Bar-E-L Angus
A family run operation rich with history

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, many people from the somewhat settled northern and central United States made the decision to move their young families from their homes north to the unsettled lands of western Canada. It was the land of wide open spaces and endless opportunities. Many were visionaries in search of a better place to make their living and plant their roots.

Of these visionaries were the Longshore family who in February, 1905 made the decision to move their family from Oklahoma to Alberta. Orlando and Rebecca Longshore and their son Clarence (Dave Longshore’s Great Grandfather), who was 20 years old at the time, loaded up their most personal possessions in a democrat buggy pulled by a team of horses and headed north in search of their new home and a better living. They were also accompanied by their daughter Fanny and her husband. Two carloads of livestock, farming equipment and household goods were shipped by train.

The journey was long but the weather was good and it was on the prairie of east central Alberta between Stettler and Byemoor that the Longshores decided to call home. Orlando and Clarence each bought a quarter of land beside one another for $10.00 each. This original homestead is still in the family today. There were no fences, no roads, the grass was stirrup high, and they spent the first year preparing the land, while the cattle roamed freely. They were very fortunate that the weather cooperated with them as their first home was dug into the side of a coulee bank and a tent was used. Lumber was later hauled from Stettler to begin construction on a house.

  
 

The fall of 1906 proved to be somewhat different than their first year as new homesteaders to the land. The weather was incredibly cold with more snow than they could imagine. Cattle that had been shipped up by train froze to death as they didn’t have enough feed and weren’t climatized to the extremely cold and harsh weather conditions. Clarence would have gone back to Oklahoma if he had his choice! Thankfully, the family persevered and established their roots. Orlando opened the first post office in 1906 and their home became a regular stopping place for travellers. Mrs. Longshore was a midwife and helped to deliver many new citizens into the area. As they became more settled, Orlando purchased some Shorthorn cattle.

In 1914 Orlando passed away and Clarence and his new bride Elizabeth took over the farm. They were blessed with a daughter Hazel and twins Donald (better known as Sandy) and Dorothy born in 1919. The family farm had its ups and downs and its fair share of disasters to live through. Winters were miserable with a shortage of feed and at times the inability to get the feed to the cows due to the amount of snow on the ground. The 1930’s proved to be even tougher. Sandy (Dave’s father) recalls there being nothing to eat for them or the cattle and nothing but gophers on the land. Many people shipped cattle during this time. The Longshores continued to grain farm but wheat was worth nothing. They used horses and oxen for farming to keep their expenses down. Times were incredibly difficult so Sandy went to work for a neighbour lady for $10.00/month. He hauled hay, milked cows, fed chickens and did whatever other odd jobs there were to be done. He was given a warm place to sleep and good food to eat and was very thankful for that. Sandy kept a weasel trap line and in 1932, sold his pelts and bought his first cow for $12.00 at a farm sale.

Since Sandy was the only boy on the farm, he didn’t have to go to war and as Sandy says, “I wouldn’t have made a good soldier anyway.” Sandy spent his entire life on the farm. He farmed together with his father, working hard to rebuild the farm and expand it, moving more from grain to livestock, until Clarence’s passing in 1955 when he took over the farm completely. Sandy married Elsie Pogmore in 1941. They have 4 sons and 1 daughter all who left the farm except the oldest, Don and the youngest, Dave.
 
  Throughout the years, the Shorthorn cattle that originally were on the farm were sold and Sandy ventured into Horned Herefords and then, Polled Herefords. Sandy was a member of the Hereford Association for 50 years. The Polled Hereford cattle were shown and Dave recalls his first trip to Agribition when he was 14, with his dad and Sandy, when they took 2 females and 1 bull. They stayed in their camper and almost froze to death as it was minus 30 degrees every day. Dave says it was “quite an experience and that was their first and last camping trip!” Although their first trip to Agribition was trying, the Longshores continued to show at Agribition throughout the years and in 1983 won Champion Polled Hereford Female honors. This female was then exported to Australia. Nowadays, you will generally see a Bar E L string of Angus at Agribition and Farm Fair as well as at the Stettler and Camrose Bull Congresses.

Throughout their involvement in the Herefords, 11 Polled Hereford sales were hosted in Stettler but their focus began to change and they progressively owned fewer Herefords and started to purchase Angus. The first 		 
 
Angus cattle purchased by the Longshores was in 1995 and Bar E L Angus was officially up and running. The blacks were purchased first and it wasn’t long after that they had reds as well. They found that the Angus cows milked better and admired their calving ease. Sandy stated, “I can’t emphasize the importance of milk enough. If you don’t have milk, all you have are packing cattle.” The last of the Hereford cattle were sold in 2001.

The drought of 2002/2003 proved interesting for the Longshore family. Nine pot loads of cows and calves were sent to Saskatchewan to pasture for the summer and feed for the winter. Bar E L had their first bull sale with Roger Hardy, Soo Line Angus at Midale, SK, in the spring of 2003, since the bulls were in the area already and it didn’t make economic sense to move them home. Dave stated, “Considering the circumstances, things went well.” The fall of 2002 also saw the Longshores sell off 20 Red Angus females with fellow breeders: Ter-Ron, Chickadee, Severtson and Cripps.

The spring of 2004 saw Bar E L’s first Angus bull sale in Stettler. The sale has become an annual event since that time. They market both yearling and two year old bulls to many repeat customers as well as gather up new customers each year. Prior to their sales in Stettler, the Longshores had a joint bull sale with Dave’s brother-in-law and sister, Stewart and Doreen Ainsworth – Lazy S Ranch at Mayerthorpe from 1999
 
 
to 2001. Since the Bar E L herd was in its building stages during this time, not a lot of bulls were sold but they became known as a source for quality Angus bulls. As for marketing females, besides the females having been sold in 2002, they try not to sell many except for the odd one at Red Round Up, Angus Pride and Agribition just to get their name out there and their pedigrees known. They are still working on building their herd and have resisted selling many females up to this point but will probably start to market more in the near future.

Today, Dave and his wife Lynne, who were married in 1982, run the day to day operations of Bar E L Angus. Two of their children have moved away from the farm and their youngest is still in high school. Dallas works for an oil company in Calgary, Tanis is a cabinet maker in Red Deer and Jenna helps out on the farm when she isn’t busy with school. Like most farm wives, Lynne is a huge part of the operation doing everything from calving cows, chores, keeping books, advertising, being hockey mom and head cook!


 
 
Sandy, who is now 89, keeps a watchful eye over things but has left the duties in the capable hands of his sons Dave and Don. Sandy proudly states, “they have grown up with the place. The boys worked on the farm ever since they were old enough. I do less and they do more!” These days you will find Sandy driving around checking the cattle and admiring the operation. If you get the opportunity to sit down and have a visit with Sandy, by all means, make sure you do so. The history and knowledge he speaks about is extraordinary! Sandy and Elsie’s oldest son Don has been involved in the family run operation from the beginning as well and currently splits his time between the farm and his home in Red Deer. Don served as President of the Canadian Hereford Association.

A lot has been learned over the years for the Longshores from selection of herdsires to feeding practices to exporting cattle. Their Angus cowherd has gone from very few to over 300 breeding females, in a very short period of time. Dave noted they probably have twice as many reds as they do blacks and will most likely try to get the herd to a 50/50 split in the near future. He also noted that the quality of the Red Angus breed in general has come a long way over the years and has made many improvements.

Dave feels very fortunate to have obtained the bulls, Red Knight and Boom Town, which in a short period of time became household names and are in the pedigrees of nearly all of their red cattle. On their black cows, Crescent Creek 50L has bred very well for them. Dave feels that visual selection of cattle is very important and everything else – epd’s, carcass data, etc., falls into place after that.
 
         
 

Besides running the purebred herd, they also run 50 red and black base commercial cows. The land base has gone from the original 2 quarters of land that were homesteaded by Sandy’s father and grandfather in 1905 to 20 quarters. Most of the land is put up for hay and silage, feed grain is purchased from outside sources. Along with the land they own, government land is also leased and hayed. With an average rainfall of 4 or 5 inches each year, it is important to have as much feed as possible on hand. The weather still hasn’t learned to cooperate with the farming operation in the last century!

The bare land on which Orlando and Clarence Longshore homesteaded over 100 years ago has seen a lot of changes throughout the years. Harsh winters, droughts, low market prices, the introduction of large machinery to work the land have all had their affect but the­­-se things stay constant.........the love of the land, the dedication to the agricultural community and their involvement in the cattle industry for the Longshore family and will continue for years to come.