Parview Stock Farms was started back in the late 80’s while I was growing up on a commercial cattle farm in Windsor, NS. My father, Murray Parker, was one of the first people to import Simmental cattle into the Maritimes back in 1972. Dad’s member number was 2960 and is presently being used by the third generation of Parker’s. While taking a very active role in the local 4-H and Young Canadian Simmentalers I was able to build a successful herd of Simmental Cattle. The cattle were shown and promoted at various fairs and National shows all over the Maritimes and into Quebec and Ontario.

I dispersed the herd in the mid 90’s when I left to go to school in Olds, Alberta. Although I was technically out of the cattle business for nearly 10 years, my heart and desire stayed with the breed. In 2004 my wife, Crystal, and I decided to enter back into the Simmental business on a small scale while growing our Calgary landscape business. In the fall of 2006 we moved to our present location of High River, Alberta.

In the fall of 2005 we purchased a group of females from JB Livestock, and we also purchase the great Klyber bull. Klyber was one of the top Full Fleckvieh bulls in North America and had sired many top females and bulls. With Klyber as the anchor we added both Red Factor and Full Fleckvieh females from some of the top programs around. Klyber was used with great results and left some very strong females to build the herd around. As one astute breeder said “he creates magic when used on red factor females”.

We run a very successful landscaping business in the Calgary and surrounding area, and because of this the cattle need to perform on their own without a lot of babysitting. The cattle are pastured on a combination of native prairie grass, and alfalfa grass, and are wintered on alfalfa/grass hay and alfalfa silage. Our heifers are wintered on silage and hay, and the bulls are fed good quality hay and the Right Way Bull Ration, through Country Junction Feeds. Our bulls are fed to show good daily gains with longevity and reproductive maturity in mind.

Although careful not to get caught up in the “recent fad” we take great pride in breeding cattle that will go out and work for bull and female customers. The herd is built around strong, beefy & big footed herd sires, as well as good milking, strong uddered and very maternal females. Cow families are very strong at Parview Stock Farms. We also utilize embryo transplant very extensively, as this allows us to make a greater impact with great genetics. Our herd bulls play a very important role and we invest heavily in our herd bulls.

We market our cattle each fall through various sales, and we are presently moving to selling our bulls off the farm. We feel this will allow our customers to see the bulls in the natural environment, with the added bonus of seeing the mamma cows and herd bulls near by.