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22 FEBRUARY 21, 2013 | WWW.PRODUCER.COM | THE WESTERN PRODUCER FARM LIVINGRoss Davidson, with help from his horse, Pal, and dog, Tuck, move a cow and its calf on his Ponteix, Sask., ranch. | WILLIAM DEKAY PHOTOSON THE FARM | RANCHINGJuggling cattle operationwith family a balancing actPurebred and commercial herd | Couple sees pros and cons of expansionCENTRE: Life is busy for Tara with two-month-old Jaime, and three-yearoldtwins Cameron and Ash.ABOVE: Ross moves a Gelbvieh calf to the field.RIGHT: With a bull sale slated for March 2, Ross is busy multi-tasking. Hespeaks with a customer while checking a newborn.BY WILLIAM DEKAYSASKATOON NEWSROOMPONTEIX, Sask. — It’s a busy timefor Ross and Tara Davidson of LonesomeDove Ranch. Calves are borndaily, catalogues are in the mail fortheir March 2 bull sale and finishingtouches on the new sale barn arekeeping Ross up at night.Arms are also full on the homefront. Twin boys Cameron and Ashare turning three and daughter Jaimearrived two months ago.Balancing tasks is nothing new forthe husband and wife ranching duo,who married in 2005 and celebratedin the old barn on their newly purchasedfarm.“Our moms and grandmas scrubbedand vacuumed the loft. You couldlick the floor,” said Ross.“We got married at my parent’sfarm and then crammed 350 of ourclosest friends upstairs in the barnloft. It was fun. The barn was shakingthat night,” said Tara.“That’s why we moved here wasbecause of the barn,” said Tara of the1927 barn.After adding red and green tin to thebarn and securing water and power,the couple moved a house onto theproperty.They began building corrals for aburgeoning cattle herd and laterplanted a shelter belt of trees aroundthe yard site.They chose Lonesome Dove as aranch name because of a much lovedbook read by Tara during her agriculturestudies at the University of Saskatchewan.“We get a lot of comments that it’s areal distinctive name and it’s easy toremember,” she said.Building a herd in the mid-2000s inthe midst of the BSE crisis and deflatedcattle prices proved both a challengeand opportunity for the22-year-old newlyweds.“We were starting but it took a lot ofguts because lenders aren’t exactlywanting to give you money,” saidTara.“You need to have a strategy and abusiness plan. We grew but we grewgradually. We built momentum as wewent. The more we grow, the easier itis to get financial backing from ourlenders,” said Ross.Off-farm jobs helped them increasetheir savings and qualify for bankloans.“We both worked stupid long hoursat our off-farm jobs. Everybody (loanmanagers) wanted to see an off-farmincome,” said Tara.Today, they manage about 350head. They say Gelbvieh cows arematernal, which complements anybreed and their growing commercialherd.“We’ll be calving out over 300 head,roughly 200 Gelbvieh commercialand 100 purebred Gelbviehs,” saidRoss.During the March bull sale, theywill sell their yearling bulls to a hostof buyers from across North America.For the sale, they team up with Ross’sparents, Eileen and Vernon, atDavidson Gelbviehs.Although he hasn’t ruled out thepossibility of grain farming one day,Ross conceded their plate is full withthe cattle.“It’s hard to focus and do a good jobfor ourselves and be in both. Rightnow, we’re trying to do a good job onboth ends, the purebred and commercial.We’re splitting our timethere,” he said.Both are hesitant to expand tooquickly.“Right now, I want to expand myland base more, but it has to be feasible.It has to work somehow so youjust can’t go out and do it just becausethat’s the thing to be doing.… A littleless sky juice (rain) and interest ratesgoing up and it’ll change this countryin a hurry,” he said.Tara said the pair strikes a good balance.“Our friends kind of giggle becauseI’m the brakes of our operation andRoss is more of the throttle of ouroperation. We kind of balance eachother out quite well.“We’re lucky to be doing what wedo. We love ranching and we’re justreally lucky to have a job that we canbe together at and raise our kids at.They love to be outside and whenthey’re not outside doing ranchstuff, they’re inside playing ranchstuff.”