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Wilgenbusch Charolais 21st Annual North Of The 49th Bull Sale

April 1st 2024 1:30 pm

Wilgenbusch Charolais is located in South East Saskatchewan, just north of highway 39 near Halbrite, SK. Since the early 90’s, the herd has grown to 450 purebred white and red factor Charolais breeding females and 50 commercial cows that are predominantly used in the embryo transplant program. The first Monday of each April, the North of the 49th Bull Sale takes place at the Wilgenbusch Charolais sale barn at the ranch. In 2015, the Volume I Female Sale was born and continues to be a biennial event

They day to day operations at the ranch are managed by Craig & his wife Tricia. Craig’s parents, John & Brenda Wilgenbusch were the founders of WilgenbuschCharolais and John’s eye for quality cattle, lives on in the cow herd today.

History of Wilgenbusch Charolais

In the early 90’s, John purchased nineCharolais bred heifers from neighbor, Lorne Kramer. They turned out to be productive cows with great temperament and longevity. LKC Miss Kramer 15X remained on the farm for 17 years and still has well over 20 descendants still in the herd.

We started showing Charolais cattle in 1992 at Ag-Ex in Brandon, MB and in 1995, attended Canadian Western Agribition for the first time. Over the next ten years, we raised bulls and sold by private treaty. In 2003, remembered in Canada as the ‘year of BSE’, our cattle industry basically came to a sudden halt. John always adhered to the adage, “If life hands you lemons, make lemonade” and the decision was made to hold our own bull sale at the ranch. The first annual North of the 49th Bull Sale was held in the spring of 2004.

In 2003, John won the opportunity to select a free bull at the Keystone Connection show and sale in Brandon. He had his choice of many champions as voted on by other breeders. He chose a red Charolais bull, Campbell’s Bert 81N and red genetics were introduced into the herd. In 2004 we followed this up with the purchase of another red factor bull, Crystal D Pierce 40P. In 2006, we purchased the red herd of Lang’s Stock Farms and began breeding more red factor Charolais.

Over the last 15 years, we have acquired quality females from several breeders, have purchased the purebred herds of LA Land & Cattle and CSS Charolais, bought semen from industry leaders and focused on an extensive embryo program. Our herd has grown to 450 purebred females walking our pastures and we sell more than 100 yearling Charolais bulls annually.

In 2015 we decided to push forward with our goal of holding a female sale. Volume I took place at the ranch in December of 2015 and continues to be a biennial event. Breeding cattle is our passion here at WilgenbuschCharolais. Our herd is built on functionality, longevity, structure and production. We like our cows to be easy keeping, excellent uddered females with the capacity and natural muscling to do well under extreme conditions and minimal management.

We strive to produce bulls with structural soundness and calving ease without sacrificing performance or muscle mass. Every herd sire that we select to breed to our females must be backed by a productive dam.

Strong customer relationships are our priority. Input and satisfaction from our customers are very important to us. If you are able to make it to our area, we welcome herd tours at any time of the year