Filling Bulls Niche

by Sarah Hill

Schooley Cattle Company, Bloomfield, Iowa, focuses on raising SimGenetics cattle with structure, phenotype, performance, and the numbers to back it up.

Sometimes, a cattle breeder sees a gap and steps in to fill that void. Roman Schooley, Schooley Cattle Company, Bloomfield, Iowa, has done just that. The third-generation sale barn operator started raising breeding stock in 2003.

Schooley’s family has owned and operated Bloomfield Livestock Market for 53 years. He watched as his father and uncles tried to provide a platform for marketing producers’ cattle.

“I decided I wanted to start breeding Angus/Simmental cross cattle,” he says. “Angus momma cows were practical, easier-doing cattle, but we needed to inject heterosis. I wanted to increase their frame, make them longer, and give them a little more substance and width.”

Schooley bought 12 Angus bred heifers to start his herd, but the Simmental breed was the perfect mating choice for those females. Schooley wanted his cattle to keep a more Angus look about their head.

“We wanted the resulting calves to be more stretchy and leaner in muscle type, so they will easily feed and be managed for those trying to feed them out,” he says. “Straight Angus calves can tend to be a little harder to manage because they show extra flesh too early.”

The operation really took off after Schooley bought LLSF Pays to Believe from Lee Simmentals in Columbia, Missouri.

“I was trying to buy the best Simmental bull I could for the money, but had no idea what he would grow into,” Schooley says. “We ended up taking him to the National Western Stock Show [NWSS] through Lee’s pen of three, and he was one of the main attractions.”

Over the years, Schooley has had many opportunities to sell Pays to Believe, but he’s held on to the sire.

“I did everything you weren’t supposed to be able to do with a herd bull,” he says. “We ran Pays to Believe behind our cows, took him to the bull stud at Nichols Farms, then we took him straight from the stud to Louisville as a two-year-old and won Grand Champion Simmental Bull.”

Pays to Believe only continued to increase in popularity, and Schooley took the bull’s sons to compete in the NWSS pen show, and Schooley Cattle Company began making a name for itself. In 2017, the operation held its first bull sale.

“We sell our very best bulls,” he says. “We’re not keeping anything back. Our goal is to promote and offer the top tier of bull calves we raise.”

Pays to Believe helped Schooley land a semen contract with Cattle Visions, and today, Schooley Cattle Company offers semen from ten different bulls.

“Bulls are our niche,” he says.

Another bull that has helped Schooley Cattle Company’s rise to prominence is OMF Epic E27, which Schooley bought in 2018 in the Denver stockyards. Leased to ST Genetics, Epic was one of the top two Simmental bulls for semen sales in 2022.

“We like to find sires that can make both good heifers and bulls,” Schooley adds. “Cattle have to be structurally correct.”

Schooley’s current strategy is producing cattle with better EPD numbers. While pretty cows always catch the eye, he says that building a cow herd that implements numbers with phenotype while maintaining structural integrity is his goal.

“Early on, I didn’t think you could have good structure, phenotype, and a great set of EPD,” Schooley says. “Boy, was I wrong! We made it our goal to find and select the best of the best in terms of structural integrity while maintaining and moving forward with the numbers. With very stringent selection, it can be possible, and we’re really close to surprising some folks.”

“We also raised Schooley Standout 27G, the numberone semen seller for Simmental bulls for Select Sires this year,” he says. “Schooley Judgment was the highestselling bull last year.”

Schooley runs 375 cows and manages 2,500 acres of pastures, hay ground, and crop ground. He has been flushing cows for 15 years, implanting 150–190 embryos each spring.

“Because we own all those really good bulls, we put those guys to work,” Schooley says.

First-calf heifers get artificially inseminated, while mature females have embryos implanted. Females that don’t take — either with an embryo or AI — are put with bulls for cleanup. Artificial insemination and the first of three sets of implantations are done in May.

“We want the first group of heifers to calve out on February 4,” Schooley says. “The last group of females is implanted in the first week of June to calve out the first week of March. Sale heifers are implanted or bred around May 10–20, so their due date is about February 15–20.”

When sorting cattle, Schooley says they do not use any sorting sticks, whips, or paddles. “We just go nice and slow with the cattle.”

Schooley runs his herd similarly to a commercial herd, turning the females out in May, and weaning the second or third week of August. Calves are sorted into the bull barn or heifer lot, and that’s where development begins.

“We chop corn silage and put out lots of rye, chopping the rye or harvesting it in wet form and putting it in baleage,” Schooley adds. “We do a lot of grass hay, too.”

Schooley Cattle Company bulls are fed an amino gain developer bull pellet from ADM, which Schooley says he’s been very happy with.

“It’s a high protein balancer pellet, and we feel like it helps with scrotal area development,” he adds. “We also feed modified distiller’s grains.”

Bull calves are targeted to gain three and a half pounds per day, and no more. Schooley says this is by design, as he’s looking to develop athletes for his customers.

“We feel that weight gain per day helps with longevity, and we’re very critical on foot and hoof shape,” Schooley says. “A hot ration can hurt the bulls’ feet and legs.”

Operating both the sale barn and breeding operation is a family affair. Schooley’s brother, Tyler, assists with the daily chores on the ranch and at the sale barn and building relationships with sale barn customers, while Tyler’s wife, Kallie, helps at the sale barn and manages the meal at the Schooley Cattle Company production sale. The couple also have three children: Anderson, 10; Tytan, 7; and Quinlee, 5. Roman’s wife, Liz, helps with bookkeeping, and they also have three children: Hannah, 20; Haven, 17; and Houstin, 15.