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Commercial Simmental Breeder Of The Year

Bigview Stock Farm
Phil & Deena Schwenk
 
Bigview Stock Farm, owned and operated by Phil & Deena Schwenk, and their children Levi & Meagan, and Brandon Gattey.

Bigview Stock Farm is located North of Coronation, AB, where the Schwenk family operates a mixed farm. The farm is composed of 350 mother cows, a 1500 head feedlot, and a grain operation, where much of the feed for the cowherd and feedlot is produced.

Schwenk’s have been using Simmental bulls on their Black Angus cross, Black Maine cross cows for several years. They find Simmental bulls to be easy calving, and the calves have lots of depth of body and length. Although the pastures can often get dry in their area, Schwenk’s have found that the calves come in, in the fall with good frame and go on feed and fill out quickly. With the great depth of body and thickness these calves have, sometimes their weight can be deceiving: the calves came in this past fall 100-150 lbs. heavier than estimated due to this mass. Bigview feeds their own calves out to slaughter weight, as well as feed out another 1000 or so calves; these calves are all marketed directly to the packer in the spring and summer.

Meagan Schwenk states, "The way our operation works, we need a calf we can put lbs. on. A Simmie cross calf has proven to do that, with their excellent length and depth of body and their good frame size. Simmie cross cows are also a pleasure to work with, as they have great maternal traits, and they have great udders that don’t wear out before the cow does. A Simmie cross cow is second to none."

Their calves speak for themselves: driving north of Coronation you can see large groups of black crossbred cows with powerful big calves at side. These are Bigview cattle, bred for generations for longevity, and performance in the feedlot and on the rail. Momma cows are easy keeping, and moderate framed with good udders and sound structure.

Phil and Meagan both push the Simmental influence, in both their cowherd and in the cattle they bring into the feedlot.

"Our Simmental bulls have good feet and legs and good structure-they pass this on to their calves which is important when they are in the feedlot as fat cattle as they hold up well when they are heavy. Our bulls have to, and will, cover a lot of ground in the summer and can keep up to the cows" states Meagan.

Phil and Deena have been farming in the Coronation area their entire lives. Meagan has her diploma in Livestock Production from Lakeland College, and farms with her parents full time. Meagan’s partner Brandon Gattey, is a heavy duty mechanic who helps out on the farm as much as possible. Levi comes home to the farm weekends and in the summer: he is enrolled at Olds College in the Agriculture Management program, and intends on returning to the farm when his post-secondary education is complete. Schwenk’s were involved with minor hockey and 4-H in their area, and Deena is part of the volunteer Fire department.