Scruples - reputation

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Jeanne - Simme Valley said:
Actually, he is a HUGE farmer. Big crop farmer besides cattle. Has his own feedlot.
He called me last night and made this deal.
He called this morning and starting chatting away about cattle I've shown. ?? I said, Don are you on my website? He said yes, and proceeded naming another red heifer I showed.
I laughed. I said Don, you committed to buy 3 bulls, not even born. And NOW you're stalking me?? You were supposed to do that BEFORE you committed. We both laughed. He said, that's TRUST.
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I've got a question. You band as soon as they are born (#104)? Do you band because you already know what the cow/bull heritage are and base your decision on that? Do you look at the calf and say yea or nay? If so, what do you look for in a calf that's so young?

I think I remember you saying something about older bull calves that didn't make the grade, but cutting older calves is usually the way most registered breeders do things so they can see how an animal will develop before they make the decision to cull their breeding potential.
 
Dave said:
The Chilcotin is a long ways and an entirely different world that the Colville Reservation. I have spent a little time in the Chilcotin but not nearly as far west as Greek is located. I spent a lot of time in the Colville and Okanogan area. I have some friends who are tribal members and others who are not natives who live just off the res.
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I can't remember the producers very well, but I lived in Omak. One producer I do remember has/had the last name Moses. They grazed around Buffalo Lake. Thought you might know the reservation and possibly some of the same ranchers.
 
Mark Reynolds said:
I had to look up Chilcotin on the map, but figured it couldn't be too far from where I spent some time. I was the rangeland management specialist for the Colville Confederated Tribes about 25 years ago. That is the 'dry side' of the mountains, and a bit to your south. Just prior to that, I spent 3 years in Corvallis, the 'wet side' of the mountains completing my MS degree. My research for that stint was in eastern Oregon near LaGrande. I'll have to look up and read the book.
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gcreekrch said:
Most bulls from other areas take a lot of extra care for the first two years they are here.
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I consider myself fortunate that I have three of the best sources of bulls of my breed of choice that could be found anywhere close enough that they could walk home in a day if they took the notion. That really helps with the "acclimatization factor".
 
GoWyo said:
It's an awesome book. Those guys were beyond tough.
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I knew Lester Dorsey, Tommy Holte, Pan Phillips and several characters that Rich had in Grass Beyond the Mountains.
I asked Tommy once about some of the stories and how close to the truth they were. Tommy never spoke ill of anyone but he told me Rich could sit in a boat for an hour, see a butterfly and write a full length book bout it.
They had to be tough back then. My wife's family were the last to preempt land in BC in the late 50s. Our home place is the parcel they received. Her parents axed their way in the last 6 miles from the existing "road". He with a concussion from getting bucked off a saddle bronc at the Anahim Lake Stampede and my Mother in Law 4 years fresh out of Chicago. MIL is still alive and mostly independent at 91.
I came to the rodeo and fell head over heels for their youngest daughter in 1979. Most Indians were still using teams and wagons for transport and the area was really 50 years behind the rest of the world. Is a lifetime I wouldn't have traded for the world.
 
gcreekrch said:
I knew Lester Dorsey, Tommy Holte, Pan Phillips and several characters that Rich had in Grass Beyond the Mountains.
I asked Tommy once about some of the stories and how close to the truth they were. Tommy never spoke ill of anyone but he told me Rich could sit in a boat for an hour, see a butterfly and write a full length book bout it.
They had to be tough back then. My wife's family were the last to preempt land in BC in the late 50s. Our home place is the parcel they received. Her parents axed their way in the last 6 miles from the existing "road". He with a concussion from getting bucked off a saddle bronc at the Anahim Lake Stampede and my Mother in Law 4 years fresh out of Chicago. MIL is still alive and mostly independent at 91.
I came to the rodeo and fell head over heels for their youngest daughter in 1979. Most Indians were still using teams and wagons for transport and the area was really 50 years behind the rest of the world. Is a lifetime I wouldn't have traded for the world.
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That's interesting for sure. Although I will say my family was preempting land through to the late 60's, maybe into the '70's. My dad and his dad both acquired a fair bit this way. Like your area, the pioneering spirit was alive and well long after most of the country was civilized.
 
Silver said:
That's interesting for sure. Although I will say my family was preempting land through to the late 60's, maybe into the '70's. My dad and his dad both acquired a fair bit this way. Like your area, the pioneering spirit was alive and well long after most of the country was civilized.
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"Preempting"?

Is that like "homesteading" in the States?
 
Silver said:
That's interesting for sure. Although I will say my family was preempting land through to the late 60's, maybe into the '70's. My dad and his dad both acquired a fair bit this way. Like your area, the pioneering spirit was alive and well long after most of the country was civilized.
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Can I assume they were adding on to land previously acquired? This place was started with nothing.

Maybe the Peace country stayed open longer?
 
Silver said:
About 12 hours from here if I get after it
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You are 12 hours from Calgary, and @gcreekrch says he is 14. Are y'all 2 hours apart, 26 hours apart, or somewhere in between.?

My bucket list for retirement was to take about middle of June til middle of August off, and see the Stampede, Frontier Days, and Sturgis all just one more time. 40 years since I went to Calgary, 30 since Cheyenne, and about 12 since my last Sturgis rally. Stampede is July 5-14., 5 days later Cheyenne starts the 19th through the 28th, and Sturgis starts 5 days later, Aug 2nd through 11th. And I wanna do it on my bike... spend the summer on it on the road just one more time. Haven't done that since 1977. The ole lady quit riding about 2 years ago, but I wouldn't want her with me on this ride. I got plenty of cowboy friends that would love to see Calgary and Cheyenne, and I got plenty of biker friends to ride to Sturgis with. But, Scott can't ride a bike anymore. At least not for 2 months on the road, I don't think. 2300 miles to Calgary, 1000 from Calgary to Cheyenne, 300 from Cheyenne to Sturgis, then 1500 back home. Over 5k mile trip. Only other friend I have that does both has a job and a family. Even just 5 years ago, I would not think twice about doing it solo. Ole lady is raising hell and saying if I was fool enough to try it, she would not be here when I got back..if I got back. Says I am too old and too many health issues. So now I am sure gonna go. Grandson would love it, but he will just turn 20 in May, so a lot of stuff he couldn't do in Sturgis. This will be my last ride, so I really want to do it alone.
 
Travlr said:
I've got a question. You band as soon as they are born (#104)? Do you band because you already know what the cow/bull heritage are and base your decision on that? Do you look at the calf and say yea or nay? If so, what do you look for in a calf that's so young?

I think I remember you saying something about older bull calves that didn't make the grade, but cutting older calves is usually the way most registered breeders do things so they can see how an animal will develop before they make the decision to cull their breeding potential.
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"Mostly" I band at birth based on BW. If they are 100+, they automatically get banded. Even tho they may have great EPD's and I "know" from pedigree history that they would be fine used as a bull on a commercial herd - IF - the buyer had ONE calving issue and they saw the BW on papers, my farm name would be mud. Can't risk it. Besides, steers are always guaranteed cash flow!
"Some" bulls might get banded right away because of color. Yes, I discriminate against red bulls because I usually can only sell maybe 1. And if black or red - if they have too much white on them, I will band - unless I have an order for a colored up calf.
This order for 3 red bulls wants as much white on them as I get.
So with my little herd, calving 35 head in Jan/Feb, I have ORDERS for 8 bulls. I hope to be able to keep at least 10 in case one doesn't grow or has bad temp or ??
Remember, I have BIG cows (weight wise) and it is nothing for a cow to spit out 120# calf. I think the average is 8% of the cows BW. So, cow 1800# x 8% = 144# calf.
So, when my big cows have a 120#, that's "relatively" small!!! LOL
 
Odd that the terms preemption and preempting continue to be used in NW Canada. My family was preempting land here where I live in the late 1700s. They could acquire unclaimed and unsettled land for a token amount of money paid into the Virginia treasury. They only had to prove early occupation and utilization of the land.
How did it work in Canada?
 
Mark Reynolds said:
I can't remember the producers very well, but I lived in Omak. One producer I do remember has/had the last name Moses. They grazed around Buffalo Lake. Thought you might know the reservation and possibly some of the same ranchers.
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Moses is a big family name in that area. I knew several young guys by that name. When I was rodeoing I traveled some with Henry Freedlander. He was from Nespelem. He ended up going back to college and became a vet. Trying to remember names of people I haven't seen in 20-30 years. I worked some on a ranch up the Methow. And helped a rancher out of Malott. I have a real good friend from Kettle Falls. I spent a lot of time with him. After the big fires in 2014 and '15 I was part of a group that did a lot of fire restoration in the area. That group did a lot of work east of Omak after the 2020(?) fire but I was already moved down here to Oregon.
 
Logan52 said:
Odd that the terms preemption and preempting continue to be used in NW Canada. My family was preempting land here where I live in the late 1700s. They could acquire unclaimed and unsettled land for a token amount of money paid into the Virginia treasury. They only had to prove early occupation and utilization of the land.
How did it work in Canada?
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There's a long stretch of county road between Faith and Newell in SD that has historical signs every fifteen miles saying that there was once a post office there. Leftover history from when the land was homesteaded and there were people in soddies with 80 acres they claimed from the government. Of course those people are long gone and their acres have been absorbed into much larger tracts. I don't see how anyone could have lived so remotely with a mule and a plow and ten kids, and made a living. Now it's all large acreage ranches, neighbors many miles apart. Go out there at night and there are places you can drive for 20 miles with your headlights off and never see anything but stars.
 
farmerjan said:
Just a "bit to the south".....:LOL::unsure::rolleyes::rolleyes:
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Well, it's a day's drive anyway. :p Distance is relative, but I also have a mind set in terms of thinking in distance and size by 'State' here in the US. 'Province' in Canada is a whole different level that I am trying to (in error) equate with the size of states in the US. A similar thing happens when yoy go from the Eastern US to the Western US as the average size of the state more than doubles. A 'long trip' in the Eastern US is anything more than two hours. A 'walk in the park' in the Western US is pretty much anything under 4 hours. Its all relative. But yes, 12 hours is a little more than 'a bit' so I was 'a bit' off. 😆 My error.
 

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