By Connor Lynch
Cross-country cattle buyer Glenn Coultes died last month. He was 78.
The last 10 years had not been kind to the Huron County beef farmer, said friend Neil Edgar as Coultes had been ill for over a decade. But in his heyday, Edgar said, Coultes was a forward-thinking beef farmer with a knack for being ahead of the curve.
While everyone else was still on straw, Coultes was putting slatted floors into his barn, Edgar said.
A big buyer of cattle, he’d head out west or into Eastern Ontario to buy entire herds, bringing them back to Huron County, distributing them through other farmers’ barns before he’d take them and finish them. Edgar sometimes travelled with Coultes to Western Canada to buy cattle. On one trip, looking over a prospective high-quality herd, Coultes said only: “If we’re going to do it, we may as well do it right.”
At his peak, he had 800 acres of land and from 800 and 1,000 animals at a time, Edgar said. “He was a quiet, quiet man. But when he spoke, he was worth listening to.”
The former president of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association, Coultes was an active supporter of 4-H, sat on the board for his church in Belgrave, and was an avid coach, coaching hockey and softball for many years.
He is survived by his wife Dorothy, his brother Bill, his children Paul, Steven, Mark and Tim, and 11 grandchildren.
