Life is a little busy at Hamilton Farms.  Our herd consists of approximately 400 mother cows and our land holdings of pasture, hay land, and cropland has grown to over 6000 acres. Gail is very instrumental in maintaining herd health, artificial insemination, heat checking, and all other aspects of keeping a purebred Black Angus herd moving forward. I look after crop production, feed rations, equipment maintenance, and as Gail likes to make well known to everyone…spending money!! We employ an office manager, Brenda Silbernagel, who is also Gail’s sister. Along with taking care of most of the office work, Brenda also helps with cattle events when needed and helps with yard work and beautification.

Our three boys Wyatt, Wacey, and Joel are well rounded in working with cattle and running machinery but as for right now they are pursuing their dreams of playing professional hockey. In 2009, Wyatt graduated from junior hockey after 4 years with the Camrose Kodiaks of the AJHL and started post secondary education. He attends the University of British Columbia taking Business and plays hockey for the UBC Thunderbirds.

Wacey is playing his last year of junior hockey for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League and is 2nd year Captain on his team. In March of 2011, Wacey signed and NHL contract with the Ottawa Senators and will move on to a career in professional hockey.

In 2009, Joel was drafted by the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League and hopes to follow in his older brothers foot steps and play junior hockey. Joel was also selected to play for Team Alberta for the U-16 Western Canada Challenge in November 2009, and in 2010/11 played AAA Midget hockey for the Edge School Prep team.

During the hockey off season the boys help with feeding, putting up hay, working with show cattle, keeping the yard trimmed and neat, plus the many other jobs that always need to be done. All three boys spent a number of years in 4-H and attended numerous junior shows prior to hockey becoming a full time endeavor. Their list of accomplishments from showing and raising cattle and from playing hockey is quite long. They are known for their hard work and ‘never quit’ attitude and it is these qualities that we have always tried to instill in them. To say we are proud of our families achievements would be an understatement! What is most gratifying though, is the fact that nothing has come easy. Only undeterred dedication and hard work have led to the good fortunes we have been blessed with . . .

The future looks bright at Hamilton Farms!

Hamilton Farms is located in the scenic foothills northwest of Calgary, Alberta . On normal years we put up enough feed to supply our 400-cow operation. We operate over 5000 acres of which 850 acres is in hay and approximately 900 acres is in annual crops. The remaining 3500 acres is mostly native grazing land with some tame grass pastureland. Our cows run on pasture from approximately the first of June (being close to the mountains with cool nights makes for late growing seasons) through to the end of November or middle of December depending on the weather. We don’t generally bring our cows home to winter-feeding grounds until after our annual bull and select female sale which is held the second week of December. Our cows are wintered on a TMR ration of cereal silage, chopped hay and chopped straw, plus all essential vitamins and minerals. For the most part, all of our sale bulls remain at Hamilton Farms to be developed to their best potential over the winter. They are also fed a balanced TMR ration that is high in roughage (silage and chopped hay) along with a mineral premix with all essential vitamins and minerals. The bulls are semen tested in March and delivered to their buyers’ ranch, starting around April 1st.

The Hamilton home place was purchased in 1992, (100 years after my grandfather homesteaded at Innisfail, Alberta). In the spring of that year we sowed the land down to grass, and built our house and barn in the fall. That following spring and summer we started building all the fences and wind break fences, planted 2680 trees, put in water lines, and installed waterers. We weren’t quite ready but we brought our cows home here for the first time in the fall of 1993. From 1993 to the fall of 1995 we continued to build and landscape our farmyard and finish the inside of our sale barn. On December 16,1995 we held our first annual bull and select female sale with Reich Angus Ranch. Our joint sale with Reich Angus Ranch set the standard for yearling bull sales in Canada for 8 years. In 2003 Harold Reich started selling his bulls privately and we at Hamilton Farms continued on with our Annual Bull and Select Female Sale .

Although Hamilton Farms is a first generation farm, our roots run deep in purebred cattle ranching. My grandfather, Matthew Hamilton homesteaded in Innisfail, Alberta in 1892 along with his brother, Tom Hamilton. Together they raised purebred Shorthorn cattle as well as Percheron horses. Eventually that farm operation was taken over by my father, Thomas Hamilton. Dad carried on raising purebred Shorthorns and then Black Angus for many years under the name Rannoch Farm. My grandfather on my mothers’ side of the family, David Bradshaw who was also from Innisfail, started raising purebred Aberdeen Angus in the late 1920′s. My wife Gail grew up on a dairy farm in Grunthal , Manitoba. Her mother and father, Gus and Gabrielle DePape, raised Holstein cattle, Belgian and Arabian horses. Their family dairy farm was awarded for having the highest producing dairy herd in Manitoba in 1970.

The Evolution of the Hamilton Farms Angus Cow Herd
Read more about how our cow families have evolved on the
Hamilton Farms Angus Female page.