The Parsonage family has been coming to the Calgary bull sale for 58 consecutive years and has won seven grand championships since 1992.
Owned by Duane and Corrine Parsonage, P & H Ranching runs about 350 cows with 150 being purebred Charolais.
Once a strong Hereford breeding family, the program switched to Charolais and Angus cattle with a commercial Hereford component.
The Charolais herd started in the late 1980s when Duane’s mother Arlane bought 10 bred Charolais heifers. There was some scoffing among family and community members and the first few runs at the Calgary show and sale were rocky. Within a few years they started to win and turn some heads with their big, blocky white cattle.
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The entire P & H herd descends from those 10 females, said Corrine.
They sell their bulls at Calgary and privately. They used to have a brisk business with the United States where Duane marketed about 200 bulls to the Pacific Northwest and California each year.
“We did that for 20 years so we are really hoping the border opens,” Corrine said.
“It’s just not the dollars. The genetics need to be spread around North America to better the industry,” she said.
Their grand champion earned them $7,500 when it sold to Gordon Church of Balzac, Alta. Their overall sale average on seven bulls was $4,571.
