Bernie & Nancy Regner
Newbrook, Alberta
Located Northeast of Edmonton near Newbrook, Alberta you will find BN Ranch and the home of Bernie and Nancy Regner and family - the Canadian Red Angus Promotion Society’s 2009 Commercial Breeder of the Year.
Bernie and Nancy Regner and family have been ranching for over 30 years, first near Carstairs and now at their current location where they have been since 1980. Bernie has been a cattleman all his life, growing up in the industry, seeing its highs and lows, reaping the rewards and feeling the losses. He proudly states “The cattle business is a good business. Even though the last 7 years have been a little tough with the drought and BSE, I wasn’t going to let that stop me!”
Bernie, along with his wife Nancy and their middle son Todd calve out over 500 cows on their 23 quarters of land and another 10 quarters which they rent. Most of the land is cultivated land which has been seeded to grass or hay land which provides all of their feed. The majority of their feed is hay along with green feed on years like this when moisture has been a little short. Some silage is put up for the calves which he backgrounds and approximately 300 acres of barley and oats is combined for grain to feed to the calves he backgrounds as well. Enough crop is swathed for swath grazing to provide some of the mature cows a month or so worth of feed earlier in the winter.
The cow herd of over 500 head is 50% Red Angus Simmental cross and 50% Black Angus Simmental cross. Bernie has been using Angus bulls for 20 years and likes the maternal traits the Angus bulls provide. “Using Angus bulls makes calving a large herd way easier to handle.” The red cows are bred to Red Angus bulls and the black cows are bred to Black Angus bulls. All of the heifers are bred Red Angus and he loves the Red Angus females he gets. Bernie stated “when I first started using Red Angus bulls, there weren’t a lot of breeders and the gene pool was small. I had a lot of Simmental cows back then and I loved the Red Angus cross on
them. . . . . . . . the maternal strength of the females and the ease of selling the calves, I always got good money for them.”
The cows begin calving the first week of April in the pasture which lessens the need for bedding and provides a hands free approach. “I like to be able to go out and tag the calf, that’s the first time I should have to be near it. It if wasn’t for using Angus bulls, I wouldn’t be able to do that.” While Bernie takes great pride in and cares for his cows, he feels they need to be able take care of themselves as well. The 120 heifers that are bred are bred to calve within a 45 day span and the cows within a 60 day span. All of the cows are preg checked in the fall and whatever doesn’t make the cut is shipped. He tries to bring in 100-125 head of heifers each year to keep the herd young and keep newer genetics.
As for the bulls, the same rule applies . . . . . . . . . .”I rotate them fast. Once a bull is 4 years old, I’ll think about selling them while they’re still good and sound.” Bernie runs approximately 30 bulls; 1 bull for every 25-30 cows and has some spares just in case. He’s a firm believer in semen testing “I wouldn’t sleep at night if I didn’t.” He purchases his bulls from a few different breeders whose operations he knows. “I need to know lots about the cows I’m considering buying bulls out of. I want to see good udders, fertility, good mid-sized cows. I watch breeder’s cowherds.” EPD’s are used as a tool in the selection of his bulls but a purchase is not made on that alone. “A bull has to be good. Testicles are very important; I like to buy bulls with at least 36 cm testicles which is more than the minimum.” Bernie only purchases yearlings as he feels with 2 year olds you may not have liked them as a yearling if you had seen them. With yearlings you know right away what they are like and if they’re your type of bull or not.
Bernie keeps all of his calves as well as purchases another 200 or more head to background. He will get the group to 900 lbs and market them out in February or early March by either private treaty or by internet sales. Prior to BSE he used to sell replacement heifers into commercial herds and still does somewhat but that market has diminished to what it once was.
The Angus breeds maternal attributes are a huge part to Bernie’s draw to the breed but as he also states “they grow good, they do good on grass and they crossbreed very well with any other breed.”
A true cattleman all his life, Bernie and Nancy hope to retire someday and keep 50 cows around “just to play around with!!”
The Canadian Red Angus Promotion Society would like to congratulate Bernie and Nancy Regner and family on being named the 2009 Commercial Breeder of the Year.
Lisa Paget
September 12, 2009
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