Mike Wurz
Established in 1935, the Sandhills Colony is a diversified agricultural operation located near Beiseker, Alberta. Specializing in grain, cattle, sheep, dairy and chickens, the Colony’s 8000 acre land base provides enough pasture land and cultivated land for their 600 head cow calf operation.
At the helm of the operation is Mike Wurz, Colony Manager, who is following in his father’s footsteps Peter Wurz Sr. who purchased the Colony’s first purebred Red Angus bull in 1979 from Beiseker Red Angus, Peter and Maxine Schmaltz. Since that time an average of 4 bulls per year are purchased from local breeders. Mike appreciates the fact that he can go into a local breeders cowherd and see the mother cows in production and evaluate their feet, legs and temperament which assist him in his selection of bulls to purchase through the sale. When Mike is selecting bulls to use on the cowherd he utilizes his knowledge of cattle to visually select the bulls he wants to purchase. Thickness, feet, legs, testicles and disposition are all considered.
Mike continues to oversee the cowherd along with Jerry and other valuable Colony members. The herd of 600 head are approximately ¾ Red Angus. Any cows with bad feet or udders or over the age of 13 are culled. Mike feels if a cow is left to long by age 14 they can suddenly begin to fail on you. The heifers begin calving February 1 and the cows begin March 1. By the end of April everything is done calving. They stick to a 60 day breeding program and any cows that don’t fall into that are culled as well. Mike states “the Red Angus cattle are excellent for crossbreeding. They are good uddered, have less pink eye, are high in fertility and are excellent mothers. We have a lot less troubles in the spring with the Red Angus cows.”
All of the calves are weaned by mid September with the best heifers being hand selected and kept for replacements and everything else goes on feed in their feedlot to be fattened. The calves are weaned off with an average weight of 600 lbs. and are fattened to 1400 lbs. with an average daily gain of 3.6 lbs. They are then marketed through Cargill at High River.
The 2000 acres of pasture land is all cross fenced and set up on a rotational grazing program of every 10 days in the summer which allows the native grass re-growth time but also allows for ease in doctoring any cattle that need to be as all of the cow work is done on horseback.
Wherever Mike travels, he is an avid promoter of the Red Angus breed and is the difference that has been made to the Sandhills Colony’s beef program. The Canadian Red Angus Promotion Society would like to congratulate the Sandhills Colony and Mike Wurz as being selected as the 2012 Commercial Breeder of the Year.
Lisa Paget, 2012
|
