REGINA – For someone who would prefer to stay home and farm, attending a few major shows each year has paid off for Ken Lewis and his Simmental family.
Lewis owns Lewis Simmentals at Spruce Grove, Alta., where the family raises 800 purebred cows. He admits the Canadian Western Agribition show and sale in Regina has been a good promotion campaign for his 30 year old breeding program.
“Our main deal is showing bulls,” he said.
Showing is a way to advertise the farm’s bull battery before a wider clientele, although Lewis is not as active on the show circuit as some, preferring to build quality, consistent cattle for a large base of commercial customers.
Read Also
Phosphate prices to remain high
Phosphate prices are expected to remain elevated, according to Mosaic’s president.
This year the Lewises brought 10 cattle, of which seven were bulls. They earned enough show points to be named premier breeder at the Agribition show Nov. 23.
Overall, the Lewis operation won grand and reserve grand champion bulls, senior and reserve champion bulls, junior champion bull and reserve senior division calf champion female. That particular straight black female was one of the top sellers at the sale, when it fetched $8,000 from Derek Westman of Vermilion, Alta.
This year the family is holding its 21st bull sale at the end of February and will sell about 200 bulls to a wide array of repeat, commercial buyers.
“We have a high percentage of repeat buyers. It’s easier to look after customers you have than finding new ones,” he said after the sale.
The farm includes Lewis’s wife Corrie and their children, his sister and brother-in-law, Larry and Sandy Buba, and their family, as well as his father Jack Lewis.
The family got its start with the breed when it began to artificially inseminate commercial cows in the early 1970s with Simmental semen and liked the results.
Ken said the family got into the cattle business to get rid of cull potatoes from its 800 acre commercial seed potato operation. The potatoes are part of a five-year rotation where they work in wheat and barley for silage for the cattle.
The Simmental experience was also positive for other breeders coming to Regina.
The grand champion female was from Lundago Livestock and Tim Matthews of Olds, Alta. This cow with calf at side also won the supreme crown at Farmfair International in Edmonton.
The reserve champion female came from 3D Simmentals at Lumsden, Sask.
The top seller at the sale came from Robb Farms Ltd. of Prince Albert, Sask. It sold a solid red, polled bred female for $15,000 to Shologan Stock Farm of Rochester, Alta.
The sale average on 41 lots was $3,640.
