We are currently working on a complete farm history so here is a current update of what's happening.

Wheeler's Stock Farm is a family run operation located 20 minutes east of Saskatoon.  Harvey and Frances Wheeler along with their son Michael, his wife Rhea and new son Ty own and operate the farm.

2008 has come and gone like another whirl wind.  Despite all the challenges we’ve faced, this past year will go down as one to remember for a lot of good reasons.

The year started off with a decent winter and a pretty good calving season.  We moved our commercial herd back to start calving in February rather than in January with the purebred herd.  The extra month before all the cows were calving eased up the work load a bit.  We sure appreciate our Angus cattle at calving time, we had very few problems and the good momma cows make life easier.

As winter came to an end we were planning for breeding season and for the arrival of the fifth generation of cattlemen into the family.  Plans were to have all the cows sorted into groups for breeding at the beginning of April since Michael and Rhea were expecting their little one the end of April.  Like always at our place things never go as planned as Ty William Wheeler was born on April 9^th.  He had a bit of a rocky start but is doing very well now, he’s over twenty pounds and really wants to try to walk if he could ever keep his balance.  It really is true that your life really does change, but we couldn’t imagine life on the farm without him.  He’s already been out fencing, checking cows, treating calves, hauling bales, and he’s been to a couple shows too.  Just in case you were wondering the cows did get sorted and the bulls really got the job done.

The summer started off quite dry which didn’t give us much of a hay crop.  The worst part was that it finally started to rain once we started cutting hay so we have about half the hay crop we had last year and the quality is not great.  The round bale silage we put up will really help out, but we’ll have to downsize the herd to have enough feed to get through winter.  We bought a semi this year to haul bales which helped to speed things up, and luckily we had a really nice fall.

We got to visit with some old and new friends out and about this fall.  We took some cattle to the Red Round-up show and sale in Red Deer in October.  We had a really great show including winning Reserve Champion Bull.  We took cattle to Fall Fair in Saskatoon in November and won Reserve Champion Bull, Premier Breeder and Reserve Champion Pen of Bulls in the commercial show.  We had a really great Agribition winning Supreme Champion Pen of Bulls, Senior Bull Calf Champion and Reserve Senior Champion Bull.  It was by far our most successful run yet and we are very proud of our cattle.

You may have heard that our bull sale The Complete Bull Sale is no more.  Our new sale name is the Cattlemen’s Bull Event and it will be held the same day as the old sale, the second Saturday in March at Saskatoon Livestock Sales.  We look forward to continuing our partnership with Matthew Fleury and we wish the Ward family the best of luck in their new endeavors.

On top of all the things going on Michael and Rhea are working on setting up their own yard close to the farm so its easier for them to be around more.  Rhea went back to work with the Saskatchewan 4-H Council in October and now Michael is at home on parental leave looking after Ty.  Michael is enjoying being Mr. Mom and grandma and grandpa don’t mind babysitting when Michael is working with the cattle.

We hope that you and your family will have as many fond memories of 2008 as we do.  There are a lot of reasons to not be excited about the cattle business right now but if there is one thing that really hit home with us this year after Ty was born is that there is no better occupation to work in and raise a family.  Even with all the challenges we don’t know what else we would do with ourselves if we weren’t chasing cows or trying to find that next great herd bull.  We hope we get a chance to catch up with you in the coming year, and don’t be surprised if you get a phone call from us.  We always like to hear how our cattle are working and how things are going for our customers.  Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone or drop in and see us either.  Until we see you again, all the best in 2009!