October here and nearly gone.

The days are getting shorter and these last few weeks and months seem to be flying by way too quickly as well.  Hope fully that is the same for January & February when we are getting a blast of the real cold stuff.

October has been a busy month for us. We were trying to get caught up on a few things after spending time in September celebrating the marriage of our youngest daughter Stacy to Dan Romanyk.
  

They couldn't take their real cows to the wedding site so Stacy incorporated these ones into the wedding. (The guests had to find their cow to know their table number.)



 

We usually sell our cull calves in September but this was pushed back to early October.  We were really happy with our steer calves netting $1085.00 for us.  Now I know that you will hear of other calves bringing more than that this year.  But remember this is the bottom half of our male calf crop.  Included in this were the March calves, twins, ect.

 

The bulls that will sell at Simmental Summit on February 24, 2014 are being fed down at Beechinor Bros., Bentley, AB.  We did keep 5 back at home that we will display at the National Simmental Show during Farmfair International - November 3 -9, 2013.

 

We made a quick trip to Iowa over the Thanksgiving weekend to visit Crystal and Jon.  During our time there we were able to take in a Hereford sale at Perks Ranch, Rockford, Illinois, Doug, Mary, Wade & Brie are great people if you are ever in the area.

 

 seen the corn get harvested                                                                                                

and enjoyed a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in Crystal and Jon's new home.

 

After returning home it has been full days of getting the feed yard full, working on fall show and sale cattle, picturing cattle for the fall sale catalogs, and trying to get everything in place before winter arrives.

 

We have some exciting breeding pieces (as Rob calls them) and a display of cattle for the National show that we are real proud of. We will be out and about for a lot of November so we hope to see you at one of the cattle events.  

 

 



Weaning Time

Fall has arrived and with it the ritual of weaning.  Several years ago we started to use quiet weans.  The have worked really well for us.  For our bull calves we put them in when we weigh them and leave them in for a couple of weeks.  During that time we also put a creep feeder in the pasture so they can start to get used to grain.  They are content to be with their mommas and the cows are only in discomfort for a couple of days while their milk starts to dry up.  Then when we bring the bull calves home we take them out and they are started on feed.

For our replacement heifers we do the same thing only they stay in until we bring the cows home from grass.  This year we are hoping that will be in November as we had a good year for grass.  The replacements don't need to be on feed before that.  We also find that we have less sickness with them out on grass instead of in dusty pens.

This fall also meant a different sort of weaning for Rob.....our daughter Stacy was married a week ago and I think this picture says it all.

She has a wonderful husband in Dan and we are excited to see what the future holds for them.  She may be married but I think she will always be daddy's little girl,  just like her sister Crystal.


Rob and Crystal - April 2012

I hope that your fall is going well.  We continue to hear of bumper crops and high selling calves at the markets across the Prairies.

The Boys of Fall

The Boys of Fall can mean a lot of different things.  It can be the great song by Kenny Chesney http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlXDo5WhQXI&feature=player_detailpage, your own local hero's such as the Breton Cougars, or in our case the boys that we just brought home from pasture.

This past Friday night, I went out to watch the local high school football team. 

Breton was one of the first small high schools in Alberta to form a six man football team.  In the last few years the league has grown across the province.  Friday night Breton played the Sedgewick Rams. 


It wasn't a close game but it was fun to see the son of our good friends Darryl and Debbie Snider out on the field.  Cooper is much younger than the other players.  he's only in Junior high but has the size and ability to be playing with the big boys. 

Also want to give a shout out to Darryl.  He is the fieldman for the Simmental Country.  He travels thousands of miles a year across North America attending sales and shows.  He is the staff person representing us breeders that you see the most.  He does a great job for us and it is often during these times that his boys are playing sports or participating in school activities and he is spending time on the road with us instead of seeing them.  Thanks Darryl, we do appreciate all of the time in the spring and fall that you spend with us instead of your family.

Our boys of the fall came home from the pasture on Saturday.  They have been weaned since September but were able to stay with their mommas since we use weaning guards, it allows them to stay on the grass for a while longer.

There are a couple of really special boys that we will be taking to Farmfair and Agribition.  If you are at the shows stop by the stall and have a look at them.