Dear Cattlemen, When I look over the pen of bulls for the sale. I’m pleased with the uniformity in the pen. This set of calves was fun to watch grow throughout the year. We again have top bulls out of the Gibbs sires Deacon, Big John and Raisin Cain. They have lots of eye appeal and performance. Again Ellingson Blazer has a nice set of calves to pick from. He’s great at producing calves with low birthweights, good weaning weights and a ton of fertility. His bulls have averaged 38cm scrotal at a year of age. We added a few new sires this year. The two LRS Masterpiece calves have lots of muscle with great disposition. The MF Straightforward calves have extra length with the bulls looking like bulls and the heifers have great femininity. The surprise for the year was the calves out of the TR Aberdeen Angus bull. I knew they would have great eye appeal with lots of body, but didn’t expect the explosive growth they have showed. This year I’ve completely changed our feeding program to make it less labor intensive. We are feeding a free choice hay and hay barley in round bale feeders. We are bucket feeding their grain which is a rolled grain that is a mix of corn, canola and soy oil. We started with 4lb’s a day and worked them up to 8lb’s a day by mid-December. After the sale we will slowly back them down until delivery. With the new feeding program we’ve had more time to spend with the bulls. It also doesn’t change our goal of maintaining their longevity, which can be affected from being pushed too hard at this critical time in their life. A couple of things you’ll see in future years. This will be the last year of red bulls in the sale. We may still have a couple for sale private treaty every year. This is also the last year of fall bulls in the sale. We are increasing the numbers in our embryo program. That way we can give you a better selection of bulls out of our top cows. The cows that you will find in our embryo program will be at least 6 years of age. They will also have been bred to four different sires with an average weaning ratio of 102 or greater on their first four calves. I hope everybody’s year was as good as mine! I had the great excitement of watching my 12 year old daughter harvest her first elk. All the kids competed at the Lewis & Clark County Fair where they each had a blast showing and learning a lot about their projects. Sincerely, Troy Wheeler HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL AT THE SALE.
Vanessa with first elk
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