Swiss Ranching
Most ranchers have many hats to wear…. add in a branded beef program and you have one more as, “beef marketer”. I spend a lot of time on the road visiting with customers and end users of Heritage Angus Beef. It is a part of the job that I love and sometimes hate. Love because I get to spend time meeting with innovative and out of the box thinkers that use Heritage Angus beef and I get to tell our story and hear how much they appreciate the products that our ranchers produce. … hate because I am away from my family and I will miss things that may only happen once in a lifetime and they have to deal with looking after the ranch and all the things that can go wrong when I am away. That said when I am on the road I try to stay as busy as I can, so that the trip goes by quick and to keep things interesting. Right now I am on a 10 day marketing trip to Switzerland and Italy. Its the last blitz before spring and when things get busy back home on the ranch. While here I was asked to speak at to the Swiss Angus Producers forum. It happens to be at one of the largest agriculture shows in Switzerland and so I got to see “Ranching Swiss Style”… a little different than back home to say the least. After the show the Swiss Angus Breeders took me out on the town to show me Swiss Mardi Gras…”Fastnacht”… needless to say I was a little more cultured after the day was over and I was glad to be a rancher that wore many hats, but most of all my cowboy hat.
Erika Weder – “Bull Fashion Photographer”
Not only do we raise commercial cattle on our ranch that become beef for Heritage Angus we also raise cattle that become the dads of the cattle that become beef in other ranches. Erika and I have purebred Aberdeen Angus, along with our commercial Angus cows, Highland Cows and the Herd of Longhorns. Raising purebred cattle is very intensive work from a standpoint of keeping all the records of the cattle, who bred who and who will breed who the next year to get the perfect mating. It is enjoyable seeing the great cattle we produce over the years and to know their genetic history and what mating’s created what. Our bulls are sold across Canada and into the United States and because we live in Alberta’s Outback its difficult for many ranchers just to drop by and select their bulls. It is why we love the internet and so its amazing what we can do with a good digital camera and camcorder. As easy as it is to load it still takes a pile of time to take the perfect shot….Erika has a lot of patience and has gotten very good at the art of taking cattle shots … last week was cold and so today the weather was just right… we loaded the crew and headed out to the bull pasture and had fun doing our “Angus Fashion Shoot”
How Cows and Calves Survive Winter
I get asked all the time how do our cows survive the Winter? Are they in barns, Do they get special feed, Are they cold? All sorts of curious questions…. yes there is many a day where it can get below minus 40… however this year that has been a rarity and we have had a very mild winter. Needless to say the cows and calves are fat and sassy! Our cows lick snow for water and because of the digestive system and the extra heat that it creates the cows do not need to burn extra calories in order to melt the snow. We try and graze as late as possible to minimize the need for machinery and diesel fuel….hence the name “Solar Powered Forage Biodigestors”. Once we finish grazing the standing forages the cows bale graze… literally the bales that were made by Lukas in August are devoured by the cows like piranhas in the Amazon…. whats left behind is fertilizer for next years grass… Its an amazingly simple system but sometimes simple seems complicated for the human mind…. Sort of like why Heritage Angus Beef is so good…. because we keep it simple and down to basics, the way mother nature intended. No they do not stay warm by dancing to Lady Gaga!!!!
