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To supplement their cash flow, Frank and the boys ran two threshing teams along with whoever wanted work.
The Vanscoy area has been home to the Ward family for over 100 years. In 1906, a year after Saskatchewan entered Confederation, Frank O. Ward, his wife Carolina and sons Carl, Algot, Elof, Edward and Adolph migrated north to Vanscoy, Saskatchewan, a village incorporated in 1918, located twenty-nine kilometers southwest of Saskatoon. Frank purchased a tract of land from the Valley Land Company and built a house and sod barn. His three eldest sons, Carl, Algot and Elof, also took out homesteads in the surrounding area. They broke the land, cropped the soil and ran cattle, hogs, chickens and everything they could to survive and raise a group of growing boys.
With World War I over, times were tough for a large, fully grown family; so in 1919, Frank and Carolina purchased a tract of land near Durban, Manitoba, a hamlet southwest of Swan River. Adolph moved to Manitoba with his parents while Edward stayed back and farmed the home place. On Frank’s passing in 1928, the land in Manitoba was sold and Carolina and
rank O. Ward along with his wife, Carolina and three-year-old son, Carl, immigrated from Sweden to America in 1885. They settled in Amor Township, Minnesota which was established on April 5, 1879. For the next twenty-one years they farmed near Amor and had four more sons‌ Algot, Elof, Edward and Adolph.
The Original Homestead In Vanscoy
Adolf & Lillian
name Red Letter Stock Farm. Through the ‘80’s the main selection criteria was frame and growth and the Wards chose a one eighty direction from that trend. Calving ease has got to be an important part of selection because fifty percent of your calf crop is heifers and most heifers get bred and calve with some reasonable assumption of ease. So, with Tom teaching full time at the University of Saskatchewan, the fifteen-year-old teenager, Clarke, got his first experience of marketing in the purebred industry. By the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s the commercial industry started looking at Red Angus bulls for their heifer pastures.
family returned to the Vanscoy district. Through settlement of the estate, Adolph received the family farm quarter section. Adolph and wife, Lillian (Clarke) had eight children; Rose, Elof, Mary, Alice, Leila, Adolph (Tom), Sylvia and Dean. Tom, the sixth of the eight children, married in 1968, taught high school in Lloydminster and Saskatoon, before returning to Vanscoy with his family. Clarke was five when they returned to the farm. The first cattle on the Ward Farm were Simmental, Charolais and Hereford commercial Cattle Congress 2001 cattle but after calving them out, it was an easy decision to go another route. Clarke recalls, “The first few females were selected at Gary Conrad’s In the early years they would consign their bulls dispersal back in ’75 or ’76; Dad started bringing to provincial test stations: Saskatoon, Regina and Pathlow at Melfort. Clarke relates, “You send them trailer loads of Red Angus cows home!” in the fall, the gain is tracked all winter and then Starting in 1976, they were one of the earlier have a sale in the spring. If your bulls performed pioneering breeders, originally running under the well, they were eligible for the sale and the nonTom Ward 1959
Red Blackbird Of Strathayr 29G
performers went home. We were fortunate; we did not break the bank but did well. Back in those days there were only a handful of Red Angus breeders: Flying K, Moose Creek, Creech, Six Mile and us, just to mention a few; so the test centers were good promotion for herds that had bulls for sale.” In 1980, Tom purchased Red Blackbird “Our longevity Of Strathayr 29G; she was the highest selling Red and fertility Angus female in North factor is a America at $26,500 up to recent times. He embryo great selling transplanted this great feature and a female and established a very profit yielding cow mainstay of our family… “my father was success.” one of the early guys to do embryo work in the province.” They built their best cow families using longevity as a key selection factor. The Freyjas, Blackbirds and Lassies are some of the oldest in the herd. “Good basic mainstay cow families…not the stuff that you are gonna go win Agribition with… but the kind of cattle that are gonna make you a good living and a herd you can be proud of. Our longevity and fertility factor is a great selling feature and a mainstay of our success.”
In 1990, Clarke and Denise were married and started their new farmstead the following spring, establishing Ward’s Red Angus in 1991 and taking over the program. Clarke relates, “Technically we homesteaded our half section because it was bare pasture. You can say we followed in the footsteps of my grandfather; we chopped a hole in the fence, pulled in a house trailer, built a barn (and rebuilt it four months later after it partially burned with the help of family and neighbors), some pens, watering bowls and started running cows ourselves. The farm, along with the family, expanded over the next 30 years; two sons, Josh and Cole, more facilities and more cattle.
Vanscoy 4-H Club 100 Year Anniversary
Raising a young family in the Vanscoy community, getting involved with the Vanscoy Multiple 4-H Club was a tradition. Both Tom and Uncle Dean were members and Clarke joined at the age of eleven and competed until the age of 20. Josh and Cole competed in the Beef Project successfully over the years, winning many ribbons and trophies for their steer and heifer projects, Clarke serving as a Beef Leader and Denise as the General Leader. Cattle shows soon became a family outing and a new way for the Ward operation to promote their cattle. Wards exhibited cattle at Fall Fair in Saskatoon, Agribition and Lloydminster Stockade Round-Up. Over the years they consigned females to Red Roundup, Harvest Classic, Angus Pride and Touch of Class. 4-H is the reason the black cattle have shown up in the Ward program. “Cole, our
youngest boy, wanted a black heifer to show, as Josh had a red one. I bought an Erica daughter at the Angus Pride Sale from the Cooks at Blackie, Alberta. We got a little advice from Neil Carruthers as to what to breed her to and her first son was purchased by a breeder for double that of his mother. Her next calf duplicated the feat, so it did not take much time to add a little black into our program, as our customer base was also requiring it. Over the years, we have been using some black red carriers to add new genetics into the herd.” In addition to operating a family breeding operation, Clarke was on the board of the Saskatchewan Angus Association for twelve years serving as President for two, on the CRAPS Board for a couple of stints and an Angus Representative for Fall Fair for seven years. The couple will tell you that sitting on boards involves the entire family in a livestock operation because someone has got to be there to calve cows and take care of chores…it is a family commitment.
First Barn Being Built in 1991
Barn Built in 2005
were selling bulls or delivering bulls all year. They tried hosting a silent auction sale at the farm with dismal results. They then had the opportunity to consign bulls to the Complete Bull Sale. Moving to an auction setting was stressful but successful. Clarke relates, “T Bar managed our first sale and every sale since. I will always remember the first pep talk I ever got from Teddy about a tough market…you have twenty skinny bulls to sell, get prepared for a tough day (the conversation has been edited). After the smoke cleared that day, all twenty bulls sold for an average of over $2,600 and change. We learned a lot from Ted and every year we got a pep talk and every year our sales got better.” In 2020, Clarke and Denise moved their bull sale back home into their new shop and had a video sale with outstanding results. “We shoulda done this ten years ago!”
New Shop/Sale Facility 2019
That family commitment is what it has taken to establish their solid repeat customer base. When Clarke and Denise were first married,they marketed their bulls through private treaty off the farm; so selling bulls was a six month job…it felt like they
Showdown Spruce Meadows
Clarke will always be one of the biggest Angus promoters in the breed! He has marketed cattle across North America and travelled as far as Mongolia to promote the breed. The first stop on the Saskatchewan Angus Tour this past summer was the pastures at Ward’s Red Angus. The most consistent features of this cow herd are the soundness of foot and limb and udder type of the cows. Those foundation females are still hard at work, longevity…Clarke and Denise want a product which will suit and survive their customer’s type of management.
Ward’s Stall Agribition 2008
Saskatchewan Angus Breeder of the Year 2020
Ward’s Red Angus, Clarke and Denise, Josh and Kari, Carter and Olivia, Cole and Kathryn, were awarded Saskatchewan Angus Breeder of the Year for 2020. Despite social distancing and everything else, Ward’s Red Angus had a great sale south of Vanscoy. Clarke will tell you that if you can sell bulls to your friends and neighbors, then you are achieving the requirements of the industry, while making more friends. Ward’s Red Angus is a true example of a family operation with determination and a marketing goal.
Clarke & Denise
Josh, Kari, Carter & Olivia
Cole & Kathryn