Championships, high sellers | Several Canadian producers took top spot in Denver
DENVER, Colo. — Canada Day came early for Red Angus breeders at this year’s National Western Stock Show in Denver.
Canadians won the grand champion bull, reserve bull and grand champion female banners as well as numerous division and class winners Jan. 9.
Clinton Morasch has been coming to the Denver stock show for the last three years, winning division champions and a reserve bull. This year, working with his 13-year-old daughter Laurie, the Bassano, Alta., producer won grand champion with a bull calf named Red Lazy MC Eye Spy 64Y.
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The reserve bull came from Six Mile Angus of Fir Mountain, Sask., where Callie Gibson stood at the halter of Six Mile Smokin Gun 133Y.
Working with Christy Collins of Oklahoma and Safari Cattle Co. of Texas, Six Mile also exhibited the champion female named Six Mile Countess 105Y. With her Texas partners, Collins bought the heifer at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina last November for $14,000.
Six Mile Angus, owned by Clayton and Corrine Gibson, was also named premier breeder and exhibitor of the show, while Laurie Morasch was named junior herdsman at the youth portion of the show.
The Morasch family expected to do well, but had no inkling this would be their big year.
“We expected to do well with both calves, but we didn’t expect to win the overall show. It was quite an honour and pretty exciting to do it,” Clinton said.
The grand champion bull will go into the ranch breeding program this spring to work with heifers. The family breeds about 250 cows. If their champion continues to develop well, the family will enter it in the fall shows.
It was previously shown at Farmfair in Edmonton, where it was junior calf champion. It was also third in class at Agribition.
“It is nice to think judges and other cattle people like your genetics,” he said.
In his opinion, the bull was selected on the basis of phenotype and ex-pected progeny differences statistics.
The bull has low birth weight values, which means he has the potential to sire calves that are born easily and also exhibits good carcass traits.
“It is tough to find both, so he fills both aspects with maternal genetics and good carcass values,” Clinton said.
They also had reserve intermediate champion bull in Denver with an animal that had been undefeated in Canada. They own the champion exclusively, while the other bull is owned with partners in Idaho.
The family sells large amounts of semen and embryos to the United States, where Canadian red genetics are well accepted.
Their next event is their 16th annual bull sale, and a win like this is good promotion when selling to purebred and commercial ranch customers.
Corinne Gibson from the Six Mile operation had to stay home and mind the ranch, so she watched the family successes over the internet. The family has had numerous prestigious awards, including supreme bull at Agribition in 2007 and the World Angus Forum grand champion red female.
“This is an honour for us to go to the American national show and have our cattle accepted as well as they were. It was a privilege,” she said.
This is the third year in a row that Six Mile travelled to Denver. It has won division championships but no major victories.
“We felt the judge paid attention to conformation and structure, the real important traits in cattle,” Corrine said. “The best part of it is our kids are so involved.”
Their daughter, Callie, is in university but plans to continue ranching and 10-year-old Coy actively shows cattle while Cade works on the ranch behind the scenes.
“Our son wasn’t able to be there but when our calf won, I have never seen him jump higher,” she said.
They bought the mother of the winning female from Roger Hardy of Soo Line Cattle Co. in Midale, Sask. The cow was pregnant and this calf was the result.
Coy owns their reserve champion bull, which he showed with its mother throughout the summer. The cow was recently named Canadian Red Angus show female of the year. The bull will be offered for sale at the ranch’s April 14 sale.
Canadian cattle were also the high sellers during the red Angus sale at the stock show.
An interest in the bull Get Along Wander, consigned by Brylor Ranch of Pincher Creek, Alta., sold to Diamond K Angus of Maple Creek, Sask. for $16,000. A second Brylor entry, offering a pick of heifer calves by the bull Mulberry, sold for $12,500 to Griffin Red Angus of New Hampton, Iowa.
Five bulls on offer averaged $12,050, 22 open females averaged $5,293 and one bred female fetched $11,250.
