The Legend of Sandy Bar :: Page 2
:: as written in January 2008 issue of Today's Angus Advantage

The third generation or Robert (Bob) Switzer is widely known throughout the livestock industry. He received his primary education in Aneroid, his high school education in Kincaid and early judging skills most likely began as a member in the Aneroid 4-H Club. In 1965, at the age of 12, Bob won Grand Champion Steer at Frontier Days in Swift Current with a Southern Lane home-bred steer. The 880 pound steer fetched a record price of 85 cents per pound and was purchased by Canada Safeway. (The sale averaged 25.5 cents a pound.) Backed by confidence from his win and added motivation, Bob accompanied his father to the Corydon Dispersal (the Angus herd built by Thorolf Soggie, Elbow, Saskatchewan), one of the competitive and leading herds at that time. On June 10, 1966 Bob purchased the second high selling bred heifer for $600.00, starting his own herd of registered Angus known to us as “Sandy Bar.” Bob recalls, “They held the sale at the farm but did not have facilities at the farm site, so they hosted the sale in a holding pen at the bottom of a coulee by the river. The cattle were brought in several days prior to sort and tag them; it rained all week, the cattle were knee deep in mud and it continued right through sale day. There was little or no shelter for the people and cattle but the buyers were all prominent Angus breeders from Western Canada. It was quite an experience.”

While working with his father and the Southern Lane herd, the Sandy Bar cow numbers grew and by 1975, Earl was leaning toward retirement; having accumulated fourteen quarters of land he offered it to his sons. The eldest son, Bruce, purchased eight quarters and Bob bought six quarters including the farm site on which the Sandy Bar headquarters are located. Since 1975, the land base has grown. Bob and Gail added the Valley Blossom Ranch operated by son Beau at Lac Pelletier (the only spring fed lake in Saskatchewan). They operate 48 quarters (7680 acres) of land of which seven quarters are used for feed grains, fall rye and hay. All the crop duties are custom contracted as Bob’s allergies include iron.

The Sandy Bar cow herd exceeds five hundred Black Angus cows of which 360 run at Sandy Bar and Valley Blossom with the balance in co-operator herds throughout the province. Bob explained that the choice for Black Angus cattle was based on maintenance and economics. Their goal each year is netting a thousand dollars per cow and not to feed the cow herd for more than eighty days per year. The cows run out on fall rye after calving to the middle of April, then run on tame pasture. In July they go to the native pastures (Prairie Wool) until late fall where they run on newly seeded fall rye and then swath grazed up to calving. The cows are run with bulls for a sixty day period from May 1st to July 5th, in order to maintain uniformity and fertility. They budget for four percent drys from breeding to calving; the drys are sent to slaughter and their registration papers are cancelled. Gail maintains a record on every female in the herd as to maintenance costs and production values.

Throughout the building years of purebred herds in Canada, most bulls were consigned to sales or sold privately on the farm. A private breeder bull sale was unheard of until 1978, when the first Shortgrass Sale was introduced by the Switzers (Southern Lane and Sandy Bar), Gross’s (Wiwa Creek). The sale was held at Wiwa Creek for the first three years, Double J at Consul for the next 16 years and at Sandy Bar since, with 2008 being the thirtieth anniversary. It is held annually the third Saturday in April and has been a prototype for many other sales and Angus marketing. The first Shortgrass Sale offered 44 bulls and averaged nearly $1500.00 and most in attendance were just curious breeders. In 2007, 150 bulls sold and over the past 29 years, the bulls have averaged between $3000.00 and $3200.00. Bob proudly states, “Besides quality and a regular date, one of the rules we set was that every bull would sell without any upset or reserve bid, no matter what the price is.” Gail added, “A few years ago, we sold one of the front bulls for $800.00; I was petrified and then the rest went sky high. The customers needed to know that they were all for sale.”