Volume 21 Issue 1 January 2022 What’s Inside Simmental Meet Commercial Producer’s Objectives
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Gate Post — Bull Sale Season La période des ventes de taureaux
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Breed Improvement — Fertile Ground Terre fertile
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Vet’s Advice — Changes to Newborn Calf Procedures
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What’s Happening
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Simmental Meet Commercial Producer’s Objectives Market steers with excellent weaning weights, and quality replacement heifers
Story By Lee Hart
W
ith excellent weaning weights on steer calves and strong demand for heifers sought after as replacement cattle, Richie Joynt says he’s happy with the beef production plan on his southwest Manitoba ranch that produces consistent results year after year. While he says there is always room for fine tuning, the straight Simmental commercial beef herd they’ve developed over the past 18 years is well suited to their ranch environment near Alexander, about 25 kilometres west of Brandon, MB. “We’ve focused our breeding program and herd Richie and Teri Joynt management on performance and fertility,” says Joynt, who farms along with his wife Teri and young family Macy, 7 and Lane, 4. That focus, that produces quality cattle each year, earned Joynt recognition as the Keystone Konnection Simmental Assoc. Commercial Breeder of the Year in 2021. The award was presented at the association’s annual sale in Brandon in early December. The foundation of Joynt’s commercial Simmental herd was actually laid back in the mid-1970s. Richie was born and raised on the family purebred Simmental operation developed by his parents Gerry and Shirley Joynt. “We raised purebred cattle from 1975 until 2003,” says Richie. “But when BSE hit in early 2003 we switched to a commercial operation. It just made sense under the circumstances. We had quality cattle that producers wanted whether it be breeding bulls or replacement heifers, and that still continues today.” The Joynt’s had very successful production sales back in the 1980s and 1990s, so when they switched to a commercial operation there was still a lot of interest in quality replacement cattle. “We’ve always done a lot of trade just selling females out of the yard,” he says. As a commercial cow-calf operation, Joynt has mostly followed a straight Simmental breeding program. In the early 2000s they did try a cross breeding program with Angus cattle for a few years, but that didn’t produce cattle with the performance they were looking for. So they switched back to and continue with straight Simmental genetics that includes mostly full-blood Simmental with red and black coloring. There are about 50 cows in the herd that still carry some Angus influence but mostly the herd carries the trademark full blood color pattern - brockle-faced red and black cattle.
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Richie and Teri bought the commercial beef herd from his parents in 2018. Today, with his parents that are still actively involved, they run a total cowherd of about 200 head and that’s divided into spring and fall calving herds. Depending on the year, they run about 150 to 170 cows in a spring calving herd — perhaps more like winter calving as they start the third week of January— and they have another 30 to 40 head in
Commercial Country
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