If Garth Cutler wasn’t leading one of his prize winning bulls through the sales ring at the Calgary Bull Sale, he was out back in the barns on a cellular phone making deals on cattle.
Cutler is a new breed of purebred cattle producer. He’s a business person who knows how to sell bulls that are carefully selected, predictable genetic packages in demand by purebred beef breeders.
For Cutler and his family this was a particularly good year. Showing Herefords and Simmentals at Calgary, Cutler, his sister Debbie and her husband Cam Sissons walked away with the grand champion bull in both breed shows. It was a respectable showing and a first at this event.
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In the Hereford sale, their grand champion sold for $30,000 to Marvin Seddes of Montana while their champion Simmental fetched $4,500. In total, they sold 16 bulls, eight horned Herefords and eight Simmentals for more than $87,000.
Cutlers have been in the purebred business for almost 60 years. They acquired their European cattle in 1985 when Debbie married into a Simmental family. For this family, running a British herd and a European herd that includes black Simmentals from the United States made good sales sense.
“It’s our diversification plan,” said Debbie.
It’s a complete family operation that includes their mother Beret Cutler right down to Debbie’s toddlers, Laramie and Shelby. Everyone works overtime to raise 180 Hereford cows and 75 Simmental cows. The farms are called Circle G Simmentals and Cutler Herefords.
They find the two breeds complement one another and offer a wider variety of genetics to their customers, who are commercial and seedstock producers.
While the show ring can be a large part of promotion within the purebred business, for the Cutlers it’s not nearly as important as producing the right kind of beef bulls for the commercial industry.
“We don’t breed show cattle, we show our breeding cattle,” Garth said.
“We like to be on the move and keep one step ahead. We have a lot of repeat customers and they come back every year and they don’t want a bull like the one they had last year,” said Debbie.
They have a production sale every second year and have sold animals to buyers all over North America.
In a year following some of the lowest cattle prices in 20 years, Garth sees the Calgary sale as the beginning of an upturn.
“A lot of people put off buying bulls last year but they came to buy this year,” he said.
While they’re in the business of selling bulls, they focus on high maternal traits which are known to be highly heritable qualities.
They aim for structurally correct, uniform calves with a moderate frame.
“One thing that’s really worked well for our operation is using sons from our best cows,” Garth said.
“You know exactly what you’re going to have in the end.”
Meat quality is another focus and with the growing resurgence of British cattle as better beef animals, they expect established breeds like Herefords to renew their popularity.
