Steer Planet - Show Steers and Club Calves Forum

OH Breeder.... here is a little information about your picture of PS Troubadour. PS Troubadour was the Grand Champion steer at the 1956 Chicago international. He was bred at Penn State and was sired by Calrossie Troubadour, who was a herd sire at Cyrus Eaton's Acadia Farms. ( this explains his name PS Troubadour).

  Cyrus Eaton was the owner and Chairman of the Board of the Cheasapeake and Ohio Railroad.After this win, he commissioned a luxury parlour car on the C&O railroad to be named the PS Troubadour, and he toured this steer throughout almost all parts of the USA and Canada for almost two years. This steer was displayed at majoe events from the East coast to the west coast, was introduced to numerous movie stars and leading politicians .... and was one of the first animals to be displayed on numerous Televison shows in the early years of TV. This steer has his own attendants that travelled with him and cared for him year round. No animal in history was ever introduced to as many world leaders as this steer was.

The picture you have shown here was taken at the 1957  Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. The people in the picture are The Right Honourable John Diefenbaker, Prime Minister of Canada from 1957 to 1963... and his wife Olive. The lady at the halter was Betty Royan who was Cyrus Eaton's secretary and also was very influential in managing the Shorthorn herds at Acadia in Ohio and Deep Cove In Nova Scotia.  Betty Royan just passed away in the last year. The Acadia herd was located at Northfield, Ohio. Is this close to where you or Red are located?Acadia was one of the most prominent Shorthorn herds of the time. I was there once with my dad, but I have no idea of where in Ohio I was at.

In this era, some of the show herds of wealthy owners, had their own luxury rail cars in which the show herds were transported from show to show. I remember seeing a couple of these rail cars when I was a young boy, and I was super impressed.

Back to the thread topic....

I live in Southern Saskatchewan 30 miles from the US/Canadian border on a family farm that was homesteaded by my grandparents in 1903. I farm with my wife and my father who is now 83, but still can out work me an many days ( but that isn't saying much!!). Shorthorns have been on this farm for over 100 years. The registered herd was established in 1917 when my grandfather purchased some purebred Shorthorns that were sold in Brandon Manitoba, by the government of Scotland. The Scottish government had these cattle brought to Canada and they were sold here., in a special sale. My grandfather, having been born in Scotland, felt compelled to attend this sale and help his fellow countrymen out. I am sure he did not realize that he was starting something that would still be ongoing today.

We have a straight cattle operation and our entire farm is seeding to grass or is native grass. We have also raised several other breeds of purebreds along side our Shorthorns, but today, we concentrate only on raising Shorthorn breeding stock and a few club calves each year. We also maintain a commercial herd that is used to supply recips for our ET program. We cross our commercial black cows with Shorthorns and have a ready  market for any females we wish to sell . The ET part of our program is becoming more important every year and we have sold embryos to 6 countries in the past 4 years. Britain, USA and Australia have become our major embryo markets, and just last week we finalized a deal to Scotland that included the 100th embryo to that country.

Right now our herd numbers at about 160 breeding age females, but we have been as high as 350 in past years. We are planning on reducing our numbers and concentrating on a smaller number of our best females. In the last two years, 6 females have generated over 40% of our income, so it suggests that we should concentrate on them more.... and say good bye to a bunch of others.

I also own and publish the Canadian Shorthorn Report, which is a breed magazine for the Shorthorn breed in Canada.  You can find out more about us on our website www.horseshoecreekfarms.com.

Ok, I feel like the odd duck out.     I am Kupsmom from Northwest Indiana.  We currently do not have cattle.  My family raised mainly 4-H cattle for 20 years. But all five of us girls are done with 4-H and my parents sold off the 5 acre property.   I am engaged and getting married in June.  We have one son.  I am still a 4-H leader in my county and love this board for the helpful advice that I can pass on to my friends who still raise cattle.  I help younger 4-H members with their halter breaking, fitting ( I am by no means a pro) and marketing of their animals for our auction.  We are hoping to purchase someday a decent tract of property to raise a few head on.  I am leaning towards Lowlines or other "minis", but I still love my crazy Chis. 

Ok, I feel like the odd duck out.     I am Kupsmom from Northwest Indiana.  We currently do not have cattle.  My family raised mainly 4-H cattle for 20 years. But all five of us girls are done with 4-H and my parents sold off the 5 acre property.   I am engaged and getting married in June.  We have one son.  I am still a 4-H leader in my county and love this board for the helpful advice that I can pass on to my friends who still raise cattle.  I help younger 4-H members with their halter breaking, fitting ( I am by no means a pro) and marketing of their animals for our auction.  We are hoping to purchase someday a decent tract of property to raise a few head on.  I am leaning towards Lowlines or other "minis", but I still love my crazy Chis. 

If you are interested in seeing some Lowlines in person, Doc's co-owner lives between Lafayette & Crawfordsville, IN.  She loves to have visitors & to entertain.  They just got back from FL & it will probably be a few weeks before they pick up their cattle. 

Unlike most mini breeds, Lowlines have a percentage registry (similar to Shorthorn Plus), so you can breed Lowlines to Chi X's & register the cattle.   Also, look for at least a few Lowline shows east of the Mississippi River this year.  Lots of interest in having Lowline shows especially from new members, some that aren't even ALR members yet.  I don't have enough fingers to count the number of Lowline sales that I've lost due to the fact, that there were no Lowline shows in this region for their kids.  That problem is going to be remedied this year.   We are also hoping that the NAILE will allow us the opportunity to showcase our cattle this fall!  We should know something in the next few weeks. If we get in this fall, that would be huge, IMHO.     

BTW, I still have a fondness for Chi cattle, but I absolutely love Lowlines... smaller, gentler, etc.  Also, Jerry Adamson, is a Chi breeder in Nebraska who has a large number of Lowlines. 

Quote from: Kupfarm on March 29, 2008, 07:46:54 AM

Ok, I feel like the odd duck out.     I am Kupsmom from Northwest Indiana.  We currently do not have cattle.  My family raised mainly 4-H cattle for 20 years. But all five of us girls are done with 4-H and my parents sold off the 5 acre property.   I am engaged and getting married in June.  We have one son.  I am still a 4-H leader in my county and love this board for the helpful advice that I can pass on to my friends who still raise cattle.  I help younger 4-H members with their halter breaking, fitting ( I am by no means a pro) and marketing of their animals for our auction.  We are hoping to purchase someday a decent tract of property to raise a few head on.  I am leaning towards Lowlines or other "minis", but I still love my crazy Chis. 

If you are interested in seeing some Lowlines in person, Doc's co-owner lives between Lafayette & Crawfordsville, IN.  She loves to have visitors & to entertain.  They just got back from FL & it will probably be a few weeks before they pick up their cattle. 

Unlike most mini breeds, Lowlines have a percentage registry (similar to Shorthorn Plus), so you can breed Lowlines to Chi X's & register the cattle.   Also, look for at least a few Lowline shows east of the Mississippi River this year.  Lots of interest in having Lowline shows especially from new members, some that aren't even ALR members yet.  I don't have enough fingers to count the number of Lowline sales that I've lost due to the fact, that there were no Lowline shows in this region for their kids.  That problem is going to be remedied this year.   We are also hoping that the NAILE will allow us the opportunity to showcase our cattle this fall!  We should know something in the next few weeks. If we get in this fall, that would be huge, IMHO.     

BTW, I still have a fondness for Chi cattle, but I absolutely love Lowlines... smaller, gentler, etc.  Also, Jerry Adamson, is a Chi breeder in Nebraska who has a large number of Lowlines. 

Thank you for the information.  I will have to check out some more Lowline sites.  It might be a year or so before I actually get the land to do it, but I am a firm beleiver in researching everything to make sure it is the right fit for me or someone purchasing from me.   I have literally sent a dozen or so books home with someone before they have purchased a Jack Russel terrier from us.  I have done the same thing with a few guinea pigs that I have placed into homes.  Most people do not know that Gpigs require full time hay in their diet.  But I love my cattle best of all.  I think my love of Chis comes from my first 4-H project, an red Overdrive heifer, who raised several breed and grand champion cattle for us.  I have had Chis that I could sit on and have had ones that would rather kill me than get haltered. 

Hi, I'm Rem from Minnesota. I don't post much but enjoy reading everyones replies to the topics. I spent 5yrs teaching Ag. Ed. in SD before I came home to take over the family farm. I've been married for 3 yrs, and have 2 kids. We farm 900 ac of family owned land, we have 60 hd of Maine Anjou and Maine x cows and have 500 head of feeder in custom lots that I manage. Hope every one is having good luck calving!

names zach. southern ohio, we run a little hobby cattle farm, 20 maine cows, usually 3-5 show animals in the barn at any given time.

started showing about 5 years ago, had a bucket heifer which won her class at the local fair and alamb my first year of 4-H, we've sold a few county fair champions and the PA farm show lightweight steer a while ago. Nothin to fancy or high dollar but i plan on being a vet or something along those lines on down the road as im only 15 and am convinced i want to be involved in the cattle industry