2025 Shades of Fall Sale Report
2025 Shades of Fall Sale Report (and other fall thoughts around all things cattle)
It was another absolutely gorgeous Canadian Thanksgiving week-end to hold the 2nd Annual ‘Shades of Fall’ Simmental Sale at Beechinor Land & Livestock on Saturday, October 11th. Sunny skies and unseasonably warm weather led up to sale time, with a winter squall moving in to close the doors during the sale itself. The abrupt change in weather didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of bidders, as 40.5 lots of Fleckvieh and Red Simmental females grossed an impressive $757,500 for a smashing $18,950 average.
It is perhaps fitting to start the sales write up with a bit of an explanation on the 0.5 lot. Lot 3 ‘BLL Echo 410M’ was an intriguing opportunity to acquire 50% interest with no possession of a unique top end female. She was a massively volumed heifer wrapped up in a genetic package that combined performance with the ability to moderate birthweight. The ‘Unbelievable’ cow family behind ‘Echo’ just happened to be one that we had previously sampled twice. In 2013, we selected BEE Vendetta 243Z, a direct Unbelievable x Viper daughter from Equation, who continues to leave a lasting legacy here though her daughters. We tapped this same cow family again in 2023 when we added a maternal brother to Echo in ‘Tombstone’ to our bull battery. With so much ‘Unbelievable’ influence already in our own herd, it was especially fun to notice all the interest and buzz with the opportunity to acquire an interest in ‘Echo’. We talked to a number of interested parties leading up to sale day, all of whom were intrigued by the possibility of partnering with BLL on this amazing female. Some weren’t even Simmental breeders! At the end of the day, it was Circle E Farm from Lucedale, Mississippi who bid a whopping $50,000 for 50% of Echo. Wow! It was great to get to know Genry and Heather Ellison of Circle E over the past couple years as they have toured around Central AB. They have invested heavily in top end genetics while also showcasing their own at the Magnolia Classic in Mississippi each fall. It will be exciting to see them be part of future sales closer to home in AB!
Throughout the afternoon, the sale alternated between each consignor and wove the red heifers into a couple of groups between the Flecks. (Not that I know anything about red cattle, but…) My personal pick of the Red Top string was lot 20 – a really nice Walk the Line daughter that was selected by East Point Cattle Corp for $23,000. The Century string was also impressive, with their lot 32, Century Lulu 339L, leading off their offering. This big broody Magnum daughter was backed by Gudas and Crude from the great Virigina Ranch herd, and will be headed State-side as once again Circle E Farm stepped up with the acquisition of another great female. In all, it was awesome to see our fellow consignors have tremendous days!
All six of our Applecross heifers were very well received, and we couldn’t be happier with the great operations that they will now call home. Starting in the East, Bovey Family Farms, from Elginburg, ON, were successful in acquiring Lot 26 Applecross Diva. We met Kevin and Suzanne Bovey during the World Congress tours last summer, and since then they have been on a bit of a whirlwind. They have become new consignors in the Quebec Simmental Week-end, and have travelled back to Alberta multiple times. It was really nice to see them offer up some pretty impressive cattle in Quebec only a few weeks prior to Shades 2025, and then get to see them again on sale day. DJ Farms selected our Lot 31 heifer, Applecross Lexi, so she also enjoyed a long truck ride to southwestern Ontario to join another progressive purebred herd just north of London. To Manitoba went our high seller – Applecross Tessa – to Blue Zone Livestock; Andre and Danica Mangin at St Alphonse. Tessa has settled in well, and I am confident she will be treated like the queen she thinks she is! Logan of Ruszkowski Farms near Prince Albert has been active buying Fleckvieh heifers across the Country this fall and also added Lot 27, Applecross Dior to his collection. Closer to home, Mark Mryglod from Calmar selected Lot 30, Applecross Cindy, to start his papered Fleckvieh herd – having the next generation of Fleckvieh enthusiasts dive into the industry is always a great sign! And finally, Justin Wagner, Wagner Livestock, added our lot 28, Applecross Flora heifer that perhaps had the most impressive EPDs of our entire group. It was also really neat to see Justin purchase another heifer from us as 4 years ago he also acquired ‘Applecross Carly’ from Equation 2021. New buyers or repeat customers, it is always awesome when they find homes with quality purebred and commercial cattle operations.
In addition to the above noted high-sellers, I thought we would share some additional thoughts on the second edition of Shades of Fall:
- I have heard it said that the 2nd sale year is always the toughest. Year one brings out lots of buyers and interested parties to ‘see what is new’ and to ‘support new ventures’, whereas year two typically needs to stand on its own without the ‘good will’ a new sale may start with. We can certainly give credit to a record setting live cattle market, as the ‘2nd year dip’ certainly didn’t happen. I think a lot of that relates back to the quality cattle brought together by our fellow consignors. Stefon, Ben & Jessie all share my passion for digging deep into pedigrees and having a certain eye about what they like in cattle. It certainly seems to blend together nicely on sale day!
- Not to make the sale group sound like a business book, but our group does bring to mind one of my favourite work maxims: ‘surround yourself with people who make you better’. There are many different version of this ‘quote’ (and who it is attributed to) but all have the same theme. There are tremendous advantages to life when you surround yourself with people that want to lift each other up, see mutual success, have similar ambitions, and provide support when things don’t necessarily go right. We are fortunate to have found that with the sales group!
- A sales group that aligns and pitches in together is a wonderful thing for us smaller breeders. It takes all four consignors in the Shades group to ‘add up the numbers’ to what larger breeders can potentially do on their own. While in some vein, we could be considered ‘competitors’ with each other, all chasing the same buyers dollars, it is my preference to view each other more as friends and colleagues that are all trying to be successful and move the breed forward. Seeing our sale partners be successful only strengthens the industry, and by working together on sale prep and hospitality, it allows us to do more than what we could each do on our own. (This is probably also a topic I should dig into deeper on a future blog post!)
- It has been a wild ride in the cattle market. I am not sure even the biggest optimist would have seen calf and commercial bred heifer prices hit the stratospheric level that they have this fall. With my off-farm job being an ‘Ag Banker’ I can’t help but shift to a bit of a business outlook on where the market is headed. If I have learned one thing over my career, it is that ‘good times’ in Agriculture never last. So there will be a correction coming – and probably sooner than anyone realizes. Whenever I hear people talking about a ‘new normal’ it makes me nervous. Agriculture is a commodity driven business, and the beef market can be shaped by many factors – not just the North American cow herd (hello Argentina bail out!) So I do expect that there will be a market correction at some point. As to when? If I knew that, I wouldn’t be a banker – I’d be investing all my market winnings in more cattle!
- When times are great, everyone has their own priorities, depending on their own individual life stage. Some people look to expand / refresh the herd; others that may be more mature maybe look to downsize or exit the industry while it is at a high. Everyone has their own business to run and life to live (and debt levels to be comfortable with!), but I thought for interest sake, I’d share what our priorities were this year, and a little bit of the ‘why’ behind the decisions:
- Culled at least the bottom 20% of our herd.
- We have been able to achieve this goal for each of the past 5 years. It has meant some tough decisions, and also impacted cash flow by retaining (or buying) more bred heifers to add to the herd in order to keep our numbers stable. The good news is that we are much happier with the herd, and that we have been able to move it in a direction that firmly aligns with our vision. And our vision is to walk a group of 50 amazing cows. Ideally, any of whom who could produce high selling progeny on any given year. I do look forward to a point – hopefully not too far away – when our annual cull rate is a more sustainable and idealistic 10% annually – but there are always reasons (type, feet, udders, fertility among them) that keep getting in the way of us achieving this goal. Cull cows are also at market highs, so it has been a great opportunity to keep the herd young while also keeping numbers stable.
- Feed Buffer
- We are very short moisture. We have lived here now for (almost) 20 years, and It is the driest we have ever seen it. For those that haven’t been to our place, we typically have 30 acres of sloughs across our half section – all of which are now dry. We ended last winters’ feeding cycle with only half a dozen hay bales remaining in our yard. We were fortunate in 2025 that there were enough timely rains through out the growing season that feed was plentiful in Central AB before the rain stopped again in early August. As a result, we did invest in additional feed for the current year, and while our herd numbers have held stable, we acquired an extra 20% over our typical feed stocks. Surplus feed allows me to sleep better in May – and also gives more flexibility in case the 2026 season continues a trend towards drought and grass becomes short. One thing farmers can’t control is when it rains. So feed is at the top of our list when it comes to peace of mind.
- Infrastructure
- One of the challenges in the cow-calf sector is labour. It is incredibly tough to scale – you always need people to calve out cows vs the crop sector where they can typically add more acres without more people – so part of our annual process is to ‘improve’ our working conditions and the infrastructure we need to work cattle. Last year it was the young bull development area – this year it was the heifers that got some love. Re-investing in the physical premises makes work easier while also improving cow-comfort. As my dad would have said “If you aren’t fixing it up, it’s falling down” or “a man can’t work without tools”, and “if you love your work, it’s play”; so every year we prioritize a list of ‘what we can do to make things work better’ and depending on the year (and the budget) we try to complete at least one improvement.
- Upcoming herd bull season.
- Herd bull season should be interesting. It looks (maybe) like the North American cow herd is finally expanding. This means more cows/heifers that should need bulls. Also, with meat prices high, the market for cull bulls is incredibly strong. The flip side is that with 8-weight calves bringing $4k+ this fall, a lot of potential bull calves went straight to feedlots. So it will be very interesting to see what the confluence of supply and demand looks like next spring. If the last few years are any indication – elite bulls will be priced at a premium – so we will need to be prepared to dig extra deep should we find a new herd bull that fits all of our selection criteria.
- Which brings me to a related point. As difficult as it is sometimes on sale day, I can do without ‘one more heifer’ but I can’t do without ‘one more bull’ next spring. We are certainly looking to add females this fall. It just needs to be both something that adds to our herd (while being different in genetic make-up) and fits within our budget. At the end of the day, saving bullets for a potentially very expensive herd bull in 2026 is the priority. (editors note: we did get a really sweet heifer bought at Lone Stone though! And with our legacy of consigning there, always try to ‘have options’ at Equation!)
- Culled at least the bottom 20% of our herd.
- With our sale heifers now all in their new homes, our thoughts have drifted toward calving and bull sale season. Calving 2025 will be dominated by our walking bulls – our new heifer bull, FSMB Millenium 12M (Gold Trigger x Magnum), BLL Tombstone 223K (Great Guns Wyatt x Titanium) and the last calf crop from Virginia Journey 509K (Synergy x Radison). We unfortunately lost Journey just after breeding season, and with no frozen in reserve, it will represent his last set of calves. On the flip side, it is always exciting (if a little nerve-racking) to introduce a new herd bull in Millenium. He travelled well from Quebec, and was put right to work with both heifers and a good cross section of cows. It is always fun to see how the genetic possibilities line up – I just always cross my fingers when introducing a new heifer bull!
- After a three to one bull to heifer calf ratio, I am really happy how our bull pen is coming together. With 30-some bull calves to choose from, we whittled that number down to an even dozen for further development. Calf prices were so high, it simply didn’t make economic sense to keep more – and there still may be one or two that may not make the final cut. As Jeanne keeps reminding me ‘we wanted to be in a position to have to make tough choices’ and have been rewarded with how they have transitioned since weaning. We always select for the pen and then complete the genetic testing (to try and offset at least some of my biases), so it is rather neat to have testing back and some cool dudes shaping up well for early March.
- Our bull group skews towards ‘heifer bulls’ this year, with roughly half the bulls being candidates for use on either heifers or first calvers. We are hopeful that the combination of some calving ease while still very much looking the part of ‘herd bulls’ combine to form the right mix come sale day!
- I always get asked about Jeanne’s favourite in the bull pen. This year it is a rotating cast of favourites, as multiple of her ‘veto heifers’ from over the years, gave us awesome bull calves. So today she’ll go with ‘Bam Bam’. We’ve both been Blue Jay’s fans since the Exhibition Stadium era (yes, we are that old), and one of our early dates was to see the Jays via the 5th deck at Skydome in the early 1990’s. Their run this fall was sure exciting, and to celebrate we thought we should have a ‘Bam Bam’ (named after ‘Barger’) which narrowly won out over naming him ‘Bichette’!
- While a smaller group again this year, I do like my heifers…they are coming along nicely as well, and we hope to potentially have 8-10 to offer at Shades 2026. Journey’s, Battleborn’s and Tombstone’s make up the sire groups and they are already a very uniform bunch with style for miles!
- With that, it brings me back full circle to Shades 2025. We were blessed to have Jeanne’s sister and brother-in-law join us for the sale (and Thanksgiving week-end). My mom was also able to attend. With a lifetime spent developing Dora Lee alongside my dad, it may be a surprise to many, but this is the first time my mom has been able to watch Applecross Cattle sell at auction. So it was a treat to have her join us, and reminisce about some of the early ‘Fleckvieh Forum’ sales in Ontario, that coincidently enough, featured the same auctioneer in Dan Skeels – great fun, and absolutely awesome to have her join us!
I can’t close without saying a few words about Transcon, our Sales Management team. Jay, Cody, Glen and Darren always do a quality, professional job – and spend significant amounts of time on the phone – talking – while walking animals out of their pens to check feet, and allow buyers to select animals with confidence. Sales Management remains a long term gig – if a prospective buyer on order isn’t happy with their purchase they won’t be back. It is foundational to have mutual trust in a Sales Management team, and we have that with Transcon.
It was another great day to present Applecross cattle at auction, and we are honoured by the compliments received on our cattle from all the bidders and buyers that took interest in our program. You never know with a new sale venture, or what each year may bring – so it was very rewarding to have an absolutely smashing day. We look forward to trying to showcase our ongoing efforts to produce high-quality genetics that we can share with the industry.
Until next time,
Dennis
Applecross and the Six: Our 2025 ‘Shades of Fall’ Heifers
We are delighted to present six bred heifers at the 2nd annual Shades of Fall Simmental Female Sale on October 11th at 1pm a the Beechinor Land & Livestock Sale Facility, located near Bentley Alberta. Last years’ first event was a smashing success and we look forward to once again joining together with some of our favourite people in the industry to create an awesome sale line up!
This year we are excited to showcase two new sire groups. As smaller breeders it is rare that we purchase two new walking bulls in the same year, but that is just what happened back in 2023. That spring, we were successful in acquiring both BLL Tombstone 223K and Virginia Journey 509K only a week apart. Both are from highly regarded breeding programs that we know very well, and are backed by pedigrees that we have followed for many years. Multi-generations of strong cow families lead to bulls that produce consistent progeny, and both ‘Unbelievable’ and ‘Willows Jade’ are maternal lines that we have long admired.
As shared in the footnotes, Tombstone is a bull we first saw during a summer pasture tour. Even as a six month old calf, he caught our eye. Early maturity, and a very strong ‘presence’, allowed us to track him from across the pasture. I have always thought that the best purebred cattle have a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ (I don’t know what) about them, that is hard to describe. Stage presence. An “it’ factor. Eye Appeal. However you want to describe it, Tombstone certainly caught our attention, and became a target to acquire from the Beechinor bull sale. Through two calf crops, his calves are easy to pick out and his heifers, showcased by ‘Diva’ and ‘Dior’ also exhibit that incredible eye appeal.
Journey was another easy decision – but one we weren’t sure we’d get done. A year previous we had circled another Synergy x Radison son, ‘Full-Tilt’, in our catalogue, only to finish a few bids shy to the astute duo of MAVV Farms & Brian Miller. So in 2023, it was super cool to find ‘Journey’ who exhibited that same balance of moderate calving with thickness and muscling. The cherry on top was the cow family deeper in the pedigree, which showcased generations of predictable quality. The Synergy-Radison combination has also proven to be incredibly popular as a female maker, and we think you’ll find those same traits in ‘Tessa’, ‘Cindy’ and ‘Lexi’.
Not to be overlooked, is our youngest heifer ‘Flora’ who was also sired by one of our walking bulls in Black Gold Battleborn 44H. Battleborn is now deceased, but was a proven curve-bender for us. We were comfortable using him on heifers (before he got too big), while his calves consistently pushed the scale down at weaning, and have been readily accepted at auction. Our ask of our herd bulls is simple. Move our herd forward. And with Battleborn’s first daughters now weaning off their 2nd set of calves, we are confident that he has done that. Nice tidy udders and some punch would define our Battleborn cows.
Our breeding philosophy continues to focus on strong maternal lines across the group, with deep extended pedigrees to ensure quality and consistency. While we try to acquire at least one outcross female each fall, all six of our heifers this year are backed by dams carrying the APLX tattoo, often multi-generations deep. The heifers have been double vaccinated, and have been pregnancy tested to the dates listed. Individual pages (short-cut links are on the right – or simply enter their names in the search bar to find them), have been created for each of ‘Diva’, ‘Dior’, ‘Flora’, ‘Tessa’, ‘Cindy’ and ‘Lexi’. On the individual pages, we have also pictured their sires, dams and siblings – hopefully, sharing pictures will provide a better glimpse into the extended pedigree.
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 newly renovated 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!
The Return of ‘Blue Sky Thinking’
We are nicely home from our annual spring vacation. It is something I touched upon back in 2012’s ‘Blue Sky Thinking‘ and, thirteen years later, thought it was a subject worth revisiting and expanding on. Once a year, we try to do one ‘get away’ vacation that has nothing to do with cattle, banking or dance. For us, the week that seems to fit our schedule best is one in late April – a time when our 12 week sprint of calving and bull sale season is wrapped up, Jeanne’s annual dance exams have been completed, the herd bulls are out, and the cows are in a state where they can hopefully be left alone for most of a week.
It continues to be incredibly important for us to get away from the farm for a short time every year. And it is something that I don’t think many farmers/ranchers take seriously enough. For Canadians, our laws dictate that after 1 year of full time employment, all employees are entitled to a minimum of 2 weeks vacation. After 5 years employment, this entitlement increases to 3 weeks. Specifically for those farmers with livestock, I would hazard a guess that it is extraordinarily rare to take a week off, let alone two (or three). Livestock need constant care and attention – and typically there is also a certain pride and dedication in our profession. I’ve had clients incredibly proud of the fact that they milked cows the morning after their wedding! Having chosen to own and operate a farm, many people may have trouble accepting that they still need a break from the life they chose, and thus feel ‘guilty’ for finding vacation coverage, even if it is just for a few days. We all have neighbours and friends that don’t mind being helpful – it just may seem like a big ask when we are all so used to being self sufficient. It is not always easy to arrange, but we have been deliberate in trying to ensure we have an annual vacation.
One of the biggest challenges of being a farmer is that 9 times out of 10 (or 99 times out of 100), farmers literally live, work and sleep at their place of business. Our work is so intertwined with life. And while there are some tremendous advantages (raising a family in the country, living in a rural area surrounded by space and nature), there is always more ‘work’ that can be done. Looking out the window, it is often easy to see peeling paint – lawn that needs cut – kids that could use more one on one time – let alone an endless ‘someday’ list of seasonal farm chores that always need to be done. Even sitting and ‘doing nothing’ can be work for a cattle breeder. Social media can be personal, but its also the forum for marketing cattle. Texts and phone calls can be from friends – but they can also be from customers and potential buyers – or from friends that are also customers! It is very difficult not to respond to a text – and very easy to panic when it is realized a social media platform hasn’t been updated in a month. The instant gratification era of social media only lengthens the days on the farm, and there simply isn’t much of a break.
For us, the solution has been to ensure we can turn off and disconnect for at least one week (ok, 5 days) of the year. Its one of the many cool things about living in Canada – we have so many options across many different price points – and off grid is practically at our doorstep. Unless you are stuck on the 401 in Ontario – or experiencing the fun traffic that is Montreal – anywhere in Canada is a maximum of only 2 hours from wilderness. And there are plenty of small, rural places where it doesn’t have to be expensive to enjoy a getaway. When people are younger, this could also mean camping is an option – but these days my back suggests a comfortable bed is my biggest must have. There are so many options – near and far – inexpensive and more higher end – that provide the ability to get away from the farm and relax, no matter the personal preference!
For us, a vacation isn’t just an opportunity to relax, but also time to communicate without interruption. An opportunity to talk about hopes and dreams as well as the million little things that don’t usually get air time. And the bigger, heavier things that are often avoided. To talk about the farm business itself. In the corporate world, it is a natural, accepted routine to complete annual ‘strategic planning’. The cliché goes, time dedicated to work ‘on the business’ instead of working ‘in the business’. For farmers, typically our closest business partner is also family. When the conversations get serious, being offsite means an absence of the ready made interruptions so common on the farm. I can’t tell you how many farm meetings I’ve been on with clients over the years when one principal shows up late, or another has to leave the meeting early. There are simply always things on the farm that ‘get in the way’ of having great conversation. Vacation is a great place to have ‘complete’ conversations, without interruptions, where feelings and ideas can all be talked through.
What needs to get talked about? I would probably suggest moving in an expanding circle, (and will list in point form in order to keep this blog at least a mildly digestible size), and cover 4 different, yet intertwined, ‘buckets’:
- Mental Health.
- How am I doing? (1 person).
- How are we doing? (ask your partner, they may not share otherwise)
- Physical Health.
- This one is especially important for those in the industry we are in. It is virtually impossible to work/calve/process cattle on one leg (just ask Jeanne about her 2024!).
- Do we enjoy the physical health required to do what needs to be done? (if not, can we afford to hire for it /or does that trigger a potential operational change?)
- What does ‘us’ look like?
- Is our relationship working,
- Should we expand (kids, more kids? / cows, more cows? 🙂 )
- Are the personal sacrifices we are making for the farm sustainable?
- State of the Farm
- Is it working,
- If yes. Is it sustainable?
- If no, what changes can/should we make? (off farm income, diversify, breed horned? lol just checking to see who is still reading)
- Should we expand, if so, how/where/what?
- If we grow, how do we afford it / what are the trade offs?
- Is it too much / do we need to downsize?
I wouldn’t be a banker and not mention finances. A lot of the ‘state of the farm’ conversation relates back to knowing whether the farm is being successful, and having an understanding of profit and losses, which should impact decision making. Actually having and knowing the numbers are essential! (Also a future blog post! Or maybe a book!) During a growth phase, farm success can be incredibly difficult to determine, as cash flow seems so ‘tight’ (which was outlined in ‘summer nights/cow tours‘ blog post from 2018). It is great to have goals and plans, but the math also typically has to work. If it is a goal to give up off-farm employment, then what changes need to be made on the farm? Can the farm continue to grow? Or is it ‘worth it’ to shift from growth mode to more of a maintain strategy if it means that one person doesn’t have to work off and be away from the farm and family for extended periods of time? If the priority is to grow, how does the cashflow work if there is a(nother) large loan payment? How does that impact some of the other considerations (growing family, quality time), or maybe adding off farm income is a solution if it allows a common growth goal to be pursued! There are always lots of questions and considerations that can be different depending on the state of a farm’s life cycle. As the saying goes ‘hope isn’t a strategy’, and while farmers are at the mercy of the markets and the weather, it is much better to have these conversations and form a strategy together vs. simply trying to ‘figure it out’. Two brains are always better than one!
And on that note, it is only fitting to circle back to the mental health part of the conversation, while also getting a little sexist (or at least provide some stereotypical tropes). Most men, and specifically farm men, feel a deep personal obligation to be a provider and protector for their family. As a result, men face tremendous stress to be financially successful and carry that as their burden. And I am guessing everyone out there knows at least one purebred cattle breeding, introverted dude who isn’t a big fan of talking things out! Most farm women are incredibly capable, and balance the traditional ‘pink’ jobs of family responsibility, household chores, meal prep and kids activities, alongside all the day to day activities required on modern farms to make the ranch run successfully. Its not like women CAN’T run the farm – just like dudes usually CAN cook – I just think that for both partners, it is easy to get frustrated. If that frustration causes individuals to turn inward and fixate on completing ‘their’ jobs to support the family, it can also get lonely and lead to a feeling of disconnection. Both parties need to be mindful that they BOTH contribute to the success of the farm and family – and if partners aren’t talking, it can come down to trying to “keep score”; both feeling like they are working incredibly hard within their own silo, while their partner is frittering their time away and not contributing, understanding or supporting. Communication can help share the responsibility, and make a partnership feel more like a team. There can be crushing pressure to carry burdens by yourself. When there are feelings of being overwhelmed, a little help can go a long way. Great conversation and a willingness to communicate struggles or feelings can really assist in creating a better understanding of where each person is at in the relationship and in turn with the farm. And to ensure there is communication, there needs to be time and space – where better than on vacation!
At Applecross, I work off farm full time so Jeanne runs a lot of the day to day farm activities, the household and also owns and operates her own dance studio which runs 3 nights a week and week-ends (just not as many week-ends during calving!) Jeanne is often away from the farm for dance and, when she is gone, I naturally inherit all of her jobs. Can I do that while she is away? Sure! Do I skip the veggie aisle and purchase more protein and junk food as groceries when she is gone? You bet! Would I want to do that on a full time permanent basis? Heck no! (and we don’t even have kids!). So I think part of the mental health aspect is also ‘sustainability’. Absolutely – both partners are more than capable of running all aspects of the farm and household independently – and while things may be ‘doable’ in the short term, what does viable look like? Unfortunately, in real life, the hockey cliché of just ‘digging deep and giving 120% (while playing a full 60)’ really just isn’t a plausible answer. So the solution is to talk. Sometimes its just a matter of acknowledging challenges and completing some of the farm jobs together, and then working together on the household activities. But the key is communication. Discuss what the future looks like, and make decisions accordingly. Being away from the day to day pressures and interruptions of farm life is the perfect place to do so!
To be clear, I am not suggesting that we have it ‘all figured out’ and that taking a break from the farm will solve all of life’s problems, or that a person can plan for all of life’s curve balls. Kids don’t always happen (or not happen) based on a plan. We know! The proverbial farm next door doesn’t always come up for sale at the right time. But sometimes it does. (We know!) But mental health is something that isn’t talked about enough. Communication doesn’t happen like it should and on the farm, we have found that there just never really seems to be an extended break without interruptions. The least we can do is be mindful of the challenges of trying to have great conversation while on the farm, and adapt accordingly. A break ensures there is an opportunity to talk about the important things in life, which only increases the odds that we have thought through our future, and puts ourselves in our best position to succeed.
One additional side note: It is certainly my preference to travel through life with an absolutely amazing partner. I want to also recognize that it is very possible to have a completely fulfilling life while remaining single. I would also suggest that operating solo only underlines the importance of being able to get away. Operating on an individual basis translates to 100% responsibility for 100% of the jobs, so it becomes essential to get away and recharge. Preferably with someone you trust. To talk and to share. To talk about self care. And to provide a reminder that it simply isn’t sustainable to run life at 100% all of the time.
If the above process feels daunting, it gets substantially more complex when working within a bigger family farm operation. The dramatic rise in capital requirements to establish a viable farm continue to grow, and it only ‘makes sense’ to consider staying together as a family unit so that some of those capital costs can be shared. The offset is that larger family farms have more voices at the table and more complexities to work through – and it becomes even tougher to find time to take a vacation together! Multi-gen farm operations are certainly worthy of their own blog post (so there will be a ‘blue sky part 3’ in the future), as there are so many additional things to consider. It is just equally important for the ‘big’ farms to also have time to discuss strategy, logistics and what the future holds. A lot of this can be worked on with professionals – accountant, lawyer, banker. Consultants can be hired. But at the end of the day the wishes of the family need to be determined, pros and cons considered, a direction picked and then professionals engaged to make it happen in as cost effective a manner as possible. Time away together allows for these conversations to happen with everyone present.
My suggestion is simple. Please try to find some time to step away from the farm; have a vacation but, most importantly, time to talk. Time to talk about yourself, your partner and family, and your farm. Time without interruptions, and time to hopefully be reminded of why we do this in the first place. (I would also suggest that for any non-farmers reading this – I have been told there are like 5 of you – getaways are equally important – even without the farm). Reminisce about the past, evaluate the present and make plans for the future. A break from working, but not a break from the farm. We do it because we love it. Lets take the time to remember why, and share our thoughts with the people we love, to make ourselves a better tomorrow.
Until next time,
Dennis
A (very) Little Prayer
It was a miserable, blustery, late November day – the kind of day that makes you feel in your bones that winter was right around the corner. Our corral cleaners were finally finishing up in the yard – getting the manure spread on our pastures to support another growing season. Despite all of the planning that we do, there always seems to be a frantic rush to get the fall work done while we could, and prepare our winter ‘calving quarters’ for another year. The cows had already been moved ‘home’ – not quite to the corrals that were now freshly cleaned, but close enough that we could see them from the house (and close enough that feeding the cows hay wasn’t too much travel). With calving just over a month away, we liked having our ‘cattle circle’ get tighter, leading to a little closer attention, with daily walkthroughs to see who is progressing to schedule. In most cases, we just wanted to re-establish a base line for what ‘normal’ looked like so that we could hopefully tell when something didn’t look ‘right’.
It was that morning, November 21st, when Jeanne came in after her walkthrough, to share the news: “Paprika is looking off – I think she is aborting”. Paprika was one of our first calf heifers and was a star-headed, big volume beauty that we retained to add to our herd. From our living room window, Paprika’s unique colour pattern allowed us to keep an eye on her. As the day progressed, all the (literal) tell ‘tail’ signs starting showing – she was restless – her tail would go up – and she separated herself from the rest of the herd. Jeanne walked through again at noon and confirmed – Paprika was in the process of aborting. Early afternoon, her pattern changed. She was standing still; licking something on the ground. Figuring that she had passed her fetus, we thought we’d give her some time to ‘grieve’ before getting too involved.
It was about 4pm when Jeanne went out for a closer inspection. The calf was all clean and Paprika was standing over it protectively. Then the calf moved! Much to our surprise. The calf was alive.
So what do you do with a tiny little calf born 6 weeks early? We do what we think all farmers/ranchers do. We do the best we can to the extent of our abilities.
We were fortunate in one sense. This wasn’t our first experience working with a very premature calf. The first time it happened, we were successful with a little girl named ‘Hope’ that had the fight and willpower to survive. And those experiences with Hope made us a little bit ‘hope’-ful, that as things worked out before, maybe they would again! The other side was that, calves born so prematurely tend to be aborted for a reason – so what if we weren’t going to be so lucky with this one?
With thoughts swirling in our heads, we knew we were ‘on the clock’ and needed to get started. The first priority was to get the calf inside to ensure it was warm enough, which would also allow us to have a closer look to determine next steps. Our challenge was, of course, that our corrals were completely ripped apart so they could be cleaned. Virtually our entire yard site at Applecross is modular by design. The thought process is, that there is simply so much more versatility gained by utilizing portable panels that can be moved, reconfigured and expanded over the years – not to mention be moved right out of the way when it’s clean out time! New ideas (and more cows!) meant we had a tremendous amount of flexibility. The downside was, that when ‘stuff’ happens while we have the place apart, it isn’t very conducive to managing a baby calf! We did have gates that we could close to eliminate road access for the cows, so we decided to get the calf, and hopefully mom would follow.
With the two of us, we headed back out to the field to get down to work. Her momma wasn’t really sure what was up, but knew that the little brown bundle was ‘hers’ and something she should be protecting. And if there is one thing I have learned over the years, it was to always be careful around a cow with a newborn. It can change cows. And for a first calf heifer, Paprika was all mama. It took a little back and forth – and both of us – but we managed to get the calf onto the calving sled, and then transfer the sled to the back of the gator. With the calf secured, we decided to head for the barn and get the calf warm – mom could wait until we had the calf stabilized and comfortable.
After finding some straw to make the little calf a nest under a couple of heat lamps, we could finally take a temperature. It was a little low, but not near as cold as we feared. We took a few minutes to assess overall health. Certainly not much hair, the hooves were still soft, and we weren’t sure that eyesight was fully functional (yet). We were happy to determine it was a heifer though. For whatever reason, we have found heifer calves born of trauma tend to have more ‘fight’ in them (and are typically at the other end of the spectrum of ‘big dumb bulls’)…so seeing that she was lively and a heifer did give us a little more hope. We have always been told that getting some milk in the calf was also vital. We weren’t stocked for calving yet, but a frantic call to a neighbour found some colostrum close at hand (thanks Stacey!). With the calf so small, we only made up a partial dose, as we knew she’d only have a tiny tummy.
With the calf stable and warm, inside and out, next step was re-uniting her with mom. Paprika was still looking for her calf, but was really uncertain about heading towards the barn. Thankfully, we have a few cows that we utilize as ‘Judas cows’ (traitors), that know what a grain bucket means and don’t mind following people if they know they’ll get a ‘treat’ at the end of the journey. Once we got Paprika partnered up with a Judas cow and separated from the rest of the herd, our traitor knew to follow the gator, which meant Paprika also tagged along. It (again) took a little bit of back and forth, but eventually we got both mom and our Judas cow to the barn.
The next step was getting Paprika – as a first calf heifer – IN the barn, a place she hadn’t been since she herself was a newborn calf. In a normal scenario, prior to their due date, we train our first calf heifers to come in the barn a few times so they get comfortable being in over night (bribed with a little treat for their time). This process typically reduces stress at calving, as they are ‘more’ used to being in the barn and can focus on their new baby (which is a big enough change!) So again, with the Judas cow (knowing there was a treat involved), eventually we were able to coax the new mom into the barn to be re-united with her baby. We did ensure they had a fair bit of space. We didn’t want mom panicking and stepping on her calf – alone in a barn she had barely been in, that didn’t even ‘smell’ like cows yet this season. But we wanted them close enough together that they could start bonding. Certainly a tricky balance! And with that step complete, we took a break for a couple of hours (but could still check on them from the house via our cameras).
We went back out to the barn just before bed to see if we could make more progress. While store-bought ‘powdered’ colostrum works for emergencies, it has always been our preference to use ‘mama’s milk’ whenever we could. Sensing (if we were successful) that Paprika would need to get used to us working with her, we thought it was time to get her in the maternity pen headgate so we could strip some colostrum. With a foot secured with a rope, mom safely, (but unhappily) allowed us to hand milk her. Equipped with a small milk bottle meant for sheep, that we had kept on hand since our previous experience with ‘Hope’, Paprika’s baby already had quite the suck reflex. The milk from the smaller sheep bottle disappeared very quickly. Sensing progress, tired and exhausted, we went to bed for the night – content that we had done what we could – and hopeful that the next day would bring continued milestones.
This maternity pen routine carried on for the next few days. Jeanne and I worked together to get Paprika back in the headgate each morning; ensuring we also got enough milk for a lunch time feeding while I was at work. Evenings after Jeanne’s dance classes wrapped up, led to another trip to the headgate for Paprika and an evening snack before bed. While the little girl really enjoyed her bottle, we’ve always tried to get calves sucking from their dam as soon as possible, so our next ‘big step’ was to try and get the little one standing so she could start to do more on her own. After giving her a snack, we would work with her to get her legs going. Starting at the back end, we assisted her to tri-pod her back legs to put weight on them. She gradually got steadier and then, with a hand under her chest we helped her stand on all four legs. It certainly was a project, with lots of falls, and not always linear progress, but on the evening of day 3 she was able to stand on her own.
With mom safely back in the maternity pen headgate, our next step was getting her to drink fresh milk from mama. Some continued persistence and with help from both of us, she quickly found the natural spigots – and was very happy there were 4 of them! The next morning brought another trip to the maternity pen headgate for Paprika, and another small drink for her calf. She seemed a little more steady on her front feet, and had more energy. So we started thinking bigger picture. As we had a similar experience (with Hope) a few years ago, we looked back over our notes to see what all we did ‘last time’. We weighed her and she came in at only 40lbs! We also treated with Dex (which helps to lubricate the lungs which when born premature can be an issue), and gave the calf a broad-based antibiotic, as we knew that her immune system wouldn’t have been developed. We also consulted our vet (and some trusted cattle friends) for anything we may have missed, but were cautiously optimistic as the calf continued to make progress. At lunch time, she only needed one of us to help her get a drink, and then 24 hours later she was able to stand and nurse on her own – and could balance herself right underneath her mom! Milestones and progress certainly brought smiles!
With the baby calf gradually improving, our next step was figuring out a name. We had been calling her ‘Two-point-oh’ for the first week (as in Hope 2.0), as we consciously made the decision not to name her for a week because we were trying not to get any more attached than we already were. We always named our calves at birth, and while our numbers have increased over the years, it is a process we still find both manageable and fun. For heifer calves we typically follow the name of the dam, and in this case, Paprika was the legacy of our popular (and prolific) ‘P’ cow family that started all the way back in 2010 when we acquired Spruceburn Pauline as a bred heifer. Pauline gave us ‘Poppy’ who gave us ‘Piper’, who gave us ‘Pepper’ who provided us with “Paprika’, so the new calf would be the 6th generation of this cow family to walk here. After a fair bit of consideration, there was one name that seemed to fit for our premature little baby: ‘Prayer’. Certainly a lot of thoughts were sent skyward during the formative hours of Prayer’s young life, so the name stuck.
With little Prayer now drinking on her own, we were able to settle into more of a routine. We set up the rest of the barn , and gradually shifted from 3x a day nursing in the maternity pen, to finally having her do things on her own. In reality, Prayer figured things out very quickly, but those first few days were very intense and time consuming. In all, it took just over a week before she was able to nurse on her own in the ‘big pen’ of our calving barn – with only a bribe for mom, and the odd bit of assistance. Paprika never really warmed to the barn – and didn’t appreciate all the extra attention – although she still enjoyed the pellets, she just never seemed content…so after about a week in the barn, mom went outside for most of the day, while young Prayer stayed inside in the warmth.
When the next two calves arrived on Christmas day, we decided we might as well weigh all three. Prayer was 90lbs! So she certainly had progressed a long way – more than doubling her body weight in just over a month. With other calves around to socialize with, and us knowing that our peak calving window was right in front of us, we also started letting Prayer spend some time outside. Her hair had grown in, and while we were still concerned about an underdeveloped immune system, we knew that fresh air would be good for her. So she became used to leaving the barn in the morning, and then sneaking back inside at night time when the temperature dropped. Even in February, we would bring her back in the barn when nights dropped below -20. It was important for her to meet and bond with other calves, but we wanted to continue to give her, her best chance at success.
As winter turned to spring, and spring to summer, Prayer continued to progress. Despite her early birthdate, she was never one of the ‘big girls’, and we also suspect that her early arrival (and small tummy) impacted the amount of milk her dam produced. Come summer though, as the pictures will attest, she certainly stood with her group. She has grown A LOT of hair to make up for her early start, and continues to look like she has her genetic potential. She still has a few hurdles to pass – breeding in the spring – calving out in 2026 – but we remain cautiously optimistic. She even won the genetic lottery and tested homozygous polled. So certainly a great combination of determination, perseverance and luck! We look forward to continuing to work with her and hopefully those milestones will continue to be passed!
Ranching is not an easy occupation. We lose calves. Sometimes for reasons we aren’t sure of. An aborted calf can be simply another aborted calf. And then other times, we have our ‘Hope’ and we have our ‘Prayer’. Time that we invest. Willingly. As caretakers of our herd. It doesn’t always work out, but when it does we wanted to share the story. There can be so much negative in our chosen profession, and it is a profession that is often undertaken alone, so hopefully sharing our experience can help. Sometimes, Prayers are answered, and our efforts are rewarded, with a determined little girl that will always be our Prayer.
Until next time,
Dennis
2024 Shades of Fall Sale Report (and a few other thoughts)
It was an absolutely gorgeous Canadian Thanksgiving week-end to hold the inaugural ‘Shades of Fall’ Simmental Sale at Beechinor Land & Livestock on Saturday October 12th. Sunny skies and unseasonably warm weather lead to a busy debut for the new sale, with lots of traffic and a palpable buzz in the air. Our new group of consignors joined together to bring 34 lots of Fleckvieh and Red Simmental females to the party to the tune of a $551,000 gross for a really cool $16,206 average.
It was very fitting to start the sale with Lot 1, the BLL Couture 663D Flush. Couture is, of course, the dam of the $355,000 sensation BLL Rumble, as well as the World Sale standout BLL Crimson Tide. The opportunity to flush this elite female to the bull of the buyers choice led to a rousing start to the day. In the end, it was Mark Land & Cattle from Irma, AB who invested $33,000 to flush Couture next February . The Couture flush was backed by the opportunity to acquire her daughter – Lot 2 – BLL Elegance 317L a little later in the sale. This deep and broody powerhouse bred heifer had a tremendous number of admirers, and was selected by Circle E Farm, Genry & Heather Ellison, Lucedale Mississippi, for $27,500. What a way to kick off to the sale – it will be very interesting to see the Couture influence flourish across the continent!
Our very own lot 24, ‘Applecross Rachel 60K,’ had the honour of being the third lot sold. ‘Rachel’ has long been a favourite of ours and she was difficult for us to sell, but at the same time, we knew she would be the perfect representative to showcase our program. With the World Congress in Calgary this summer, we started to get used to the idea that maybe we should market her – and when we decided to join in a new sales group, Rachel became a natural fit to showcase exactly the progress we’ve made with polled Fleckvieh cattle. She was certainly the most talked about female that we have ever produced, so it was truly rewarding to see her sell to the BBBG Group in Quebec for $32,000. We are stunned by the result and look forward to seeing what she does (and how she’ll be bred), in la belle province.
Throughout the afternoon, the sale alternated between each consignor and wove the red heifers into a couple of groups between the Flecks. These were the first Red Top breds to sell at auction, and they were a very consistent group from top to bottom. (Not that I know anything about red cattle, but…) My personal pick of the Red Top string was lot 20 – a really nice Bootlegger daughter that was selected by Crossroads Farms for $21,000. The Century string was also impressive, with their lot 36, Century Liz 333L leading off their string. This big broody female with a little different pedigree dropped the gavel at $22,000 and is headed north to Polar Farms in the Peace Country. It is cool to see Polar Farms join the consignors at the early December, Western Harvest Sale in Innisfail, so maybe we will see Liz’s progeny there in the future!
All six of our Applecross heifers were very well received, and we couldn’t be happier with the great operations that they will now call home. Lot 24 Applecross Dana will be staying at our place through calving until March before heading for embryo collection to be exported to Jeff Knox, Knox Farms, NSW Australia. Jeff also selected Dana’s maternal sister Deirdre from our 2023 Equation string (as well as lot 11 BLL Linnea 343L from Shades), and has been active in a couple other sales this fall, so it is rather neat to see the pen of donors he is assembling. Jonny Kline of JEM Simmentals at Barrhead was the successful bidder on our lot 26 ‘Viola’ heifer, and we look forward to seeing what he does with that big volume female. Our Lot 27, ‘Sonya’ heifer also got to take a long truck ride – as she headed to Norwood Family Farm in Westport, Ontario. Charlie Norwood has known my parents for quite a number of years, and we have enjoyed the chance to visit on a few occasions here in Alberta, so it was wonderful to have him select ‘Sonya’! ‘Charlene’ and ‘Danica’ headed in opposite directions, with Charlene heading north to Vanderhoof in the BC interior, after being selected by Brock Young/Red Iron Simmentals, and Danica heading to Stavely in Southern Alberta to join the Browns at MCG Simmentals. MCG has joined the Southern Round-Up Group, so we look forward to seeing their cattle in mid December at that long running sale. In all, a great day for new homes for Applecross Cattle!
In addition to the above noted high-sellers, I thought we would share some additional thoughts on the first edition of Shades of Fall:
- I can’t say enough about our hosts, Stefon & Rebecca Beechinor. It takes some ‘gumption’ to follow your dreams, and step out and start your own sale. I can only imagine that first conversation with Transcon….’you want to do what?? With who?? And how many head??’. And from top to bottom it was a really cool day, with everything coming together fabulously well. The results certainly speak for themselves!
- Shades did line up very well with Black Gold and Anchor D / Pasture Treasure Sales immediately preceding our new event. Following September Simmental Week-ends in both Quebec and Ontario, we had the first of several ‘Alberta Simmental week-ends’ of the fall, and I think travellers from out of province really appreciated having the opportunity for sales back to back in the same geographic proximity.
- We are also super thankful to have Dan Skeels as our auctioneer; specifically since it was only the day after his own sale – so we really appreciate him taking the time to work with us. Having known Dan since the early 1990’s when he auctioned the ‘Fleckvieh Forum’ sale in Ontario for my parents, it was a treat to have him auction his first Applecross females almost 30 years later.
- This was our first ‘video’ sale, and it is something I would highly recommend. There was a little more cost involved for professional videos, but the benefit of having 1) a quality video available in advance, and 2) the animals not being stressed by having to walk through the ring, more than offset any perceived ‘loss of bids’ from those in attendance who may have otherwise ‘acted on impulse’ with a live animal in front of them. Not that it was a material issue (with only 34 lots), but it also meant a much ‘shorter’ sale, so we could get back to visiting!
- We are clearly incredibly happy with how our first ‘Shades’ sale went. But we will miss (parts) of Fleckvieh Equation. We don’t make change lightly, and Equation was a very good sale for us over the years – a lot of ‘what to do’ and ‘when to do it’ regarding sale prep and presentation we learned from that sale. Jay / Transcon’s continued focus on having an avenue where ‘new breeders’ (or at least new to the sales barn), can get their start is a testament to his vision of helping breeders of all shapes and sizes get a lift, while creating networking and bonding opportunities to connect to others that may also just be starting out. It is a great sale concept, and I am sure they will have another bang up year in 2024
- We won’t miss the wash racks or the late December concerns of heavy in calf breds on a truck to their new homes though!
- It is a bit of a weird feeling to have our heifers sold, with (most) of our buying options still in front of us. I have shared previously that we always try to ‘add’ each fall and re-invest in building our cow herd. There are a number of criteria (the six/seven P’s from a previous blog post still explain them well). But the condensed version is that we are interested in adding females that we feel have the potential to improve our herd, while also representing outcross genetics. With a smaller herd, every female matters – so they need to bring something to the table. It is very nice having our own sold so I am not just ‘guessing’ at a budget (says the banker). I look forward to the hunt for better and different!
- In the lead up to sales, we often get asked ‘what do you think they’ll sell for?’. And the short answer to that question is that I have no idea. I have a personal opinion of our cattle, and readily acknowledge we are both ‘barn blind’ and often REALLY like our cattle on offer. Other than knowing how much interest we have, and potentially giving some guidance on what our bulls or heifers have averaged in past years crossed against the current commercial cattle market, we can’t really provide much guidance.
- And that is the fun (and challenge) of selling all our cattle via auction. It always takes at least two potential buyers to move the price higher. We have had years where we have sold animals for less than what we had hoped for. We have had years where we have bought animals for less than what our budget was. And still other years where we may have missed on our ‘favourites’ from the season. The common thread is that you have to be ready/willing to bid. And you need to know your limit (and stay within it – mostly!). Because you just never know. Its an auction.
- With our sale heifers now all in their new homes, our thoughts have drifted toward calving and bull sale season. Calving 2025 will be dominated by our two, two-year old walking bulls – Virginia Journey 509K (Synergy x Radison) and BLL Tombstone 223K (Great Guns Wyatt x Titanium). Both had very successful first calf crops, and due to the unfortunate (and unplanned) early departure of Black Gold Battleborn, they bred the bulk of our herd. Each has its own positives (we felt comfortable using Journey on some heifers; Tombstone offers a little different pedigree than most), so it will be fun to see how the genetic possibilities line up.
- It is also the first time ever that I think I like our bull calf group better than our heifer calf group in development. As Jeanne said at weaning ‘you wanted this!’, so while it meant some tough decisions, we whittled 25 bull calves down to 11 really cool individuals, and have been super happy with how they have transitioned since weaning. With genetic testing freshly in hand, I can only smile. I think early March in Red Deer could be fun!
- I can already share that Jeanne’s favourite is ‘Payday’. And yes, he’ll do. The footnotes will also just write themselves ‘make every day. Payday.’ hey-o!
- Our summer project was to revamp our bull development area and add more wind breaks. We didn’t want to take away from exercise space, as it is important for young bulls to move and keep their feet under them, so we added a number of portable panels while still allowing them space to roam. Our winters can be brutal, so hopefully a little more protection will certainly be of value come semen test day!
- I don’t want to imply that I don’t like my heifers…they are coming along nicely as well, and we hope to potentially have 8-10 to offer at Shades 2025. There just may not be a ‘Rachel’ in the group. I don’t think it is realistic to have a ‘Rachel’ every year. But it is both a lot of fun trying, and a lot of fun when it happens!
- With that, it brings me back full circle to Shades 2024. Not only were Stefon & Becca great hosts, it was really cool to work with Ben & Kassandra and Jesse & Kirsten. Everybody pitched in to help out before/during/after the sale, and us four couples all have a similar ‘vibe’. We look forward to next year and many more years of the same!
- We were also blessed to have Jeanne’s two sisters and their husbands join us for the sale (and Thanksgiving week-end). Many hands make light work, and they meshed seamlessly with our sales crew – Jackie, Julie, Larry & Andrew were all a great help that we really appreciated! Andrew’s pictures will form great memories of the day!
I can’t close without saying a few words about Transcon, our Sales Management team. Jay, Darren, Glen and Cody always do a quality, professional job – and spend significant amounts of time on the phone – talking – while walking animals out of their pens to check feet, and allow buyers to select animals with confidence. Sales Management remains a long term gig – if a prospective buyer on order isn’t happy with their purchase they won’t be back. It is foundational to have mutual trust in a Sales Management team, and we have that with Transcon.
It was another great day to present Applecross cattle at auction, and we are honoured by the compliments received on our cattle from all the bidders and buyers that took interest in our program. You never know with a new sale venture, or what each year may bring – so it was very rewarding to have an absolutely smashing day. We look forward to trying to showcase our ongoing efforts to produce high-quality genetics that we can share with the industry.
Until next time,
Dennis
Applecross Cattle Presents: Our 2024 ‘Shades of Fall’ Heifers
We are delighted to present six bred heifers at the inaugural Shades of Fall Simmental Female Sale on October 12th at 1pm a the Beechinor Land & Livestock Sale Facility, located near Bentley, Alberta. We were very excited to be asked to join this prestigious event, and we are proud to be teaming up with these three fellow breeders!
When thinking about our selections this year, they could simply be summed up in one word: progress. It has been a long road weaving the polled gene into Fleckvieh cattle, and we can say without a doubt that these ladies on offer are our strongest, deepest line up yet. This is the result of more than 25 years of slowly incorporating polled genetics and striving for quality, predictable matrons that are the type a herd can be built around. From Lot 24 (Rachel) to Lot 29 (Danica), we are excited to see what these ladies are capable of – and what better place to showcase it then at a new sale!
Our breeding philosophy continues to focus on strong maternal lines across the group, with deep extended pedigrees to ensure quality and consistency. The heifers have been double vaccinated, and have been pregnancy tested to the dates listed. 2024 was another year of drought in Central Alberta, and what little rain there was always seemed to split and go around Applecross. Our pastures were materially weaker, but we feel our Fleckviehs continue to showcase that easy doing ability the breed is known for. Our sale heifers have certainly needed only a little TLC to prep for sale day.
Individual pages (short-cut links are on the right), have been created for each of ‘Rachel’, ‘Dana’, ‘Viola’, ‘Sonya’, ‘Charlene’ and ‘Danica’. On the individual pages, we have also pictured their sires, dams and siblings – hopefully, sharing pictures will provide a better glimpse into the extended pedigree.
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 newly renovated 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, as well as videos that will follow over the next few days. 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!
Our Red Deer County 2024 Sale Report (and a Few Other Thoughts)
It was a gorgeous early spring day, with mild temperatures, lots of sunshine, and an absolute capacity crowd on hand to watch 119 lots of pure beef bulls roll through the Innisfail Auction Mart for Transcon’s Red Deer County Bull Sale. The multi-breed concept expanded again this year, so there was a broad selection of bulls on offer, representing Simmental, Angus, Hereford and Charolais genetics with an impressive amount of diversity within each breed – horned or polled; red, black or fullblood – there were simply lots of options to choose from!
The lead bulls rotated back to Simmental this year, and the sale started off with some palpable excitement as the first BEE Alpha sons were set to lead off the Red Deer 2024. We were at Beechinor’s the day that Ben & Kassandra Farrant selected BEE Alpha 915J, and if we recall correctly they paid $120,000 for the privilege. You wouldn’t think it possible to ever fly under the radar with a $120,000 bull purchase, but with the record setting ‘Rumble’ also selling that day, the ‘Alpha’ acquisition was maybe a little overlooked. The whole pen of Alpha sons were incredibly impressive; with none more so than Lot 10, Red Top Mr 108L. After some very spirited bidding, the gavel slammed home at $80,000, with Labatte Simmentals and Circle 7, from Shaunavon, SK emerging as the successful bidders! An amazing way to kick off the day, and rather cool to have the lead bull selected to work the legendary pastures at Labatte’s! We have gotten to know Ben & Kassandra over the years as we have been part of the same bull and heifers sales, and it is absolutely incredible to see their passion for elite purebred cattle shine though and be rewarded in the sales ring. It can be tremendously stressful to step out and invest heavily in purebred genetics, and it takes years to develop a program and weave different genetic lines together, so it was so awesome to see their success!
It was also a record day for Applecross Cattle. In the lead up to the sale, we received a lot of interest in this years’ bull string, specifically in our two homozygous polled bulls. We were really happy in the condition all our sale bulls were in and thought they were a pretty neat group that each had their own merits (and personalities!). The challenge with auctions is that you always need at least two bidders to be interested in the same bull for the price to move higher, and we certainly did more than alright in that regard in 2024! APLX Conway 23L, our lot 103 bull, was selected by Forden Fairview Farm / Lyle & Leanne Forden of Punnichy SK for $30,000, and has already made the trip to Saskatchewan, where he got off the truck and went straight to work! Meanwhile, lot 98, APLX Bastion 17L was selected for $23,000 by Jensen Simmentals in Osawatomie, Kansas, and will be leaving this week for his new home in the sunny south. Steve Jensen also selected a bred heifer (Applecross Abigail) from us at Equation 2023, so we certainly appreciate all his interest and support over the past few months! Lot 104, APLX Convoy 12L, also gets a lengthy truck-ride as he’ll be headed for Big Hills Simmentals, Sandy Lake, MB, while lot 99 APLX Biggio 30L, gets to stay close to home after being acquired by Ryan Layden / Layden Land & Livestock Ltd, from Red Deer County. Ryan was a repeat buyer for us, after selecting ‘Dillon’ from us back in 2021. It is always special to see customers return for more bulls. We were incredibly happy with our sales results, and its rather cool that three of our bulls will be working for fellow purebred breeders!
Overall, the sale averaged a very impressive $9,710, with 55 Simmentals averaging $10,486. 8 Charolais averaged $9,938, with 8 Black Angus averaging $10,688, 17 Herefords averaging $6,882 and 6 Red Angus averaging 9,000. It was great to have success throughout the auction across so many of the consignors!
Once again we need to recognize the team at Transcon for doing a tremendous job working the phones and managing the sale. The Red Deer County Bull Sale is part of an extremely busy stretch of events, and we appreciate the time and energy Jay Good, Glen Norton, Darren Paget, and Cody Coupland invest to ensure we have a successful sale. We are confident in referring inquiries we receive to the Transcon Team, for an unbiased and independent opinion of our cattle. They were constantly on the phone and in our pens, taking pictures of feet, watching the bulls walk out and passing their findings back to prospective buyers. With our three lead bulls all being selected by ‘Transcon on Order’ they were certainly busy! Every year has different bulls and different buyers (looking for different things), and their efforts may not always be as tangible as they were this year, but we always appreciate all of their hard work! We look forward to working with them again later in the year at Fleckvieh Equation!
A few additional thoughts on Red Deer 2024:
- A common theme on our two high sellers were certainly the homo-polled heads, but I also think that the non-dilutor status also made a difference in their sale price. We have tested for the dilutor gene for a number of years now, and it is another trait on our list that we check for. We have walked several dilutor carrier bulls over the years, so it isn’t a ‘deal breaker’, but we wouldn’t be doing our job of we weren’t noticing traits our customers also select for.
- We had another tough year on the semen testing front, with 5 of our 10 bulls making it to sale day. While the reasons did vary a bit, we have certainly done a lot of reflecting on our program and how we can improve things going forward. (It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results). We are looking to our wintering area as a spot that may need an upgrade.
- One of the downsides of wintering our sale bulls in a 5 acre paddock is that they don’t always have protection from the elements when it is -50 or when there is a -20 degree windchill…so maybe we can create a balance – where they have access to a larger space (to exercise and travel to keep their feet under them), but then also have the ability to confine them to a smaller, protected area once ‘hard winter’ hits. Things to think about; changes to make; as it simply doesn’t make economic sense to raise bulls that just end up in the meat ring. We can never be perfect, (and certainly we can’t expect every bull to always pass their semen test), but we can certainly learn and get better!
- One of the largest changes for Red Deer 2024 was the size of the sale. With the addition of several new consignors and different breeds, there were a total of 130 bulls catalogued, which was almost double the 68 bulls that sold in this sale only two years ago in 2022. There are a number of good things – the capacity crowd on hand meant Innisfail Auction Mart had as many people in attendance as I had ever seen, and more bulls translates into lower costs for consignors. But there are also some downsides – with some awesome BBQ on site, despite cutting steaks in half, we still ran out of food (and water) for all our guests. And, with such a large crowd, we know some people that left early (hopefully to go home to watch/bid online!).
- I also wonder if the Fullblood Simmentals ‘got lost’ a bit within the sale. With so many breeds on offer, and a lengthy sale, there wasn’t a separate ‘fullblood’ carve out – with 3-5 selling in one spot, 5 in another, and then a couple here and there throughout the day. Part of that is on us – if our entire bull string had passed semen testing, the fullblood numbers would have been a fair bit higher, but I do think that bidders and buyers interested in Fullblood bulls, had to be very diligent throughout the afternoon, not to ‘miss’ bulls. We have attended several large dispersals over the years, and found that often the best opportunities for upside were found later in the day, so there are always pro’s and con’s to larger events – perspective that also depends on whether a person is buying or selling!
- In regards to our own breeding program in 2024, we will be staying fairly ‘status quo’ after splurging last year on two new herd sires. Both BLL Tombstone 223K and Virginia Journey 509K now have their first calf crops on the ground, and we are pretty pumped about each bull’s potential based on the early returns from their respective calf crops. Black Gold Battleborn 44H is now the ‘proven seasoned veteran’ of the group and, while he has outgrown the heifer pen, he has proven himself to be very versatile, allowing us to have three fairly even breeding groups.
Over the past fourteen years, it has been great to be part of the Red Deer Bull Sale and 2024 was certainly no exception. Public auction is a great forum to get feedback on the program we are building at Applecross Cattle, and we were both humbled and honored with the number of compliments our pen of bulls received throughout the week-end, from both peers in the purebred industry and commercial cattlemen alike. We strive to produce top quality cattle, and can at times be our own worst critics, so it is wonderful to hear all the kind words. Not a year goes by that we don’t learn how to do things a little better for next year, and it is equally important to continue to receive tips and advice on how to make improvements to our program. With the bull sale now in the rear-view mirror, and breeding season underway, we look forward to the challenge of developing more and different genetics for future years.
Until next time,
Dennis
Applecross @ Transcon’s Red Deer Bull Sale 2024 – Our Most Consistent String Yet
We are pleased to present ten herd bull prospects at Transcon’s 2024 Red Deer County Bull Sale on Saturday, March 9th at 1:00pm at the Innisfail Auction Market, Innisfail, Alberta. This is our fourteenth year at this event, and while the sale numbers always seem to fluctuate we continue to be joined by a diverse group of breeders that always join together to bring a strong offering to what is now a multi-breed event. Our 2024 offering is our most consistent yet, and the ten bulls on offer all continue to showcase our philosophy of highlighting the maternal strengths of the Fleckvieh Simmental breed. We firmly believe that the future will bring an increased herd size on the same amount of available labour. This means that with less labour available on a per cow basis, birth weights will come down to improve calving ease, and that gradually more and more horns will be bred off the cattle. We have moved slowly to incorporate the polled gene into our herd, as our goal is to try and accomplish this while maintaining the strong performance and mothering ability the Simmental breed is known for. In a market that suggests continued strong demand for beef, we think our bulls on offer all provide the maternal characteristics that will produce tremendous replacement females.
Dominating this years’ offering are progeny from two of our walking bulls in Black Gold Battleborn 44H and Double Bar D Confidence 179D. While AI is still a very important tool for us (specifically on heifers and in incorporating outcross genetics), we continue to invest in walking bulls from some of the top breeders in Canada. This mix allows us more flexibility during breeding season, increased consistency in their respective calf crops, and a chance to tap what otherwise could be fairly exclusive genetics. From FGAF WowEffect 016A, to NUG Delmonte 81D, Confidence, Battleborn, and last years’ acquisitions of BLL Tombstone 223K and Virginia Journey 509K, we feel we’ve been able to combine ‘something proven’ with ‘something different’ to form a unique APLX blend of highly maternal, moderate birthweight genetics.
The Battleborn progeny get the chance to lead the way this year. With three calf crops on the ground, and his first daughters now in production, Battleborn has developed into a very impressive individual, walking on extremely good feet, with his daughters now showcasing nice tight, square udders. With an eye-popping EPD profile, it is somewhat ironic that his weakest numbers are for calving; as he is a bull we have comfortably used in the heifer pen for the past 3 years. Of his four sons on offer, ‘Bastion’ represents a really intriguing homo-polled rascal (and is Jeanne’s favourite), while both ‘Brando’ and ‘Blizzard’ showcase exactly the type of progeny he produces out of first calf heifers. The final bull in ‘Biggio’ represents the last calf from one of our cornerstone cows, Applecross Poppy. It is no surprise that three of these sons all come from our foundation ‘Spruceburn Pauline’ cow family who left a tremendous legacy for us at Applecross. All four of these Battleborn sons are consistent in type, and offer the opportunity to step into genetics that combine a high maternal focus with explosive growth.
Not to be overlooked, there are also four sons of Double Bar D Confidence 179D on offer in Red Deer. Confidence is a bull that really moved our program forward, producing very balanced offspring on both sides of the ledger. The daughters from his first calf group are now high productive 2nd calvers that have tidy, even udders. His sons include APLX Coach 37J who highlighted our 2022 Bull Sale, and now has progeny across North America. Confidence also provided us with a highly attractive homo-polled son in ‘Conway’, while also giving us the powerhouse of this years’ offering in ‘Convoy’ (and he is a ‘great big convoy’; he’s a beautiful sight!). ‘Compass’ and ‘Country’ round out this highly impressive group of four – all of whom are very stylish and have nicely shaped polled heads. These Confidence sons are all very consistent (check out their birthweights!), and can suit a variety of needs.
As mentioned above, in addition to our walking bulls, we always try to breed our heifers, and at least a few early cows, AI in order to incorporate some outcross calving ease and top end genetics to our core herd. One of the benefits of living in Central Alberta, is the proximity to a number of great programs. After noticing the Black Gold Elevation progeny consistently stand out in the Beechinor sale strings, we were successful in acquiring a semen pack a couple of years ago. ‘Encore’ certainly shows that Elevation stamp, and may just be the most eye-appealing bull in our 2024 string. ‘Cabot’ is also a really cool dude, being sired by Rugged R Cavill; a bull we have successfully used on heifers for several years. From our experience, Cavill appears pretty much bullet proof as a heifer bull, so we expect to continue to utilize him to AI our heifers. ‘Cabot’ has a fair bit of size and growth to him so while he could be a potential for the heifer pen, he shouldn’t be just a one trick pony. We are always looking to offer something a little different, while adding a little extra style and maternal, and this year that means ‘Encore’ and ‘Cabot’!
We want to ensure our bulls will work for many years, so feet, legs and temperament are very important traits for us. The bulls are housed in a 5 acre paddock to ensure lots of exercise, and have been developed on a ration of free-choice quality first cut hay, combined with a forage based pellet by Country Junction. We pail feed our bulls twice a day, to ensure the bulls are quiet and used to being around people. We like working and walking through docile cattle, and feel the herd bull should be no exception. Please also note that we obtained Yearling weights in early January; prior to the bulk of the bulls being a year of age, which has resulted in Adjusted weights being higher than actual – specifically on our three bulls from first calf dams. We hope our bulls work for many, many breeding seasons, and feel our development program evolving over the years allows them to do just that.
Individual pages (short-cut links are on the right), have been created for each of the bulls. (For those reading this on phones, the bulls name or lot number can also be entered into the search bar, to locate their individual page). On each of the pages, we have also pictured their sires, dams and siblings – hopefully, sharing pictures will provide a better glimpse into the extended pedigree. It is also not unusual for us to have walked 4 or 5 generations of each respective cow family. We also plan to have videos of each of our sale bulls available approx. 2 weeks prior to sale day. Please check our Applecross Cattle Facebook page for up to date info on our sales offering.
Transcon’s 2024 Red Deer County Bull Sale promises to be another exciting event. We look forward to a great day on March 9th at the Innisfail Auction Market!
‘Super Saturday’ / 2023 Fleckvieh Equation Sale Report & Other Year End Thoughts
A gorgeous mid-December day with mild temperatures and sunny skies created ideal weather for Transcon’s ‘Super Saturday’ on Saturday, December 16th. This ‘Three in One’ Female Event featured our traditional Red & Black and Fleckvieh Equation portions and was joined by ‘White Gold Charolais’ to round out the day. All told, there were an impressive 90 lots to sell, which averaged a robust $8,745.
In what seemingly has become a (well deserved) tradition, Beechinor Land & Livestock (Stefon & Rebecca Beechinor) once again led off the sale. Their lot 59 BLL Gabri 201J heifer was a true standout, combining impressive muscling and capacity with a highly regarded pedigree. She created a massive amount of interest. When the gavel fell, it was Johnson Ranching of Amisk, AB who got to take her home for an impressive $37,000! Certainly, one of the highlights of the fall sale season! Following ‘Gabri’ into the ring was a pair of outstanding breds from the Keato Meadows program. As mentioned in our bull sale report, Jonathon & Ebony Kittlitz of Keato Meadows have developed a clear vision of what they are building their program around – and they just might have presented the most consistent string of the day. Their two lead lots, Lot 76 ‘Sunniva’ and Lot 75 ‘Kitty Wells’, both represented dark red, polled packages that were outcross to most polled programs. Both received very enthusiastic attention and included ‘Sunniva’ selling to JEM Simmentals at Barrhead for $21,000. What a terrific way to kick off the sale.
Our own Lot 67, Applecross Deirdre, was the fourth animal in the ring. After some spirited bidding, she was selected by Jeff Knox of Knox Farms, Australia, for $15,000! As live animals are not exported to Australia, Deirdre will be calved out here at Applecross before entering a flush program. Her Homozygous polled status will lead to some intriguing mating opportunities, as Jeff looks to add some diverse Canadian genetics to his cow herd. As a related note, back in 2013 – exactly 10 years ago – Jeff also selected a heifer from Dora Lee (my parent’s operation), so it was great to visit with Jeff a few times in the lead up to the sale, as we certainly knew some genetics in common. We look forward to seeing Applecross genetics work on another continent, and maybe (someday) we will get to visit ‘Oz’ and see some descendants in action!
Overall, our nine heifers on offer all found great homes. Deidre’s genetics were not the only ones who get to travel some distance! Our lead open heifer, lot 64 ‘Applecross Veronica’, is headed to (Sweet Home) Alabama, after being selected by Old Magnolia Farm / Brad Ballew. Lot 69, ‘Applecross Abigail’, has also headed Stateside after being selected by Jensen Simmentals / Steve Jensen of Osawatomie, Kansas. Safe travels ladies! Our remaining six heifers are all staying here in Alberta. Lot 65, ‘Applecross Delaney’, was selected by Rolling JN Farms / Jack & Shirley Nielson, of Alix; Lot 66, ‘Applecross Bonita’, will make her home with Lone Stone / Lonnie & Karen Brown at Westlock; Lot 68, ‘Applecross Dolly’, found her way south to MAVV Farms / Mike Imler at Okotoks; Lot 70, ‘Applecross Della’, was acquired by Richlan Farms / Karrie & Richard Jones at Breton; Lot 71, ‘Applecross Cassidy’ found a great place at Skylark Cattle Company / Emilee Oro at Clive, where she will continue to get lots of scratches. And finally, our lot 73 heifer, ‘Applecross Serena’, was selected by 777 Cattle Ltd / Tyler Steward at Stettler! Wow, what a list; what a day!
Overall, the Fleckvieh Equation heifers were incredibly consistent, considering the number of programs represented in the consignment sale. The cattle were all in very similar condition, and presented well, which was reflected in sale averages in each program! Of the six larger strings that made up the bulk of the Fleckvieh cattle on offer, all six had at least one animal sell for at least $10,000+. Impressive! It was great to see so much success and so many smiles after the sale!
In addition to the above noted high-sellers, I thought we would share some additional thoughts on the 2023 Edition of Super Saturday:
- The biggest change to the sale format was the addition of Charolais heifers to the traditional blend of Flecks and Reds/Blacks. While the new ‘colour’ sure stood out (and frankly I will stick to washing Flecks vs the full white of Chars – which must be a lot of fun!), it was great to have both a ‘full barn’ and ‘full stands’ at sale time! Several Simmental breeders have recently diversified into including Charolais in their programs, so they were also a natural complement to our Simmental offerings.
- The other material change was the move to a Saturday sale, from it’s traditional Sunday. I mentioned in last year’s sale’s report that I thought the Sunday sale made for a very long weekend, specifically for those involved in FNL. It is just such a tough time of year to spend extended periods away from the farm, so I think the Saturday sale made the weekend flow a lot smoother. From our end it was also great to have Sunday to ‘recover’ prior to starting the workweek on Monday!
- The only downside to the Saturday sale was the elimination of the opportunity for ‘night before’ hospitality. With most people in Olds for FNL, the barn was certainly quiet in Red Deer on Friday night. While both pre-sale and post-sale hospitality are great; it just doesn’t ‘feel’ the same as the night before. Sale day typically has more stressors: trying to prep and market cattle pre-sale, followed by trying to get organized with where the cattle are going post-sale. The ability to just relax and ‘visit’; hear opinions; discuss genetics; life and family is missing. But at the end of the day, there isn’t a rule that states that the sales barn is where those discussions need to take place; maybe we just need to organize more social opportunities of our own. We are fortunate here in Central Alberta to be surrounded by plenty of great Simmental Breeders. Maybe it is as simple as leveraging more of those ordinary everyday occurrences (like birthdays!) as a great excuse to get together and talk cattle!
- One of the great things about Jay Good and the Transcon team, is their willingness to spend time with younger/newer breeders and invite them to join auctions such as Equation. As a consignment sale made up of a number of smaller breeders, it seems to be the perfect place to showcase newer programs, or even as an entry point for those that have never marketed females before. It can be intense and nerve-wracking to bring your first ever females to town, so (what is hopefully perceived as) the welcoming environment of Equation is an opportunity to bring your best and learn from others! It was 10 years ago that we made our Equation debut, and we have certainly learned a lot from our fellow consignors – everything from pre-sale prep, to tidying the stalls, signage and an area for ‘hospitality’ are all things that may now seem second nature but were things we learned along the way (and we’re still learning). It is simply great to see new breeders join in the sale!
- On that note – there were quite a number of successful first appearances at Equation. All four of Century Simmentals, Richlan Farms, Wagner’s Cattle Co and Mountain Ash Simmentals had (in our opinion) smashing debuts! It was great to see their enthusiasm in the barn!
- I also thought the sales order set people up for success as well. The sale was broken down into multiple sections and alternated between Flecks-Purebreds-Charolais, and breds and opens. For us larger consignors, that meant we had animals sprinkled throughout the sale, giving everyone the chance to have animals at the start and animals near the end. It seemed like a great way to have everyone share in the success of the sale and, with animal condition being so consistent across the barn, allowed groups to flow together seamlessly.
- The continued importance of ‘online’ was also underscored. With Covid several years in the past, and cooperative weather and a full house in Red Deer, I was somewhat surprised that a total of $102,000 (and two of our nine) were sold online. I had thought that people might return to in person (or traditional phone) bidding, but instead maybe Covid simply accelerated a trend. Bidding online utilizing Transcon Online (or DLMS) has truly become a core part of sale day, as the ability to connect with more bidders is clearly essential to maximizing the success of our sales.
- In reflecting on our own sale string, this was the second year in a row we brought open heifers in addition to our usual bred heifers. We were certainly more than happy with our results again in 2023, but did note the overall decrease in open heifers on offer this year. I think the challenge with open heifers remains two-fold. First, for those of us with smaller herds, even marketing two or three opens leave a sizeable hole in next years bred heifer string. Second, I also think calves have the risk of being ‘off’ on sale day – whether showing heat or going through a recent ‘growth spurt’ that means they just aren’t looking at the top of their game – challenges you just don’t have with bred heifers, who are heavy in calf and looking just about ready to pop! Those bred heifers simply must drink, whereas an open heifer can choose not to enjoy city water for three days! There are also some great reasons for bringing opens as well – open heifers can match up with a variety of calving programs; and, from a geographic perspective, there is certainly less risk in having an open heifer get on a truck for an extended journey vs a bred heifer who is due to calve in three weeks! So, as we weigh pros and cons, I think a large part of it will come down to this year’s calf crop – lots of heifers will probably mean more heifer calves at Equation 2024, while a run of bulls may make us pause for next year at least!
- As I have mentioned before, we always try to budget to add at least one outcross female to our herd each fall. This year, we managed to snag the lead lot at MAVV Farms on Thursday, while taking a break from the wash rack in Red Deer. Lot 1 ‘MAVV Jaci 205J’ represents a little different pedigree for us and is backed by a very strong cow family. Mike Imler has been investing in quality fleck genetics for several decades now, so we were happy to be able to add his prefix to our walking herd. We feel Jaci has a great future in front of her, and we look forward to a mid-January calf!
We would be remiss not to recognize the team at Transcon for doing a tremendous job working the phones and managing the sale – they are always a quality, professional sales management team. Jay, Darren, Glen and Cody spent the weekend inspecting the cattle while consistently talking on their phones, making evaluations for prospective buyers. In addition to the $102,000 in Transcon Online sales, an additional $94,500 was sold on order, which totaled 25% of the sale gross! Thank-you Team Transcon, for another awesome Equation!
It was another great day to present Applecross cattle at auction, and we are honoured by the compliments we received on our cattle from all the bidders and buyers that took interest in our program. With the first calves of the new calving season on the ground (and the first progeny from our two exciting new walking bulls on the way!), we look forward to the balance of calving season, and another step in that ongoing effort to produce high-quality genetics that we can share with the industry.
Equation 2023 Sales Preview: A Perfect ’10’
We are proud to present ten heifers (three opens and seven breds), at Transcon’s Fleckvieh Equation on Saturday December 16th at 1pm at the Westerner Grounds in Red Deer, Alberta. All ten heifers are polled, and include three homozygous polled bred heifers. While the title says ‘perfect’, we want to be clear: we are not suggesting that our heifers on offer are perfect (we would humbly suggest that no animal is ‘perfect’). But we are super proud of this group – as they perfectly represent what our Applecross program is all about, and the direction we are headed. Highly maternal focus. Polled heads without sacrificing the key traits fullblood Fleckvieh are known for. Deep pedigrees with consistency built in.
Leading off this year is the progeny of Black Gold Battleborn 44H. After just two calf crops, Battleborn is a bull that has significantly moved our program forward. Selecting him from the Noble Family back in 2021 represented a pretty big swing for us, and at the time, our largest ever investment in genetics. He has developed into a true curve bender; as we are comfortable using him on heifers, while his calves have also been the heaviest sire group the past two falls. We feel his influence is only beginning, and will be on full display with this years group. The neatest opportunity is the ability to compare two genetic full sisters a year apart in age – the open heifer Delaney, and Deirdre her bred counterpart. I talked extensively in this space last year of our desire to add ‘Anchor T Impact’ as a female maker to our cow herd, and ‘Deirdre’ and ‘Delaney’ are the perfect examples to showcase why. Of the two, Deirdre is a bred heifer in full bloom that will simply need to be seen for her natural, easy keeping volume to be appreciated – truly a matron female in the making! Not to be outdone, Delaney is the example of ‘what could be’ a year younger, but already setting the table with softness and capacity. They both have eye-popping numbers and matching friendly temperaments!
Our other Battleborn offspring – Veronica, Dolly and Bonita – are all worth a long look. ‘Veronica’ is the first female descendant from our ‘Vendetta’ matron, who we acquired from our good friends the Beechinors a decade ago at Equation 2013. ‘Dolly’ just goes about her business, packing that ideal Fleckvieh build onto a modest frame. As an added bonus, she also represents what a Wedge daughter can produce on her first try! Our offering at Equation also wouldn’t be complete without a DLD 48R grand-daughter, so we dug deep and are offering a dark cherry red, soft made stunner in ‘Bonita’ – an animal I think a herd could be built around. We are super excited with the potential of these Battleborn daughters, and look forward to calving the first of our own out in just a few months!
In the “something different” category, we present ‘Abigail’ and ‘Della’. Abigail represents the first of our ‘Confidence’ daughters to ever sell at auction, as I have a tendency to hoard them all. Her dam is ‘Keet’s Princess Grace’ who we selected back at Equation 2020, and has produced three straight daughters. We like to ‘clip a coupon’ so to speak on our sale purchases, and we feel Abigail represents a pretty cool genetic cross with a homo-polled head and a little different genetic twist. And then there is Della. We have been super happy with the calving ability of Cavill – and based on Della, he is more than ‘just’ a heifer bull. Della is highly stylish, has length for days and represents pure maternal. A bull calf could simply pay for the cow in one shot! We have noticed that the polled gene pool has gotten pretty narrow, so these two certainly tick a number of different boxes!
I have talked extensively in our past bull sale previews about really liking the Delmonte cross on our WowEffect cows, so when we had the opportunity to retain (the WowEffect son) Wedge, we thought it only natural to cross back the other way on some of our top young Delmonte females. These three, three-quarter sisters are all similar in nature, but still showcase the depth of their respective cow families behind them. ‘Cassidy’ is a tank in a moderate frame package. ‘Serena’ represents the slow burn of our Dora Lee Jewel cow family, that tends to be a little later maturing, while ‘Felicity’ has the most frame of the three, and is backed by some of my favourite older genetics. All three heifers will be very heavy in calf on sale day, and represent multiple generations of our breeding program.
(For those that are still reading,) Individual pages have been created for each of our ten sale heifers. 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 behind each of our animals on offer.
The heifers all have quiet temperaments and are used to being around people. We like quiet cattle – but should also note that Equation represents the first ever ‘truck ride’ for our heifers, as we pasture all of our cattle at home – so how they come off the trailer post sale, may not be a great example of their real temperament! We preg-checked in mid-October and the vet feels that all seven breds are safe to their AI dates. Also, due to the late sale date of Equation, we expect all of our bred heifers to be very heavy in calf – specifically as Cavill appears to have a little shorter gestation. For any out of province buyers, we are willing to take the heifers home and calve them out. While ‘stuff’ can happen, we would much prefer that ‘stuff’ to happen at our place, instead of having a disaster occur during the stress of a truck ride. Please reach out as we are more than happy to discuss options!
The Heifers are also vaccinated with Vira Shield 6 and Tasvax 8. They will be treated with pour-on and the breds will have their first shot of Scourguard prior to sale day.
The 2023 Fleckvieh Equation promises to be another exciting event. We look forward to a great day on December 16th at Westerner Park
Our Fleckvieh Equation 2022 Sale Report
It was a blustery winter week-end in Central Alberta as Transcon hosted the finale of “Alberta’s Simmental Week-end.” Their two-in-one bonanza of Fleckvieh Equation and Ultimate Red & Black were held at Westerner Park in Red Deer. With challenging road conditions, it was nice to be back inside the extensive Westerner facilities, where people could view cattle and visit in comfort. Despite Mother Nature not being overly cooperative, there was a steady stream of traffic throughout the barns all weekend, and a healthy crowd on hand Sunday, to watch 33 Fleckvieh lots pass through the ring to average a very impressive $10,152.
One of the ‘calling cards’ of Equation has been a bit of a focus on polled genetics. Between ourselves and several of the other consignors who have focused on developing polled cattle over the past number of years, this sale may be gaining a bit of a reputation! After only bringing open heifers for the past couple years, Beechinor Land & Livestock were back with an exceptional string of bred heifers. Stefon & Rebecca Beechinor have quickly risen to prominence for producing some of the best full Fleckvieh genetics in the world, so it was no surprise to see their lot 116 heifer, BLL Sugar Rush lead off the sale. This big volume polled Sugar Ray daughter was a unique blend of power and femininity, and created a palpable buzz in the audience, as she ended up selling to Mason Faulkner of Faulkner Farms from Centre Ridge, Arkansas, for $40,000. We had the pleasure of visiting with Mason when he was in Alberta touring cattle operations this fall, and are quite impressed with the foundation females he has selected to build his herd. After the BLL offering were a pair of outstanding heifers from the Keato Meadow string, followed by two powerful heifers from Keet Simmentals. Both being long term consignors, their heifers also had a robust following, with highlights including lot 102 ‘Keato Pld Ivy 24J’ being selected by West Gold Farms Ltd for $15,000 and lot 121 ‘Keet’s Harlequin 51H’ selected by Pheasantdale Cattle Company for $18,000. As Equation represented probably the largest selection of polled full Fleckvieh cattle available all fall, it was great to see the enthusiasm and success of our fellow consignors!
Our very own Lot 114 (Applecross Ivy) and Lot 113 (Applecross Pixie) were next up. These two NUG Delmonte 81D daughters had been head turners all week-end, so we were rather excited to see how they would perform. When the gavel fell, Applecross Ivy had been selected by Robb Farms for $17,000. Robb Farms is part of a truly elite bull sale in SK, (Robb/Hoegl/Greenwood) in late February each year, so we will be looking for Ivy’s progeny to hopefully be future features!. Applecross Pixie ($10,000) got to enjoy an extended truck ride, as she is headed all the way to Quebec, to Kelvin and Ory Egan of Egan Home Farms. I had talked to Kelvin a few times over the years regarding our bred heifers, but there was always a fair bit of uncertainty with our late sale date and early calving dates on the heifers. Pixie fit the bill, being a cycle later gives her more time to adapt to her new environment. With Ory also spending the summer in Alberta working for Anchor D Ranch, he appears to have firmly caught the ‘purebred cattle bug’ and was the driving force behind acquiring Pixie. It is always great to see another generation be encouraged enough to invest in the industry!
For Equation 2022, we tried something ‘different’ and brought a pair of open heifers to town. I am old enough to remember the Fleckvieh sales of the 1990’s predominantly featuring open heifers but, gradually over time, the sales mix across the industry has shifted towards bred heifers. The combination of a late in the season sale combined with early calving dates, meant we did have some out of province buyers express concern about a heavy in calf bred heifer travelling an extended distance, so offering a few select open heifers was certainly something we had thought about in the past. With 2022 representing a 2:1 heifer to bull calf ratio, and an exciting new herd sire to showcase, we felt it only made sense to ‘test the waters’ with a couple open of heifers at Equation 2022. We were not disappointed with our decision! Our two heifers led off the Fleckvieh heifer calf division, with Lot 110 ‘Applecross Giselle 2K’ receiving the honour of being the lead heifer. When the gavel fell, she was selected by Robb Farms for $15,500, and will get to head to the same home as Ivy! A few minutes later, Black Gold Simmentals selected lot 111 ‘Applecross Dixie 20K’ for $10,000. Randy and Vanessa Noble were in Red Deer after a hectic (and very successful!) few days at the Friday Night Lights event, so it was awesome to see them pick out Dixie to walk their pastures! Bringing open heifers to Equation 2022 was certainly a smashing success for us, so that option will certain need to be considered again for Equation 2023!
Overall, the open heifers sold extremely well, with 5 lots topping that $10,000 threshold. The Skywest heifers were stabled right beside us, so we were able to take a long look at their two exceptional heifers that did very well, with lot 129 ‘Skywest Kamala’ selling to Corley Land & Cattle from Charleston, Tennessee for $13,000, and Lot 130 ‘Skywest Kamilia’ landing at Brock Ranches for $11,000. Sierra Ebbeson is another ‘next generation’ breeder at Brock Ranches, so super exciting to see that ‘purebred cattle bug’ spread!
A little later on in the sale, our Lot 112 heifer ‘Applecross Dotti 53H’ and lot 115 ‘Applecross Lydia 13J’ also got to share the sales ring. ‘Dotti’ was up first and she was selected by Jonathan Kittlitz of Keato Meadows for $12,000. We recall bidding against each other back when we acquired our Anchor T Impact semen at the same sale quite a number of years ago, so perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise when he was the successful bidder on a direct daughter! ‘Lydia’ also found a great home with the legendary Maxwell Simmental program. We have got to know Glen Maxwell over the past few years, specifically since acquiring our NUG Delmonte bull from them back in 2017. Delmonte sure shaped our program, so it was pretty cool to have Lydia heading to Maxwell’s. In all, our six heifers found homes across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and into Quebec. All five buyers acquired the APLX prefix for the first time, so we look forward to seeing how their progeny develops for their new owners.
In addition to the above noted high sellers, I thought it also worthwhile to share a few additional thoughts:
- One of the neat things about being part of a consignment sale is seeing everyone have success. A quick scroll through the Equation high seller lists represents practically all of our fellow breeders, each of whom have been long term consignors to the sale. Certainly lots of smiling faces after the sale!
- I also want to suggest that despite the number of programs in the barn, the Fleckvieh cattle all lined up in very similar condition. This is an incredibly difficult feat when there are many different operations coming together to showcase their programs. We have always found it a challenge to get the correct balance. We don’t want our cattle ‘green’ nor do we want them ‘fat’ – especially bred heifers that are three weeks from calving – so it was neat to see the consistency across Equation.
- I do wonder if the combination of the Covid pandemic and increased quality of the Internet experience may be leading to a permanent change in attendance at sales. On a week-end where weather was uncertain, and at a time so close to Christmas, I did notice people tour through the barns that were then content to watch the sale virtually, and either bid online or via phone. With sales results being posted online within a couple of days (if not sooner), it also improves ‘access to information’ available without needing to be there in person.
- The improvements and acceptance of technology and social media during the pandemic certainly has its pro’s and con’s. The efficiency gains of immediate access to information and ‘time savers’ can be offset by a seemingly decreased amount of person to person contact. Which is a change not always for the good! I may be getting to the stage of ‘old man shaking fist and suggesting things were better in an earlier time’, but sometimes a great conversation can provide nuance and shape opinion – while the internet (or even texting) simply doesn’t provide the forum for deep discussion. I may not always seem like the most social person, but simply being part of conversations, and listening to great advice have really helped improve our operation over the years. I do worry that the opportunity is being lost for new to the industry breeders aiming to find their own voice and direction, if there isn’t at least some focus on the ‘in person’ part of the purebred cattle business.
- I also wonder if there is opportunity for further evolution of Simmental Week-end itself. With the highly successful Friday Night Lights, followed by a Saturday sale and then National Trust Saturday night, prior to Equation / Red & Black on Sunday, it is an extremely long (and incredibly busy) week-end, specifically for those of us consigning cattle to any of the events. For those consigning to FNL – Moving in Wednesday, prepping cattle and then sticking around until Sunday can be an extensive time commitment; with most of us having work pile up back at the farm. So maybe with increase in online presence, it might make sense to move to a more condensed weekend schedule in the future.
- For the first time in a number of years, we weren’t successful in adding a new heifer from Equation. We always like to ‘save a bullet’ to use to support our fellow breeders at our own sale, but weren’t successful in getting one bought this year. We did get some shopping done both earlier in the season (Starwest Pol Harmony) and in adding a new AI option via the New Year’s Resolution Sale. We are always looking to add something different that we think will be an ‘improver’ to our herd, so were happy to achieve this goal again in 2022.
- Finally, as we look towards 2023, we will need to dig pretty deep and scour a lot of options in our search for another herd bull. If 2022 has taught us anything, it is that quality polled genetics (specifically those that are ‘outcross’ to our existing genetic base) command a premium. It can be somewhat intimidating trying to find options that make economic sense for our smaller cow base, but at the same time, the search is part of the fun! (And a super successful heifer sale certainly puts us in a position to re-invest in our future!)
I can’t close without saying a few words about Transcon, our Sales Management team. Jay, Darren, Glen and Cody always do a quality, professional job – and spend significant amounts of time on the phone – talking – while walking animals out of their pens to check feet, and allow buyers to select animals with confidence. Sales Management is a long term gig – if a prospective buyer on order isn’t happy with their purchase they won’t be back. It is foundational to have mutual trust in a Sales Management team, and we have that with Transcon. Another really neat part of the Transcon team, is Jay’s willingness to offer a spot to people ‘new to the breed’. It might be more recently showcased within Red and Black, but as I mentioned earlier, it is super cool to see new people enter the purebred business. And everyone needs to get their start at their ‘first sale’; Jay has been tremendous in offering people that opportunity (which he also offered to us back when we first started!)
Overall it was another great year to present Applecross Cattle at auction. We were honoured by the compliments received, and the amount of interest in our program is rewarding. With calving nicely underway (the heifers are leading 7-1, so maybe we will have more opens to offer at Equation 2023!), we look forward to the excitement that 2023 will bring, and another step forward in our ongoing efforts to produce high-quality genetics that we can share with the industry.
Equation 2022 Sales Preview: Legacies That Live On
We are absolutely delighted to present four bred and two open heifers for consideration at Transcon’s Fleckvieh Equation 2022, on December 18th at 1pm at Westerner Park, Red Deer , Alberta. Thanks to a return of some long term consignors, and the continued evolution of the breed, Equation ’22 will showcase the broadest selection of polled Fleckviehs for sale in Canada this fall. We look forward to the return of the Saturday social at National Trust, and just the chance to visit, catch-up and talk all things cattle in a great facility while inspecting the awesome diversity of the Simmental breed. It should be a great week-end!
Our theme this year immediately jumps off the page: DLD Lady Western 48R. When we established Applecross back in 2006, we wanted to start our herd with some of our favourite cow families from Ontario. Mom & Dad (Dora Lee), graciously granted us the choice of any four females on the farm. My first pick was ‘Lady’, a direct King Arthur daughter from SRN 2Y, who played her own starring role in establishing the Dora Lee Fleckvieh program in the early 1990’s. Dad often shared that letting ‘Lady’ go west was the most difficult cow he ever had to part with. (And when asked why he did let her go, he simply stated ‘because I was his son’). Through her long career at Applecross, Lady is probably most distinctly recognized for being the dam of APLX Envoy 2Y, who went on to leave his mark at Lone Stone after being selected out of the 2011 National Trust sale as a bull calf. We also retained every single one of her daughters. When we acquired Lady, we also managed to convince Dad to breed her Antonius (!!) before sending her out – which promptly turned into Applecross Diva and what is now an extensive ‘D’ – cow family, as evidenced by both ‘Dixie’ and ‘Dotti’ in this years offering. A couple of years later she gave us ‘Bella,’ who still walks here as the matriarch of our ‘B – cow family’ (and as a sneak peak will have a super neat grandson show up at Red Deer County 2023 Bull Sale), followed by ‘Lady Grace’, ‘Isabelle’ and ‘Frauline’, who are represented by ‘Giselle’, ‘Ivy’ and ‘Lydia’ respectively at Equation 2022 (we already had a F-cow family when Frauline came along, so Frauline’s daughters get L’s). While we are clearly pretty biased towards the 48R progeny, there is a consistency in volume and udder development across her daughters, who also showcase longevity, pigment and length of spine. Excluding our sale heifers, EIGHTEEN Lady decendants will calve at Applecross next spring. (I haven’t even mentioned that 48R also shows up in the extended pedigree of our exciting young herd sire, Black Gold Battleborn 44H – so this number will only move higher!) I think Dad would have been pretty tickled by the legacy of DLD Lady Western 48R.
The sixth of our sale heifers is the ironically named ‘Pixie’ (who is anything but tiny), who is from our 2nd most prominent cow family. Spruceburn Pauline was our choice of Bill & Donna McMurty’s bred heifer pen back in 2009. She founded our ‘P-line’ and gave us two stand out daughters that still walk here in (poundmaking) ‘Poppy’ and (pretty) ‘Paula’. Poppy cruises our pastures at an even 2,000 lbs and has produced high selling progeny on both sides of the ledger, while Paula is Jeanne’s favourite (and ironically weighed 5lbs more than big sister this year). Jeanne keeps vetoing Paula’s daughters, (and I have a tendency to do the same to Poppy’s), so while not quite to Lady’s threshold, we do have seven P’s calving out in 2023. I am bad at math, but on our fifty cow herd, it appears an even 50% of the calves born in 2023 will trace back to either Pauline or 48R. What can we say – we like our cow families!
Individual pages have been created for each of ‘Giselle’, ‘Dixie’, ‘Dotti’, ‘Pixie’, ‘Ivy’ and ‘Lydia’. 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.
The heifers all have quiet temperaments and are used to being around people. We like quiet cattle. We preg-checked in mid-October and the vet feels that three are safe to their AI dates, with the fourth bred potentially a cycle later. Also, due to the late sales date of Equation, we expect all of our bred heifers to be very heavy in calf – specifically as Cavill appears to have a little shorter gestation. For any out of province buyers, we are willing to take the heifers home and calve them out. While ‘stuff’ can happen, we would much prefer that ‘stuff’ to happen at our place, instead of having a disaster occur during the stress of a truck ride.
The Heifers are also vaccinated with ViraShield and Covexin Plus. They will be treated with Dectomax and the breds will have their first shot of Scourguard prior to sale day.
The 2022 Fleckvieh Equation promises to be another exciting event. We look forward to a great day on December 18th at Westerner Park.
Applecross Cattle Presents: Our 2017 Fleckvieh Equation Heifers
Two of our Sale bred heifers: Cynthia (left) and Pippa (right)
After a one year hiatus, we are absolutely delighted to present four bred heifers at Transcon’s 2017 Fleckvieh Equation Sale, on December 17th, at 1pm at Westerner Park, Red Deer, Alberta. This is always such a great weekend to market Simmental cattle in Alberta, and we are proud to once again be part of this progressive group of breeders.
At the top of our group, are the first FGAF WowEffect heifers to sell at auction. While we have marketed bulls from WowEffect for several years now, 2017 will represent the first opportunity for the heifers to strut their stuff in public. Since forming a partnership with my parents (Dora Lee Genetics) to utilize WowEffect, we have been very impressed with the balance of his progeny. It is rare that a bull produces both great sons and awesome daughters – so we are certainly excited to present heifers for perusal after the sons have been so readily accepted. As WowEffect is backed by two famous cows – JB CDN Kananaskis and FGAF Barbarella – it maybe isn’t that big a surprise that his offspring are so consistent.
Our lead WowEffect daughter is ‘Cynthia’, a big barreled head turner, who is a direct daughter of Dora Lee Christina 28S. Christina has consistently produced top end cattle for us – daughters, grand-daughters and great granddaughters walk our pastures, and she has developed her own modest list of progeny topping the sales ring in Applecross Candice (our high selling bred at Equation 2015) and high selling bulls APLX Javar and APLX Santana. We feel ‘Cynthia’ has tremendous potential as a front end female.
‘Cynthia’ is closely followed by ‘Ivy’ who is a WowEffect x Gidsco Appollo and goes back to the Beechinor Imperia cow we selected as one of the high selling opens at Equation 2010. This cow family have been consistent producers for us, with an aunt (Applecross Iris) being our high seller at Equation 2013, and a maternal brother APLX Cairo 1C being selected by Gordon Leslie from the 2015 Red Deer Bull Sale. With lots of pigment and a great haircoat, ‘Ivy’ is another great example of the consistency of our WowEffect progeny.
Our third heifer is ‘Flora’, a daughter of the popular JB CDN Hennessey and Anchor D Fergus. Fergus was our pick of the 2014 Pasture Treasures sale, as I was pretty excited when I confirmed that her physical profile matched the depth of her pedigree. Backed by the cow families of Kananaskis (I guess I like her), K2 Fergie and RH Patricia and sire groups that stack Legend, Arni 8M and Jahari, I knew that Fergus would be another great addition to our cow herd. Her first daughter, ‘Flora’ has combined well with Henessey to form a heavily pigmented, dark red beauty.
Our final heifer on offer in 2017 is ‘Pippa’, a double polled stunner that I really struggled to include in our sales string. It is clear to anyone that follows our program, that we are gradually taking the horns off of our cattle, while striving to retain all the power, performance and mothering abilities Fleckvieh are known for. We still breed horned cattle horned (‘Flora’ is a perfect example), but polled is the direction that we are committed to moving the cow herd over the long term. Breeding polled has been a slow process, and selling concrete building blocks like ‘Pippa’ will make it slower yet. That said, I do think it essential that we showcase the progress we have been making, and ‘Pippa’ is the perfect example to do just that. Pippa’s sire, dam, grand-dam, and maternal grand sire all carry our prefix, so she should give a pretty clear indication of what our program is all about.
Individual pages (short-cut links are on the right), have been created for each of our four sale heifers: ‘Cynthia’, ‘Ivy’, ‘Flora’, and ‘Pippa’. On the individual pages, we have also pictured their sires, dams and siblings. With maternal lines so very important to us, we hope pictures that support the extended pedigree will help provide an idea of how the sale heifers will look as cows.
The heifers all have quiet temperaments and are used to being around people. We enjoy spending time with our cattle, so they are used to attention, and some of them do not mind a ‘scratch’. We preg-checked in late September and the vet feels that all four are safe to early breeding dates. The Heifers are also vaccinated with ViraShield and Covexin Plus. They will be treated with Dectomax and given Scourguard prior to sale day.
The 2017 Fleckvieh Equation promises to be another exciting event. We look forward to a great day on December 17th at Westerner Park.
2017 Red Deer Simmental Bull Sale: Our Maternal Focus Shines Through
We are pleased to present four herd bull prospects at Transcon’s 2017 Red Deer Simmental Bull Sale on Thursday, March 23rd at 1:00pm at Westerner Park, Red Deer, Alberta. This is already our seventh year at this event, and we are proud to be included in the strong offering that is always presented by this progressive group of breeders.
This year’s group consists of two FGAF WowEffect sons (Wagner, Weston), and one from each of Sanmar Polled Pharao (Pharaoh) and APLX Rambo (Raider). All four bulls showcase our program very well – we strive to produce bulls that are highly maternal and will calve out moderate birth weight progeny, while still having strong performance numbers.
We have been very happy with how FGAF WowEffect has worked for us – he has proven to be extremely consistent regardless of what type of cow he gets bred to. The WowEffect sons both combine their sires’ explosive performance and maternal strengths, and each are backed by outstanding cow families. Both Wagner and Weston have maternal brothers working in purebred herds.
Pharaoh is also a really neat individual; pedigree and BW suggest heifer bull, but both the scale and visual inspection certainly suggest a lot more than ‘just’ heifers. We are also excited to introduce the first progeny from our junior herd sire APLX Rambo in ‘Raider’; our youngster in the group that also showcases curve bending performance backed by two strong cow families. All four bulls show lots of muscling, have tremendous hair coats, and have been tested for the dilutor gene.
Individual pages (short-cut links are located in the right-hand column) have been created for ‘Pharaoh’, ‘Weston’, ‘Wagner’, and ‘Raider’. The bulls have been developed on a ration of free-choice quality first cut hay, combined with a forage based pellet by Country Junction. The bulls are housed in a 5 acre paddock to ensure lots of exercise, and all have quiet temperaments. On the individual pages, we have also pictured the sires, dams and grand dams. Maternal lines are very important to us, and we feel that behind every great bull is an outstanding cow family. As some people prefer paper copies, we also have individual bull profiles available in PDF format that can be e-mailed and printed, or sent by regular mail. Please let us know if you would like any additional information on any of our animals.
The 2017 Red Deer Simmental Bull Sale promises to be another exciting event. We look forward to a great Thursday on March 23rd at Westerner Park.
2016 Red Deer Simmental Bull Sale: Our Deepest and Most Diverse Bull String Yet
2016 Red Deer Simmental Bull Sale: Our Deepest and Most Diverse Bull String Yet
We are pleased to present nine herd bull prospects at Transcon’s 2016 Red Deer Simmental Bull Sale on Monday, March 21st at 1:00pm at Westerner Park, Red Deer, Alberta. This is our sixth year at this event, and we are proud to be included in the strong offering that is always presented by this progressive group of breeders.
We are proud to say that our 2016 offering will be our deepest and most diverse bull string yet – clearly showcasing our breeding philosophy. We firmly believe that the future will bring an increased herd size on the same amount of available labour. This means that with less labour available on a per cow basis, birth weights will come down to improve calving ease, and that gradually more and more horns will be bred off the cattle. We have moved slowly to incorporate the polled gene into our herd, as our goal is to try and accomplish this while maintaining the strong performance and mothering ability the Simmental breed is known for. In a market that suggests the North American cow-herd is (at long last) expanding, we think our bulls on offer all provide the maternal characteristics that will produce tremendous replacement females.
Individual pages (short-cut links are located in the right-hand column) have been created for all nine of our bulls on offer.
At the top of the pen are the first sons to be offered at auction from FGAF WowEffect, an exciting young sire selected by (my father) Ross Small of Dora Lee Genetics as his pick of the Gagnon 2013 bull calves at their September production sale that year. We were successful in obtaining an exclusive interest in the bull, and these first WowEffect calves are really impressive. ‘Warner’, ‘Waylon’, ‘Windsor’ and ‘Watson’ all come loaded with hair and are heavily pigmented. The bulls showcase plenty of power while maintaining moderate birth weights and we are very excited to see what they will bring to the industry.
The ‘Wow’ sons are joined by 5 other polled herd sire prospects, out of some of our foundation cow families. The youngest bulls in our offering, ‘Sawyer’ and ‘Eastwood’ are sired by APLX Sampson and APLX Escalade respectively, whose daughters were very well received at the recent 2015 Fleckvieh Equation sale. ‘Phoenix’ is a really intriguing son by Dora Lee’s Platinum – another exclusive pedigreed sire developed in Ontario. Rounding out our bull pen are two bulls that bring highly maternal packages to the table; both are out of first calf heifers. ‘Reno’ is a Radium son by a Bronson/Arnold’s Image dam, while ‘Cairo’ combines the calving ease of Sanmar Pol Pharao with Gidsco Appollo and Sunny Valley Sargeant.
We want to ensure our bulls will work for many years, so feet, legs and temperament are very important traits for us. The bulls are housed in a 5 acre paddock to ensure lots of exercise, and have been developed on a ration of free-choice quality first cut hay, combined with a forage based pellet by Country Junction. All nice bulls are quiet and used to being around people. We like working and walking through docile cattle, and feel the herd bull should be no exception.
On the individual pages, we have also pictured the sires, dams and grand dams. Maternal lines are very important to us, and we feel that behind every great bull is an outstanding cow family. As some people prefer paper copies, we also have individual bull profiles available in PDF format that can be e-mailed and printed, or sent by regular mail. Please let us know if you would like any additional information on any of our animals.
The 2016 Red Deer Simmental Bull Sale promises to be another exciting event. We look forward to a great day on March 21th at Westerner Park
2015 Fleckvieh Equation Sale Report
Applecross Candice – Our High-Selling Female, selected by Sunville Simmentals, McCreary MB.
2015 Fleckvieh Equation Sale Report
Transcon’s Fleckvieh Equation Fullblood Simmental Sale wrapped up the Alberta Simmental Week-end with a bang on Sunday, December 20th. Sunny skies and a standing room only crowd watched as 70 lots of Fleckvieh genetics rolled through the ring to average just shy of $9,200.
In what is becoming a sale tradition, 6 heifers from the impressively deep Beechinor Brothers string led off the sale with 4 of the first 6 heifers topping the $20,000 threshold. The highseller was Lot 4, a massively volumed daughter out of the outcross Great Guns TX Mac bull.
After a very successful 2014, the number of herd bulls on offer at Equation continued to expand, with no decline in quality. The lead bull was once again from the renowned JNR program, who presented TITANIUM to the industry, and who in turn sold for $54,000 to Black Gold Simmental and Beechinor Brothers.
Not to be outdone, the selection of heifer calves on offer was the strongest it has been in years. The high seller was Lot 45, an impressive open from Jayshaw Simmentals, that was acquired by Anchor D Ranch / Dan & Karen Skeels for $10,500.
Our six Applecross heifers were very well received, with our high seller, Applecross Candice, being selected by Sunville Simmentals, McCreary MB for $11,750. Applecross Tessanne ($10,000) is also changing provinces, joining Brett Keet’s polled program in Dalmeny SK, and we are quite excited to have Applecross Pearl ($9,000) join the highly regarded Eagle Ridge operation here in Alberta. ‘Carly’, ‘Gabrielle’ and ‘Emerald’ also found great homes in Central Alberta, and it is great that they will be close by for us to keep an eye on.
In addition to the above noted high-sellers, I thought we would share some additional thoughts on the 2015 Edition of Fleckvieh Equation:
– we cannot say enough about how impressive the Beechinor bred heifer string was. 8 lots representing 7 different sire groups averaged an awesome $17,280; which amazingly topped their $15,780 average on 8 breds a year ago. Sustained fantastic results for a great family, which only showcases the depth of their program.
– The Big Sky offering was also quite notable. Ever since they started bringing cattle from Manitoba to the first National Trust event, we have kept a close eye on their program, and it was great to see their very deep string have a great day – their 5 Fleckvieh bred heifers averaged just shy of $13,000. We were fortunate enough to bring one (lot 38) home to Applecross, and are quite happy to now have the ‘Big Sky’ prefix walking here.
– Bring back the Bulls! After re-introducing a couple of herd bulls at Equation in 2014, the prices on the 6 Fleckvieh bulls offered in 2015 were very impressive. Even after excluding the $54,000 high seller, the remaining 5 bulls averaged $11,400 – outstanding results for a number of great breeders, and hopefully just a hint of good things to come as we move deeper into bull sale season.
– We were also successful in acquiring lot 63, Parview Ms Rayen to add to our open heifer pen. We have always been impressed with the Bar None Bernadette cow family, and had followed the genetics from Big Sky to Virginia Ranch and then jumped at the opportunity to select this female from Brad Parker. An outcross pedigree for us, with the intriguing JB CDN Windwalker as a sire, gives us plenty of options for this fine little lady.
We would be remiss not to recognize the team at Transcon for doing a tremendous job working the phones and managing the sale – They are always a quality, professional sales management team. I don’t think I have ever seen them as busy as they were this week-end – there was tremendous interest in the cattle, and all of the sales staff were consistently on the phone while inspecting cattle for prospective buyers.
It was another great day to present Applecross cattle at auction, and we are honoured by the compliments received on our cattle from all the bidders and buyers that took interest in our program. With 2016 just starting up, we look forward to calving season and another step in that ongoing effort to produce high-quality genetics that we can share with the industry.
Applecross Cattle Present our 2014 Equation Females
3 of our sale bred heifers – Rhianna, Whitney and Emma
Applecross Cattle Present our 2014 Equation Females
We are pleased to present five bred heifers at Transcon’s 2014 Fleckvieh Equation Sale on December 21th, at 1pm at Westerner Park, Red Deer, Alberta. After an exciting debut in 2013, we are proud to once again be part of this prestigious event.
Our 2014 sale string really showcases the genetics that form the core of our walking group. Cow families are very important to us, and as such we have taken a slow approach to building our herd. This way, the maternal lines can develop, and we can watch and compare as the younger generations work alongside their matriarchs.
Progeny from three of our founding cow families will be represented for the first time – Applecross Emma is a barrel of an Eclipse daughter tracing back to the Dora Lee Evangaline (Sim Roc C&B Western) cow family; Applecross Glory is a very feminine Anchor T Ikon daughter going back to the Dora Lee Gretchen (Arnold’s Image) cow family; Applecross Rhianna is a dark red, heavily pigmented Bronson daughter, out of our Dora Lee Jewel (Rangemore Carrousel) cow family. Not to be outshone by their running mates, we are also offering Applecross Alicia who represents progeny from the JB CDN Amethyst cow family, as well as Applecross Whitney, who is descended from the master breeders at Brock Ranches. All five heifers are solid coloured with moderate frames, yet tons of volume – exactly the types of females we think will turn into awesome cows.
Individual pages (short-cut links are on the right), have been created for each of ‘Rhianna’, ‘Emma’, ‘Alicia’, ‘Glory’ and ‘Whitney’. The heifers have all been tie-broke and have quiet temperaments. We preg-checked in late October, and the vet feels that all five are safe to their AI breeding. With a later sale date this year, we do expect all five to be very heavy in calf, and should any purchasers be from out-of-province, we would be happy to bring them back to Applecross and calve them out. The Heifers are also vaccinated with ViraShield Gold and Covexin Plus. They will be treated with Scour-Guard prior to sale day. On the individual pages, we have also pictured their sires, dams and siblings. Maternal lies are very important to us, and we feel that behind each outstanding female, is an outstanding cow family. As some people prefer paper copies, we also have individual heifer profiles that can be e-mailed and printed or sent by regular mail. Please let us know if you would like any additional information on any of our animals.
The 2014 Fleckvieh Equation promises to be another exciting event. We look forward to a great day on December 21th at Westerner Park.
Applecross Cattle Present our First Three Females to Sell
Our Three Sale Heifers – From Left: Mariah, Iris and Cassie
Applecross Cattle Present our First Three Females to Sell
We are pleased to present three bred heifers at Transcon’s 2013 Fleckvieh Equation Sale on December 15th, at 1pm at Westerner Park, Red Deer, Alberta. This will be our first time selling females to the public, and we are proud to be part of this prestigious event.
For our first year, we thought it important to showcase females with genetics that form the core of our herd. Applecross Mariah is a polled, moderate framed heifer out of a Wellhouse Kestrel dam and sired by Dora Lee Eclipse – A bull that has certainly left his mark on our program. Applecross Iris is a powerful Sanmar Polled Pharao daughter that cranks up the volume in an intriguing double polled package. The youngest heifer, Applecross Cassie, may represent the only opportunity to publicly purchase a Spruceburn Starfire daughter. All three heifers are dark red, heavily pigmented females with moderate frames yet tons of volume – exactly the types of females we think will turn into cow-makers. It is also no surprise that the two females from the Eclipse line are bred Pharao, and the other is a Pharao bred Eclipse. Good bulls that are more than just ‘heifer bulls’ are extremely hard to find, so when we find ones we like, it is no surprise they get crossed back on each other. We like predictability!
Individual pages (short-cut links are on the right), have been created for each of ‘Mariah’, ‘Iris’ and ‘Cassie’. The heifers have all been tie-broke and have quiet temperaments. We preg-checked in mid-October and the vet feels that all three are safe to their AI dates. The Heifers are also vaccinated with ViraShield 6 and Covexin Plus. They will be treated with Dectomax prior to sale day. On the individual pages, we have also pictured their sires, dams and siblings. Maternal lines are very important to us, and we feel that behind each outstanding female, is an outstanding cow family. As some people prefer paper copies, we also have individual heifer profiles that can be e-mailed and printed or sent by regular mail. Please let us know if you would like any additional information on any of our animals.
The 2013 Fleckvieh Equation promises to be another exciting event. We look forward to a great day on December 15th at Westerner Park.
The Applecross Year In Review
Applecross Catrina with calf Carly at side
The Applecross Year In Review
2012 was an incredible year for Applecross. We hit a lot of milestones and are very pleased with how our operation continued to grow and evolve during the year.
We had some mild weather to begin the year, and that certainly made calving easier. It is not every year that calves can be born outside on the straw-pack without losing their tails or freezing their ears! We were almost three-quarters heifers to bulls in 2012 – which is great when you are trying to increase your herd numbers. While the mild weather created its own set of (health) challenges with the calves, we were quite happy with how they developed.
Bulls sales in 2012 far exceeded our expectations. Unexpectedly, at the end of 2011, Envoy was selected for the National Trust sale. As a result, we began the year with a visit to Lonnie & Karen Brown in late February, to deliver him to his new home and tour their operation. Not long after that, we got the chance to deliver Santana up to Edson, giving us the chance to see both the Wa-Na-La-Pa and Langer herds (and check out APLX Ensign in his home). Touring herds is one of my favourite things to do, so it doesn’t matter if it is February – seeing good cattle and visiting with great people is always a great way to spend a day. We were also pleased by how our bulls sold at auction in 2012. We were both honoured and humbled to see both Jackson (who sold in March at the Red Deer Sale for $12,000 to Westgold Simmentals) and Santana (who Wayne sold in the 2012 Cow-A-Rama sale for $11,000 to Vaughn Gibbons) represent the APLX prefix so well. It always takes time for bulls to make an impact in a breeders program, but we look forward to visiting all of these operations in 2013 to see how Envoy, Jackson and Santana are doing.
Lots of moisture in June and July led into a warm August and plenty of grass for the cattle. We didn’t vacation this summer, so there was plenty of time to halter break calves in July and complete farm improvements in August. We added space to winter mature bulls this year, so that was a major accomplishment for us. We also spent time improving our rotational grazing program, and making more efficient use of space and labour to help us manage additional cow numbers.
Heading into the fall sale season, it was great to see such excellent results, and see our fellow breeders having the success that they enjoyed. On the home front, we were successful in aquiring an additional bred heifer privately from my parents operation. Dora Lee Martina is a big, strong Broadway daughter that I think will fit in nicely with our young herd. The sale season also brought the opportunity to travel to Brandon to the National Trust sale, and while there I really enjoyed both visiting with fellow breeders and touring some world-class purebred operations. The sales seemed to get stronger as the year went on, and we weren’t successful purchasing females closer to home. The market for quality cattle has become very strong, and it is a great sign for the Simmental breed as the cattle market takes a much needed turn for the better.
I commented last year on the success of our website – and I thought it only fitting to provide an update again this year. 2012 brought additional visitors; with almost 10,000 views from over 87 countries during the year. We also worked with my parents to launch an updated Dora Lee website (www.doraleegenetics.com) utilizing the WordPress platform. Mom and Dad are able to manage and post updates to their site themselves, so it is another example of how easy establishing and maintaining a current web presence has become. We look forward to another exciting year in 2013 of providing updates on our operation, and sharing our perspective on topics that interest us.
Looking forward to 2013
For 2013, we are excited about what should be our largest, most uniform calf crop yet. We start calving about the 10th of January, and thanks to some good luck with our AI program, and having our walking bulls go right to work, we should be done calving in 2 months. We are expecting calves from 10 different sires, so there should be lots of diversity, but the similar ages of the calves should allow us to effectively compare the genetics. We have a number of cows bred to sires that have proven to work here in the past (Eclipse, Equinox, and Pharao to name three), but have also added some new sires, including a group bred to the great Bronson bull, as well as the first calves from our two young walking bulls – APLX Escalade and APLX Samson. It should be a awesome 2 months.
Early in the new year has also become the time of bull sales, and it appears like several events have moved earlier in the season. Based on how purebred heifers sold this fall, strong cattle prices, and the gradual rebuilding of cow numbers in the industry, I expect bull sales to be exceptional. Getting a different catalogue in the mail (seemingly) every day, is an exciting part of our search for new and outcross genetics. We also look forward to watching our three bulls develop in preparation for the Red Deer Sale in late March. We think Axel, Edge and Ajax all have something to offer the industry, so it will be great to watch them continue to develop.
Hard on the heels of bull sale season, comes some tough breeding decisions. While we still plan to AI extensively, we are planning on increasing our use of both of our walking bulls. With Escalade and Samson wintering here, they have continued to impress, and I think they will be more than up to the challenge of breeding a few more cows each in 2013.
In a lot of ways, the next few months are critical to the success of an operation. Getting healthy calves on the ground (and off to a good start), followed immediately thereafter by breeding decisions that can shape a program for years to come. Those night checks might get old after a few weeks, but the excitement that comes with seeing that healthy new-born calf, from a mating that you had such high hopes for, will make it all worthwhile.
As 2012 wraps up, and 2013 is about to begin, we pause during this holidays season to reflect with family and friends on the challenges and successes we have enjoyed over the past year. We are blessed to live in an amazing country, with fresh air, clean water and the means to put food on the table. We have a passion for breeding quality Fleckvieh cattle, and we are very fortunate to be able to pursue this dream through our operation here at Applecross. We look forward to an awesome 2013!
Annual Female Section Update
Applecross Janelle – one of the top bred heifers we have retained.
Annual Female Section Update
We have completed our annual refresh of our female section (Herdbook > Foundation Females) with updated pictures and new pages to showcase some additional females. The pages fall into chronological order, with our oldest cow (Jewel) at the top, and our youngest female (Taylor) at the bottom. As our herd is made up predominantly of young cows, a year can bring significant change as they grow and develop into more mature animals. The challenge is, of course, getting updated pictures that reflect the phenotypical change (not to mention to convince the cows that they should stand to get their picture taken!). Over the years I would like to get a good picture of every quality female we own, but there are always some that can escape the camera.
Featured above is Applecross Janelle. Janelle is one of our top bred heifers, and was originally selected for this year’s Fleckvieh Equation sale. An Anchor T Ikon daughter, by a powerful Dora Lee Eclipse dam, Janelle (and her dam Jasmine) have caught the eye of many of our visitors the last couple of years. After a lot of discussion, we decided it would be best for the long term success of our operation to retain Janelle (and all of our bred heifers), to help grow our numbers here at Applecross. We look forward to Janelle’s 2013 calf by the polled calving ease bull Sanmar Pol Pharao in mid January.
Weaning Time!
Our youngest heifer, Applecross Evita showcasing her Quiet Wean nose flap, along side her dam, Dora Lee Evangaline
Weaning Time!
Labour Day week-end has always meant weaning time here at Applecross. I am not sure whether it is the sudden change in weather (it seemingly goes from warm evenings to a hint of frost overnight), to Jeanne’s annual return to the front of the classroom, but it is always the last ‘must do’ on the summer’s job list, and is always scheduled for Labour Day Monday.
For the last 4 years, we have used ‘Quiet Wean’ nose flaps in a two step weaning process that begins 9 days earlier – often the morning of the Anchor D Female Sale. Dan & Karen always showcase a set of excellent cattle combined with amazing hospitality, so I always take the day off work to attend this great gathering. The Friday morning sales date provides the perfect opportunity to work through the groups and get quiet weans in every nose, prior to enjoying some fun and fellowship later that afternoon. Nine days later, on Labour Day Monday, we removed the Quiet Weans, and formally separate the calves from their dams.
The Quiet Weans themselves are a small, bendable plastic insert that fits into the calves’ nose. The flap allows them to still eat grass and drink water, but prevents them from ‘drinking upwards’ to the teat. This ensures that the calves have nine days to wean themselves off their ‘milk addiction’, and then only have to deal with separation anxiety from their mothers come weaning day.
I first saw the quiet weans at work when touring the D Bar C / Cutler & Sissons herd in 2009. I figured that if it worked for them in their 400 cow operation, we could easily manage the extra step with our much smaller herd. Now, four years later, we are pleased with how both the cows and calves transfer through the stress of weaning. Yes, there is still some noise for a day or two, but the calves adapt a lot more quickly and seem to be back turning grass into meat in no time. We hope to profile some of these calves over the next few months.
Rotational Grazing
The grass is always greener on the other side.
Rotational Grazing
Rotational grazing is something we have been working with since the early 1990’s, when Dad purchased the farm next door. The new land had not been worked for a number of years, and everything on it was in a state of disrepair. The old barn was buried, the house cleaned up and refurbished, and new fences went up so that our Fleckvieh cattle could enjoy the extra space. We spent a lot of time together that summer – fencing and, in his words, ‘putting the land to work’.
Thanks to 40 acres of bush at Dora Lee, fencing started the hard way – we cut all of our cedar posts directly from the bush. Most trees had two or three 8ft posts in them, and Dad was always careful to only selectively cut the posts we needed from a number of different areas in order to keep the forest viable for future uses. We would log for a while, and then move the pile of fresh cut posts to the house, where an ‘after supper’ job for us kids would be stripping the bark from the green posts, getting them ready to be ‘planted’. We then moved on to the actual fencing – the perimeter was completed with 4 strand high-tensile electric wire (with cedar posts every 30 ft), while the cross fencing was single strand (and thankfully just plastic posts). Although it has been 20 years, the original electric fencing has remained in place, and dad continues to add additional cross-fences to improve the rotational grazing patterns. This summer alone, an additional 2 miles of interior fences were added.
Partly because of this background, one of our summer projects here at Applecross was to complete the first phase of our rotational grazing program. As I have previously discussed, our home quarter is solely a grass quarter, with three separate walking groups (bred heifers, cows w heifer calves, cows w bull calves). All three groups obviously need to have access to a clean water source, preferably in the yard. While well-water is more expensive than a dug-out or natural water source, I think the cattle just do better with quality water. We also like the fact that our groups then have to come up to the yard to drink. It gets them in a routine of coming up to buildings, and in turn locking them in for treatment, processing or sorting becomes very straightforward. It might mean a little extra fence to add alleys to all the rotations, but the management benefits more than offset the additional cost and time to put them up.
So during my August holidays, we finally finished phase one of our rotational grazing plan. Each of the three groups now have 3 paddocks they can rotate through, and an alley to get to the yard for water. The cows are rotated approximately every 10 days, giving each pasture a 20 day break. We also have 2 smaller ‘overflow’ fields which are not part of the rotation, but can be utilized should any of the groups get ahead of the re-growth. It is always great to have a little flexibility.
Our cross-fencing is simply single strand hot wire, and it does appear to be something that the cows respect. We have quiet cows, and that certainly helps with the hot wire (as they usually walk not run), but obviously if a cow feels cornered or threatened, they will still go through or over the fence. We are predominantly utilizing fiberglass ‘pigtail posts’ that can be easily removed/dropped if you need to drive over the fence with a tractor (or when spreading manure for that matter). We like that the ‘pigtails’ don’t have parts to break off like other posts, but they are a little tall at spring turn out, as the younger calves can still walk under them. We manage this by angling the posts, which drops the wire height slightly. Not only does this keep the calves in, but it also makes it a little easier for us to step over when walking between groups.
Phase 1 is now complete, so we will move on to phase 2 over the next few years. Our final goal is to have 6 paddocks for each group, allowing a 5 day rotation and 25 day rest – we think this will be the optimal balance between maximizing grass while keeping active management to a moderate level. While we are out to ‘visit’ our cows pretty much every day in the summer, moving them every 5 days feels like it will be the right amount that will allow the cattle to keep their routines, while keeping the grass re-growth high.
It may be early yet to see how successful our new fences have been in improving yield, however we have already been able to see visible improvement in the first fields that were cross fenced in 2010 and 2011. While the cows still have their favorite spots in each paddock, re-growth seems to be broader spread and more even. Different species seem to be thriving – as an early graze of quick growing spring grass appears to allow for clover and alfalfa to thrive more through the middle of the season. We look forward to seeing how the grass continues to evolve over the upcoming years.
Our goal is to be able to increase the yield of our pastures by upwards of 20%. Whether we utilize this gain by being able to graze longer into winter, or by pasturing more cattle, a 20% grass gain for a couple of hundred dollars of wire and posts seems like a pretty good investment.
We have been blessed this summer by lots of moisture through June and July, followed by plenty of heat this summer. The grass (as you can see in the picture), has been plentiful, and as a result, it hasn’t been nearly as stressed as a ‘normal’ year would be. Considering the wide-spread drought conditions in the US and Eastern Canada, we are very, very fortunate. With the weather and grass that we have, our efforts to improve our rotational grazing may not seem immediately beneficial, but over the longer term, less stress on each of the pastures should only be a good thing; regardless of the weather.
Mid-April Update
Applecross Eleanor (Gidsco Appollo x Applecross Eva) - pictured @ 2 months
Mid-April Update
I was originally going to title this ‘Spring’ update but, while the snow has mostly gone, sub zero temperatures, random flurries and lots of wind hasn’t made this season feel too much like spring yet. Not that I am complaining. After the warm temperatures we enjoyed this winter I have nothing to complain about. It is truly special to walk out to the straw pack and see that a calf was born unassisted, and is up and drinking on their own, without having to worry about it freezing. While the mild winter can create its own set of challenges, we are truly thankful for the great calving season. The final tally has us with a 2 heifer to 1 bull ratio, which definitely means that the first Applecross females will be marketed this fall.
April brings ‘Spring Fever’ to our house (which is more than just me chasing Jeanne around the kitchen!). Perhaps cabin fever is a more apt description. Since the daylight hours are so long, and those pesky night checks are done for the season, there seems to be more time and energy to get those ‘after supper’ chores done in preparation for spring. Those ‘to-do’ lists that were made during the winter months get transferred into action. It is also great just to be outside more, without the heavy clothing, working away at those endless number of things that need done around the farm.
We have been able to get the cows out of the corrals behind the barn and onto our ‘shoulder season’ pasture that we use for December and April-May. It is a three acre paddock, complete with an old horse ‘round pen’ they can utilize for shelter. It is great to see them more relaxed; out of the mud and using their feet and legs more. I think the exercise is good for the calves too – they sure change in the few months since birth. It doesn’t take long for the bulls to start looking like bulls, and the heifers to start ‘princessing’ around the yard.
Speaking of ‘Princesses’; that is a great word to describe our Anchor D Viper calves. We only got heifers, but they sure are easy to pick out. They all seem to have the certain intangible ‘sass’ about them that is really neat to see. If there is going to be a calf to follow you around when you’re checking cows, looking for some attention, it will be a Viper heifer.
Dad has always said that the key to a successful breeding season is to make more ‘good decisions’ than ‘bad ones’. Sometimes a genetic combination works out; other times it does not. Hopefully each calf crop yields more of the ‘good’, and fewer ‘bads’. For the 2012 edition, I think I am firmly on the ‘good’ side of the ledger, though there are a few matings that didn’t work out quite the way I hoped. I always try to treat mistakes as something to learn from, instead of constantly second guessing myself. That is one of the great things about the cattle business: there is always next year to plan for.
To help me plan, I really try to keep detailed notes; some days those notes morph into a journal. It really helps the memory, and can be referred back to; little details can be remembered. Everything from calving tendencies and gestations, to a genetic cross that worked (and those that don’t). We live in such an information society, being able to go back and refer to notes – and have an accurate record of what you were thinking at the time, instead of relying on an increasingly bad memory (or just whatever you have heard recently) – is a great help when making decisions.
We are thick into AI season. I have a detailed chart of who should be bred, and to what; but that doesn’t always stop me from changing my mind when Donna McMurtry drives in the lane to breed them. Having Donna available is a great resource. As she has bred thousands of cows over the years, her level of expertise is tremendous. Having been around the breed for 35+ years, she also has an interesting perspective on what genetics work.
The biggest addition to our 2012 AI line-up is IPU Bronson. I really admire the Bronson females that Harry and Michelle Satchwell have working down at Virginia Ranch. They really are a sight – I think at one point they had something like 17 daughters working there – and they are all tremendous big volume cows. As we didn’t manage to get any daughters bought, we are excited to hopefully develop some for our own over the next few years.
We will also be AI’ing more to Dora Lee Eclipse this year; specifically on our heifers. His first daughters that I have working (now aged 4) are really impressive – and I have a really nice heifer calf this year too. There is a lot to like about Eclipse – he has both calving and maternal calving (a Fleckvieh rarity), he is coloured right, puts square udders on his females, and he can take the horns off. There is something to be said about keeping a semen bank around to re-visit 5 years down the road after you know a genetic combination works.
Spring is also when our bulls are introduced to their new homes. One of the great things about delivering bulls is the opportunity to tour the operation, and see what management techniques and genetic direction different herds are taking. I haven’t toured a herd yet where I haven’t learned something. This held true when we had the opportunity to tour the Langer and Wa-Na-La-Pa herds when delivering APLX Santana in a mid-March snow storm. One of the many things that stood out for us on this visit, was the work they had done with their new panel set-up that replaced old wooden corrals. The panels provide lots of flexibility and allowed multiple confined breeding and AI groups, all close together without the bulls seeming to bother each other; despite several cows being in heat that day. I see more panels in my future!
We also quite enjoyed our visit to Lone Stone Farms in February. One of our conditions in selling Envoy at the 2011 National Trust in November, was that we wanted to winter him prior to delivering him to Lonnie & Karen. So, on another snowy winter day, we travelled to Westlock to enjoy a wonderful lunch and most of an afternoon visiting. Even though it was only 4 days prior to their annual bull sale (and with plenty of jobs still yet to get done), they were more than happy to spend a lot of time with us showing us their program. One of the things that stood out for us on the visit, was the uniformity of the cattle. For the past 30 years they have developed a clear vision of what they want their cattle to look like, and that was clearly evident by how consistent their cow groups were. The success of their approach was clearly proven in the success of their Friday Bull Sale. Improving the uniformity of our cow herd is something that I look forward to, now that our herd numbers are almost to where we want them to be.
A last closing comment on bull season: while it has been a great year for bull sales overall, I would also suggest that it has been an amazing year for the ‘best of the best’. I don’t recall another spring where I have seen or heard of more bulls sell for $10,000+, $20,000+ or $40,000+. In some ways, it is not surprising; a rising industry should lead to reinvestment by both commercial cattlemen and by breeders. It is just great to see so much dedication / enthusiasm throughout the entire industry again in 2012. Here is hoping it continues on for the next few years.
Our Entries to 2011 Red Deer Bull Sale
APLX Ensign 2X - headlines our entries
Individual pages (short-cut links are located in the right-hand column) have been created for our three bull entries to the 2011 Red Deer Bull Sale to be held on Monday, March 21, 2011 at 1:00pm at Westerner Park, Red Deer, Alberta. The 2011 edition will represent our first genetics to sell by auction, and we are pleased to be a part of this great event.
The three bulls selected represent the best of our 2010 bull calf crop. We weaned September 3rd, 2010, evaluated the calves, and then culled thoroughly. These three bulls are all solid colour, heavily pigmented, have moderate (90-100lb) birth weights, show lots of muscling, have tremendous hair coats and are backed by strong, often unique, pedigrees. The bulls have been developed on a ration of free-choice quality first cut hay combined with 10lbs/day of mixed grain, formulated to 12% protein. To ensure they are in shape for breeding season, the grain ration was increased to 12lbs/day on February 1st. The bulls are housed in a 5 acre paddock to ensure lots of exercise, they have all been at least tie-broke, and all have a quiet temperament. In short, we have raised them to be the type of bulls we would wish to buy for ourselves, and feel they will go out and get the job done.
Thanks to their sire, all three bulls are scurred and may pass the polled gene along to their offspring. In 2009 we were selected to help ‘prove’ an exciting new homozygous polled bull that was the result of 10 years of development – Dora Lee’s Equinox. We are very pleased with how his first calf crop has performed, will continue to use him extensively. Thanks to his development in Ontario, we also believe his genetics are outcross to the vast majority of Fleckvieh lines in Western Canada. These three bulls will also represent the only Equinox sons to sell publicly in 2011.
On the individual pages, we have also pictured the dams. Maternal lines are very important to us, and we feel that behind every great bull is an outstanding mother. We also have additional information and pictures available about the maternal grand dams; should it be of interest. As some people prefer paper copies, we also have individual bull profiles available in PDF format that can be e-mailed and printed, or sent by regular mail. Please let us know if you would like any additional information on any of our animals.
The 2011 Red Deer Simmental Bull Sale will be a very exciting time for us. We look forward to seeing the first Applecross genetics sell March 21 at Westerner Park.
Picture Note: The above picture of ‘Ensign’ taken in October of 2010. We really like this picture of Ensign, as it showcases his tremendous volume and heavy muscling, but wanted to use a current ‘winter’ picture in order to have consistent maturity with the other bulls in the catalogue and on his web-page.
Applecross Cattle 