UPDATED: Saturday March 7, 2015 – 1430 CST – Andrew and Emma Cross are among the bluebloods of the Calgary bull sale.
They are the fifth generation of Crosses to attend the sale, which their great-great grandfather A.E. Cross helped found 115 years ago. This year the pair of teenagers joined in to prepare a string of four for the event they have attended as long as they can remember.
“We really enjoy working with the animals and in this business,” said 14-year-old Emma during the event held March 4-5.
Their father, Jay Cross, is the current owner of the Bar Pipe Ranch at Okotoks where Hereford cattle have grazed for decades. The children want to continue running the ranch and that will include the long running tradition of raising purebred Herefords.
“It is always been in our family and we want to continue. We have always grown up with Herefords so it is a natural thing to do,” said 16-year-old Andrew.
The family sale ran for 50 years and ended during the early years of BSE when cattle markets collapsed. Now bulls are consigned at Calgary and the Medicine Hat bull sale as well as by private treaty off the ranch.
Doug Finseth, Bar Pipe ranch manager and chair of the Alberta Cattle Breeders Association, which organizes on the sale each year, admitted traditions evolve as consignments were down this year with Herefords being the only breed on offer.
“It is a sign of the times of what is happening in the livestock industry,” said Finseth.
Shrinking cow numbers and fewer family farms has changed the beef business but those who remained are reaping the rewards with record prices at every sale in the past year.
“The resilience of the breeders who have stuck with it is a testament to seedstock producers,” he said.
“That just shows the enthusiasm that is backing the livestock industry. Everybody is proud to be a livestock producer today,” he said.
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The bull sale average was up significantly from last year. The average was $8,685 on 90 lots and in 2014 was $5,193.
Cattle were sold across western Canada as well as Nebraska, Kansas and Montana.
The grand champion bull was the entry of Mick and Deb Trefiak, owners of MJR Herefords at Edgerton, Alta. It sold for $23,000 to Triple A Herefords of Moose Jaw, Sask. The new owner, Murray Andrews was also the judge of the 2015 Calgary bull show.
The reserve champion came from JoNomn Hereford Ranch at Clyde, Alta. Entered by Norm and Joanne Parrent, this yearling sold to MJT Herefords for $11,000 to Little Fort Herefords, Little Fort, B.C. This ranch also purchased the high selling bull for $26,000. It was entered by Nels and Teri Nixdorff of YV Ranch, Airdrie, Alta.
In addition to a bull sale, a commercial replacement heifer sale was held with record prices for 10 pens of five on offer.
“The buyers were fighting over the heifers to rebuild their cowherds again,” said Finseth.
The heifers averaged $2,240 each, up from $1,357 in 2014.
The show was run as a people’s choice where the crowd judged each pen.
The grand champion went to Wes Garrett of Landis, Sask. The pen of five straightbred Hereford heifers sold for $2,200 each to Clark Nixdorff of MN Herefords at Airdrie, Alta.
This is Garrett’s third trip to Calgary and first time winning the show. He has about 500 cows of which 200 are purebred Hereford. A large part of his business is selling females off the ranch. He was pleased with this year’s results and sees it as a good way to publicize his business.
“A few years ago we were selling breds (females) for half that price,” he said after the sale March 4.
The reserve champion pen was a group of black baldie heifers from SS Cattle Company Inc owned by Sheldon Archibald of Irma, Alta. They sold to Pete Knight of Strathmore, Alta., for $2,300 each. Knight bought four pens making him the volume buyer.
The top-selling pen of the evening came from Bushfield Farms of Airdrie. A pen of Hereford-Angus cross females, the group fetched $2,650, selling to Meridian Cattle Co., Cayley, Alta.
The ranch horse sale averaged $9,063 on eight lots, up from $7,475 last year.
Contact barbara.duckwort@producer.com
March 6, 2015 – 0930 CST – The Calgary bull show and sale held March 4-5 may have had its smallest offering in its 115 year history but strong market demand rewarded it with a record setting average of $8,687 on 90 lots of Herefords.
“There’s all kinds of optimism and everybody is getting well paid for their product and it’s just getting passed down to the seedstock producers,” said Doug Finseth, chair of the Alberta Beef Breeds Association
Cattle sold into the four western provinces as well as Nebraska, Kansas and Montana
The grand champion bull was the entry of Mick and Deb Trefiak, owners of MJR Herefords at Edgerton, Alta. It sold for $23,500 to Triple A Herefords of Moose Jaw, Sask. The new owner, Murray Andrews was also the judge of the 2015 Calgary bull show.
The reserve champion came from JoNomn Hereford Ranch at Clyde, Alta. Entered by Norm and Joanne Parrent, this yearling sold to MJT Herefords for $11,000.
Contact barbara.duckwort@producer.com
