Welcome!

Welcome to our home away from home. Thank you for taking the time to visit. Please don't forget that we would be honored to have a personal visit to the ranch or a chat on the telephone. Hopefully, you will find the site interesting and informative. I have tried to give some general information about our operation and our selves. Check out our various pages and our sale barn. I realize that sometimes, the information will not answer all you wish to know. If this is the case, please contact us and we will do our best to answer your inquiries.

Coyote Acres Ranch specializes in the production of purebred breeding stock. The ranch in the Halkirk area of east central Alberta uses a forage based system to maintain breeding flocks of Horned Dorset, Shropshire, and Canadian Arcott sheep. We also maintain a small flock of Chantecler chickens, herds of Black Angus, Polled Herefords, and Canadienne cattle. We are aided by Maremma and Great Pyrenees guardian dogs. The ranch is located north of Halkirk. Go north on secondary highway 855, approximately 5 miles from the highway 12 junction. We are 1 mile west on township road 392 at the junction with range road 162.

Our genetics are selected and designed to perform in the pasture, in the feedlot, at the packer, at the retailer, on the plate and on the taste buds. Ideally, we wish to produce breeding stock that can be profitable for all sectors of the industry while still satisfying the final consumer. Our concentration has hence been on producing balanced trait animals that are able to perform on a forage based ration. Moderation in most traits is thus required. We also put a very strong emphasis on livestock that "can do it on their own". This means that selection for the convenience traits (things like temperament, sound feet and legs, good udder and teat structure, and calving/lambing ease) is a priority. Realizing that some traits are antagonistic, we still try to select for genetics to produce low to moderate birth weights with average or better growth rates, while still selecting for good maternal traits in a moderate sized mature animal. Carcass traits are also important but not selected for at the expense of other traits, which often are more important to the profitability of an operation. Fertility is a major economic trait, producing each and every year does more for the bottom line than almost anything else. Matching problem free genetics to the environment is a high priority. To serve our customers as best we can, and also to challenge and prove our genetics, our livestock are run under commercial conditions. Our breeding stock must be functional with the ability to work under less than ideal conditions. Our livestock are not perfect and will not work for everyone, but our goal is that through selection, we can produce genetics that can and will work profitably for many.