The warm western wind that blew across the hills of Rudiger Ranch on sale day swept over the end of an era.
After 51 years in the Charolais business, John Rudiger, a Canadian pioneer in the white breed, dispersed his herd of Full French cattle Nov. 18.
Rudiger is known in international cattle circles for his cow wisdom and promotion of Charolais cattle. His final sale at the ranch near Calgary drew friends and colleagues to witness the farewell with a standing ovation.
“No one else in the world has spent 51 years promoting this white breed of cattle,” said Rodney James, retired cattle sales manager and publisher of the Canadian Charolais Banner.
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He joined Rudiger during Charolais’ early days in Canada when the inaugural meeting to form a breed association was held at the Palliser Hotel in Calgary in 1959. The association became an official breed society in 1960.
Rudiger and his wife, Rowana, have attended every landmark Charolais event since the breed arrived in Canada from France.
As retirement looms, both admit they have not decided on the next step, but with a wink and a smile, “J.R.” Rudiger said, “we have a few other considerations.”
They’ve sold cattle all over the world and supplied bulls to the commercial sector.
“We must not forget the commercial ranchers, who are the ones who feed the world,” Rowana said.
During a farewell speech, the Rudigers donated a bronze trophy to the Canadian Charolais Association to be awarded to the grand champion bull at the breed’s national show, this year held at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina.
Rudiger bought his first Charolais in 1958 when he was farming at Cut Knife, Sask.
He sold 50 commercial cattle to buy an interest in seven 15/16 heifers at $1,500 each, another $2,500 for a purebred heifer and $3,500 for a purebred bull named Santa Claus.
He believed the Canadian beef herd needed improvement, but acceptance of big continental cattle was slow.
He took Santa Claus to Agribition, only to discover someone had painted the white bull with black shoe polish.
“We got more publicity out of that than anything else we could have done,” James said. “That was what we were up against then.”
His most memorable import from France was a six-month-old bull named Cadet Roussel. It was among the first imports and arrived in 1967 to become a foundation for his Full French herd. All cattle on Rudiger’s ranch trace directly to French cattle.
The Rudigers moved their operation to a ranch near Calgary in 1968 and joined others to sell Charolais branded beef to upscale Calgary restaurants. However, they abandoned the project when they were unable to provide meat every week.
Rudiger helped form the Saskatchewan Charolais Association in 1963 and served as its president for three years. He is a lifetime member of the American Charolais Association.
Rudiger cattle have won grand championships at all the major Canadian shows and held a record breaking sale in 1974 when 33.25 lots sold for an average price of $10,484.
Volume buyers John and Cathy Chomiak of Mundare, Alta., attended Rudiger’s final sale to honour their friend and maintain some of the muscular Full French genetics in their herd.
“We’re friends with John and we wanted to have some linkage to Rudiger cattle,” John Chomiak said.
“I always learned a lot sitting down with John.”
In total, 64.5 lots were sold for $186,675 and averaged $2,894.
