Auction Details
The 21st Annual Maine Bull Sale
Wednesday, March 19th, 2025 • 7 PM MDT
100% online here on TEAM!
SW CATTLE, SHAWN, STACEY, JAYSE & KADIN WILSON (639) 275-7550
WILSON STOCK FARM, BILL WILSON (403) 560-5265
LOCATIONS: STRATHMORE, AB & LEROSS, SK - CANADA
This is our 21st Annual ‘The Maine Bull Sale’ – selling 100% online with TEAM. I can easily say along with my dad - ‘We’ve never seen such a strong market!’. Regardless of the Tariff conversation, we will continue to see a profitable business in the cow/calf sector.
Almost every cow calf operation is making money in this market but those with front end genetics and good management/herd health programs are realizing larger margins & premiums vs those just raising a calf with low inputs. Why is that you ask – because those buyers who buy calves have realized there is a drastic difference in quality genetics & health programs when you calculate conversion/cost of gain/health outcomes and carcass premium paybacks when they ship more and better quality cattle to the packer!
The North American cowherd is at a 70+ year low & with ‘Mother Nature’ slowly bringing much needed moisture for those needing moisture to fill water holes and to grow some forage/grass we know the herd will not be growing anytime soon! The demand for Beef both domestically and globally continues and the consumer appreciates the product we raise and is willing to pay for our higher grading cattle.
Our Genetics do more than just excel in the feedyard and packing plant. We’ve paid attention to structural integrity, docility and maternal traits that made Maines so popular back in the 70s-80’s & 90’s. We’ve maintained that the female must raise a calf and breed back in a timely fashion while looking after not just her baby but herself. We believe the Maine genetics have a valuable place in today’s beef cowherd as we can complement so many breeds to add carcass/feedlot/maternal advantages vs the straight bred cattle. Heterosis is the easiest way to make money if you are in the cow/calf sector – ‘it’s that plain & simple’!
We know there are a lot of valuable options out in the market place so what sets us apart? The cowherd base goes back over 50+ years – when my parents had a vision of breeding Maine cattle in 1971. Mom and Dad did a lot of research on the newer exotic breeds and they selected the Maines in the end for the phenotype – structure and style that they found in both the bulls and females. We still pay attention to those guidelines today.
With technology we have continued to source and select the top IMF – performance and DNA tested animals to match up with their phenotype. We strive to prepare and manage our herd with longevity – fertility so when they go on to our customers they can breed and produce for years without too much extra management and cost.
Year after year our valuable customers have realized the benefits that the Maine influence in their program as the calves consistently sell for above average premiums to repeat buyers and bidders. Whether you are selling them as bawling calves - replacement breeding females or finishing them in your own feedlots the cattle are working and giving extra value.
This years offering is one we have been very excited to offer for quite some time. This is the 1st calfcrop off our new management program. This is the ‘Top Cut’ of the Their mothers were wintered in the 2022/23 winter with our neighbors cowherd grazing corn. It was a new wintering program for both us and the cows – something we didn’t realize was the fact that the cows had a more potent food source and they really put on the flesh in their 3rd trimester. As a result we saw heavier BW on the calves than we historically saw when we were calving in February back in Alberta. Keep in mind this was comparing the same genetic matings as previous years. Since that first winter we have changed up our wintering program and the cows now stay home and are wintered on a hay & greenfeed with more of a controlled intake and less needed energy.
That being said we never had better calving success with less involvement with the process and way less health challenges to the calves once they were on the ground & growing. That being said - I know I’ll never go back to calving in Feb again as I think both cow/calf/dog/equipment and ourselves appreciated the warmer weather. But above all that the cows did what cows are suppose to do – calve on their own in a large pasture – now our biggest hurdle was getting the babies weighed-tagged & poured with a tick control product in a timely fashion.
The bred hfrs are due to start calving the 20th of April this year & it will be the 1st year we will calve them on grass @ the Sask Ranch. The cowherd is spending the winter in Sask at the Ranch and will be starting to calve around May 20. 2025 will have us calving 300 Maine – Mainetainer – Angus females this spring. We have really grown over the past few years with our own home raised hfrs and are getting to a number that we feel comfortable with going forward. That being said we will probably look to sell some young females in the coming years that we have refused over to let go over the past 5+ years.
This years bull offering is under a new management than those in the past. We continue to utilize no creep on our calves and the cows live on a diet of hay or graze on forage with no silage or grain supplemented to their diet. You’ll notice that all the sale offering is sired by natural service and we feel the herdbull battery that we have selected and sourced is 2nd to none in the Maine Breed across North America. We have continued to source outcross genetics to our herd for years with a focus on structural integrity – fertility – maternal strength – longevity – carcass merit - docility. Additionally we have never used an dirty TH/PHA sires ever and as a result are confident that we are selling genetically clean pedigreed individuals. As a result we feel confident that we are supplying breeding bulls with all those genetic traits plus some added libido to help our customers realize those added benefits to their own cowherd and operation.
The calves were weaned in early November in 2023 and moved directly to Schunicht Farms where they were started on a growing silage & chopped hay ration. They were fed to grow at about apprx 2 lbs day – on a limit ration from Nov 2023 to early May 2024. With our experience in the feeder cattle business we realize that a lighter flesh animal will do better on grass than a fleshy one – we are raising a breeding bull not a slaughter animal. In Early May they went to grass and were supplemented with chelated free choice mineral & salt until Oct 24 – no pellets/grain at all for the entire time on grass.
Since we didn’t have females to calve in Alberta anymore we thought we’d winter the bulls here at home on large 20+ acre paddocks keeping the bulls more athletic in their condition. We also decided to feed the bulls a rolled grain ration and long stem hay daily. We are bucket fed them 6 lbs twice daily from Dec until Feb 22 & 24 lbs of hay daily. From Feb 23 until delivery the bulls will get about 9 lbs every morning & 24 lbs of hay in the evenings. We firmly believe that you are buying the genetics to improve and add to your program – not fancy management at the feed bunk.
We believe that longevity is not only genetic but proper management can help that process as well. We stepped away from showing years ago for various reasons, but the main reason is that it has helped compare all of our calfcrop on the same management program to enable our customers the opportunity to compare our genetics on a similar system to most of their own commercial programs. As you look at the bulls you’ll see their ability to move freely and we are confident that we are selling a bull who will go out and be ready to breed cows immediately.
All the bulls have been weighing throughout their management transitions – ultrasound mearsured May 3/24 – dna tested clean for TH/PHA - Igenity Beef genomics testing – Homo Blk / Polled.
Over and above that we are on full Herd Health protocol with our consulting vet CCHMS/HerdTrax. All calves are vaccinated at birth with Inforce 3. Then @ apprx 8 weeks of age calves are worked at branding time in 30/40 head groups with Inforce 3 / One Shot BVD & UltraBac 7/Som. 2-3 weeks preweaning all the calves are vaccinated with Bovishield Gold OneShot & UltraBac 7/Som. Additionally, these bulls were vaccinated with Bovi FP5 in the spring of 2024 and will be vaccinated again with Bovishield FP5 & Ultrachoice 8 @ semen test time this March 2025.
All the cowherd is on the SelectVac Gold Vaccination program and get Bovishield Gold FP5 @ preg check along with Ultrachoice 8 plus PO. Pre calving all the cows receive ScourGuard 4KC and a Pour On for Flies/Ticks. This protocol enables us to guarantee that all our cattle are BVD PI Free!
We look forward to March 19 and hope that you will be able to stop by and inspect the bulls for yourselves @ Strathmore.
Please feel free to call and discuss if you have any questions on the offering.
Thanks again for your interest & support,
The Wilson Family
Bill - Shawn - Stacey - Jayse - Kadin
Choose Your Layout >
