ASSINIBOIA, Sask. – Black was the color of choice during a recent Saskatchewan Stock Growers’ Association tour, held prior to its annual convention.
Aberdeen Angus was the most common breed viewed on the Willow Bunch and St. Victor area ranches toured by two busloads of participants.
Even Conn Yorga of Windy Hill Limousin Ranch, Limo breeders since 1972, have hopped on the black bandwagon. Their young black herdsire, Mr. S4 Rivalry , took grand champion Limousin bull at the North Dakota state fair in Minot last summer.
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Charolais-cross calves
Warren Feser gathered a classic set of black brockle-faced and red baldie cattle for the group to view. Charolais-cross calves hit the ground in April and will weigh between 500 and 600 pounds when they’re weaned off grass in late fall, he said. This summer, the outfit has decided to go back to black bulls, Warren said.
After a brief look at the petroglyphs at St. Victor’s provincial historic park, the tour saw two herds of purebred black Angus.
Among the females in the yard, Randy Clark of Clark Farms pointed out the top-selling bull of the 1992 Shortgrass Angus bull sale. It was hard to miss the big fellow – he was at least 15 centimetres taller than many of the cows. At four years of age, Clark said the bull weighed in at 2,600 pounds.
He told participants he bought the bull to put some size and growth into the offspring of his moderately-sized cows. He’s done just that, without calving difficulties, Clark said.
Just down the road, teenager Evan Schnor hopped over the fence and gave some of his favorite black cows a scratch – in the middle of the field – while onlookers noted how mellow the herd was.
Down the road, Wayne and Caroline Crawford’s herd of commercial black Angus cows grazed on lush Russian wild rye pasture. An area south of Willow Bunch has been graced with about 15 cm of moisture so far this spring, locals said.
Cattle weren’t the only black creatures in evidence; Crawford had hitched up his team of five-year-old Percherons, which he uses to deliver feed in winter.
Black on red
Black was augmented with a little red at the Gibson Brothers ranch (Dennis and Kathy and Al and Kitona), about a kilometre away from the Crawford place, across a hayfield. The Gibsons are using Gelbvieh bulls on their black baldies, and black Angus bulls on the red baldies.
Next stop was Xavier and Jeanne Bouvier’s commercial black Angus herd and then people on the tour had a change of scenery at Westrose Farm, where they saw some of Don and Sharon Berner’s Simmental-Hereford cross cattle, proving more than British breeds can thrive on short grass prairie.
Last stop was at Henderson Herefords, where Jim Henderson had both purebred cows and heifers on display.
