Jim Wildeman has sold everything from booze to bulls.
His ranch, Wild Bear Herefords at Okotoks, Alta., won this year’s Calgary Bull Sale reserve grand champion banner earlier this month.
The animal later sold for $7,000 to Brad Dallas of Bowden, Alta., and Bar N Herefords of Turner Valley, Alta.
It was a good day for a man who has been in sales since he was 12 years old, selling sides of beef to neighbours for $5 a pound commission. He has been working hard selling beef off the farm where he has raised Herefords since 1989. His six bulls averaged $5,117 at the Calgary sale.
Read Also
VIDEO: British company Antler Bio brings epigenetics to dairy farms
British company Antler Bio is bringing epigenetics to dairy farms using blood tests help tie how management is meeting the genetic potential of the animals.
He was not as nervous as some heading into sale day despite lower bull entries and buyer numbers.
“I knew they were going to sell. I wasn’t sure what they were going to sell for,” he said after the sale.
Wildeman the salesman got busy two weeks before the sale and called past customers to remind them he would be at Calgary with bulls to sell.
“We didn’t have any superstars, but we didn’t have any bottom end either,” he said.
Five of the six bulls were half brothers from the same sire, which has already earned Wildeman more than $60,000 in semen sales.
“We sold a brother to these guys last year for $10,000 US to Nebraska. If the American thing had been open, I’m sure I would have had a lot of American interest,” he said.
In addition to his purebred operation, he and his wife, Wendy, started a beef business. Adhering to the sales trick that location is everything, he is taking advantage of being near a large urban population.
“We get 600 people a day going by our farmgate,” he said.
The beef is pure Hereford raised with no growth hormones. It is custom processed and inspected at a local abattoir.
“I can’t raise enough, so this year we bought 50 more to add to our own.”
All sales so far have been word of mouth and he has already sold 12 head that won’t be ready for slaughter until November.
“People want to know about what they’re eating and will pay extra. We charge a premium,” he said.
The cattle go out on grass and are finished off with some grain. They are slaughtered between 18 and 20 months of age.
Wildeman grew up on a farm in British Columbia and was a liquor salesman with his own brokerage company until six years ago. He has also sold cattle mineral supplements and eventually bought his farm at Okotoks where he now sells seedstock and beef full time.
“I’ll always be selling something,” he said.
