LANGENBURG, Sask. – It isn’t long after Leo Fuhr pulls into the pasture that most of the 143 cows, 144 calves and a couple of bulls crowd around his truck.
Several stick their heads right up to his open window. Some use the truck as a scratching post, gently rocking it against their necks and shoulders.
The cattle arrived at the pasture about 25 kilometres north of Churchbridge, Sask., this spring, the culmination of three years of hard work and the fulfillment of Fuhr’s dream to establish a community cattle herd.
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The former dairy farmer, who with his son now runs about 300 head in a cow-calf operation, believes a community operation is the only way young farmers can get started.
“It’s not for us old guys,” he said. “For me, it’s not the dollars and cents. It’s the joy of seeing what happens and being part of that joy.
“Sure, you still have to make a dollar, but you get the whole thing.”
For Fuhr, the whole thing is what’s happening in the pasture on a July day – sun beaming down, a slight breeze blowing, wildflowers blooming, birds singing and black cattle grazing on thick green grass.
It doesn’t get much better than this, he said.
The idea of starting a community cattle herd – with a view to later expanding it to 3,000 head, establishing a feedlot and perhaps a slaughter plant – began when he noticed much of the farmland in the area being picked up by just a couple of farmers. Young people were moving away, and those who wanted to farm couldn’t afford the start-up cost.
Fuhr believes the livestock sector has a stronger future than grain, especially in the northern part of the Rural Municipality of Churchbridge in eastern Saskatchewan.
The land is dotted with bushes, potholes and sloughs, and a lot of it is owned or leased by Ducks Unlimited Canada. DU and the Langenburg group eventually struck a deal to graze on six quarters of DU land.
For a while Fuhr didn’t think his idea would fly. People had different views of how a community venture should proceed and some backed away.
“I think back on some of those meetings. I was so frustrated I thought ‘why am I doing this?’ ” Fuhr said.
In the end, 11 local people formed the Blackbird Cattle Partnership, soon to be incorporated as Sunrise Cattle Corp. Each contributed $2,500 to buy bulls and fencing. They were then each responsible to purchase 13 bred cows at $1,200 a head.
They bought Black Angus herds from Kelvington, Sask., and Beausejour, Man., choosing the breed for the cows’ mothering ability.
Those who could pay cash did; those who needed financing went through the Beaver Hills Feeder Co-operative under the provincial government’s loan guarantee program.
“We can roll the calves over and get cash to pay for wintering the cows and feeding the calves,” said Fuhr.
One of the younger investors will be wintering the cows. The calves will be weaned, backgrounded for the winter and preferably finished for slaughter at the new Natural Valley Farms facility at Neudorf, Sask.
Fuhr said producing natural beef is a key to being competitive. Consumers want that type of product and are willing to pay for it.
Although the venture is just beginning, Fuhr believes the partners will make some changes. For example, they are using five bulls with mainly Simmental blood, chosen because the breed performed well in feedlots.
But they may switch to Angus or Angus cross bulls to reduce size.
“We’ll wait to see what (the calves) look like in the spring,” Fuhr said. The cows will calve in April.
All members of the corporation have an equal say in the decisions, although one is in charge of moving them from pasture to pasture.
Fuhr’s ultimate goal is to have enough young people involved that the entire community benefits. It’s also a way for grain farmers to enter the livestock business without getting manure on their boots, he said.
A public share offering in a couple of years would offer the investment opportunity to everyone. He’s already getting calls from around the province, but said the Langenburg group can’t expand too far right now.
“We have to put our own community first and foremost.”
