Life changes: Minnedosa cattleman sells off herd
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/03/2024 (753 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
It’s not every day that you sell off your life’s work.
But that’s the scenario that faced Minnedosa cattle producer Bruce Curle on Thursday afternoon as he watched Heartland Livestock Services auctioneer Ward Cutler sell off his herd of Simmental-Angus cattle in the company’s Brandon auction mart.
A cattleman from an early age, Curle had purchased his first Simmental at 13, and over the years it went from a hobby to a way of life. After 32 years with his wife on the farm they purchased near Minnedosa, Curle said it was time to make a decision about the future of Curle Farms.
Bruce Curle of Minnedosa-based Curle Farms speaks to the gathered producers in the Heartland Livestock Services building in Brandon on Thursday, shortly before the start of an auction for his 240 Angus-Simmenthal hiefers and 12 bulls. (Photos by Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun)
“It wasn’t just one thing,”Curle told the Sun a few minutes before the auction got underway. “(I was) getting tired of a full-time job and a large hobby taking care of these cows that has grown to a sort of a point that it was getting hard to manage.”
His kids, who enjoyed working on the farm, were not interested in taking over the business operation. And some land coming up for sale that he had been renting over the past years made him realize that he wasn’t at the right stage of life to buy it.
“There’s been a real combination of things that have gone into this decision.”
When asked what his feeling was going into the auction, he summed it up in one word: “Anxious.”
“I’ve never done this before,” Curle said. “I don’t know what the expectations are. A lot of familiar faces out there, and a lot of people we’ve already done business with over the years. So I don’t think there’s a lot of secrets between us, and I think they know what they’re getting. I hope everybody’s happy at the end of the day.”
A large crowd of producers take in the herd dispersal auction at the Heartland Livestock Services auction mart in Brandon on Thursday afternoon. The auction was held for Minnedosa cattle producer Bruce Curle of Curle Farms, who decided it was time to start winding down his operation after 32 years on the farm.
Dozens of cattle producers packed the stands at Heartland’s auction show ring, as Cutler started auctioning off three or four heifers at a time. In total, Curle’s herd of 240 heifers and 12 bulls were dispersed on Thursday afternoon.
» mgoerzen@brandonsun.com
» X: @MattGoerzen
