.”
Fewer Canadians exhibited at the Denver show compared to other years, but all had respectable results.
The two-year-old bull class went to Six Mile Angus of Fir Mountain, Sask., with Six Mile Signature 295B. It went on to be reserve senior champion, standing next to Northline.
