Willowdale sign

Willlowdale Simmentals is north of Valleyview, beside Highway 49. That can be both a blessing and a curse.

Willowdale came from humble beginnings. We started with a small acreage and just a few cows. Over the years we have gone up  to calving out 140 cows, and are now at about 115 cows.

We have been selling bulls in the Peace Country for over 30 years and continue making changes to meet the demands of our customers. Developing  polled, red, low maintenance Simmentals has been our goal. A strong AI program has allowed us to build calving ease and performance into our herd. 

Recent AI Sires have been:  Mader the National, WS Epic, WFL Red Heat and Mader Walk the Way. 

The National females have been calving for a couple of years and are raising top end progeny.

Our Walking Herd Sires are headlined by Spring Creek Redford 55H. He is homozygous polled, a dark red, blaze faced bull with above average calving ease and strong maternal traits. We are calving his daughters in 2024. They have nice udders and adequate milk.

Spring Creek Eastwood 73G is a homo polled, solid red, calving ease herd bull with a moderate frame. Initially we used Eastwood to breed our heifers, which proved very successful. On mature, large framed cows he is leaving very easy doing, deep bodied bulls. His moderate framed females are raising calves with a lot of maternal strength.

Ashworth Statement 31J has been used on our heifers, leaving low weight calves that are growing beyond our expectations.

Our latest addition to the bull pen is Black Gold Tycoon 194L. This is a dark red homo polled, full brother to SVS Rancher 42H. Tycoon progeny look to excel in terms of muscle, body and performance. He is a good footed, performance bull with extremely commendable EPD's. Black Gold showed 194L at Farmfair and Agribition where he was Reserve Intermediate Bull Calf. His mother is the great donor cow HLTS Sammie. She is a very unique outcross female.

For the last several years we have been having many of our bulls genetically tested. We are able to let buyers know which bulls are homozygous polled and if the black bulls are homozygous black.  We use homozygous polled bulls and like the guarantee of having only polled calves.

In the fall we sometimes consign select females to the Red & Black Simmental Sales.

Throughout the years as our herd grew, our sons were always an active part of the operation. They have both chosen careers away from agriculture, and live in other communities, but they are part of our decision making. We are very fortunate that they still maintain as interest in the cattle and often are here to help, especially on the big days. Kent and Braden along with their families are a big part of the crew getting ready for Sale Day.

 

 

Family & Helpers 

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