Sweet Satin

We will be on the road to the National Simmental show held during the 40th Anniversary of Farmfair International in less than 48 hours.

 We are excited for the display that we have prepared - 4 bull calves representing the bulls that will sell at the Simmental Bull Summit on February 24, 2014 and 5 heifer calves, including 2 that will sell at Checkers on December 14, 2013 in Red Deer, and a very pretty little lady - RJY Sweet Satin 30A that sells in the Headliner sale on November 8, 2013 at Farmfair. - Lot 16.

Sweet Satin is out of our oldest cow in the herd. Combined with her sire McIntosh Sweet Talker she has a great future a head of her. 

We invite you to stop by the stall for a visit and a look at the cattle. Safe travels to everyone out on the show road this fall.

Traveling Man

The last few months have been busy but some how Rob has managed to fit a few trips into his schedule.  At the end of September he flew out to Kamloops to judge the 75th Provincial  Winter Fair.  This was a great few days seeing kids enjoying their cattle and other 4H projects.

He made quick trip to Illinois and Iowa over the Thanksgiving weekend to see a Hereford (yes Hereford) Sale and visit Crystal and Jon.

     

Today he is flying to Toronto to judge the Simmental show at the Toronto Royal on Saturday.  He has never been to the Royal before, so is looking forward to being a part of this iconic event.

  The trip will be short though as he has to come right from the airport to Northlands Park to meet us for the 40th Anniversary of Farmfair International and the National Simmental Show and The Pen Bull Show.

It is going to be a busy 10 days, but filled with cattle, friends and agriculture enthusiasts from across the country.  Can't wait.

Family Traditions.

Exhibiting cattle has been a part of our lives for over 40 years.  Rob first began showing in the Junior Hereford Shows and myself in the YCS - Junior Simmental shows as well as showing for my dad in the early years of the Simmental breed to promote these "exotic" cattle.

Then came the years of junior and 4H shows for our girls along with them helping also at the fall shows, Farm Fair and Agribition.

Stay and her heifer.

 Now as the fall of 2013 approaches we are only attending one fall show, the National Simmental Show will be held at Farm Fair International in Edmonton, AB  during the 40th Anniversary of Farmfair.  We may be only going to one show but this will be one of the biggest strings we have exhibited in the past few years.  9 calendar year calves are getting ready.  5 bulls that will represent the group of bulls that will sell on February 24, 2014 in the Simmental Bull Summit and 4 heifers.  One that is selling at the Headliner Sale at Farmfair


RJY Sweet Satin 30A - sells November 8, 2013

and 2 that will sell on December 14 in Red Deer at Checkers.  The fourth one is owned by Double R Farms - Stacy (Young) Romanyk and her husband Dan.  

 We see the exhibitions as a place to display our program, connect with past and future customers, and educate those that do not have a direct connection to the farm about where their food comes from.

Entries for Farmfair close on October 1st .  Why not join us at this great show.  It will be an exciting time. Hope to see you there.

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2013.  I am not sure where the last year went but it sure seemed to fly by.  Time for blogging was limited, so I will try to be more diligent this year.  Or maybe teach Rob how to blog.  It seems when we are so busy that we sometimes forget all of the great things that happened in the last year so here is a recap.

January

• Calving begins and the first calves of Elegant Force and Sure Fire arrive.
• Rob and I attend the National Western Stock Show - first time in over 20 years.

February

• Mom & Dad celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary
• Drayton Valley Livestock Show committee folds after 20 years. :(

March

• Revolution sons sell well at Red Deer Bull Sale.  Bulls sell to Alberta, Manitoba, and New Brunswick.

April

• Crystal and Jon are married in Independence Iowa.
• Stacy & Dan Move into their new house.
• We get tickets to see Garth Brooks at the Calgary Stampede.

May

• Dad celebrates his 75th birthday.
• Spring rains bring early grass for cows to go to pasture.

June

• Robs mom celebrates her 80th birthday.
• We display cattle at the Alberta Simmental Association Tour and annual meeting.
• Bathroom renovation is completed.

July

• Garth Brooks Concert at the 100th Calgary Stampede.
• Stacy and Dan are engaged.
• Meet Brandon Callis and his family after many stories from Crystal when he was her judging coach.
• Celebrate Uncle Jacks 70th birthday.

August

• Rob helps Jon & Crystal at the Iowa State Fair, while I attend Ryan & Nanita's wedding.
• Attend pasture tour of Mappin Simmentals.
• Attend annual meeting of the Canadian Simmental Association in Nova Scotia. 
• Rob judges National Young Canadian Simmental Association show in Nova Scotia.

September

• Crops are harvested - poor quality from hail damage.
• Steer calves are sold = net $950

October

• Beautiful fall days to finish off some of those projects.

Res. Jr Champion @ Farmfair 2012

November

• Cattle shows take up most of the month. 
• Quick trip to Iowa to see Crystal and Jon. 

December

• Stacy buys her wedding dress, with a surprize visit from Crystal.
• Checkers sale is amazing - High Country has high selling heifer calf  @ $25,000 and her momma sells for $20,000
• Year ends with embryos and semen selling at the New Years Resolution Sale

The Opportunities Begin

I am beginning to feel like I am having the time of my life if the old age saying "Time flys when your having fun".  It seems like just days ago that we were preparing for the 2011 show and sale season and now we are just a couple of weeks away from heading out on the road of 2012.

 Farm and ranch people seem to define their lives by events, the drought of 2006, the cold spring of 2010, the record breaking bull sale year of 2012.  That or the year that they attended an event.  Farmfair 2009 or  the 20th Agribition that we attended.

With each new season that approaches we are all filled with optimism and high expectations.  There have been so many decisions that have gone into getting you to where your farming operation is, hoping to take you to the next level.  Your hopes may be a greater acceptance in the market place, a championship banner, making the highlights of a sale report, going home with a list of potential buyers for your bull sale, connecting with past customers and hearing their successes with the breeding stock that they purchased from you.  The list is ling.

One of the first events for us on the circuit this fall is Farmfair International., in Edmonton, AB. This show has a long history but through thick and thin it has treated us well and been a great place to market our cattle.  With the addition of the Ranch Rodeo, another sector of potential customers are stopping by to view our program. 

Our string is a bit smaller this year, but has some unique individuals in it. 

• The first daughter of McIntosh Sweet Talker will sell at the Headliner sale on November 9th in Edmonton.

McIntosh Sweet Talker 32X

• We will be exhibiting a Fullblood Simmental for the first time in 21 years.

Stop by the stall to see what Fullbloods in 2012 look like.

• We will be caring for cattle of Lyle Peterson's of Bar L7 from Calgary.

Stop by the stall for a visit and if you are looking for a really nice black baldy Simmental heifer for a youth project. RJY Sweet Dreams 44Z may be worth a look.  Hope to see you in Edmonton in a couple of weeks.

2011 - A Year in Review

Each New Years Eve we like to look back on the year and review it and also look forward to the year ahead.  Never do we imagine the way that things will play out. 2011 will be a year that we will never forget for a lot of reasons.  Lets have a look back.
January - We started the year with a cold snowy winter.  When all was said and done we would end up with over 7 feet of snow, and several weeks of -35C.

February - A sad month at High Country; we have to put our old faithful dog - Kurt down and ship Stacy's favorite cow - Ruffles.  Both were over 13 years of age.

March - We are almost done calving and very excited about the calves that we have.  Some out of new cows, new sires and our donors.

April - was a wet and cold month.  Cows were being bred and donors flushed with great results.  Rob decides to leave his job in the Oilfield and concentrate on our cattle and farm.

May - Crystal and Jon announced their engagement on May 28.  So very excited and happy for them.

June - A weekend trip to Iowa to meet the Blins and see where Crystal will make her new home.

 

July - A month spent painting fences and touring cattle herds.  Along with viewing a few junior shows. We meet Stacy's BF - Dan.  We have to put our herdsire Revolution down due to an injury.

August - A great trip to Vanderhoof and Williams Lake, BC to judge 2 4-H shows and the Angus Gold Show.  Met some great people and seen some very good cattle.  Williams Lake 4-H show has the only First Nations 4-H Club in Canada.  The leaders and members are doing a great job. We said goodbye to legendary photographer Walt Browarny.

September - Busy with getting ready for the fall shows and we have Crystal and Jon home for their engagement party.

October - We send Rob off to the Olds Fair where he claims Reserve Champion Female, while Stacy and I head to Chicago to help Crystal buy her wedding dress.

November - Filled with shows.  Reserve National Champion Bull, and all entries in the top 3 at each show.  Along with Dee being elected to the Canadian Simmental Association Board of Directors and her dad is inducted into the Canadian Simmental Association Hall of Fame.

December - RJY Rival 13Y brings $40,000 at the 17th Annual Checkers Sale.  Christmas and New Years is spent with family and friends.

There were babies born and weddings attended.  We are so blessed with the people that we have in our lives and the things that we get to do.  Thanks for reading our blog, keep coming back to see what 2012 holds.  We have so many great things to look forward too.  May 2012 be everything you hope it to be. Cheers - Rob and Dee.

Like Father Like Son

I mentioned earlier in the week what a great week we had in at FarmFair International and at our National Simmental Show.  Simmental were the largest breed represented at the show with 140 entries.  The quality in all of the classes was second to none.  One of the things that impressed me the most was the number of newer (1st or 2nd time) exhibitors to the show and how young our exhibitors are compared to some of the other breeds.  This sure goes to show you that our junior program works and that our breed has a great future.

A few years ago the idea of having the National show rotate across the country was discussed.  The Canadian Simmental Association decided that the show would rotate between the Toronto Royal, Livestock Expo in Brandon, Canadian Western Agribition in Regina and Farm Fair International in Edmonton.  We wanted to support this idea so off we headed to Brandon last year.

 2 other Alberta breeders join us.  We were treated royally by the Brandon Simmental Association and the facility they have is tremendous.  The hotel and restaurants are connected right to the exhibition hall.  No starting cold vehichles and driving across town to get to you hotel or back to the show grounds.  One of the animals that we took was IPU Revolution 172U.  He was named National Champion Bull.

This year the Alberta Simmental board offered to host the 2011 National show and AGM.  We had a few more animals in the stall as this is our home town show.  One of them was a son of Revolution - RJY Rival 13Y.  He was named Junior Bull calf Champion and Reserve National Champion Bull.  Not only is he following in his fathers footsteps in the show ring but he sure looks a lot like his daddy too.

We have always thought that your younger cattle should be better than their sire and dams.  We think Rival is as good or better.  Factor in that he is dark red in color and has been confirmed by Tru-Polled to be homozygous polled and he is a pretty exciting young herdsire.

Congratulations to all of the exhibitors at this years National show.  Can't wait for it to be held at Agribiton in 2012.  Hope to see you there.

It's Show Time

Each fall the excitement grows as we prepare to attend and participate in livestock shows across Canada.  This is something that Rob and I have done for over 30 years.  People often say to us "Your still showing cattle?" 

There are several reasons that we do this:

Rob showing at
Brandon Livestock Expo 2010

• To promote our farm and breeding program
• To gage the progress that our herd is making against other breeders
• To network with customers and potential customers
• To keep a connection between urban consumers and agriculture.

There are breeders out there that look down on the shows and the cattle that excel in them, but we would like to suggest that you celebrate the breeders that are taking the time, making the effort and incurring the costs to go to the shows.  By them making this effort they are promoting our great breed - Simmental.  We don't ask that you like or even agree with the judges choices at each of the individual shows, we just ask that you respect the efforts of these exhibitors and come and evaluate the cattle for yourself and your program.

Simmental Representatives
2010 Farmfair Supreme

IPU Revolution in the 2010
Farmfair Supreme Show

Each year we bring out a handful of animals that represent our herd and our breeding program.  We try as hard as anyone to take home the ribbons and championship banners, but we also know that at the end of the day, most importantly we are proud of the cattle that we are exhibiting and our breed.  We are excited to be showing at Farmfair International on November 10  (this will also be the 2011 National Simmental show) and Canadian Western Agribition on November 24.  Stop by the stall if you are visiting one of the shows, we would love to show your our string and have a visit.

Good luck to all the exhibitors this fall who have taken the time to get animals ready to show at

Good friend Chan Phillips at the stall last year.
Chan will  be judging the Toronto Royal this year.

 

• The Toronto Royal - November 4 - 13
• Brandon Livestock Exp -November 3-6
• Farmfair International - November 5-13
• Saskatoon Fall Fair - November 9-12
• Canadian Western Agribition - November 21 - 26