RSK FARMS
RSK Farms is a family-run Polled Hereford farm which began operation in 1984.  We are located approximately 14 kilometers east of Brandon, Manitoba, Canada along the Trans-Canada Highway.

RSK Farms breeds approximately 70 registered Hereford females and 60 Commercial Angus x Hereford females.  The farm consists of 3 ½ sections of both owned and rented land which is into annual crop, rotated perennial and annual pasture, for forage production and grain and hay sales.

OUR FAMILY
Rae & Stephanie Kopeechuk have two sons and one daughter and they have had a very active part in the farming operation.

Andrew, who is employed with the Manitoba Zero-Till Association as a Livestock Production Coordinator and his wife Tiara who is employed with Alternative Landscaping as a Landscape designer, help with the management and breeding of the RSK beef herd.

Stephen who is employed with Miller Farm Equipment as a Heavy Duty Mechanic, takes an active part in the crop and forage production.

Sarah who is presently employed in the Restaurant service industry is attending Assiniboine Community College perusing a nursing career; she helps out as time permits.

We welcome visitors anytime.  The coffee pot is always on and we would love to show you our farm and cattle operation.

HERD HISTORY
It was always a passion for Rae and Stephanie to have cattle back on the farm after growing up raising Hereford, Angus, and Shorthorns. Growing up in the parkland region of Manitoba both families operated with about 40 to 60 cow calves. They had a small Shorthorn milk herd and operated a small feeder operation.

The RSK herd started with three purebred females that were purchased for the Douglas bull test station. In 1985 an opportunity came up to purchase part of the Gibb Brothers herd. A deal was reached and about 25 of the top females in the Gibb Brothers herd were acquired. The females were mainly Nick the Butler daughters and represented the best producing and most consistent females of the 60 year old Gibb herd.

The RSK commercial herd was started about two years after the Purebred Hereford Herd. The herd began using some of our top Hereford females and breeding them to top Red Angus sires such as New Trend, a top milk and maternal Red Angus sire. After about 20 years we have a commercial herd that is second to none. We have designed our commercial herd around the top genetics in the breed and about five years ago introduced Black Angus into the herd. The quality of our commercial herd is evident as a majority of the females are now used as recipe cows for our embryo program within the Hereford herd.

The RSK breeding program within the purebred and commercial herds has been based around quality and consistency. Sire selection through the use of AI was an important part of the herd building strategy in the beginning years of the herd and still is, but now a select number of sires are used. We are able to produce a consistent herd that exhibits maternal power, muscling ability and correct structure. The result is having a marketable calf at the end of the day.