The Saskatchewan Charolais Association recently presented its major annual award to a Canora-area farm family.
Carey and LeeAnn Weinbender, who along with their family, Sarah, Laura and Dale, collectively operate Sliding Hills Charolais, were presented the Breeder of the Year award by the provincial breed association during Canadian Western Agribition recently.
LeeAnn explained that the award, which is presented annually, came as a complete surprise.
“We weren’t aware we were nominated,” she told Yorkton This Week, adding the membership nominates people for the award which is then chosen by the Association Board of Directors. “… We were very surprised, and pretty humbled by it.”
The best part of the award is that the nomination came from the membership, added LeeAnn.
“It comes from our peers. It’s a definite honour.”
In the case of Carey and LeeAnn the award also marks nearly a quarter of a century of dedication to the Charolais breed.
“Next year will be 25 years. We bought out first Charolais in 1993,” said LeeAnn. She explained Carey’s grandfather ran commercial cattle running Charolais bulls.
“We were looking for a way to diversify the cattle, to become a little more specialized,” and they opted to get into the purebred seedstock business running Charolais.
The decision has proven a good one, although LeeAnn admitted purebred cattle means a lot more work.
“It is a lot more management than having a straight commercial herd,” she said, adding the work comes in keeping records in particular the detail of following bloodlines. “You’re always trying to improve your genetics … The search for your next herd bull is a never-ending process.”
When it comes to bloodlines and making progress in terms of performance LeeAnn said they rely on knowing their herd, and at times a touch of luck.
“It’s not a perfect science,” she said, adding it’s a never-ending search for the next herd sire that can improve performance.
The Weinbenders, in particular Carey and Dale, pour over pedigrees and work hard to find the best genetic matings, said LeeAnn, who added they have begun collecting semen from their own bulls before selling them so that they can keep the genetics available.
“We hope that will help with consistency,” she said, adding that is part of the thinking in rarely buying heifers, instead replacing from within the herd.
And for the Weinbenders genetic enhancement is important as they are in the business of breeding bulls for the commercial cattle sector. Each spring they calf 120 cows and the best bull calves are kept to be marketed through an on-farm production sale each April. The 2018 sale will be the 12th annual for Sliding Hills Charolais.
While the purebred herd has meant more on-farm attention needed, the Weinbenders have also always found time to give back to the breed on a broader level. LeeAnn explained Carey has sat on the provincial association board for the past nine years, the last year as president.
“He’s been pretty involved with the Board,” she said, adding while it has meant being away from home a lot it is something they believe in, giving back to the breed. “We’ve kind of always been that way. You only get out of something what you put in.”
And that philosophy has passed onto the Weinbenders children who have all been involved in 4-H and the junior Charolais program.
“They’ve been very involved in the breed youth association … One of the better parts of the breed is being involved in the youth association,” said LeeAnn, adding daughter Sarah was the junior national president in 2015, the year the national youth conference for Charolais was held in Yorkton.
Carey and LeeAnn were also chosen as the 2015 Honoree Winners at the Canadian Charolais Youth Association Conference and Show hosted in Yorkton.
LeeAnn said at the time of the 2015 conference the junior program teaches dedication, handwork, co-operation, and a good work ethic, things which are important beyond the cattle industry.
It’s also an opportunity to meet other youth from across the country with a common interest in the Charolais breed of cattle, said LeeAnn, adding their kids have forged friendships through the CCYA which will last a lifetime.
“It’s (the show) been a great program that’s been going for many, many years,” she said.
Son Dale, currently attending the University of Saskatchewan taking animal science, following both Sarah and Laura in that regard, is now the provincial youth president, and with the national show scheduled to be held in Saskatchewan again in 2019, the family will be involved in planning and hosting.
While the three Weinbender children have all gone to college, Sarah already graduated and Laura and Dale in the midst of their courses, LeeAnn said she expects one day they will return to the farm.
“I think so. They’ve all shown a real interest in livestock,” she said, adding it has always been sort of understood the farm will be there if the children want to come back and join in.
Through the years of involvement the Weinbenders have seen changes in the breed, and the cattle industry in general.
Certainly the biggest hurdle in the 25-year run was the discovery in 2003 of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, in an Alberta cow which shut most international borders to Canadian beef and cattle exports.
“It was really tough,” said LeeAnn, adding while they never seriously considered getting out of the business through the BSE crisis, they saw many commercial producers pull the plug.
“There are a lot less producers out there,” she said, but the number of cows has stabilized too. “There’s been a shift in the size of herds.”
In terms of the breed Charolais were once bigger cattle, but economics have seen breeders create a more moderate animal.
LeeAnn said the breed needed to change because for a time commercial cattleman weren’t using the breed as much. Today, with bulls that are more moderate in terms of frame, but still capable of producing calves which have the ability to gain well, the demand for Charolais-cross calves have improved and with it demand for bulls of the breed.
“We’ve kind of gotten into a place where we have a more moderate frame with good muscle,” she said.
