Gelbvieh in the Big Muddy: The Hlavka Family

Deep in the heart of southeast Saskatchewan are the renowned Big Muddy Badlands. This diverse and unique landscape has a storied history dating back to the last ice age. An integral part of First Nations life for centuries, the Big Muddy Valley is surrounded in folklore and varying points of view. Today the sparsely populated area is an agricultural and tourism mecca. At the east end of the Big Muddy is the prairie hamlet of Minton just a few miles north of the U.S. border. It is here you’ll find Harvey and Sharon Hlavka working with their family. They were the 2022 Man/Sask Gelbvieh Commercial Breeder of the Year.

The Big Muddy is thought to have been formed over 12,000 years ago when a massive glacial lake burst and washed out what is now the valley. The terrain is harsh, dry and steep. In the floor of the Badlands is Big Muddy Valley, an immense 2 mile wide swath of land stretching over 32 miles in length.

A salt lake covers much of the valley and remains an important habitat to many migratory and endangered bird species. As the land moves away from the lake and the badlands, the topography gives way to rolling hills and grasslands with soil rich in mineral deposits ideal for agriculture.

First Nations groups were the first to inhabit the Big Muddy area for centuries. The land offered consistent water sources, rich hunting grounds and winter shelter for the Sioux and Assiniboin people.

Later, with the increasing presence of Europeans in the west, protection north of the Medicine Line (the Canadian border) in ‘Grandmother’s Land’ was sought in the Big Muddy prior to Canadian Treaty agreements. Iconic Indigenous leaders like Sitting Bull were among the most notable names to spend time of the area. The area remains a rich source of artifacts and First Nations history.

Just a mile from the Hlavaka farm is the famous turtle effigy, a rock formation believed to be pointing to a common water source. Without written language, the First Nations people created many rock formations as a method of marking important locations or preserving sacred ideas. The Minton Turtle Effigy was first identified in 1965 although many now believe it is a badger rather than a turtle.

Several miles from the Hlavka yard is the historic Roan Mare Buffalo Jump. One of the better-preserved buffalo jumps in the area is marked by thousands of small stone cairns that acted as a fence line for the tribes to drive herds of buffalo off the steep embankment. Jumps were a common hunting method largely prior to the arrival of horses. Many jump sites are in the area as well as hundreds of tipi rings.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Big Muddy area become a common haunt for outlaws looking to lay low. It was the northern end of “Outlaw Trail”, a common passage from Mexico to Canada. The landscape offered much needed natural cover for horse thieves and notable names such as Butch Cassidy who is reported to have called the area the ‘Devil’s Playground’. Gangs would steal horses and sell them north or south of the border only to steal them back, rebrand them and sell them again.

About the same time, settlers in search of new beginnings and opportunities began to arrive in the Canadian Prairies. The lawlessness presented many challenges and a Northwest Mounted Police Post was created in 1902 in an attempt to curb horse and cattle rustling. This was the last mounted RCMP patrol in Canada.

Shortly after in 1912, the first in a long line of the Hlavka family arrived from Austria. After immigrating to Canada and making the trip west to homestead near Minton, they found themselves with a herd of Hereford cattle and endless opportunity and challenge.

Harvey is part of the fourth generation to carry on the family name. Together with his brother, Murray, they ventured out and bought the beginning of their own operation in 1981 with the support of their dad. The economy of the 80’s was not kind to those in agriculture or anyone looking to borrow money. Interest rates were high and the brothers agreed they would never let the land their dad had offered as collateral be in jeopardy. Spring wheat was $2.35 a bushel and interest rates were over 16%. The oil industry was booming however and, like so many young farm families, off farm income was essential.

“We needed something to pay the bills and there wasn’t a lot of things in the community to make money other than the oil field,” remembered Harvey.

Harvey and Sharon were married in 1982 and moved onto their place next to the family homestead. Sharon grew up in the neighboring community of Lake Alma east of Minton. “Dad had black cattle but I don’t remember spending time with them other than being in the truck checking cows. I was the cook. I was a farm girl but wasn’t as involved on the farm as my brothers and sisters were.”

As Harvey and Sharon continued working hard to grow their farm, their family also grew. With a young family it was all hands on deck. “I had to rely on Harvey’s Mom to look after the kids and I didn’t think that was fair so I didn’t work much off the farm. We usually had a truck full of kids hauling grain and did what we had to do to make it work.”

Harvey shared, “For a stretch of time, I was gone for 2 weeks in the Yukon and Sharon and the kids looked after everything with help from Dad. Sharon and the kids took care of the cattle for years.

That’s why Hereford and Gelbvieh have worked well for us. They did it all.”

The oil field continued to expand into southeast Saskatchewan and the opportunity for Harvey to earn off farm income and be at home became more possible. “We started battery operating around home in 1991. We took care of the wells. In 1994 I started consulting in the oil field and later in 2002 we started a trucking company. We offered a full meal deal to oil companies. It let us stay home with the cattle and the family and still gather some money out of the oil field. We sold the last of the oil trucking business in 2022.”

“We went to the oil field as a means to an end. We did every odd job in the community. I’d drive gravel trucks around home on my days off for extra pay. There was no way we were going to let Dad lose his land. We just put our heads down and went to work. There were a lot of days we wondered why but it came to the point this was where we wanted to raise our family.”

They were fortunate to find land that connected to the existing family property in the late 1980’s. Thanks to their hard work, they were able to purchase two smaller local farms building a larger block of both pasture and seeded acres. The Hlavka brothers continue to work together on the farming side of the operation but Harvey and Sharon have focused on the cattle side of the program.

Harvey and Sharon had four kids who were all active on the farm growing up. Josh, Steph, Kara and Alyson were all busy on the farm and loved horses. They worked hard together at home and did all the school sports, particularly baseball. Because of their work in the oilfield 4-H wasn’t a possibility due to the time commitment it required.

“The kids took on hogs while they were in high school as a way to make some spending money. We would buy the weanlings and keep a finished one for ourselves, but the rest of income and the work was their own.”

“When the kids got older they would take care of the cattle all summer on horseback,” said Harvey. “They would check all the cattle. Without the whole family chipping in, we wouldn’t be here. We were a true family farm. The work ethic this place gave our kids has made them ‘go to’ people no matter where they work as adults.”

It was their son Josh who initiated the addition of Gelbvieh cattle to the primarily Hereford program. In 2000 he wanted to start his own herd of cows and had his eye on Gelbvieh thanks to local friends and neighbours Wade Lund and the Fladeland family. Three heifers and a bull were added from the Thackeray program and soon there was a shift in the look of the herd with more blaze and brockle faces. The straight Hereford cows began to be bred Gelbvieh and before long weaning weights went up and the crossbred calves were impressive. More Gelbvieh bulls were added to the battery. Today, half of the herd is Hereford Gelbvieh cross, 30% are straight Gelbvieh and 20% are straight Hereford that get bred Gelbvieh.

“We calve 165 cows and keep our own heifers. Calving starts mid April with a 45 day calving window. We date the cows when we preg check and anything outside that window are sent to town. We don’t pull the bulls early because we just don’t have a spot to keep them. They stay with the cows until fall and then we don’t have to worry about bulls fighting and getting hurt.”

Harvey shared, “We’re running a few Simmental bulls as well and put them onto Gelbvieh Hereford cross cows along with Gelbvieh bulls. Those Gelbvieh cows just cross so well with anything. The blaze faced calves are so easy to sell as feeder calves or replacement heifers. We like to keep the F1 Hereford Gelbvieh heifers for ourselves.”

“The Gelbvieh really tighten up that Hereford bag. I’m really sure we’re gaining upwards of 100 pounds with the cross. I just don’t think there’s a cross that gets any better.”

Now there’s a sixth generation of the Hlavka family around the farm with seven grandkids, and another on the way, who love to spend time at the farm whenever possible. “We would love if one of the grandkids would want to come and take this over,” shared Sharon.

This makes good disposition in the cowherd essential and is a trait they love in the Gelbvieh mother cows along with their longevity and easy keeping ability. “We find we get a couple years longer out of crossbred cows compared to the straightbred Hereford cows. We’re really happy with how our program has come along. It’s taken a lot of years but I wish I was 20 years younger with the cowherd we have now,” laughed Harvey.

Sharon said, “The kids are all raising families and working away from the farm. They are all busy. We have nine soccer and ball teams to watch in the spring and in the winter we chase hockey games. We love every minute of it.”

The Hlavka family are among the last in the area who continue to crop alongside the cattle. Working with Harvey’s brother Murray, they seed approximately 3000 acres of grain land each year which offers a diversified source of income. Land west and north from the farm becomes mostly unfarmable and is entirely ranch land.

With a busy farm and family and a work ethic becoming increasingly rare, you’ll be hard pressed to find people as humble and community oriented as Harvey and Sharon. They are very involved in the community and take part in as many things as they can. Harvey coached each of the kids in baseball until they graduated high school while Sharon managed the teams.

“Community is everything to us. We’ve coached all the sports and volunteered on as many boards from the curling club to the Fall Fair to the school board. It was important that we instilled that in our kids too,” shared Sharon.

While the long term future of farming for the Hlavka family isn’t entirely clear, one thing is obvious. Harvey and Sharon are passionate about cattle, community and family. They are truly deserving recipients of the Man/ Sask Gelbvieh Commercial Breeder of the Year award. More importantly they are outstanding examples of the people in agriculture. *