Canada 1/9/12

After saying goodbye to Leah as she headed for OZ, I made my way to Canada and landed in Calgary. I was greeted by Graeme Finn who is an Aussie boy that sells the great Agrow Plow here in Canada. Graeme and his family was kind enough to take me up to the Rocky Mountains where the three sisters are located and spent the day at the Scottish games where they celebrate their traditional Scottish heritage. Later that day we also visited the famous Lake Louise to top of a great sunday afternoon.

That Monday, I headed on my way to one of my first visit's in the Calgary area. I was aquainted by Ian Murray of the Shoestring Ranch, where he runs about 225 Black Angus cows that are all seasonally mated by Black Angus Sires for a 60 day mating period. Ian with a small number of cattle producers, have started their own branded beef market that sells directly to the consumers, restaurants in Okotoks (Alberta) and also at the local farmers market that are held every Sunday in Bearspaw for the last 11 years. All Ian's cattle are prepared on pastures with no hormones, antibiotics or animal by-products with his steers are finished in a feedlot. Ian achives this by a three day rotational grazing system that are made up of 20 acre paddocks cells, where legumes have been planted with no fertiliser applied on their pastures and still receiving substantial weight gains. I wish Ian all the best in the future with his grass feed beef product and thank him for his time. Ian's website is www.shoestringranch.ca.

Blair Ranch 26/8/12

Leah and I left Troy and Stacy Hadrick's Ranch, and made our way up to Sturgis in South Dakota where we visited the Blair Ranch. Blair Ranch is owned by Rich and Ed Blair and family. Ed is Stacy Hadrick's father. The Blair ranch is 30,000 acres with a 12 inch annual rainfall, (including snowfall) and running 1200 black angus cows and selling approximately 400 black angus bulls per year. The Blair family also lease some land as well. The Blairs’ practise a time fixed A.I. program where they is a two cycle mating program and after the A.I. program run clean up bulls for a 60 day mating period. Maiden heifers are mated at 14 months of age. On their leased country they run steers that are bound for the feedlot, and later on when they have reached the desirable weight they are sent to the meatworks. The Blair family purchase the steers off the ranchers that buy bulls from their stud, to enable them to collect data on the carcase from the meatworks and prove that their bulls perform with records from birth to the hook.

Blairs also perform an exceptional rotational grazing system where they move cattle every three days. The paddocks are approximately 300 acres and have at least two watering points which is supplied by a artesian bore that is pressurised, therefore no pumps are needed. Leah and I was fortunate enough to ride along and witness one of their cattle musters. After spending a couple of days on their ranch, Ed and Wanda Blair showed us through the famous Black Hills, where we stopped to do some shopping - of course for the ladies, and also some wine tasting. We also visited the museum of Rodeo 76. Later on that day we visited one of the most remarkable sites in the U.S, Mt Rushmore. I would like to thank the Blair family for their great hospitality that Leah and I received, once again a memorable trip that I will never forget. The Blairs website is www.blairbrosangus.com

Leased Land where the Blair's run their steers.

Leah, Britton, Ed and Chad at the Blair Ranch.

Mt Rushmore

Hadrick Family - Aberdeen 21/8/12

After leaving the Irvine Family we made our travels up to Aberdeen in South Dakota, where Troy picked us up from the airport close to midnight!! Troy and Stacy are fifth generation ranches from north central South Dakota where they are involved in a cropping and commercial beef operation. The cropping is mainly a rotation of corn and soybean, with the cattle operation consisting of a breeding and fattening operation where they fatten their own steers and open heifers in a feedlot program using their own corn silage as their base feed.

The Hadricks breed a Black Angus Base herd where they practise an A.I. program for one mating cycle, and then use clean up bulls for two cycles ending up to a 60 day mating period. They also mate their maiden heifers at 14mths of age. The Hadricks sell their fat cattle into the Black Angus Premium Beef market which is one of the most popular markets in the US. Troy also practises a rotation grazing system in conjunction with mineral supplements. The Hadricks also prepare lucerne round bales for their winter feed and some of their corn stock is sold to the open market.

Stacy took Leah to their local school where their three children attend and Leah saw hands-on how the main stream school system worked in the US compared to how Leah home schools our son Kurt. Leah was amazed at how well-behaved and focused the children were. Leah was on 'show and tell' to the children for that day in the classroom where she spoke about where she lives, animals at Bald Hills and also the distance education home schooling program.

Not only do Troy and Stacy have their cropping and beef operation but also are the founders of Advocates for Agriculture where they dedicate themselves towards getting positive messages of agriculture out to the world by speaking at functions, utilisation of social media and also teaming up with Nascar, Farm American racing team (Number 78).

Leah and I had a great time with Troy and Stacy and their family sharing alot of laughs, stories and also some 'serious' talk in between!! Leah and I thank them once again.

Visit Troy and Stacy's website at www.advocatesforag.com