REDFIELD, Iowa (DTN) -- More than 100 years of history are behind the Cross Cattle Company, starting when A.E. Cross, a veterinarian, left Montreal, Quebec, and headed west to Alberta to work at the historical Cochrane Ranche in 1884.

The Cross Family owns Cross Cattle Company in Claresholm, Alberta, Canada, and is participating in DTN's View From the Range series, where DTN will follow a year at the ranch to give readers an inside look at how the ranch operates and cares for its animals.

This segment of the series explores the history of the ranch and how the Cross family began ranching in this part of Canada.

SEARCHING FOR A PLACE OF THEIR OWN

"A.E. was a very active man. When he came to Alberta to work for the Cochrane family, he was also searching for a place to homestead and be able to raise cattle himself," said Austin Cross, who currently runs Cross Cattle Company with his brother, Malcolm, and father, Bill, and their families.

In 1886, A.E. did find a ranch fit for winter grazing and named it A7 Ranch. Austin said he used the name A7 because, at the time, the highest quality beef available was called A1 beef, and the brand looked similar, thus representing high-quality beef.

"I'm told A.E. would travel a lot, and back then it took a lot more time to get from one place to another," Austin added. In 1891, he returned from being gone for a time and had a diploma showing his training as a brewer's apprentice. He then established the Calgary Brewing and Malting Company. Over the next several years, he grew the brewery and the ranch.

A.E. was also active in Calgary politics and was elected to the legislative assembly. In 1912 A.E., and three other ranchers and community leaders (Patrick Burns, George Lane and Archie McLean) -- known as "The Big Four" -- co-founded the Calgary Stampede.

Prior to his death in 1932, A.E. passed on the ranch and brewery to his sons, Jim, Sandy and John. By 1961, Calgary Brewing and Malting Company had become the largest brewery in the Northwest Territories, which led some in eastern Canada to force the sale of the brewery, calling it a monopoly. The proceeds from the sale were split among the brothers, and John bought out his other brothers' shares of the ranch. At that time, they raised Hereford cattle and became one of Canada's premier Hereford cattle breeders.

"My grandpa John was aggressive at growing the ranch. By 1986, it was 64,000 acres," Austin said. "But prior to his death, he split the ranch between my dad, aunt and uncle, all of whom still ranch."

CHANGES MADE THROUGH TIME

In the 1980s, the Crosses had mostly Hereford genetics and used some Highland, Longhorn and Galloway genetics. But Bill decided it was time for a change. He wanted to find cattle with better calving ease and fewer udder problems and pinkeye issues. "He tried Limousin, Shorthorn and South Devon, but the best option he found for good maternal and terminal genetics was Angus," Austin said. "The Angus cattle quickly worked in our environment."

He said the Angus cattle have helped his family get through some severe droughts and rough economic times. "When BSE was an issue in Canada (in the late 1990s and early 2000s), we saw some tough times. Cow prices were so low you could send a load of cows to town and the check you got for them wouldn't even cover the trucking," Austin explained. "Being able to graze cows all year on the ranch with lower input costs helped us a lot."

By the 2010s, Bill's three sons started helping take over the ranch. Malcolm returned to the ranch after spending a few years as a helicopter pilot. He now runs the farming side of the operation and feeds cows. Devin was at the ranch for a while before starting a career in the military. Austin is the cow manager at Cross Cattle Company. While Bill is retired, he still helps regularly on the ranch, as do two part-time employees.

"It can get very cold in Canada, but we have the Chinook winds on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, which increase the temperatures and allow us to graze year-round because the snow melts quickly," he explained. "Some days we will see a temperature change of 40 degrees."

The ranch is also equipped with spring-fed water and artesian wells to provide water for the cows. The geography changes quickly in this part of Alberta, which means that from one side of the ranch to the other, within 30 miles, management style may need to be altered.

THE COW IS THE FACTORY

The Crosses run Angus cows that are a little larger framed and must have good feet and legs to move across a lot of ground in the higher-elevation hills. "These cows need to be able to travel to get to water and we use larger field selective grazing, our kind of rotational grazing, so they need to be able to get to where the grass is," he added.

They strive for cost-effective cattle that will top the market. "My grandfather and great-grandfather set a record price for fed steers in Chicago in the 1930s. There's not much point in doing this if we aren't improving the cattle each year," he said. "They set high standards."

Cows are calved in April and pairs graze until calves are weaned in October. Those calves go back to grass the rest of the winter to grow. And their mothers return to another area of the ranch for winter grazing. In a normal weather year, the calves will be kept through August and sold to be finished out elsewhere. "When we are going through drought conditions like we have been recently, these calves are sold sooner to preserve the grass," Austin added. "Drought means we must make good management decisions and not knee-jerk decisions. We can sell calves sooner because we must keep the cow. She's the factory of our operation."

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Editor's Note: To see previous stories in this series, see: "Alberta's Cross Family Will Offer Canadian View From the Range for DTN," https://www.dtnpf.com/….

Jennifer Carrico can be reached at jennifer.carrico@dtn.com

Follow her on social platform X @JennCattleGal

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