From a GPS to a compass rose, all directions harbor unique examples of extended success in the ranching industry. Decades are stacked top to bottom, reaching beyond a century of livestock, crops and grass—born, nurtured and raised to thrive in all corners of North America.
Tucked away in southeast Saskatchewan, Canada, near the small town of Redvers, the Kenray Ranch has cycled through highs and lows from its inception in 1902. It was then that John Edward Kyle, a 52-year-old steel factory owner and hinge builder for the Rideau Canal in Ontario facing falling steel prices, uprooted his wife and three sons, moving them westward to chase new opportunities by raising cattle.
The ranch, originally holding the Kyle family name, received an upgraded title years later from John Edward’s grandson Ken and his son Ray as they expanded and diversified the operation in the 1970s.
In 2002, the provincial government of Saskatchewan presented the Century Farm Award to the Kyle family, marking five generations calling the property home, with the sixth waiting in the wings.
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2021 also honored Kenray Ranch as the recipient of the Saskatchewan Angus Purebred Breeder of the Year Award, which was presented in conjunction with their Fall Female Pride of the Prairies sale in December 2021.
State of today’s operation
Today, the ranch is owned and operated by Ray Kyle, his son, Sheldon, and his family. A total of 2,500 acres of primarily forage-based owned and leased land in the black soil zone support a 200-cow herd of registered Red Angus cattle. The current headquarters sits on the exact section of land where John Edward homesteaded.
“Kenray has gone back and forth between crops and cattle over the decades, but there’s always been livestock on the place,” Sheldon Kyle told WLJ. “Now, we aim to calve 200 mama cows every spring in February and March. We use an extensive AI program, plus we try to source the best walking bulls our budget will allow.”
[inline_image file=”99eb30c48b43ff0fd2a303ed0d5dc968.jpg” caption=”Ray and Donelda Kyle”]
Sheldon explained they AI a large group of females annually, sorting out their early-calving mature cows and breeding all heifers during their first cycle. They prefer to breed on natural heat for 14 days and follow up with a single shot of Estrumate, breeding all females exhibiting heat. Short gestation sires with a unique pedigree are selected for replacements to produce calving-ease progeny without sacrificing growth traits.
If the opportunity presents itself, they also try to secure exclusive semen packages for earlier-calving cows to keep genetics as fresh as possible. Lately, they’ve also dabbled in select black Angus to expand the genetic base of their program.
Due to the high quality of their soil, the Kyles run more animals per acre than many of their neighbors, moving them through different pastures based on time and forage availability. Bull calves are rotated through pastures to optimize the use of grass.
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Ray and Sheldon work together to handle the day-to-day operations. Sheldon’s partner, Ella Wright, an international livestock photographer and graphic designer, oversees marketing and promotional efforts. Their 6-year-old son, Oliver, has also shown strong interest and pitches in with the chores whenever he can.
Genetics, bull selection criteria
Genetics are critical to the Kyles as they pursue their desired traits. Cows are expected to calve unassisted and offspring to exhibit an enhanced will to live. Cattle must be sound with correct structure, allowing them to move comfortably and graze unattended throughout their lives. Kyle targets all aspects from the ground up, ensuring animals display solid hoof structure, joint correctness and overall skeletal composition.
“A lot of our selection is based on phenotypes,” he explained. “We’re dipping our toes into the world of genomics—testing the waters. It’s a new technology being utilized in other livestock production systems, and while it intrigues us, we believe artistry isn’t just done with paint by number. We don’t only utilize EPDs and genomics; we truly believe in stockmanship and husbandry skills learned over the course of years.”
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The Kyles sell purebred registered Red Angus bulls as yearlings and have been offering them to their commercial customers since 1986. Each April over the last few years, they’ve been trying something a little different. Over the course of two days, they run a horse race style online bull sale with Nebraska-based DVAuction.
“In the horse race format, bulls aren’t sold until there’s been no bidding for five minutes on any animal in the sale, so customers are never flanked by a sale order,” Kyle said. “It works well for the buyers as they can rank the bulls. If one falls out of their price range, they just move on to their second choice. They’re not working against the clock, as it extends in five-minute increments, making it fair as customers get an excellent opportunity on the bulls they like.”
In conjunction with their yearly bull sale, Kenray Ranch hosts a full-day presale open house where they invite customers to tour the bulls. They spend one-on-one time, serve up smoked brisket hospitality and do their best to nail down which bulls will work best for which customers.
Maternal traits, adaptations
Backing up the strength of their bulls, Kyle puts huge emphasis on the quality of their females.
“The herd is only as strong as the cows, so we lean on the maternal strengths,” he stressed. “We emphasize big barrel females that easily convert forage to a saleable protein. They must rebreed in a short breeding season, wean over 50 percent of their fall body weight and not require a high energy or (total mixed) ration to do it.”
Cows graze as long as seasons allow before supplemental feed is offered, often in the form of crop residue, straw, green feed or hay, if available. They believe their advantage as beef producers is optimizing a second-class feed source, whether it’s forage grown on poor quality soil or feed grain not suitable for the human consumption market.
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In recent years, due to an increasing interest in their females, and to develop more top-end progeny from their favorite families, they began an embryo transfer program, annually flushing three or four of their highest grading, top producers. Donors must be ranked high within their contemporaries and have top phenotypic traits.
Approximately 40 embryos are implanted into cows that haven’t placed a bull or female in the Kenray production sales. Recipients are covered with Simmental or Charolais bulls to confirm a purebred or commercial calf. Kyle explains this allows them to share more of their best genetics with customers.
These females are marketed privately off farm, with the resulting commercial calves sold as feeders through Heartland Livestock auctions. A future goal is to retain ownership of the calves through slaughter to confirm genetic quality, but Kyle admits it’s a costly transition.
In another move to bolster their herd, they offered all 2012-16 born cows in their seventh annual female production sale, broadcast on DLMS from Saskatoon Livestock Sales, in December 2021.
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“We’re shuffling the deck to play with some younger players. All our embryo donors will be marketed through this event as well,” Kyle said.
Marketing, the future vision
Kenray Ranch focuses their marketing on direct contact with their customers, visiting them extensively. While they haven’t shown cattle over the last few years, Kyle envisions a return to the show ring as son Oliver enters the Junior Angus program.
Presently, they feature a pen of bulls and display livestock at the Canadian Agribition in “yard format,” similar to the Denver National Western Stock Show concept where cattle are exhibited but not shown in the ring. They also attend numerous trade shows and bull congresses.
“We believe it’s vital we get involved within the industry to better it for future generations.”
The ranch takes pride in the fact they don’t pamper their animals, managing them the same as commercial operators would. Kyle stressed they don’t use a mixer wagon or a fancy total mixed ration machine. Their cows are bred and designed to graze and convert second quality feedstuff, so when sold to a customer, their genetics consistently represent the Kenray Ranch brand.
Kyle is additionally proud their operation works in concert with the many wildlife species living on the property. He notes the family is blessed with plentiful resources and takes their management seriously. Offsite water systems are employed, and they make a point of tackling a new environmental project annually.
“We look at our job as most ranchers do—a labor of love,” Kyle said. “It’s something we’re passionate about. We believe it’s vital we get involved within the industry to better it for future generations. For me, that means serving on various boards to network and learn from other industry leaders. We’re excited about the future and are positive we’ll keep improving our methods to do our part in delivering one of the world’s most sustainable and nutritious foods.”
