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NORWOOD FAMILY FARM |
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ONE BREED , ONE WORLD |
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About Us (as printed in the Ontario Simmental Advocate Breeder Profile—Feb/07) |
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Fellow Breeders, I feel very honored to be writing this breeder profile. It is with great respect for anyone in the cattle industry that I will try and explain my reason’s for having Simmental Cattle. The easiest way for me to tell you will be to start with three things and then explain these. My Parents & family, Geraldine, Kerrsten, Nicole and Marshall, and all our fellow Simmental Friends who have never failed to answer questions, or lend a hand. Thank you! My Parents were two people who no one could possibly describe or hope for as parents until you are my age. They bought the farm we now call Norwood Family Farm when my dad returned from World War Two after 3 years over seas. They worked together to raise 4 daughters and 3 sons, milking cows by hand and shipping cream and doing off farm work. They did all this, to give all their children a home, that all of us still share a part of on Big Crosby lake. The respect these two people had within their community and their Family’s (that is in the 100’s) is a big part of why Norwood Family Farm exists today. Geraldine, Kerrsten, Nicole and Marshall with whom I run things, also do a fantastic job while I am away at work. Take great care in helping with the cattle. From birth, 4-H Projects, steers are selected and those special calves get a little more attention. Our vaccination records and herd health are well documented as are all of our cattle CCIA tags. The paper work side, well, I really can’t comment on that because Geraldine does it all! With the good health the five of us share and God willing, we will be as busy as we are now and have Simmental Cattle forever. As far as our Simmental Friends, it is hard to imagine how many people you meet in the cattle industry that is willing to help and give of their time and experience. The Ottawa Valley people are still some of the best and as they prepare for the Canadian Simmental Meeting in August of 2007, you can be that your attendance will be well rewarded!
The main reasons we have Simmental on our farm is that friends of ours had Simmental and they were docile, growthy and a pleasure to work around. So we bought a few purebreds to go along with Dad’s older cows. Eventually we got involved with the Beef Club and then the Ottawa Valley Club, and the rest they say is History. Through that learning phase we started selecting more on our own merits! Using E.P.D.’s, actual birth and weaning weights, with a strong lean towards very docile cattle. Today and for the new future (because of our small numbers ) we will concentrate our efforts on calving ease, carcass traits, maternal calving ease, average or above growth rate and docility, in Full Blood and Full Fleck. We marked our cattle at the Autumn Classic, the Ottawa Valley Sale, by Private treaty, and by putting bulls on test. We market them with E.P.D.’s, ultra sound, and pedigree information, backed by our own experience with their Dams, Sires, and Siblings, and we guarantee them. We did not change much after BSE, we took our cattle to where we thought the best price would be, like a lot of breeders, and took the loss that went with that. The future of Simmental is very strong, as our Canadian Simmental Association has made great strides in keeping us at the front of the industry with tools to work with. The challenge is getting everyone on board to support these technologies and input information for the benefit of everyone. I am sure I read in a View point in the Simmental Country after BSE, that the people who are willing to breed purebred cattle that will make a profit in the commercial industry, are the people will survive!! Attracting customers to buy Simmental will always be a challenge, since the other breeds are busy sorting out their best cattle also. We need to bring our best cattle to town, show the people the beautiful docile, 1400 lb cows, with the positive E.P.D.’s, and the 900 lb calf at side in the fall, and keep those other breeds catching up!!
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