REGINA – Dennis Ericson has seen cattle from Halifax to Vancouver and
as a popular ring man he spends as many days on the road as he does at
home.
When he is not taking bids from the crowd at a fast-paced purebred
auction, he returns to Get-A-Long Angus ranch at Wetaskiwin, Alta.,
where he and his wife, Shelly, raise 200 red and black Angus cows.
Ericson is a man who loves his work. In the last few years the breeding
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program he and his wife have developed is paying dividends.
This year at Canadian Western Agribition held Nov. 25-30 in Regina,
their ranch sold a two-thirds interest in a red bull calf for $60,000.
Named Red Get-A-Long Linebacker 109, he sold to a five-way partnership
of Ontario and Alberta breeders.
Competitive bidding among four different parties drove up the money,
which will likely be used to pay down their $140,000 feed bill after
they were dried out this summer.
“These kinds of sales do not come as total surprise,” Ericson said.
The calf’s genetics are rare and desirable because the major three
sires in his pedigree are dead.
Ericson is a flamboyant ring man but a serious cattle producer. He and
Shelly raise blacks and reds so customers have a wider choice. Dennis
claims an ulterior motive for selecting Angus 25 years ago before the
breed was fashionable.
“They’re a lazy man’s cattle,” he said.
Calving difficulty is rare, the cattle forage well for themselves and
they are easy to handle, making management easier for his wife when he
is away.
Ericson’s background was in the dairy business, where he learned how to
choose good cows. Fresh out of college, he made the switch to beef
cattle and has never been sorry.
Shelly was from Calgary where she worked in a men’s clothing store. Now
she is president of Get A-Long and runs the farm while Dennis is away.
She was a quick study and kept a diary in their early years of
marriage. Looking back, she realizes how they struggled as they learned
and developed an elite herd.
Their first calf crop consisted of seven bulls and one female, so
expansion plans were slowed and a market had to be found for the bulls.
“The very first year we decided we had to have a goal and sell these
bulls,” he said.
In the early days, a friendly involvement with a Montana breeder helped
move bulls through his production sale.
Now, as a mature operation, Get-A-Long Ranch sells an average of 90
bulls a year. It had not sold anything at public auction for eight
years but returned this year with stellar results.
Besides the Agribition bull, the Ericsons also sold a cow at Red
Roundup in Red Deer earlier this fall for $13,000.
Ericson is convinced no man can achieve results if he works alone. The
entire family must be involved in the work and the decisions.
To build an elite purebred herd, breeders must be willing to spend big.
His first expensive bull cost $32,000. After discussing it with his
wife, all she said was “are you sure?”
The bull turned out to be a good investment and returned their money
many times over with semen sales and progeny.
In this year’s drought conditions in central Alberta, Ericson worried
the annual August production sale would be a financial wreck. If they
had depended on local customers, the situation would have been grim but
buyers came from seven provinces and the sale was a success.
Dealing with all breeds as a ring man, Ericson works hard to remain
neutral because he believes all have something to offer. The business
comes down to respect and honourable people.
“The best thing about the whole purebred business are the purebred
people,” he said.
“If I had to deal with grumpy people every day, I couldn’t stand to be
on the road 150 days.”
