Chuckwagon Role Model Big River’s Curtis Morin
Music, Poetry & Good Times: 2018 Events
2: ur e RT Yo rs PA ing t Ho t ar ea St t Gr x Ne
Helmer Creek Ranch Grizzlies & Longhorns
Spring Calving Time Ranchers Speak on What Works for Them
Summer of Wildfires
Prairies to the Cariboo PM# 40070720
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 • $5.95
Western Tradition
Help Save Jasper Heritage Rodeo
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HELMER CREEK RANCH From grass-fattened beef and timed-event cattle to sheep and horses, the Thiessens livestock is as varied as their interests Photo by Stephanie Jager
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Canadian Cowboy Country February/March 2018
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018 | VOLUME 21, NO. 5
On the Cover This unique aerial view shows a rancher on horseback checking his cows and calves. For another unique view, read the inaugural article in our new ranching series, What Works For Us. Photo courtesy Cynthia Baldauf/iStock
FEATURES 20 TRAILBLAZERS
Jerry Ambler Alberta rodeo competitor Jerry Ambler revolutionized the rodeo sport of bronc riding
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Wildfire The summer of 2018 will be known as the summer of the wildfires. We touch on some of the devastation and rebuilding COWBOY WAY
Starting Your Next Great Horse — Part 2 of 6 Renowned horse trainer, J.P. Forget, with Part Two of his six-part series on starting a young horse
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RANCHER’S SPECIAL
What Works For Us An interview with three diverse ranchers on their preparations for a stress-free calving season
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Let’s Do Something — Western Events We bring you a sampling of events across the Canadian West
cowboycountrymagazine.com
DEPARTMENTS 6 My Point of View 9 In the Corral 13 Western Art Review/Porch Reads 14 Spirit of the West 16 Wheel to Wheel 18 Reflections 35 Pro Rodeo Canada Insider 47 Clownin’ Around 54 Cowboy Poetry 5
CONTRIBUTORS
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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1 Dianne Finstad One Hell of a Ride!, page 42 Dianne Finstad is a multi-award-winning broadcaster, writer and journalist with over 30 years of getting the story. Ranchraised near Manyberries, Alta., she lives near Red Deer, Alta.
2 Jim Green Kenow Wildfire Recovery, page 26 Jim Green is a poet, writer, broadcaster and entertainer. He grew up a little bit in Pincher Creek, Alta., spent 45 years in the NWT and now he's back — writing about home.
3 Neal Reid Canadians in Vegas, page 40 The Las Vegas-based 2017 PRCA Media Award winner for Excellence in Print Journalism, Neal Reid spent five years as editor of the ProRodeo Sports News and covered his 14th consecutive Wrangler NFR this year.
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Hit the Jackpot You really hit the jackpot with your December/January issue of Canadian Cowboy. The Wardens are a tremendously entertaining group and Brad Bischoff emceed two of our trail rides last summer. He loved it so much (and the riders loved him and his music so much) that he is booked with us again this coming summer! I had the pleasure of meeting Carol and Jim Hern at the Canada West Marketplace convention in Victoria last November. Their operation is a fine example of diversification in the ever uncertain world of cattle ranching. Now I need to go and visit them next summer!
Always a fan of Wilf Carter, I enjoyed this great history story as well. A note to your readers; Wilf was “discovered” by a CPR talent scout on our trail ride in 1932. You can read about it in our 2014 TRCR Bulletin, on our website. Thanks for a great issue! — Dr. Stuart R. Watkins President, Trail Riders of the Canadian Rockies trailridevacations.com P.S. Going to Rwanda in March; will take this Cowboy copy with me for one of those photoshoots!
Remembering Wilf I was so pleased to read the article on Wilf Carter. It brought back so many memories that it made me cry. As a kid we lived west of Carstairs, Alta., (my dad received 200 acres after WWI) and in the 1940s about five of us, including two neighbour kids went to the small Sunnyslope country school. Wilf Carter would always stop his big Cadillac and give all of us kids a ride to school. His wife was always with him and we’d all pile in and away we’d go.
It got so we’d dawdle along, just hoping Wilf would come along in his car, and he always did. One time he even gave us a ride on a tractor he’d taken in to get fixed. He was a wonderful, wonderful man and so kind to us kids. I’m 84 now and my memory isn’t what it used to be, but I’ll never forget Wilf Carter… — Mrs. Betty [Bosomworth] Larsen Russell, Man. Canadian Cowboy Country February/March 2018
PHOTO COURTESY THE WARDENS/RAY SCHMIDT; COURTESY OF CALGARY STAMPEDE ARCHIVES
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IN THE CORRAL NEWS, VIEWS & HAPPENINGS FROM ACROSS THE CANADIAN WEST
PHOTO COURTESY CALGARY STAMPEDE
2018 Stampede Royalty Congratulations to 2018 Calgary Stampede Royalty! The 2018 Calgary Stampede Queen Lindsay Lockwood is completing her Bachelor of Arts with an honours specialization in psychology, with a goal to attend medical school in the future. 2018 Calgary Stampede Princess Jaden Holle is working towards a Bachelor of Education through the Metis Teacher Education Program delivered by the University of Saskatchewan, and 2018 Calgary Stampede Princess Jessica Wilson, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in biology from St. Mary’s University. Throughout their reign, the Royalty will make more than 400 appearances as ambassadors of the Calgary Stampede, promoting western heritage and values in Calgary and around the world. For more, visit calgarystampede.com From left: Princess Jaden Holle, Queen Lindsay Lockwood and Princess Jessica Wilson
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RANCHING IN THE WEST
The big white protector dog, virtually indistinguishable from the flock, is pretty much all that stands between the predators and the sheep. The dog stays with the sheep 24 hours a day.
“I’ve never done just one thing. I’ve always been a rancher but that’s never been my entire focus.”
usually bring what you paid for the cow; they’ve got longevity and hardiness—plus they’re fun. There are a few different markets for Longhorn; we sell a little freezer beef, rent out some wild cow milking cows, some timed event cattle sometimes. We don’t market our beef but my idea is to keep it affordable. I’m a little cheaper than most. “I’ve always said I don’t raise cattle for the market; I raise them for me, which isn’t the best way to make money. But I’ve never tried to make money and I’ve been very successful.” Bryn is widely recognized as a cowboy poet and cowboy preacher who isn’t afraid to
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poke fun of folks, with politicians being one of his favourite targets. “I had always dabbled in poetry for myself, and when I heard about the gathering in Pincher Creek I went. That’s where people discovered me I guess, so that was a nice supplement to ranching cause it’s a chicken-or-feathers lifestyle, but I never set out to be a poet.” Another supplement is day riding and now, he’s a lease rider back West. “I’ve never done just one thing. I’ve always been a rancher but that’s never been my entire focus.” Another piece of the pie is that Bryn is a well-respected and funny preacher, who also “marries and buries” folks.
Then there is his horse herd, which boasts the country’s most diverse arrays of bloodlines. “I’ve run my own Quarter Horse studs for about 40 years,” said Bryn. That grulla stud Dad had was a Hancock/Poco Bueno I got off Walter Buelow. I’ve got colts that go back to him. I had a Jet Smooth son I owned with a guy and have a bunch of his descendants; I had a Tivio San Pep/Hotrodder Disco stud I ran for a few years; I’ve got a King Fritz/Peppy San I’m running now; a Playgun-cross coming up maybe and I’ve still got some grade horses that go back to a wildie stud I had. Bonny asked me; ‘why do you have so many different types of horses?’ Because there are different kinds of people, I said.” Helmer Creek horses have also made a name for themselves in diverse fields. “I’ve had some make pretty good calf horses, and team roping horses (one was LRA heading horse of the year)—one of the Milan boys was hazing on a horse that came out of here, and there’s been at least one saddle bronc. Ol’ Jet Smooth he raised some broncs,” he said. “At least one or two made jumpers—there’s a big paint horse down at Spruce Meadows— he’s not jumping in the big competitions but he’s jumping down there; some pretty good ranch horses, some dude horses and a few got a free trip to France… Just a little bit of everything but I’ve enjoyed them all.” The greatest challenge to ranching for the Thiessen’s is their location. “It wasn’t until the ’90s that we could drive in and out year-round. It was just too wet, so you had to move stuff in the winter,” explains Bryn. Another challenge is the predation. It’s an ongoing reality of cougar, grizzly and wolf kills. Live-trapped grizzlies are so common in their yard that the horses ignore them. Bonny, who married Bryn in 1998, is a talented rope ‘n ride cowgirl in her own right, plus she has sheep and raises and trains border collie dogs. She sells grass-fattened lamb but this year her losses were pretty high due to cougar kills. The couple are happy and as independent as two highly in-demand folks with a passel of livestock can be. “The best part of being a rancher is that you are your own boss within reason and you get to work within Creation with some pretty amazing creatures and people. And you can work with the government, or you can work against them, or you can work around them—it’s up to you.” c Canadian Cowboy Country February/March 2018
Hundreds of communities in B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan were seriously compromised. Everyone was hit hard, especially the ranchers who in many cases lost their herd and the grazing lands for years to come. In history books and winter count hides, 2017 will go down as the Year of the Wildfires.
Cariboo Blaze
PHOTO BY DARYL VISSCHER
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Firefighters near the village of Kleena Kleene in the Cariboo
B.C. STATS By TERRI MASON
he ramifications of the 2017 B.C. wildfire the Thompson plateau, directly southeast of the season have had an enormous impact Cariboo Fire Centre’s jurisdiction. on British Columbia’s cattle industry. Cox, who owns and operates a ranch with her The effects have been “massive” across multiple husband, has approximately 1,200 head of cattle. fronts, says Cordy Cox, president of the Cariboo Their ranch sits on nearly 500,000 acres of Crown Cattlemen’s Association. rangeland, in Kleena Kleene, west of Williams Lake. “People have not only lost homes and buildCox was evacuated in early July and was able to get ings, but there are also dead or injured cattle and all of their cattle out of the wildfire’s path before it the long-term health effects to some cattle. The destroyed most of their rangeland. ranchers have lost miles and miles of fences; their While the burnt grass should be back by next summer and fall pastures that sustain the cattle season, a lot of the infrastructure — including until they sell them in the fences and corrals — will fall are burned up and gone. take a lot longer. WILDFIRE FUNDRAISER Some have lost their hay The B.C. government In the Williams Lake area, the fundcrops, their bales — it goes committed $6.2 million to raising season of local charities on and on.” support the replacement was sidelined during the fires so the Cox added that some of of livestock fencing and Williams Lake Stampede committee the lingering effects won’t Crown range infrastructure staged a Wildfire fundraiser in late be felt for months or even destroyed by wildfires. September. years. Cattle that have In September, Canadian The fundraiser swiftly grew into smoke inhalation damage Minister of Agriculture a weekend-long event that hosted have to be sold at a discount, Lawrence MacAulay everything from cookie sales to charity food drives, plus numerous raffles and many more will be announced that farmers and and draws (one featured two tickets euthanized. ranchers impacted by the anywhere WestJet flies), plus many Most of the fires were wildfires would be provided bands that had played the Stampede in either the Cariboo Fire $20 million in aid by variover the years donated their skills to Centre, which is made ous levels of government. the effort. And yes, there was a pack of up largely of the Fraser To read a review on the very excited Girl Guides who were over plateau in the Interior. wildfire response from the the moon when they sold out all their Dozens of fires were in community perspective, visit cookies in record time. The event netthe Kamloops Fire Centre TatlaCommunities.ca. ted over $50,000 which was donated area, which stretches across to 17 local charities. cowboycountrymagazine.com
➽ The B.C. cattle industry is made up of approximately 545,000 head of cattle; five per cent of the national cow herd. ➽ B.C. has approximately 4,086 ranches; operators lost approximately one million acres to the 2017 wildfires. ➽ Estimates place between 25,000 to 30,000 cattle affected by the evacuation orders and fires. In B.C., the wildfires of 2017 are notable for three reasons; first, for the largest total area burnt in a fire season in recorded history: 1,215,452 hectares (3,003,450 acres); second, for the largest number of total evacuees in a fire season (over 39,000) and third, for the largest single fire in the province’s history: the Nazko Complex Fire at over 432,000 hectares (1,067,495 acres).
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RANCHER’S SPECIAL
What Works For Us Ranchers and Calving Time
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By TERRI MASON
contacted a few select ranchers to speak to them about calving, and to ask; what do they do on their place to make this exciting part of the year go as smoothly as possible? Every ranch is different and while no one can tell another person how to ranch, they can say what works for them. From calving times to moving newborns, this is a fascinating compilation of hard-earned experience, and I extend my thanks to the ranchers that shared their know-how of what works on their place.
INDEPENDENCE BLADE YOUNG
Becky and Blade Young and their children, Davis, Josie and Grady
Young’s Land & Cattle Becky, Blade, Davis, Josie and Grady Young Tyvan, Sask.
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Commercial herd Elevation: 607 m (1,990 ft) Average annual precipitation: 12 inches Target calving time: first part of May
On our outfit, calving season isn’t even a season anymore, and by that I mean our cattle aren’t checked any more often than they are at any other time of year. One of the reasons is because of labour shortage, it’s difficult to attract workers to this area, and the other reason is our climate. We simply have never had facilities to battle the weather during calving. Because of this, our herd has evolved into superior mothers and are better left alone when calving. They calve unassisted, they mother unassisted, they clean unassisted, we don’t milk any tits, they calve 100 per cent on their own. If you’re riding along and come across a new calf or a cow that’s calving, you just keep riding because the cow is doing what she’s supposed to do. We breed our heifers to a smaller bull — a black Angus/Longhorn cross — and keep them closer to home so we can keep a little closer eye on them, but they seem to be carrying on their mother’s instinct as last year we calved a couple of hundred head of them Canadian Cowboy Country February/March 2018
PHOTO COURTESY BECKY YOUNG
As we built our outfit up, our cattle herd has always exceeded our facilities, so our cows had to become independent and develop their natural instincts for being good mothers and calving unassisted.
and never had to help one. Keep in mind these heifers are generic daughters of cows that have always calved on their own. If we have a twin or an orphaned calf we don’t graft calves onto cows anymore. The reason why is because our cattle are used to seeing us in trucks or on horseback, and the only time they’ve seen a person on foot it usually involved inoculations, so you can imagine the wreck trying to bring one range cow into the barn on foot. So we just bring the calf home and Irene raises him. Irene is our milk cow — she doesn’t kick and she doesn’t hunt us — and she raised five calves last year.
Our biggest threat is weather and this is why we’ve gone to a later calving time. We move the cows to a stock piled spring grass pasture in late April or early May and if there’s still snow on the ground we’ll take over a liner load of hay – but the best supplement in the world for cows calving is fresh spring grass. Predation isn’t too much of a problem; one year we had 14 confirmed predator kills so we are much more proactive on predator management now, but compare that to a late snow storm that can kill 60 calves and the possible health issues that would follow weeks after, it’s not much of a problem.
We are more than happy with our calving numbers and could never go back to fighting Mother Nature in this climate. Calve on grass and allow their natural instinct to flourish — that’s what works for us.” ➽ The Young’s sell their calves on T.E.A.M. in big lots for fall delivery and their open cows and heifers in the fall. They cull open cows in July after calving and cull open cows again in November after preg testing.
Jess, Olivia, Tanya and Houston Parsonage
HIGH ALTITUDE PHOTO BY MICKY KUSLER
JESS PARSONAGE
We treat our heifers differently than our mature cows who we already know are all good mothers. With our heifers, we inoculate them for scours (Scourguard) when we preg check in early October. Then we also give them another booster shot around the end of cowboycountrymagazine.com
February. Towards the end of March, we’ll bring the heifers in closer to a small field and then sort off about 40 at a time and move them into the well-bedded calving pen behind the barn. They have free-choice hay and loose mineral supplements to keep them in top shape. Because the pen is so close I can just look over the fence to check them, and if a heifer has calved in the morning, they are mothered up and everything’s fine, we tag the calf with a matching ear tag and move them out of the calving pen, down a short
Little Big Ranch Jess, Tanya, Olivia and Houston Parsonage Maple Creek, Sask. (Cypress Hills) Black Angus herd Elevation: 1,463 m (4,800 ft) Average annual precipitation: 20 inches Target calving time: end of April
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