REGINA – When Michael Wheeler came to Canadian Western Agribition and saw the competition his bulls were up against, he had no expectation of winning.
“There were a lot of powerful Black and Red Angus bulls,” he said after the commercial show where his pen of three Red Angus bulls not only won their class but became supreme champion over all breeds on display.
The commercial show and sale of yearling bulls, heifers and steers does not have a prominent place at the show, but for many, it is the most important component of the week-long event. The cattle are shown loose in a pen sporting their natural coats and ability to move, rather than using precision grooming to enhance and diminish physical characteristics.
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“A lot of people are more comfortable looking at cattle in that (natural) condition. You can enhance an animal with the right preparations,” said Wheeler.
This was the first commercial entry for the Wheeler family, represented by Michael and Rhea Wheeler and parents Harvey and Frances Wheeler who farm east of Saskatoon.
They maintain a purebred herd of Red and Black Angus as well as a large commercial herd of Angus based cows.
The supreme champions came from the same sire, which contributed to the evenness of the three red yearlings. The family purchased that sire, Red Northline Atlantic City, as a five-month-old calf at the 2005 Agribition.
“We have had a lot of success with his progeny,” said Michael.
The pen of bulls weighed an average of 1,080 pounds and all were born within a few days of each other.
The winning bulls will be sold at the family’s March bull sale.
The purebred herd started about 10 years ago when Michael obtained Angus females as 4-H projects and used their progeny to build up numbers.
They also entered four bulls in the purebred section, where they won senior bull calf champion, but once word spread that they had won the supreme pen of bulls, the visitors made their way to see what the farm had to offer for practical producers.
“These bulls are representative of the ranchers’ breeding programs,” said judge Harvey Welter, who has his own 150 commercial cow herd and works as a marketing representative for Saskatoon Livestock Marketing.
Uniformity in size and shape was the key among all cattle he placed.
“These are the kinds of bulls we need in the industry,” he said.
If someone is using a multiple bull breeding program, all potential sires need to be as uniform as possible to produce a consistent calf crop. That is what he was looking for among the pens of Angus, Gelbvieh and a multi-breed show.
The multi-breed show of Simmental, Charolais and Hereford was open to those that did not have enough of one breed to have a full show.
The other bull pen alley breed champions included a class of Gelbvieh bulls won by Davidson Gelbvieh of Pontiex, Sask., and the interbreed competition won by Spring Creek Simmentals of Moosomin, Sask.
There were 18 exhibitors with Angus being the largest component of the show.
The grand champion pen of feeder steers and the best pen of feeder heifers went to Bar Crossroads Ranch of Edam, Sask. Chuck Fess of Qu’Appelle, Sask., paid 99 cents per pound for the champion steer pen and Hunter Creek Ranch of Lanigan, Sask., bought the heifers for 89 cents.
The reserve pen of steers was the entry of Perry and Johanna Powell of Killaly, Sask. They sold for 97 cents per lb. to JGL Livestock of Moose Jaw.
Warren and Kim Spears of Alexander, Man., won the reserve pen of feeder heifers and they sold for 84 cents per lb. to Maple Lake Stock Farms.
The top pen of replacement heifers banner went to Garon Pretty of Weyburn, Sask. They sold to Beck Farms of Lang for $690 each. The reserve award went to Windmill Simmentals of Moosomin, Sask., and sold to Westman Farms of Vermilion, Alta., for $750 each.
Stoney Ridge Cattle Co., Southey, Sask., won the grand champion pen of backgrounder steers that sold to JGL for $1.05 per lb. and Reed Andrew of Regina had the reserve pen. They sold for $1.03 to Poundmaker.
The best pen of bred heifers came from Rocking S Ranch of Nokomis, Sask., and sold for $1,175 each to Bill McQueen. Doug Westman had the reserve that sold to Doug McPhee of Vermilion, Alta., for $1,450.
Overall, the average sale prices trended with the current market prices for commercial cattle.
