RED DEER – Eric the Red pulls up a mouthful of hay and ignores the onlookers as he chews.
At 2,700 pounds and nine years of age, his owner Rob Davidson believes big, red Charolais bulls of this type are the future. Eric is still sound and still breeding cows, which Davidson sees as a sign of longevity. Canadian cattle producers need this in their cows for extended productivity.
“It is important to build longevity into these girls. Every year will get you out of the red and into the black,” the owner of Willowbrook Charolais of Millerville, Alta., said Dec. 13 during the show at Red Bonanza, a special Charolais event now in its 15th year.
Read Also
Dennis Laycraft to be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame
Dennis Laycraft, a champion for the beef industry, will be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame this fall.
“Longevity will save us. This border is not going to open to older animals.”
Besides white, his Charolais also range in colour from tan to dark red. He finds his red Charolais cross well with red or black Angus, adding mass to the British cattle.
He sold bulls to the United States before the border closed due to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, including a dark red bull to a North Dakota ranch where more than 500 cows roam the range.
These buyers do not find artificial insemination practical because their herds are too large. They need the bulls to walk with the cows.
“If the border was open, I’d have four of these sold,” Davidson said.
Red Bonanza drew a large crowd to Red Deer for the annual show and sale, where only coloured cattle need apply.
Davidson said that when breeders first started developing tan, red and black Charolais , people stared and said, “do you believe it’s real?”
Sales manager Ted Serhienko said Charolais that carry some colour are a serious sector within the traditional white breed. As more people switch to black and red herds, they still need the size that these big French cattle can infuse. The colour is a bonus.
As well, purebred sales have been better than expected, proving there is always a market for quality.
“The good cattle, there is no substitute for them and there is no discount no matter what has gone out,” Serhienko said before the auction started.
Sale prices were steady, without the extreme highs and lows experienced at earlier auctions this fall.
Full possession and three-quarter semen interest were offered for the high-selling bull, a consignment from Ian and Marlene Harvie of Olds, Alta. Born in 2002, the bull sold for $6,500 to Roy and Ericka Schweitzer’s Lazy S Charolais in Beaverlodge, Alta.
The volume buyer was Coldstream Ranch of Vernon, B.C., which bought eight bulls from the selection of 26 young males on offer.
Harvie Ranches bought the top female for $6,000 from Sandan Charolais at Erskine, Alta.
A pure black bred heifer from Gerald and Tina Stone’s BLK Charolais in Madden, Alta., sold for $4,700 to an embryo transfer company in North Dakota.
