In this spring newsletter, Mark & Tina Stewart with their children Jenalee and Owen will be featured in our “HERD PROFILE”. Mark & Tina own MSW Farms and MST Longhorns west of Ponoka overlooking the most beautiful river valley in the county.

When asked about their favorite longhorn, Mark was excited to tell us about their new bull “Timber Trail”. Since this enthusiastic and hard working couple began their adventure with longhorns, they have purchased several Longhorns to start a breeding operation of their own. “Timber Trail” a bull purchased in July 2008, will be one of the reasons their breeding program will be a success.

The pedigree of this bull includes his sire Timber Smoke and Grand Sire of the well known Saratoga. His dam is Black Freckles who is by Marshall Dillon and out of MS Texas Freckles. What makes this new herd sire special for the Stewart family is his confirmation and horn potential. At the age of 22 months, this bull had horn a measurement of 50 ½ inches T2T and a horn base of 13 ¼ inches. During the Pedigree Picnic last summer, many of us who attended the event at the Stewart’s ranch, received close up look at this awesome herd sire in the pasture with his ladies.

Upon asking Mark if “Timber Trail” has had any special moments, his only comment was “The trip home from Wyoming”. Was the reason because of the long drive or crossing the border into Canada?

Timber Trail will have his first calves arriving in April and they are anticipating his calves will be well put together which will warrant his Herd Sire Status and be an asset to their breeding program.

The Alberta Texas Longhorn Association would like to welcome the newest member to our family. This handsome little guy belongs to Mark & Tina Stewart.

Ace had badly misjudged the market, bought a big string of calves way too high, and was now completely broke. Taking pity on him, a local rancher decided to hire Ace as a ranch hand and give him a chance to get back on his feet.

After hiring him, the rancher asked Ace, “Do you have a saddle?”

Ace answered, “No, I had to sell about everything I owned.”

Taking him out to the tack room, the rancher said, “Here’s a saddle you can use. You’ll be catching calves and doctoring them, so you’ll need a rope. Get one from those hanging over there on the wall.”

Trying to appear knowledgeable, Ace carefully examined several ropes before choosing one, and then he asked…. “What do you use for bait?”

The Alberta Texas Longhorn Association lost one of its founding members and long time Directors Harold ‘Buck’ Miller on January 22, 2009. Also a lifetime member of the TLBAA, Buck was born in Saskatchewan, Canada on September 10, 1931 to a family of 8 boys and 3 girls. With the war just over and times hard on the prairies, Buck left home well before his 16th birthday to ride for ranchers in the Calgary area. He worked in those early days in the oil patch, then studied and apprenticed to become a master plumber and pipe fitter. Drawn back to his agricultural roots he soon purchased a farm close to the town of Strathmore, Alberta, raising grain and dealing in livestock, notably retraining problem horses.

In the early 1960’s Buck headed west again where he bought a section of land northwest of Cochrane, Alberta. Buck was instrumental in bringing some of the first registered Texas Longhorns into Alberta, in 1980. At that time, it was difficult to purchase cattle of quality. Once purchased, the importation was expensive, risky, time consuming and frustrating. One of his favorite expressions was “Coutts in the rear view mirror”. Buck selected his cattle carefully, buying mostly straight WR, with some Phillips breeding, and was lucky enough to pick up a good daughter of Hondo. Among the importations was the great Nevada Ranger, who left a lot of good offspring. Buck was a real believer in the Texas Longhorn, and valued the soundness, hardiness and longevity passed on when crossed with domestic breeds. He favored animals with good body depth carried right back with smooth well laid in shoulders and Texas twist horns. Eventually most of his commercial herd was Longhorn crosses, and these cows produced beautiful calves well into their teen years.

Buck enjoyed working with his cattle and assessing each new crop of calves. His biggest pleasure was the making of new friends and travelling to sales and ranches in the U.S. and later in Alberta. The social aspect of the Texas Longhorn people met a lot to him.

He dispersed his registered Texas Longhorn herd in 1990 at High River, Alberta providing a real source of foundation stock for both new and established breeders at the time. Buck’s health had been declining the past number of years, and he passed away at the Bethany Care Centre in Cochrane, Alberta on January 22, at the age of 77 years.

Charlie and Val Gordon have been in the longhorn business since 1992 and purchased their first longhorns from Jack Shier. They have been actively involved with the longhorn association for many years – showing cattle at the various shows in Alberta; attending the picnics, galas and auctions; and always a friendly face at these functions. Charlie and Val’s knowledge of the longhorn cattle have been beneficial when they help at the Bull Congresses and the Calgary Stampede shows.

The Gordon’s have a small number of Longhorn cattle but enjoy all year long with their herd. They prefer the WR family of longhorns and their favorite colour would be a spotted animal.

Outside the longhorn business, one of Charlie’s hobbies is reading as well as these charming folks also love to travel.

At the next A.T.L.A. event make sure you stop and say "HI" to the Gordon's.

I WAS NEVER tempted to go to school to be an engineer, but I remember kind of liking the sampling of physics I was exposed to in high school.

There were laws that could not be denied, a way things were supposed to work. Somehow, our ranch seems to exist in a third dimension where the usual laws always work against you but never for you.

Last week, we got the kids borrowed out to others so my wife and I could do a little cattle work. We brought in the calves to boost their vaccinations and apply a little pour-on dewormer.

We were just about done when it was time for my wife to go pick up the kids from preschool and day care.

I told her I could finish the last few by myself. She was barely to the end of the driveway when I was in full crisis mode with one of the next calves to hit the chute.

My chute has a little door on each side to provide access to cattle’s necks for vaccinations and injections. Open the door, give the shot, shut the door. Sometimes you don’t get the little door shut.

I had two calves come in the chute. One stuck its head in the head gate, the other stuck its head through that little neck door that I didn’t shut. I quickly vaccinated the one in the head gate so I could get it out and do something with the knucklehead that stuck its head through that little door.

The one calf went out the chute. The other calf, a 550 pound bovine contortionist escaped artist, somehow pushed its 15 inch wide shoulders and rib cage through the eight or 10 inch door until it hung up on its 15 inch wide hips.

In the world of physical laws, old Sir Isaac Newton would apply his three laws of motion and explain this unsatisfactory situation with terms like acceleration, forces and mass.

The calf started bellering and jumping up and down. I started bellering and jumping up and down. Eventually, all the bellering and jumping wore us both out and we took a little breather.

The calf was struck, stuck, stuck. Its hips weren’t coming out forward and it wasn’t going to pop its rib cage and shoulders backward. I couldn’t get it to repeat the acceleration and force it had applied to its mass a little earlier.

I needed a trump card to overcome the physics. I don’t know what Sir Isaac would’ve done, but I went and got the acetylene cutting torch. I gave it some critical thought. The price of calves was going down. The price of steel squeeze chutes was going up. I think I paid $2,500 for the chute years ago, the might fetch a little better than $500.

Eventually, compassion overruled economics and I decided the torch was the only chance to save the calf before it gave up. I made three strategic cuts without barbecuing the critter I was saving. I took the steel I had dismantled and put it in the spare parts pile to be reattached another day.

When the torch made its last cut the calf sprung out of there like a rocket. It only it had had that kind of reverse acceleration to remedy our predicament before I had to turn part of my chute into scrap iron.

Maybe next time, the laws of motion and physics will work in my favour.

Or, maybe I’ll just remember to shut that little door.

Ryan Taylor is a rancher, runner, writer, speaker and senator in the state legislature from Towner, North Dakota

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