REGINA – Herefords have always been in fashion for the Reid family of Saskatoon.
A five generation dedication to the white-faced breed has resulted in the family owning the longest running herd under the same surname in Canada.
A family in the Maritimes has had registered Herefords longer but under different surnames.
“When we have grandkids, I assure you they will be Hereford members,” said David Reid, whose family was honoured for its 121 years in the business at a Nov. 25 luncheon held during Canadian Western Agribition.
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The Canadian Hereford Association organized the luncheon to recognize long-term members and mark 150 years in Canada.
Agribition was held this year in Regina from Nov. 21-27.
David’s great-great-grandfather immigrated from northern England and settled at Holstein, Ont. He registered his first Herefords in 1889 from seed stock bought from F.W. Stone, the first person to import Herefords from England in 1860.
The family homesteaded at Moosomin, Northwest Territories, in 1904, continuing the Hereford tradition under the farm name The Cliffs. The Reids still use the original tattoo, THR, for David’s great-grandfather, Thomas Henry Reid.
David’s father, Grant, showed at the second Agribition and the family has rarely missed the event since it started in 1971.
The Hereford breed once outnumbered all other purebreds by a ratio of three to one in Canada.
However, it has been affected by depressed cattle markets, high interest rates and the rise of the Angus breed and its powerhouse beef marketing program, which shifted demand from red and white cattle to blacks.
David and two of his three children, Kurtis and Kaitlyn, don’t plan to switch breeds or stop farming.
“In our opinion, Hereford cattle are the best,” said Kurtis, a senior at West Texas A &M University. “We want sound females that work in any kind of environment.”
He is studying animal science and plans to start his own farm after graduation.
Kaitlyn is enrolled in the University of Lethbridge public health program. She is also president of the Canadian Junior Hereford Association, a position Kurtis held in 2007.
They have 30 cows that are placed on friends’ pastures because the family lives in Saskatoon.
David works for the Royal Bank, which transferred the family eight times while the children were growing up.
However, that did not stop them from staying involved in the junior program.
“We travelled to every province in Canada with the kids when they were showing in the junior shows,” David said.
Added Kurtis: “Dad was actually at the first Bonanza and so we have had two generations at Bonanza.”
David participated in 1980 when the national junior shows started. Kurtis attended his last national event in Quebec last year.
He also traveled to Denmark where he judged cattle when he was 16.
