REGINA – Ted Serhienko exemplifies good humour at Canadian Western Agribition.
With his cigarette hidden between curled fingers, there is always time to share a joke with everyone as he makes his rounds through the Agribition barns.
The Saskatoon-based owner of T Bar C Cattle Co. manages purebred sales across Canada. He said the most recent edition of Agribition brought back the good cattle and better spirits now that trade is resuming with United States.
“This is the best Agribition we’ve had since prior to BSE,” he said at the end of the show he has attended for 37 years.
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“Agribition 2007 has been an overwhelming success in the purebred sector despite the high Canadian dollar and depressed calf prices.”
The U.S. border opened Nov. 19 and although there is some uncertainty about health requirements and paperwork, there were plenty of international visitors checking out the largest winter show in the West after a four year hiatus from trade.
People from the United Kingdom, South America, Ukraine, Russia, the Caribbean and the U.S. created traffic in the barns and made contacts for future deals.
T Bar C managed the Shorthorn, Hereford, Charolais and Limousin sales. All posted high averages and for some like the Shorthorn, bids were higher than sellers expected. For the traditional Scottish breed, that resurgence in popularity is due to its youth segment, said Serhienko.
Each breed has a national junior show that rotates around the country and the Agribition sales include fundraisers to support the youth groups.
Serhienko wants to see more of this kind of support from the livestock industry and government through scholarships and education programs.
“Ninety percent of the children who come through the program become breeders or entrepreneurs. In the big picture, this is where they got their start,” he said.
For Shorthorn breeder Katie Songer, that rings true. As a recent graduate from art school, she is working for a Calgary advertising agency but goes home weekends to take care of her cattle at Rocky Mountain House, Alta.
She noticed plenty of traffic past the stalls and at the sale she had the second high seller, which she did not expect. Her heifer sold for $15,600 to Holt Cattle Co. in Nebraska to start a career as a show heifer.
“It was $10,000 more than I thought it would be,” she said.
This year was the national Shorthorn show at Agribition with more than 200 entries.
The Shorthorn final tally was 41 lots totalling $122,150 with an average price of $2,979. The high seller was from Keith and Bev Hall of Haven Farms, Ont., who sold it for $16,500 to Fantasy Lane Farms in Ontario.
Other T Bar C managed sales included the Charolais and Hereford auctions.
Herefords were back after a 20 year hiatus and sold to a large crowd looking for breeding stock. The sale offered 26 lots that totalled $114,925 and averaged $4,420.
The high seller came from ANL Polled Herefords of Steelman, Sask., who offer a buyer’s pick of the 2008 calf crop. That bid ended at $11,000 from Wooden Shoe Heritage Cattle of Blackfoot, Idaho.
The Charolais sale offered 12 lots and grossed $46,600 to average $3,883.
The high seller was from Wilgenbusch Charolais of Halbrite, Sask., selling a bred female for $8,000 to Perrot-Martin-Bo-Jan Enterprises of Naicam, Sask.
