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!
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!
Applecross Cattle 