A rancher from the Southside has returned from a cattle show in Williams Lake with an armful of trophies and ribbons for a pair of prize-winning bulls.
The rancher is Ken Rose, and the victorious bovines are called Southside Dallas and Southside Denver, two outstanding examples of the Hereford breed of beef cattle.
“We were pretty proud of those two bulls,” said Rose.
Indeed, that pair of bulls ranked first and second in their class, which included a total of 54 bulls of the Hereford breed, a type of beef cattle. Dallas took the top spot ahead of Denver, who placed second.
Dallas also emerged as both the senior champion and reserve grand champion of the Hereford class. And together, Dallas and Denver were deemed the best pair of Hereford bulls at the show, which took place on April 19.
Rose marvelled at his good fortune as he showed off an elaborately carved silver tray, the Tribune Trophy — an award sponsored by the Williams Lake Tribune, a sister paper of the Lakes District News — which is engraved with the names of winning ranchers for the Hereford reserve champion of show.
Names on that trophy date back as far as 1963, said Rose. As for the Williams Lake show, it’s a tradition that’s more than 80 years old.
Those bulls didn’t just earn accolades for the Southside ranch. They also earned $3,750 apiece at the sale that took place in Williams Lake the day after the show, said Rose.
The two animals seemed to have a special connection. Denver and Dallas were born just five days apart — February 15 and 20, respectively — and about half a kilogram apart in birth weight, about 38 kg each. And two years later, they both weighed in at just under 900 kg, said Rose.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “They were like two peas in a pod, those bulls.”
The sweeping victory in Williams Lake comes after decades in the cattle breeding business. Rose and his wife Cathy Shane have been operating the 480-acre Rose Ranch on the Southside for about 30 years, said Rose.
They specialize in purebred Hereford and Charolais cattle, but they’re not in the beef business — they just supply the bulls.
Towards the end of the interview, Rose paused to take a call on his cellphone. It was Shane, who had some good news: the cow that had calved Denver had just given birth again.
-With files from Angie Mindus, Williams Lake Tribune
