Changing gears and changing direction

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justintime

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For once I think I made a decision using my head instead of just my heart and we have decided to disperse most of our cow herd on October 18th at Johnstone Auction Mart, Moose Jaw, SK. There are several reasons for this decision but the main ones are recent health issues and Mother Nature's warped way of using us.  We do not want to leave this business so we are planning to just change the direction we have been going. Here is what has happened to lead us to this direction:
Late last fall, I came home from Agribition with a virus that resulted in giving me a very dry cough. My doctor said I had a virus and there was nothing I could do but drink lots of fluids and get lots of rest. Once it had run it'course I would return to normal.  The dry cough lasted for months and it was much worse when I was in the warm house than when I was outside working with the cattle. By mid Febraury, I was still coughing, but I also realized that I was getting weaker and was short of breath. The work really became work!  My doctor agreed that something else was going on, so he sent me for an xray and found out that I had fluid build up on my lungs. That was corrected with a water pill, and I felt much better in a few short hours. The doctor said that fluid on the lungs can be caused by a few different things, including having some heart issues. He started sending me for more tests and an echocardiogram showed that I had some irregularities with my heart.
About two weeks ago, after a few more tests, a heart specialist informed me that I have had a heart attack sometime in recent months. This was complete news to me as I had no idea this had happened. Now I am headed to have a bunch more tests done to see if there is any more damage that will have to be repaired. I was told that the virus I had, had eventually attacked my heart. He said this is a rare occurrence but he had seem 3 others this year that had the same thing happen. I am mentioning all this, to let everyone realize that sometimes a simple cough can possibly lead to some health issues you never saw coming.
To add to this, my wife Chris has had 3 eye surgeries in the past 3 weeks for 3 separate detached retinas. The eye surgeon has already told her that if it happens again, there is no more than can be done and she will lose sight in that eye. Right now, she is lying low and doing everything the doctor told her, so healing can occur properly. Her fear is that this may also happen in her other eye at some point in time.
All this, along with the devastating drought we have experienced this year, has made us look at what we are doing and how we do it. I simply do not want to leave the cattle business and the Shorthorn business. The past few years have been a lot of fun and I have finally realized some of my long term goals of developing a commercial market for Shorthorn bulls. In the past 3 years, over 90% of our bulls have sold to commercial producers and we are finally seeing some large ranch operations add some Shorthorns to their breeding program.
We have had excellent private treaty sales of females in recent years and we have reduced our cow herd numbers simply because we are not getting any younger but we have retained females that work... not just look pretty.
Our plan is to only keep a few older cows as well as all of the bull calves and most of the heifer calves. Our March Sun Country sale will continue as usual on March 6,2018. We plan to implant more embryos in co-operator herds and either buy the calves at weaning or partner with them until they are sold. We have only made this decision a couple days ago, and have only told a few people and I have already had one good commercial operation say they would be willing to use some of their cows to put embryos into. Hopefully our plan will allow us to have a bit more free time to do more things we want to do in this business. 
I have always considered myself to be very blessed to be able to do the only thing I have ever wanted to do. I have never had a job other than raising my cattle and I have experienced the cattle business in many of the various segments from running our family feedlot, to having a commercial herd, to having purebred herds of several different breeds. Today we only have our purebred Shorthorn herd and 2017 is the 100th anniversary of purebred Shorthorns being on our farm.
I will post some pictures of some of the sale offering and some more information shortly.
 

redcows

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Oct 23, 2009
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Good luck with your new plan. Put me on your catalog list, please.
 

Mark H

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Nov 9, 2008
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re dispersing your purebred cows and herd sires?  If so when you get your catalogue put together post the link here.
I hope that you do not have heart damge requiring openheart surgery. That can knock the wind out of your sails.
 

Doc

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Grant, I hate to hear about your health issues. I also hate the dispersal, but I understand. Best of luck with both and please make sure I get a catalog.
 

justintime

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Doc said:
Grant, I hate to hear about your health issues. I also hate the dispersal, but I understand. Best of luck with both and please make sure I get a catalog.

I have real mixed emotions about doing this, but this blasted drought has made this decision seem more right for now. Until I find out if I am going to be laid up with some ticker fixing, I need to be ready to take that on. Right now, I feel fine for a guy my age who has a few aches and pains most everywhere in my body. And I have reminded myself many times over the past few days that "they have not quit making cows." I am fortunate to have embryos from several of my best donors and I will offer to pay the flush costs on a few cows and split the embryos with the buyer. As I said in my previous post, this is only a change in direction and for that reason I hate to call it a dispersal as dispersal usually means " the end". This is hopefully not " the end of Shorthorns here.
I will add you to the list for a sale catalog.  Since posting on here this morning, I have already had messages from England, and several from the US. The fellow from England asked me to book him a room for the sale.
 

uluru

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Jul 18, 2007
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Oakville, ON. Canada
Hi Grant

I have been away and I just noticed your posts

Health is more important than other things
I wish you and Chris all the best.     

..................Bob
 

idalee

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Wishing you and Chris a speedy and complete recovery from your respective challenges.  Maybe now you will have time to write that book on Shorthorn History that we have all been anticipating. 
Martin
 

shortyjock89

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Good luck Grant. Hope you and Chris are back to feeling your best soon with a little less stress on your plate. I'm a young guy but was born with many health issues and had two heart surgeries before I was 18, so I can feel for you there.

Your sale may be as good a reason to come to Canada the first time as any. We will definitely be in the market for an outcross donor prospect and embryos.

Everything will work out and I'm sure we'll see and feel your influence in our breed for another hundred years. And don't expect us to stop asking for your stories anytime soon!
 

mark tenenbaum

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<cowboy>
Olson Family Shorthorns said:
Good luck Grant. Hope you and Chris are back to feeling your best soon with a little less stress on your plate. I'm a young guy but was born with many health issues and had two heart surgeries before I was 18, so I can feel for you there.

Your sale may be as good a reason to come to Canada the first time as any. We will definitely be in the market for an outcross donor prospect and embryos.

Everything will work out and I'm sure we'll see and feel your influence in our breed for another hundred years. And don't expect us to stop asking for your stories anytime soon!//// WELL PUT O0
 

justintime

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Saskatchewan Canada
Olson Family Shorthorns said:
Good luck Grant. Hope you and Chris are back to feeling your best soon with a little less stress on your plate. I'm a young guy but was born with many health issues and had two heart surgeries before I was 18, so I can feel for you there.

Your sale may be as good a reason to come to Canada the first time as any. We will definitely be in the market for an outcross donor prospect and embryos.

Everything will work out and I'm sure we'll see and feel your influence in our breed for another hundred years. And don't expect us to stop asking for your stories anytime soon!

Justin, I have always got time for stories.. haha!  If you are thinking of coming up for the sale, remember you will need a valid passport to get into Canada. 
I had the misfortune to lose my sister to your Ruby last spring. She was very close to calving and I put her in a calving pen. I went back 40 minutes later and she was dead in the pen. An autopsy showed that she had an artery break and she bled to death internally. That is a new one for me, as I have never seen or heard of this happening before. She had a gorgeous red neck roan heifer calf and of course it was dead as well.  I have a daughter that now has her second calf. Both have been standouts. This year's Free Spirit bull will be shown this fall.
 

justintime

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Here are a couple females that will sell October 18th: 
1) CYT Sparkle Girl 0166 - she has been a donor here and she resulted from an embryo sold to Cyclone Trace. She is a daughter of Alta Cedar Samurai and Prairie Lane Sparkle 1K. We have sold embryos from her to England, Scotland, Ireland, USA, Australia and Canada.
2) HC Julie 28A  - Junior Champion female at Canadian Western Agribition. She has continued to develop into a beautiful young cow. She sells bred to our Free Spirit herd sire.
 

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justintime

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1) Another Sparkle female - HC Sparkle Delight 77W. She is a daughter of Star P Matrix 4N and her dam sold to Cyclone Trace a few years ago at the top of the All Star Classic sale. She has also been a successful donor and we have sold embryos from her to several countries as well.

2) HC Picture Perfect 46X - one of our favorite daughters of Wolf Willow Major Leroy 1M. She has also been a very successful donor and produced over 100 embryos so far and most of them have sold now to several countries as well.

3)  HC Picture Perfect 30B - an ET daughter of Saskvalley Pioneer 126P and HC Picture Perfect 46X. She is moderate framed and built like a tank. We have sold 3 full brothers to commercial herds where they have all done a great job. 30B has been flushed once and the embryos produced all sold to England.
 

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justintime

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We will only be selling two bulls in our sale but they are both proven herd sires. Both have proven themselves here and they are both sound in every way.
1) HC Free Spirit 6Y -  Probably the most complete herd sire we have ever used. When he was born, I knew we had something extra special and I have not changed my mind since then. The European semen rights are owned by 3 breeders in Ireland. The Australian semen rights are owned by Sprys Shorthorns.  In 4 calf crops now, 100% of his calves have been born unassisted from cows here. All but two of his male calves have sold for breeding purposes ( those two were injured) and they have averaged $4930. All have sold to commercial producers and they love them!  His female calves have  been hard to keep here as people want to buy them and when you make your living from your cattle, it is sometimes hard to turn down money. His daughters have all sold as open heifers and have averaged $4100. We retained a good group of his daughters to put into our herd this year, and now they are all being offered. They are a  neat group of females. We will provide the buyer with 100 straws of semen with him. Selling him really hurts as he is almost part of the family but with most of the cows gone, he should be used somewhere. We will continue to use him in ET and through semen.
2) Saskvalley Blue Jeans 136B - he was a high selling bull in the 2016 Who's Your Daddy sale. We are very pleased with his first calf crop. His first calf crop was also 100% born unassisted.  He is easy fleshing and super correct. You will drive a very long ways to find a better herd sire.
 

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justintime

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Here are a few more that will be selling on October 18th:

1) HC FL Sparkle Delight 2X  ET- This one hurts!  She has produced $105,750 of progeny and embryo sales here including HC Bluebook 22B who topped our 2015 sale at $32,000. She sells with a Free Spirit heifer calf at side and we will be offering a special embryo opportunity with her. Embryos from 2X were the first North American Shorthorn genetics to go to Costa Rica. Her embryos have sold to 8 countries around the world!

2) HC FL Sparkle Delight 1X ET- a flushmate to 2X. These two females are the two easiest fleshing females we have ever owned. She has also been a super embryo producer with embryos selling to 5 countries. She has also produced some excellent natural calves. She sells bred to Free Spirit. Both 1X and 2X are daughters of Saskvalley Pioneer 126P and Prairie Lane Sparkle 1K.

3) HC Lady Madonna 63Z - a beautifully made daughter of HC Timeline 17T. She raised a fall heifer calf that was just weaned and she wintered on only hay. She can work most anywhere.

4) HC Lucy 21Y ET - a daughter of Saskvalley Pioneer 126P and another former donor Shamrock Lucy. This is a very productive, trouble free female. I had always planned for her to be flushed as she is a good one.

 

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justintime

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aj said:
Do you have any Ready Go x semen?

Yes, I still have about 60-70 vials of Ready Go semen. I will have to check and see if any of it is exportable to the US. Ready Go is the only bull I have owned that I have sold semen on every year since he was purchased in 1973. We have sold semen from him for 42 years now and some people still claim he is the best bull they have ever used on heifers.
 
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