ORIGIN OF THE HERD
About 1944, Dad purchased 8 yearling registered heifers from Martin Larson of Castor and a yearling bull, which he traded to John Jones for a another yearling bull which was called Bandol Of Manledd so that there would be no in-breeding. The first sons were called Sunmound Duke 1st & so on & the females were called Sunmound Duchess 1A & so on. The first heifer called Sunmound Duchess was kept as a milk cow. I suppose she lost her calf and Dad was hard pressed to find extra work to keep us out of trouble. This cow’s everyday name was Anne, possibly in honor of Anne of Green Gables. I recall getting some of Anne’s milk & some from a Jersey that we were milking and putting both samples in little jars that came with the BABCock tester; it turned out that Anne’s sample had as much cream as the Jersey’s milk. Neither one gave a stupendous amount of milk but they were gentle & rarely kicked our heads off.
As time went on, other females were added, some good & some not. In the matter of milk cows, I should mention ‘Zeke’ a Shorthorn range cow that Dad had got in some trade. Here was one cow that could have been named the “Champion Kicker” if there ever was one eligible for a trophy, but she gave a full pail of milk. It seemed that Mom was the only one who could milk her. If you tried to discipline her, she would retaliate with both barrels or feet.
The herd-sires should be mentioned. I’m not sure that I can name them in proper order but here goes. Dalrene Black la Bardolier 3rd. He was a massive bull that Dad bought from Chauncey Flint in the Calgary Bull Sale in the late 1940’s. He was shipped to Byemoor by rail and Leo went with the team and sleigh to fetch him home. His progeny were kickers & had minds of their own. Dad sold him in later years to Andy Hogarth and Leo had the privilege of delivering him. Later, Dad bought Kalussz Blackcap Al. Then Dad bought Enchanter’s Footprint UA from the University of Alberta herd. We used a couple of Eileenmere bulls from the Old Hermitage Farm. In 1958, Dad bought Link Lake Eston Blackcap from Jim Thompson in the Stettler Bull Sale. He grew to a massive size and left highly sought after progeny. He was definitely one of our most important bulls with descendants in the herd until we dispersed. To follow Eston, I purchased Sherrty Bardoliermere 39 from Lewis Steeves. He left his mark in siring Sunmound Eileenmere 35X from an Eston dam. In 1969, I bought Willabar Estonian 11Y from Orin Hart in the Calgary Bull Sale; he was a grandson of Eston, which we later sold an interest to Roger Spady. In 1972, I bought Black Browe Cabanana 711 from Good Bros. at the Innisfail Test Station. In 1983, I bought MLA Proud Blood from Gerry Orhn; he left some good daughters. There were many other bull purchases that we won’t mention. I do remember Leo’s aggravating habit of pointing out the discrepancies to other breeders, so I finally said, “Maybe it’s time you went out and froze and bought the next bull”, to which he replied,”I don’t know anything about cattle.” Fortunately that eliminated some of the bitching.
Before closing I SHOULD mention some of the important female purchases. Dad bought Pride of Henderson many years ago and she left some good progeny. I bought Black Browe Flora and she gave us Sunmound Flora 33G. She was a real jewel, the nieces could crawl around her; she had the temperament of an angel.
OTHER HERD BULLS NOT PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED
There was Sunmound Excel sired by 35X out of an Eston dam. Edrene Standard Eston I bought from Ed Molzan. He was sold for export to Argentina but did not go, so he was last owned by Jack Patterson. Edrene Eston sired Sunmound Eston of York, otherwise known as Fergie. He was a grandson of Sunmound Flora from whom he evidently acquired his amazing temperment. Fergie was sold to Don Bell where he was used naturally until he was past 13 yrs of age. Don still raves about his disposition and that of his progeny. We used a son of Fergie known as Sunmound Albert from a Pride cow. Albert was sold to Chris Monea where he ended his days of service. We used numerous sons of purchased and home-raised bulls, so I guess you could say they were intensely line bred. In our dispersal sale females went to buyers from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It’s gratifying to know that it is no longer a disgrace to own or raise Angus as they have become the most popular breed in terms of registration & sales volume.
Mention should be made of Misty & Frosty; although they were Leo’s dogs they were also my companions, particularly Frosty as she would always come to the barn yard to find me if I was doing chores. Her favorite snoozing place was in the 4X4 truck so the door was left open so she could get in. Misty was very protective of the truck as she wouldn’t let anybody else get in unless one of us was there.
MORE CATTLE STORIES
Some incidents of note include the Calgary Stampede Show in July of 1975 which we attended with the assistance of niece, Marilyn Ries, and the “Angus Angels”, Joanne and Rochelle, daughters of Jim Morrow, another Angus breeder and good friend. This was our first major Angus Show, and we placed 4th and 5th in the two year old bull class; we didn’t do as well with the females. It was a grueling experience with lots of work and long hours with not much sleep. I also took cattle to the Cross Country Angus Sale in Lacombe where our animals were generally well received. Again, lots of hard work and long hours mixed with lots of camaraderie. We contributed to various summer sales where our cattle did fairly well. In general, it was a learning experience and I met a lot of people. I guess it was one way to advertise the cattle, but it sure wasn’t a holiday. I declined the duty of judging shows because I didn’t want to make enemies. Over the years we contributed to bull sales from Leduc to Cereal, Stettler to Coronation, and also Drumheller.
Over the years, we sold Sunmound cattle to most of the provinces in Canada including the Maritimes, there, mostly to Frank and Iva Mutch who were repeat customers and became good friends. Frank was a great one for a yarn. Internationally, two heifers went to England and two or three to Argentina. We went from producing the poor man’s cow to raising the most popular breed in North America. It is gratifying to learn that it’s no disgrace to raise Angus.
THE FARM SALE
Leo and I continued to operate Sunmound Ranch until 1996 when we had a dispersal auction sale, thirty years to the day after Dad’s death. There were weeks of preparation even with the help of family and friends. I never heard how many people were there, but I had ordered food for a thousand and they ran out by eleven o’clock and went to Byemoor, Stettler, Hanna and maybe Delia for more supplies. The catering was done by the Endmoor seniors and the 4–H; I gave them $100 plus their profits, but I guess I wrote it off against the taxes. The cattle went to new homes in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and throughout Alberta. We knew we had to sell the land because we didn’t want to watch somebody else let it get polluted with weeds. We didn’t use many chemicals, but we kept it clean. By the time the sale was over, I was just damn tired and cared about nothing but to lie down and sleep. Then I just figured there’s no use worrying about it anymore and it was time to move on.
SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS
While I’m sitting here remembering, I will throw some thoughts to the wind. Most of the siblings remember Jack Carson the cattle buyer & him referring to Dad as “you old Irish bitch”. When I was selling cattle at Pickard’s sale in Lacombe, I made friends with an old gentleman who had known Jack many years before, as his grandfather had tutored Jack in the art of buying cattle. Then there was Mr Kelson, a Jew from Calgary, who used to come around with his Dodge 2 ton to buy cattle & haul them to Calgary for resale or whatever. These were not purebreds unless they happened to be culls. Before this, there was Mr Hashman who was also considered a Jew. I recall he sold dad a 1941 Oldsmobile that had belonged to a senior gent from Delia. It seems that these men who bought just cattle were a lot easier to get along with than some of the ones who came from across the 49th. It seemed they wanted our top cattle at or below beef price; I guess in the process I learned which ones that I wanted to do business with. How many of you remember the blunders dad made in buying used vehicles & such, but then most of you have been down that path.
I remember dad having all those horses eating grass & not working. They would sometimes break out of the pasture & go sight seeing & it would be my job to bring them back. One time I tracked them almost to McCarty’s & met John Paussa & he told me where they were. Another time, they were almost over to Donalds when I caught up to them. Robert Spielman told me where they were as they were, on his way home from school at Summerhill. If any one tells you that animals can’t open gates then don’t believe it.