REGINA – After a five year absence from Canadian Western Agribition, Norman Catto decided to leave Argentina for a week to see what was on offer.
“This is the best show I’ve seen at Agribition,” he said.
Little trade has happened between Canada and Argentina since BSE closed borders. Catto has a purebred consulting business at Tanbil in the province of Buenos Aries where he has lived since he left Scotland 44 years ago.
Canadian cattle are similar in type to what he sees in Argentina and as technology improves and record keeping becomes more standardized among the purebred associations, North and South Americans should be able to make equal gains in beef cattle improvement, he said.
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Many Argentine cattle descend from American bulls and his customers are always looking for different pedigrees for new bloodlines.
He likes the Canadian cattle because in Argentina, cattle are on grass year round so a hardier type is needed.
Other buyers were also scouting the barns making private deals on embryos and semen, as well as attending the auctions. The exchange rate offered on American money at the sales was $1.05.
At the Angus sale, buyers from North Dakota bought two lots. Most of the cattle purchased at the Masterpiece sale remained in Western Canada.
The high seller fetched $60,000 for a one third interest in a straight Canadian bred Black Angus bull from Lookout Ranch at Fairview, Alta. The bull sold to LLB Angus and Tommy Associates of Erskine, Alta.
“People are looking for something different,” said owner Roy Bjorklund. He sent his cattle ahead a month ago on the 16 hour journey from Fairview to Regina so they could be made ready for the show and sale.
“I expected people to really like him when they saw him,” he said.
He also sold a heifer for $4,200 to Oak Lane Farms of North Dakota.
The Angus Masterpiece sale sold 80 lots for a sale gross of $424,700 and a sale average of $5,309.
The Gelbvieh and Galloway breeds also held sales. Gelbvieh breeders sold 17 lots and grossed $44,550. The average was $2,621.
The Galloway sale had eight lots that totalled $16,550 and averaged $2,069.
