commercial LIMOUSIN producer profile livestoc k hab it.
Th e b a ck b o n e of any breed of cat tle is th e co m m e rc i a l p roducer s wit h t heir bo o ts o n th e gro u n d ra is ing beef. M a n i to b a L i m ous in N ews & Views wo u ld like to h i g hl i ght Three -Way Lim ou sin o f L a ke Franci s, M B. D i a n n e R i d i n g a n d G a r y Wi l k i n so n I a l ways s ay L imo u si n cattl e a re a gir l ’s b est f r i en d - b e t te r th a n di a mo n ds. Ye s I s e e t h e o dd eye ro l l w h en I say t his! I gre w u p o n a da i r y f a r m, h ere i n Lake Fra n c i s, M an i toba . We ow n my pa rent s f a r m p l u s t wo qu a r ters o f l a n d th at once belo n g e d to my G o d Fath er ’s f a mi l y. O ur la nd b as e is i n a n i ce bl o ck . H e re, we rai s e cattl e, h o rses a n d goat s. I wa s fi rs t int ro du ced to th e l i mo u si n b reed ba c k o n my p arents’ da i r y f a r m. As a te e n ag e r my pa rents wo u l d A I so me of t he H ols te in cows a n d h ei fers to beef bulls. O ve r t h e ye ars th ere were An gu s, H ereford, S h or t h o r n , S i mmenta l, Ch a ro l a i s a nd L i m o u s i n u s e d. B y f a r th e f avo r i te c ross wa s L im o u s i n . A co m m e rci al h erd o f beef cows was sta r te d wi t h h ei fers f ro m th ese di f ferent bree d s. Th e s e h ei fers w h ere bred to easyc a lvi n g R e d L imo u si n bu l l s. Al o n g t he way cows an d h ei fers were a dded f rom d i sp e rs al s al e s. Af te r H ig h S c h o o l, I h a d o f f - f a r m e m p l oy m e nt fo r 17 yea rs to su ppo r t my
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MB Limousin News & Views Christmas Issue 2021
Along t he way G ar y and I met, we b o t h enjoyed hor ses, c at t le and far mi n g. G a r y also wor ked off-far m as a welde r u nt i l h i s ret irem ent. O ver t he year s we b uilt a nice co mme rc i a l herd of cows. When BSE hit we were c alving 2 2 0 cows. We, like many ot her s t ightene d o u r b e l t s and t he fac t t hat G ar y was st ill wo r k i n g off-far m, we were ab le to mak e i t t h ro u g h BSE. O ver t he year s we have used a l o t o f ve r y good Limousin R ed b ulls we b o u g ht fro m p ast and p resent b reed er s in M a n i to b a . O ver t he year s, we have mad e ma ny ve r y good fr iend s. One of G ar y ’s d ownfalls is he di s l i ke s g o at s and is a d ie -hard C harolais ma n ! S o in ord er to keep p eace we s o me t i me s r un some White C harolais b ulls. We found over t he year s, C haro l a i s / L i mo and Limo/C harolais c rosses we re a ve r y good fit for our p lace. I n 2011, we were affec ted by t h e L a ke M anitob a flood ing and d owns i ze d o u r h e rd to 150 cows. M ost of our hayf i e l ds we re comp letely und er water. O ver t im e, we went d own to 1 2 5 cows whic h was st ill a good am ount o f wo r k fo r t he t wo of us. But t hroughout t h e ye a r s we always had 3 or 4 R ed Limo u s i n Bu l l s walk ing our p ast ures, t he p ast t h re e ye a r s we had six R ed Bulls. We have always sold our c alve s i n l ate S ep temb er into O c tob er at eith e r t h e Winnipeg Livestock S ales or Asher n Auc tion M ar t where our Limousin- cross (cont’d on p. 7)
pi c ture submi tted by T hre e Way L imo u sin
