Breeder Spotlight

Whiskey Jack Black Herefords is one of a small number of Black Hereford breeders in Canada. Nestled in the beautiful Peace River Country, about 544 km North of Edmonton Alberta Canada, situated outside a small hamlet called Whitelaw, the operation would seem quite far north for some. In fact, Whiskey Jack is far enough north to experience big weather swings including everything from +35ºC to -48ºC (that’s 95ºF - -49ºF for those state side). Owned and operated by the Kuriga family, Whiskey Jack Black Herefords have been breaking ground on breed acceptance and growth in Canada since 2018.

e heart of the operation lies in the Kuriga Family; Darcy and Tamara and their two children; 13-year-old John and 10-year-old Wyatt, along with Jimmy, the Collie dog who Tamara describes as the cow boss. e farm was originally built in 1977 by Darcy’s father, John Kuriga who had a small mixed herd of Hereford in uenced cattle. John passed in 1988 leaving the farming operation to Darcy and his mother at the time. Darcy has carried on with the farm since then increasing the initial small herd of 10 cows to over 140 today. “My husband and I are second generation farmers; our boys will be third. Family history shows that there have always been cattle on this land. We have had almost every breed of bull there is from Guernsey to Shorthorn, Salers, Simmental, Charolais, Gelbvieh, Galloway and Limousine, but have always come back to Herefords,” said Tamara.

Recently the Kuriga’s have diversi ed their operation a bit, adding in some grain production. Most of the cereal production consists of barley and oats. Much of their grain goes to sale, while some is baled; oats for

yellow feed and barley straw for bedding. ey also have a small number of meat pigs that they both sell and use for their own consumption.

Prior to diving into registered Black Herefords Tamara had known she had an interest in seedstock production. Tamara describes taking the leap into the business saying, “From 2006-2018 I held a position at the local Veterinary clinic as a Registered Veterinary Technologist, focused primarily on cattle. My husband is a Heavy-Duty Mechanic that works o the farm much of the time. I resigned in 2018 and decided to put more into the farm and try to get more out of the cows that we were raising. Raising seedstock was always a long-term goal of mine, so when I resigned from clinical practice in ’18 we decided that maybe that would be a new step in a big direction for me. I’m going to give my husband all the credit for this move. When he said, “maybe it’s time you start raising your bulls like you planned,” I said “ok, I’ll start looking for some good Hereford cows.” He said, “Why don’t you go get some Black Herefords instead, there’s 100 Hereford breeders around here, you might as well try something di erent.” And that’s exactly what they did. In 2018 with 50 head of commercial Hereford and Simmental cattle they purchased a small group of F1 heifers (Tamara’s favorite group to this day) and a group of registered red Hereford cows. From there they joined the ABHA and the Canadian Hereford Association. ey began importing semen as well as a bull, many of which have potential of being Homozygous black and polled. “I’ve spoken with so many great farmers and ranchers State side (you know who you guys are) and without their help and direction into these cattle I don’t know if we would have made it out of the chute the rst year,” says Tamara. Today the Kuriga’s have built the Black Hereford herd up to 30 producing females and 100 plus commercial cows. “Every year so far my bull development pens have been sold out by November. We start calving in January, so the demand for the bulls is there. People are starting to open their eyes and see what hybrid vigor and a black hide can do for them,” said Tamara.

As a trailblazer in Canadian Black Herefords Tamara has experienced both acceptance and pushback. “I have found that the people that are open to the idea of something new really like the breed, and I have some people that are die hard against them because they are not traditional looking Herefords, and they are willing to express these feelings of dislike. However, we started into them still relatively early here in Alberta,” she said. Tamara sees a lot of future potential for Black Hereford growth in the current acceptance of F1 bulls. “ at’s a start, and a big step for producers and Black Hereford breeders here,” she said. e Kuriga’s have also seen what the breed can do for their own commercial calves and bottom line. “We have been cross breeding them into our commercial herd as well these last couple years and it has made a big di erence at the fall auction on the calves. Normally calves with a feather neck are going to be 10-15 cents behind anything with a black hide. But these black Hereford cross calves have been doing much better, and bring a better dollar as long as they are black,” she said.

Tamara’s advice to new breeders, “Do some research! Lots of it!” she said, adding that “In Canada there aren’t a lot to choose from so picking should be relatively easy. Our rst year we made a lot of mistakes and assumptions that set us back, but like with any new adventure we learned from it and made changes to improve the following year. I have found that this breed is very versatile, if you can’t nd that perfect breeding that you want you can always start from scratch. Get the cow families that you want. Arti cial insemination and embryo transfer are an excellent way to keep your costs a bit lower and have the animals that you desire without breaking the bank on a fancy bull if you only have a couple cows,” she said. ABHA

Grand Champion Purebred Female JM MS Belle 1839 H054/HB019021

Exhibited by Landon Ellison

Grand Champion Percentage Female LL Coal Miner’s Daughter J162/HB020796 Exhibited by Ely Judy

Reserve Champion Percentage Female SBH 8124 851 Lady Miles 2053/HB018627 Exhibited by Jenna Smith Reserve Champion Purebred Female JRC SCC Rita Miles 9H/HB018356 Exhibited by Jenna Smith

Grand Champion F1 Female Anna’s Legacy/NR4307 Exhibited by Chloe Mack

Reserve Champion F1 Female SBH 743 1839 Hot Donna 2002/NR3982 Exhibited by Jenna Smith

Grand Champion HX Female JM MS Alannia 639 H076/HX019029 Exhibited by Kiley Smith Grand Champion Purebred Bull Jo Revolution 9506/HB014755 Exhibited by Cade Jones

Reserve Champion Purebred Bull JCR’S COOP HR 2296/HB020672 Exhibited by Kolten Jenkins

Grand Champion Percentage Bull JCR’s THE ONE HR CAT 002 ET/HB018064 Exhibited by Kolten Jenkins

Grand Champion Purebred Female JRC SCC Rita Miles 9H/HB018356 Exhibited by Smith Black Herefords

Grand Champion Percentage Female LL Coal Miner’s Daughter J162/HB020796 Exhibited by Legendary Livestock J4 Cattle Co.

Reserve Champion Percentage Female SIMS SENSATIONAL HALO H53/HB020568 Exhibited by Sims Black Herefords Reserve Champion Purebred Female JM MS Belle 1839 H054/HB019021 Exhibited by JM Cattle Company

Grand Champion F1 Female SBH 743 1839 Hot Donna 2002/NR3982 Exhibited by Smith Black Herefords

Reserve Champion F1 Female Anna’s Legacy/NR4307 Exhibited by C Bar 2 Livestock

Grand Champion HX Female SCC Triple Shot B21/HX02296 Exhibited by Smith Black Herefords

Reserve Champion HX Female JM MS Alannia 639 H076/HX019029 Exhibited by JM Cattle Company

Grand Champion Purebred Bull Jo Revolution 9506/HB014755 Exhibited by Crescent Hill Black Herefords/Jenkins Cattle Ranch/Jo Bulls Reserve Champion Purebred Bull JCR’S COOP HR 2296/HB020672 Exhibited by Kolten Jenkins/Jenkins Cattle Ranch Grand Champion Percentage Bull JCR’s THE ONE HR CAT 002 ET/HB018064 Exhibited by Crescent Hill Black Herefords/Jenkins Cattle Ranch/Jo Bulls

Reserve Champion Percentage Bull LD lawrence/HB020548 Exhibited by L & D Black Herefords