BARRHEAD, Alta. — Barrhead may not be the centre of the Canadian cattle industry, but Brad Yoder and Nicolle Hoskins have worked hard to promote the Red Angus herd they built from scratch in northwestern Alberta.
Cinder Angus consists of 65 cows that have turned heads at the World Angus Forum in Calgary, Northlands Farmfair in Edmonton, Canadian Western Agribition in Regina and the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado.
It’s a family operation that includes daughters Tavianne and Brynne. Life revolves around the cattle business.
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Yoder came from a mixed farm in the area and has been involved with purebreds for about 25 years.
Hoskins’ background was horses. Fittingly, they met at the weigh scales at Farmfair, where they were helping other people get ready for the show.
They bought their current place about 10 years ago and converted a hayfield into a ranch.
Yoder started showing in 1997 as a way to promote his program.
“It is a learning process,” he said.
“I didn’t go to 4-H at all. I was more of a ball player when I was growing up. It is a pretty steep curve, and you have to learn very fast.”
Dedication and determination were behind their efforts, added Hoskins, who had friends in the Simmental business who showed her the ropes so she could transfer her knowledge of horses to cattle.
They also watched other Alberta Angus professionals, such as Bryan MacKenzie, Lee and Dawn Wilson and Gavin and Rob Hamilton, to see how they took their cattle to the pinnacle of success.
“It is a mentorship,” she said. “Whether they realize they are mentoring you or not, you are still picking up things from them.”
The couple has worked with a group of other local breeders for the last 13 years, selling bulls at a sale they call On Target.
They sold 20 yearling bulls this year, mostly to customers in a 120 kilo-metre radius of Barrhead, but cattle have also gone to northern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and the United States.
They are always looking for new bulls to build their program, but the main focus is developing sound cattle for their commercial customers.
“We still want to try and raise really strong, correct, functional cattle, more so for the commercial men as the purebred men, because that is where most of our business is going to be,” Yoder said.
Buying print advertising and taking large strings of animals to exhibitions lets potential buyers scan their entire program. A major accolade occurred earlier this year when a bull they sold to a consortium at Agribition in 2010 became a sire of champions.
Yoder and Hoskins sold the American semen interest from Red Lonestone Pursuit 81W to Silver Spur Ranch, a large operation with ranches in several states.
Last January, Silver Spur won the grand champion pen of bulls and grand champion pen of heifers at the Denver stock show. All the champions were sired by Pursuit.
Cinder Angus has also had champions from Pursuit and has kept several sisters at home. Â
While they enjoy the accolades from both the large fairs and the local summer shows, Yoder and Hoskins also appreciate the family aspect of these events. They sell heifers to young 4-H members, and their daughters have started showing at junior events where they are expected to do their own work.
“My kids are going to have a sense of ownership over their success, not because Mom and Dad paid for it to happen,” Hoskins said.
She minds the ranch during the day while Yoder works off the farm full time at a local IGA store as produce manager. He juggles his vacation time around shows and the seasonality of ranch chores.
Breeding plans are a joint decision. They use home raised bulls and seek out new genetics each year.
“I don’t do as much AIing (artificial insemination) because I like to use my own bulls. I have enough confidence in our own program to use it,” Yoder said.
Their pedigrees now contain two to four generations of their own cattle, so they have built enough history to prove their cattle’s performance.
They do some artificial insemination and place embryo transplants into commercial cows.
Using natural breeding and AI strengthens the gene pool while adding uniformity to the herd because their sires are predictable.
“We are not trying to breed ourselves into a corner,” he said.
“The Red Angus business genetic pool is so limited so you almost have to try and create your own. There is so much stuff that isn’t available like there is in black Angus.”
The cows calve in January and February, and although they ranch in northern Alberta, they find that early calving works better because spring weather can be unpredictable with cold temperatures, mud and wet snow. The calves are stronger when the cold March winds blow and are more uniform by the time show season starts.
