Canadian Salers breeders think it’s time the livestock industry took another look at their cattle.
Thirty years after Salers first appeared in Canada, their numbers still are not large.
At this year’s Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, the national show was one of the smallest with about 50 entries. Twelve animals sold in the sale for a total of $27,550.
Sandy Lake Salers of Lakehurst, Ont., consigned the high seller, a red horned fullbood female that sold to Cleopatra Salers of Springside, Sask., for $3,400.
Kathy Liesemer, an Alberta breeder who also works in the Salers Association of Canada office in Calgary, was pleased with the interest shown in the breed during the show.
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“There are certain stigmas we’re fighting against,” she said. “We’re making progress.”
Those stigmas include a problem several years ago with beta-mannosidosis. That concern has been eliminated following an effort by the national association to eliminate the problem of calves that wouldn’t suckle. Blood testing guarantees registered animals are not carriers of the condition.
As well, Liesemer said some earlier breeders didn’t cull for frame size and temperament.
“A lot of speculators knew this was going to be a very popular thing,” she said. “There were animals that shouldn’t have been sold as breeding animals.”
The current crop of breeders hopes to change that and re-establish Salers as a breed of choice.
Salers are considered one of the oldest European breeds. Near the town of Salers, in central France, 7,000-year-old cave drawings include the cattle distinctive for their lyre-shaped horns.
The Auvergne region is mountainous, with a harsh climate. When Salers came to Canada they adapted well.
Originally, Salers were horned and raised primarily to produce milk for cheese. They were the traditional mahogany red in colour.
Today, they can be polled and black or sandy in colour.
“They were fairly framey, a more European-style exotic with longer legs,” Liesemer said. “The economics in North America make a smaller, more moderately framed animal with less leg more desirable.”
Natural marbling, little back fat and the presence of the tenderness gene are positive carcass traits, she said, adding that carcass productivity is 62 percent.
Calves have small heads and sloping shoulders for easy births.
The Salers pigmentation also results in fewer eye and udder problems.
Liesemer said there are probably a lot of Salers-influenced cattle in commercial herds.
The association is developing Salers-specific Canadian Cattle Identification Agency tags as a way to get a handle on the numbers.
Canadian breeders have exported to Mexico, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. A Russian organization recently agreed to purchase some Canadian Salers through a genetics export company.
And at Agribition, a lot of people took information from the association booth, which was located in a high-traffic area between two better known breeds.
“Maybe we’re starting on our upward curve,” Liesemer said.
“Maybe it’ll be our turn next.”
