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ALBERTA TEXAS LONGHORN
ASSOCIATION
OCTOBER 2013
Owners: Steve & Sharlene Lindemann
STANGER LONGHORNS
ALBERTA TEXAS LONGHORN ASSOCIATION
DIRECTORS
President
Ron Walker
Box 58
Redcliff, Alberta
T0J 2P0
Ph: 403-548-6684 Email:[email protected]
Vice President Dean Marte
Box 24
Stauffer, AB T0M 1W0
Ph: 403-746-2697
Secretary/Treasurer Del Hepfner
R.R. #1, Leduc, AB T9E 2X1
Ph: 780-387-4874
Email:[email protected]
Directors
Mike Donnelly
Box 918
Bowden, Alberta
T0M 0K0
Ph: 403-312-8142
Len Bloomberg
Box 1746
Fort MacLeod, Alberta
T0L 0Z0
Ph: 403-553-4218
Any Correspondence concerning
the Association, please submit to
the OFFICE at:
Alberta Texas Longhorn Assoc.
c/o Chris Hepfner
R.R. #1, Leduc, Alberta
T9E 2X1
Phone: (780) 387-4874
Email: [email protected]
Newsletters:
January – Membership Information May/June – Upcoming Events October – Past Year Results Newsletter Advertising Rates
Full Page ………………$80.00
Half Page ……………..$40.00
Quarter Page ………..$20.00
Note: Above quotes per issue
Business Card Ad: $25.00/year
All payments must be included with the ads. Please make cheques payable to: ATLA All ads must be copy ready.
Submissions Welcome! Please send dates of ATLA events, Texas
Longhorn Sales, upcoming Longhorn Events,
pictures or any longhorn news.
Send all submissions to the A.T.L.A office:
Alberta Texas Longhorn Assoc.
R.R. #1
Leduc, Alberta T9E 2X1
WEBSITE
www.albertatexaslonghorn.com
WEBSITE ADVERTISING
$50.00 per breeder/person
For add listings e.g. Sale Pen
UPCOMING EVENTS Farmfair International November 3-10, 2013 Edmonton, AB
Texas Longhorn & Ranch Horse Fall Select Sale November 16, 2013 Oyen, AB
Canadian Bull Congress January 24-25, 2014 Camrose, AB
Agri-Visions 2014 (Cattlemen’s Corral) February 11-13, 2014 Lloydminster, AB
If any member would like to help the Association during these events, please contact the Chris at the office.
Greetings Fellow A.T.L.A. Members,
It appears winter if officially here with colder temperatures and snow in most areas. I expect most,
if not all, longhorn breeders are now feeding their cattle and hopefully everyone has plenty of good
hay. If you are a buyer of your hay, early prices seem to be in the $55.00 to $65.00 range for 1200
to 1400 pound round mixed hay.
If anyone has been watching cattle prices including fall calf sales or has sold any calves, the prices
are very strong throughout the market.
Our latest Association news, activities and happenings are all noted within this newsletter. I would
also like to thank all members who partook in this years’ Alberta Prince and Princess Affiliate
contest and the Alberta Dam of the Year program. It is wonderful to see that members are
motivated to participate in these programs. Congratulations to this years’ winners.
On behalf of the current A.T.L.A. Directors, I wish everyone a healthy and happy Christmas season
which will be upon us before long.
Regards,
Ron Walker
Owned by Ron Walker
Owned by Steve & Sharlene
Lindemann
WINNER Owned by William Smith
Owned by William Smith
WINNER Owned by Steve & Sharlene
Lindemann
The Alberta Texas Longhorn Association would like to thank our judges for the Alberta Affiliate
Prince & Princess and the Alberta Dam of the Year.
Lorne and Ruby McBeth also known as “RLT Texas Longhorns” of Baldonnel, B.C., judged this
years’ Alberta Prince & Princess for the Association. They were long time breeders of Texas
Longhorn cattle and strong supporters of the breed. The McBeth’s, have traveled from B.C. more
times than we can count to attend shows, meetings and ‘fun’ longhorn get-togethers. We would
like to thank them for taking the time to judge our Prince and Princess classes.
This years’ judge for the Alberta Dam of the Year was Paul Phillips of Nanton, AB. Paul and Lois
raised cattle under ‘Bar “P” Bar Stock Farms’, in Dauphin, MB. Paul and Lois retired to Jasper,
Alberta, for a few years, then moved to Nanton, Alberta. There they are enjoying the benefits of
being grandparents to a beautiful grandson, compliments of their son Kurt. They are also
enjoying the weather in Arizona for part of each winter. In the past, Paul has judged Texas
Longhorn shows for the Association and knows every important feature of a Texas Longhorn. We
are grateful that he made time to judge our Alberta Dam for this year.
Both the McBeths and Phillips, are well respected for their past breeding programs. The Alberta
Texas Longhorn Association would like to send a big THANK YOU to these former members and
breeders.
BAD PICTURES OF YOUR CATTLE CAN COST YOU
PLENTY
A picture is worth a thousand words… but bad pictures of your cattle can cost you plenty! Many potential
customers cannot visit your ranch to view your cattle in person, but when they see your cattle in your photo
album, a sale catalog, or in an advertisement in your breed publication, CATTLE TODAY or on the Internet, you
want their first impression to be a good one.
A medium priced digital camera is perfect for livestock pictures. Make sure it has a zoom lens so you can get a close-up
without having to get too close and a built-in flash to help with the shadows. There are many models available for under
$400. The digital cameras have several advantages over film types. You can tell if you get a good picture instantly
without waiting for the pictures to get back from the developer. You can take several extra shots of the same animal and
then just delete the not so good pictures. The auto-focus and auto-exposure controls make the camera easy to use. With
the photo editing software usually included with the camera you can crop and adjust the brightness and contrast to
improve your picture even more. You can email the photo to the person doing your ad or web site and they have it the
same day it was taken.
Tips from a professional livestock photographer:
Don't carry a sack of feed or hay with you to take your pictures. What you'll get for the next hour are cattle with their
heads down eating. Instead, just ease into the pasture and wait until the cattle get used to you. Move slowly so you don't
spook them.
Take your photos early or late in the day, never in the middle of the day. It just doesn't work. Hazy or cloudy days work
better than bright clear days. Keep the sun behind you. Stand where your shadow does not fall into the picture. Use your
flash to help eliminate shadows.
Get another person to help you. The best pictures have the ears forward with the head up looking at a 45° angle. The best
way to accomplish this is to have the other person stand in front of the animal and do something to get their attention,
wave their arms, whistle or do whatever necessary get the cow to look at him.
Fill as much of the frame as possible with the animal. Have room to back up if necessary. Do not cut off any of the head
or feet; get the whole animal in the photo.
Have the cow going uphill. Cattle photograph much better when their front legs are higher than their back legs.
Professional photographers even build a mound for the front legs to stand on. Standing on level ground is not good but
going downhill is terrible. Cattle generally photograph best if you aim directly at their side, standing neither in front nor
behind them. Get them to stand with their back leg that is closest to you back so you can see their udder or testicles. It is
best for the camera to be lower than the center of the cow. Get down on the ground if necessary. Never take a picture with
the camera higher than the cow. It makes them look small.
The background of your picture is important! Make sure you don't get a shot with your pickup, hayracks, junk piles or
other cows in the picture. Don't have a fence post or telephone post sticking up out of the back of the animal. A cow
standing in a green pasture with some spring flowers blooming makes a great picture. Try not to have them standing next
to a fence. The best way to avoid fences is to string a thin single strand of electric fence wire. If the cattle are used to
electric fencing it doesn't even need to be hot.
As a rule of thumb try to get a dark colored background for light colored cattle and a lighter colored background for dark
cattle. It is much harder to get a good picture of a dark cow.
If it's fly season, spray your cattle for flies a couple of days ahead of the shoot. Cattle covered with flies do not make a
pretty picture. Try to take your pictures in the spring or early summer after they have shed their winter hair and are in
good condition. A good time is after a rain has cleaned them up.
Entry 1
Owner: Steve & Charlene Lindemann
O
Entry 2
Owner: Steve & Charlene Lindemann
O
Entry 3
Owner: Steve & Charlene Lindemann
O
Entry 4
Owner: Steve & Charlene Lindemann
O
Entry 5
Owner: Bill & Linda Smith
O
Entry 6
Owner: Bill & Linda Smith
O
ASK A VET
Sorting is key in winter feeding of beef cows
Dr. Andy Acton |
Proper sorting and feeding of animals in a beef cattle operation is one of the most profitable decisions
you can make. On the other hand, lack of proper sorting and feeding in a cow-calf operation needlessly
costs many producers thousands of dollars every year. It is unfortunately a common problem and leads
to an increase in calving difficulty, calf sickness, delayed conception and open cows next fall.
The situation usually plays out something like this: All the cows in a herd have been together over the
past several months. Weaning occurs and the bred heifers are left with the cows for convenience's sake.
If fall grazing is not ideal, or the calves were weaned late, many of the young cows (first- and second-
calvers) are one or more body condition score points below where they should be for this time of year.
Grain is not offered yet to the group because of cost involved or difficulty in feeding the whole herd.
"The best hay" is usually saved until after calving.
If the weather turns severe for any length of time, these thin animals lose even more weight, making it
very tough to gain back the appropriate weight before calving. Thin animals at calving time do not
calve as easily as cows in the proper body condition. Their colostrum is decreased in both quantity and
quality, and the calf itself may be weak at birth. The affected cows do not clean as well, leading to
more cases of retained afterbirth, metritis, and delayed return to estrus. Conception is delayed or does
not occur at all. The weaning weight of the calves from these thin cows is below where it should be,
reducing income from calf sales.
I don't have to tell any of you what an open cow costs, especially in the last couple of falls. So why is
proper grouping and sorting of the cows for feeding such an important idea? The best analogy I can
think of is this; if the soil tests for your cropland show that no fertilizer was needed for one field, while
another field needed 100 pounds of N, how would you fertilize? To apply 50 pounds to both fields
wastes money on one field and gives you a poor crop from the other. Not to mention that in our
example, the "no-fertilizer" field will reach out and steal fertilizer from the deficient field. Not a very
smart way of managing your crop.
Consider a fall body condition score assessment to be the "soil test." Separate the bred heifers and keep
them by themselves -- they won't compete with older cows. Coming three- and four-year old cows
make up the second grouping. Split off old and thin mature cows into this group. Mature cows in good
condition will make up the largest cow grouping. Now you can give the right nutrients to the right
cows, and get the most cost-effective use of your greatest cowherd expense: winter feed.
While this concept, like most good management ideas, is not new, there is good reason to discuss it.
The ease of management in keep animals together during early winter is very tempting. Often changes
in cow condition "creep up" on the cow-calf operator, and sorting off groups is a chore that is very
easy to put off until next week or the week after. Having a proper plan for winter feeding and
following through on your plan will pay very good dividends to your operation all through the year.
Entry 7
Owner: Ken & Charlotte Beler
O
Entry 9
Owner: Del & Chris Hepfner
O
Entry 10
Owner: Ron Walker
O
Entry 11
Owner: Ron Walker
O
Entry 12
Owner: Ron Walker
O
Entry 13
Owner: Ron Walker
O
WILDMAN RANCHES
In September, few Association friends/members gathered at Terry and Barbara Wildman’s ranch to
vaccinate, castrate and wean calves. Terry had assigned everyone a job including Ken Beler & Del
Hepfner to secure calves on the ground after he had them roped. The boys then helped Charlotte
Beler band the bulls while Chris Hepfner vaccinated each calf before they were turned loose. After
a busy afternoon, a wonderful supper was prepared by Barbara to feed the hungry crew. A BIG
THANK YOU to the Wildman’s for the fun event at their ranch.
How many
people does it take to
castrate?
Entry 14
Owner: Ron Walker
O
Entry 8
Owner: Del & Chris Hepfner
O
Judge’s Comments:
‘This cow is very clean and has lots of body. Her horns are
respectable of any longhorn animal. This is the type of cow with
body and horns that I would like to see in my own herd.” ….Paul
