Fullbloods gain popularity | Lloydminster rancher says his herd a result of years of breeding
REGINA — In the sea of black and red Simmentals, a few traditional red and whites bobbed up.
Fullblood cattle are the backbone of Black Gold Simmentals at Lloydminster.
“That is what all our bull buyers wanted,” said Ryley Noble.
He led out a yearling bull that sold for $16,000 to Lee Robson of Lockhart Simmentals of Rimbey, Alta., at Canadian Western Agribition held in Regina Nov. 19-24.
The Nobles were pleased to see the bull do so well at the sale because fullbloods often take a back seat to the solid black or red cattle.
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“In our area, the demand is for fullblood cattle,” said Randy Noble, father of Ryley, 16, and Toby, 14. “In order to find good fullblood cattle there are not as many people raising them,” he said.
The family has about 60 fullbloods and 30 red and black types. Fullbloods trace directly back to Europe and have not been crossed with other breeds. All the cows are artificially inseminated on the farm to keep them pure.
The Noble family got involved with the new breed as soon as it arrived in Canada more than 40 years ago.
“Back then, Simmentals were really spotted cattle with white and red and we were always excited when we got these different looking calves,” said Randy.
They also added more growth to their herd of Hereford based cattle. They were sold on the new imports.
“They just had way more performance.”
However, the cattle also had to be adapted to Canadian conditions.
South African fullblood imports were trendy for a time, but they did not have good hair coats for prairie conditions.
“It did bring in a new gene pool and that is what we are always looking for, something different,” Randy said.
“It has taken a lot of years of breeding to get the kind of cattle that we want to raise and that are good for the commercial side because that is what it is all about, raising bulls that can go out and puts lots of pounds on the calves,” said Randy.
