DOUGLAS, Man. – Todd Wallace was four years old when he first tagged along with his father to the annual sale at the Manitoba Bull Test Station.
After that, going to the sale with his dad became an almost annual tradition.
It was a place to meet other cattle producers, while studying more than 200 bulls offered for sale.
Now grown up, Wallace still goes to the sale, usually held in the first part of April.
He says a lot has changed since his first visit as a wide-eyed youngster.
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The bulls, sold as yearlings, are generally bigger than when Wallace was a kid.
The quality also is better as prairie producers of registered cattle continue to improve the genetics of their herds.
“It just keeps getting better and better,” Wallace said, between sips of coffee at the test station office. “The sky is the limit.”
And something else has changed.
Wallace no longer has to drive from Oak Lake to get to the annual bull sale. His home now is just a short stroll from the sale barn.
Wallace, who holds a master’s degree in ruminant nutrition from North Dakota State University, last August became manager of the bull test station at Douglas.
He lives onsite and smiles like a kid in a candy store as he talks about his work.
“It’s sort of neat to be in the driver’s seat.”
But that seat can be a large one to fill. Every fall, an average of 500 bulls arrives at the test station, where everything from their testicular size to their average daily weight gain will be measured and recorded.
The bulls are tested and their numbers trimmed until only about 250 remain. Those are the ones that will make the bull sale. All will be registered animals.
Wallace’s challenge is to keep both the consignors and buyers happy so that they will keep coming back.
With the cattle industry now on the topside of the price cycle, he figures this was a good time to accept that challenge.
This year’s sale was held April 8, with 242 bulls on offer. Of that number, 202 bulls sold for an average price of $2,672.
The high seller was a Charolais that drew $8,750. Seventy-two of the 78 Charolais bulls were bought.
All of the Maine-Anjou and Angus bulls were sold.
And when the dust finally settled in the sales ring, the Angus finished as the breed with the highest average price per animal ($3,017).
An Angus bull also fetched the second highest price of the day at $6,900.
The bulls sold to buyers from the Prairies, North Dakota, Ontario and Quebec.
Total sales for the day neared $540,000, which was $85,000 more than in the previous year’s sale.
“It was a heck of a sale this year,” said Wallace, who in early May was still writing out cheques to consignors.
“It’s nice to start at a place when the price is strong. You can’t really go wrong.”
One of the first things Wallace did after becoming manager of the test station was to look at the bulls’ diets during the months leading up to the sale.
He wanted the bulls to go into the sale with a leaner look, but he also wanted them to post weight gains that would impress prospective buyers.
He upped the hay in their rations and looked for high quality hay. He also continued feeding the bulls a grain ration of oats.
The ratio of zinc, manganese and copper was increased in the diet. Those minerals can influence a bull’s reproductive development and its sex drive, Wallace said.
As well, beginning in December, an area was set up where the bulls were sent to run a couple kilometres once a week.
“If you were a bull, you’d want to come here,” said Wallace, describing measures that make the test station sound like a bovine version of a health spa.
