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Welcome to the Web Tour for our Purebred Simmental Herd. If you would like to view pictures, progeny, and production records of each individual cow family please follow the links below.
Darby has had Black Angus bull calves on offer since 1999 but 2008 marked the first year we had purebred Simmental Bull Calves for Sale. Some of our Simmental bulls sell at the Southwest Showcase Bull Sale in Swift Current, SK March 28th, 2022 and the rest sell by Private Treaty. We will continue to consign all our Angus Bulls to the “Your Choice” Bull Sale in Maple Creek SK., April 4th, 2022. Please come join us at the Sale and feel free to stop by for a visit anytime. Our sales are later in the spring, so our bulls don't have to be pushed. Taking our time to get our bulls into proper sale shape ensures that there will be no feed related problems with feet and overall soundness. Haven't we all watched an expensive, over - fat bull waste down to nothing at some time or another? NaturalThere are a lot of good Angus and Hereford cattle in the southwest corner of Saskatchewan and we saw a unique opportunity to offer one of the best crosses for both those breeds – Simmental. Crossing with Simmental will not only add pounds to your calves with their extra muscle and length of spine, but the females provide that extra milk which will also pack on the pounds. A good friend of ours said it best- who doesn’t want 50 plus extra pounds per calf for free? That’s what a Simmental cross can do for you. When we selected the Simmental cattle that were to come down to Robsart, SK. with us, we wanted cows that were moderate in size, with lots of muscle expression, excellent feet and legs, as well as sound udders. A tall The Purebred Simmental and Black Angus cows are treated and fed the same as our commercial herd with the exception of their barn time at calving, and the month when we are Artificially Inseminating.The cows usually graze on tame pasture from May to mid-June, than are moved to some native pasture until the calves are weaned first week of September. Depending on the amount of grass, they are returned to their field and eventually moved to stubble fields where they will graze most of October to December. Supplementation with green feed and dryland grass hay bales commences early winter.In December the green feed and hay bales are tub ground and the cows are provided with a ration that readily meets their protein and energy requirement approaching calving. Salt blocks and loose mineral are provided free choice year round.The demand for red Simmentals in this part of the country was a lot greater than we originally anticipated so in the fall of 2008 we also purchased a large group of red cows and heifers at the Kimlake Dispersal. They were a beautiful group of cows and have produced many high selling bulls for us and their daughters are the back bone of our herd.
Our bull battery consists of quality stock we have sourced after traveling Saskatchewan and Alberta looking for the best bulls that will meet all our needs. We also use some of our own top genetics. Phenotype and numbers are of the upmost importance when searching for a bull, however we will never buy a bull without seeing the dam and if possible, any other sibblings on the farm. Our cows are important to us. Momma better have an excellent udder and great feet or we have no use for her son.Artificial Insemination is a very important tool for us. As such, we spend many days pouring over AI catalogues but also discuss with other cattlemen which bulls have worked well for them. A few semen packages are purchased each spring from some of the prestigious bulls that have sold, and whose confirmation and pedigrees we’ve appreciated.
Our purebred Simmental herd consists of approximately 100 head of Red and Black cows. Aritificial Insemination of the herd commences end of March. The cows and heifers are inseminated for two cycles, than 
