Applecross Cattle Presents: Our 2026 ‘Shades of Fall’ Heifers

Applecross Cattle Presents: Our 2026 ‘Shades of Fall’ Heifers

We are absolutely delighted to present 7 bred heifers for consideration at Shades of Fall 2026, on October 10th at 1pm at Beechinor Land & Livestock, near Bentley, Alberta.   Now in our 3rd year as part of the Shades group,  it remains an honour to market with three fellow breeders to put the Shades sale together.  We all have similar breeding philosophies and share a passion for digging deep into pedigrees and have a clear eye about what we like in cattle.  In short, Shades is an opportunity to peruse cattle from four different operations that all fit together seamlessly!

When thinking about our selections this year, they could simply be summed up in a phrase: ‘similar yet different’.  Our goal is to develop genetics that are similar in type, while also providing slightly different genetics.  The polled Fleckvieh gene pool remains very shallow, so we continue to look for ways to develop distinct genetic lines while ensuring the quality goes deep.  We pride ourselves on our cow families, and most of our heifers showcase the APLX prefix generations into their respective extended pedigrees.  Unlike the excessive rain that fell to the north of us here in Alberta, 2026 was another year of drought here at Applecross, with our sloughs empty and pastures essentially now done for the year.   We are quite happy with our how our Flecks continue to hold their condition, and as such will require only a little TLC to prep for sale day.

All seven of our sale heifers have been bred to our heifer bull, FSMB Millenium 13M.  A Gold Trigger x Magnum x Dirty Harry, Millenium combines a proven pedigree with a very successful 2026 calf crop, that arrived both early and easily.  His calves have been solid colour, heavily pigmented, show good growth and are well represented in both our heifer and bull development pens, so it was an easy decision to use on our entire bred heifer group.  The girls have all been pregnancy tested, with the vet feeling all are safe to calve early in their respective breeding windows.  

Individual pages  have been created for each of ‘Wynonna’, ‘Dazzle’, ‘Lila’, ‘Audrey’, ‘Sierra’, ‘Faydra’ and ‘Beyonce’.  Short-cut links are on the right – or simply enter their names in the search bar at the top of our home page – and their page will pop up.  On the individual pages, we have also pictured their sires, dams and siblings. We try to take a camera with us on pasture tours – and while not always ‘professional quality’, hopefully sharing pictures provides a better glimpse into the extended pedigree.

Perhaps the biggest change in 2026 is our new sales management team in Atlas Livestock.  While the name is new, the people aren’t.  We have worked with Cody, Darren and Glen for many years, with Cody being one of the driving forces behind creating the inaugural ‘Shades’ event.  We don’t make change lightly, and we certainly have appreciated our long tenure with Jay Good and Transcon.

Please join us for some unique ‘Shades Hospitality’ on Saturday, both before and after the sale, when it will be great to visit and view cattle at the BLL Sales Facility near Bentley.    Please check out our social media on Facebook and Instagram (@aplxcattle) for more details on each of our sale animals.  If you have any questions about our heifers or our program, please do not hesitate to contact us.  We look forward to visiting with you on Canadian Thanksgiving week-end!