2008 Purebred Breeder of the Year
Nick & Lorraine VanGaalen - Fine Line Red Angus
LaGlace, Alberta

The 2008 Canadian Red Angus Promotion Society Purebred Breeder of the Year are no strangers to the Red Angus business. Since 1991 the family run operation of Fineline Angus of La Glace, AB have been promoting and raising quality Red Angus cattle. Nick and Lorraine VanGaalen and sons Chad (Sheena) and Dustin and daughter Tammy (Darcy) have put their hearts and souls into the purebred industry.

In 1991 the first purebred Red Angus cows were purchased by the Van Gaalen's while prior to that raising a commercial herd of Red Angus base cows. The decision to purchase the purebreds came when friends and neighbours, Saddle Hills Red Angus, sold their herd and Nick saw the opportunity for a bull market in the Peace Country open up and a lot of potential to market quality Red Angus bulls. Nick was certainly no stranger to the Red Angus breed as his dad had been using Red Angus bulls on his commercial cows in the 1960's before Red Angus could even be registered in Canada. The decision to raise purebreds came easy for Nick as he saw the maternal qualities the Red Angus cattle possessed  maternal traits, ease of calving, convenience, mothering ability, vigour of calves, lower maintenance cows and the list goes on.

Nick feels they caught the wave at the right time where commercial producers were putting British breeds back into their herds to downsize their cows. "The commercial producer has always been our life blood, from the time we started to the time we ended." So with that they focused on raising quality bulls for the commercial cattleman and marketed them through their "Workin' Genes Bull Sale" which was held for 16 years in Grande Prairie. Their bull buyers were 80% repeat customers with many customers having bought bulls out of every sale during their 16 years.

While always focusing on the commercial cattleman and their needs, the thought of always producing the "next great one" was in the back of Nicks mind. Nick purchased a semen pack on Red Compass Mulberry 449M after seeing him at Alta Genetics and stuck a straw in a Redford cow. Low and behold, the purebred Red Angus industry was introduced to Red Fineline Mulberry 26P who has become one of the top name bulls in the Red Angus industry having been the only bull to win back to back Championships at Farmfair and Agribition.

Mulberry sold to Brylor Ranch as a yearling in the "Workin' Genes Bull Sale" and they never looked back. Mackenzie's became partners with Nick and Lorraine on Mulberry, "we would like to thank Bryan and Sherry for being awesome partners and promoters of Mulberry 26P."

The rewards of raising good cattle far outweighed the ups and downs the cattle industry can throw at you but as Nick stated "it's the people and the friendships built along the way that are the most rewarding." "We appreciate the people of the Red Angus breed sharing their knowledge and wisdom. There aren't many professions where you can be fiercely competitive in the show ring and then go back to the barns and sit on a bale of hay and have a beer with your competitor's and share a laugh or two." "We'll probably miss that part the most."

The Fineline herd of 180 head was dispersed in October of 2007 and since dispersing Nick stated, "I'll miss putting the puzzle together  what works and what doesn't." While the puzzle may not be as complicated as it was before, Nick and Lorraine and family are still involved in the cattle business. They now run a small herd of Red Angus commercial cows and continue to use Red Angus bulls. The cows will start calving in May when the weather is hopefully a lot nicer then the January calving they are accustomed to! A little slower pace with the cattle will be something to get used to!