180 PAP Tested Bulls Averaged 37 PAP Score
Saturday, April 5th, 2025
Cody, WY
- All Bulls Sell with a Three Year Breeding Guarantee -
Big Country Genetics Annual Bull Sale
- Saturday, April 5th, 2025 || Cody, WY -
Development Program
Developed in large pastures of 150+ acres, fed long stem hay, Muggli Brothers cake and Bio-Reg tubs. NO corn, distillers grain or silage. There’s no need to worry about transitioning their diet from a feedlot fat cattle ration that most of today’s seedstock bulls are fed. Kick them on grass and watch them breed everything in sight!
PAP Guarantee
180 bulls PAP tested at 5,700 feet of elevation and averaged a PAP score of 37!
Volume Bull Discount
5+ Bulls | Free delivery anywhere in the continental U.S. 10+ Bulls | We will add an 11th bull free of charge. 20+ Bulls | We will add 3 additional bulls free of charge.
Three Year Breeding Guarantee
We believe that in order for you to believe in our program, we need to as well. Therefore, we offer a three year foot, leg & semen guarantee!
LU Ranch Replacement Females Selling in Big Country Genetics Bull Sale
We are excited to announce that this year there will be a pot load of LU Ranch replacement females in the 2025 Big Country Genetics Bull Sale!
These heifers will be hand selected from a large sort of females and have multiple generations of genomics backing them. The winning bidder can choose to take any multiple of five up to the entire lot. You will not find females backed by better genetics anywhere – they calve out, graze year-round in rough country, and are backed by a cowherd that excels on the grid!
LU Ranch
The LU Ranch is an iconic cattle ranch situated in the beautiful foothills of the Absaroka Mountains, located in northwest Wyoming. The ranch is a fourth generation family-owned operation that encompasses over 150,000 acres of private and public land. Founded by Dave Dickie in 1899, the LU expanded over time to the point where they were running 19,600 head of sheep and 800 head
of cattle. In 1935, the ranch was acquired by Alexander Healy, who ran the ranch until he handed the reigns to his son, Dan Healy in 1950. Under Dan Healy’s management (1952-1990), the ranch began to focus on the issue of overgrazing by building perimeter fences to help manage grazing. Under Dan Healy, the ranch also slowly began to transition from being primarily a sheep operation
to being a commercial cow-calf operation, until the ranch finally exited the sheep business altogether in 1984.
Dan Healy’s son, Mike Healy, took over management of the ranch in 1990, and soon started working on a number of initiatives, including water development, better range management and improving herd genetics. Over the next 30 years, the LU Ranch had developed a reputation for conservation and stewardship and having an elite herd of cattle.
In 2018, Mike retired and his son, DJ Healy, has since taken over management of the ranch. Their vision is to operate a profitable commercial ranch that maintains and improves the health and wellbeing of the social and environmental ecosystems in which we live and work. They do this by combining new ideas, techniques and technology with tried-and-true methods to constantly improve their ability to bring high quality beef to market using sustainable ranching practices
LU Cow Herd
Ever since Dave Dickie brought the first Angus bull to Wyoming in 1903, they have been raising high quality beef cattle that are born and raised on the open range. They typically run between 1,400 and 1,500 head of black Angus-cross mother cows. The ranch has developed an aggressive breeding program that focuses on producing high marbling cattle with excellent growth and feed efficiency traits, while also improving fertility, calving and health due to heterosis on the maternal side necessary to raise mother cows that thrive on the range. In addition to incredible feed performance, they also select for cattle that perform well in the harsh environment of NW Wyoming. As a result of these dual efforts, they have developed a cow herd that can thrive in a range of rugged environments, while producing high quality beef.
Genetics
The LU Ranch has been focused on feed performance and producing high quality beef ever since they began selling on the grid with Decatur County Feedyard in 1994 and have been at the forefront of applying new techniques and technology to improve their herds’ genetics ever since. In 1995 they began crossbreeding and have been buying bulls from Leachman Cattle Company since 2003. In the past several years they have been buying top end Big Country Genetics Bulls as well and implementing them into their program with great success. The ranch began DNA testing their replacement heifers in 2003 to ensure that they were retaining the absolute best genetic characteristics in their herd.
After nearly 30 years of experience and focus on improving the quality of their beef, the LU Ranch has achieved some incredible results. Their Angus-cross steers have been grading approximately 90% Choice, with 50% qualifying as Certified Angus Beef and 10% grading Prime.
Heifer Calves
Every year the ranch sells 200-300 heifer calves to producers who want replacement animals that will thrive on open range and produce high grade beef calves. Our heifer calves are born out in the open range between March and May, they are weaned at the end of August, then sent to a local backgrounding facility in Worland, WY (48 miles away) where they stay through the winter.
$ Fat Sells $
While reading through the December edition of the Progressive Cattle magazine I came across a couple articles that caught my attention, one of which was titled “Consequences of Over Conditioning Beef Bulls” by Pedro Fontes, professor at the University of Georgia. The article highlighted some points I often think about, some of which are obvious and others that are underlying issues that may be overlooked when buying bulls.
Their studies at the University of Georgia showed that over conditioned bulls not only have lower quality semen but the semen from an over conditioned bull also has negative influences on embryo development even after the sperm is able to successfully fertilize the egg. What the article failed to mentioned however, is the difference in longevity and libido between the ‘fat bulls’ and the ‘leaner bulls’ that were developed slower - although we can come to that conclusion on our own as bulls are athletes during the breeding season therefore they need to look like it!
I believe there are two main reasons we see so many over conditioned bulls in today’s industry. 1) Fat bulls look good, I mean there is that old saying, “fat sells” and 2) Many seedstock breeders want their bulls to reach their ‘peak genetic potential.’
In my mind, this is a fancy way of saying, “I want to know that they can and will efficiently get to a finished weight.” Although we need genetics that will efficiently finish in a feedlot, I think first and foremost cattle need to convert low quality forage into pounds and bulls need to be in the right condition to do their job, which is breeding cows first! It baffles me that we as cattlemen fall into the bottomless pit of chasing our perception of performance (which is actually just a feeding contest to see who can have the heaviest yearling weights) to the point in which we will sacrifice our bull’s longevity and athletic ability, just to reach “peck genetic potential.” The majority of commercial cattlemen will never reach this anyway, as most ranchers develop their feeder calves and replacements on grass and hay alone with very little (if any) concentrates/grain.
On sale day our bulls will weigh anywhere from 950 to 1,050 pounds. This ideal target weight ensures they’ll breed and thrive in any environment!
Our Unique 3 Year Breeding Guarantee
If you’ve ever bought a brand-new pickup, or any new vehicle for that matter, you probably received something like a “three year/36,000-mile warranty.” Automobiles have become so expensive that a warranty and insurance are a necessity when it comes to owning vehicles in today’s world. In the same way that the importance and cost of a new vehicle has risen dramatically in the last 50 years, so has the importance and cost of quality bulls.
Unfortunately, the longevity of today's beef genetics seems to have gone the wrong direction. I have heard this complaint time and time again as bulls are seeming to fall out of programs faster than ever before. We are combating this issue by selling every Big Country Genetics bull with a 3-Year Breeding Guarantee! This is similar to a dealership selling a vehicle with a warranty, but it also allows the commercial cowman to insure himself against potential losses without having to pay extra for that peace of mind. Our three-year breeding guarantee covers foot and soundness issues as well as semen quality, and truthfully it helps us just as much as it does you!
The way we develop and feed the bulls protects both ourselves and our customers from feet and structure issues and increases the longevity of our bulls. Therefore, when problems with feet do arise, we can often link the issue to a certain dam or sire, which allows us to make the necessary cuts to ensure the issues do not reappear.
The Guarantee:
All bulls that fail to pass a breeding soundness exam due to infertility, feet or leg structure will be guaranteed for three years from the time of sale. The guarantee will be satisfied as a credit toward our next bull sale and not redeemable in cash. All bulls are sold as satisfactory breeders by a DVM. This guarantee does not cover any negligence, mismanagement, disease, or act of God.
Example: First year credit 100% of purchase value less salvage, Second year 67% of purchase value less salvage, and Third year 33% of purchase value less salvage.
All claims against the guarantee must be examined by a Veterinarian and a detailed Vet certification must be provided by the purchaser to the seller at the time of the prognosis. We here at Big Country Genetics reserve the right to have a bull’s semen/fertility rechecked by one of our approved Veterinarians.
Why Does Cow Size Matter?
Do you want to wean the biggest calves possible, or would you rather wean more pounds per acre? In other words, more total pounds of calves weaned? It’s common knowledge that as mature cow size increases the percentage of calf weaned gets smaller. We all have that one cow that is smaller than the rest of her herd mates and her calf always makes his way on the load, every single year!
Example:
If your 3,000 acre ranch runs 100 head of 1,400-pound cows (equating to a stocking rate of 46.67 pounds per acre) and those cows wean 45% of their body weight, you would wean a total of 63,000 pounds, or 21 pounds of calf per acre.
Versus:
The same 3,000 acre ranch runs 116 head of 1,200-pound cows (equating to a stocking rate of 46.4 pounds per acre), weaning 50% of their body weight, therefore weaning a total of 69,600 pounds.
More head of smaller cows weaned 23.2 pounds per acre and the same ranch was paid on an additional 6,000 pounds of calves. Other considerations in the example include the fact that lighter calves bring more per pound and bigger cows require more pounds of feed to maintain their condition in the off-season.
The Downside:
With smaller mature cow size comes smaller carcass weights on the steers out of those cows. Therefore, I think it is every rancher's obligation to find the “ideal/ optimum” cow size for their individual environment and resources available to them. However, for most standalone cattle operations that function on grass and hay, I believe the rewards of a smaller cow outweigh the rewards of their high-performance counterparts.
Your Source for Maternal Heterosis
There are a lot of terminal composite bulls available in today’s world, but it’s hard to find composite bulls that are bred with the maternal traits needed to be profitable. It is proven that hybrid cows breed up better, live longer and wean more than 20% more pounds per cow exposed when compared to straight bred cattle. Our program focuses on producing low input maternal cattle while allowing heterosis to add pounds at weaning. It is our goal to have balanced, hard working cattle that can perform within our environment without added supplementation and feed. We like moderate framed, easy fleshing females with a lot of eye appeal and balanced EPDs.
Adaptability Matters
For a standalone commercial cow operation to be profitable, its cow herd must be efficient at converting the native forages available to them into pounds without requiring expensive inputs such as additional feed and supplements. Most cattle will perform when fed a balanced ration; however, fewer cow herds are truly efficient at converting grass to pounds. This becomes even more prevalent when human intervention is taken away, and the cows are forced to fend for themselves. Truly efficient cattle will not only perform on a grass diet, but they also have the adaptability needed to deal with ever-changing weather patterns and different environmental challenges. As a seedstock operation, it is our obligation to ensure our cattle are both efficient on our native forages and adaptable to different weather events and various climates.
Our cow herd is expected to graze 10-11 months out of the year, receiving grass hay when they are not grazing. They are expected to calve outside on their own, unassisted. Along with that, our replacement heifers are weaned on grass hay for 60 days, then returned to the cow herd, where they are expected to run like the cows. We have proven through our customers that our cattle are adaptable in a variety of different climates. From the low-quality forages of south Mississippi, to the short grass desert of southern Wyoming, all the way up to the grass country of Montana, our cattle perform.
Big Country Genetics sired steer calf in Southern Montana on the side of a three-year old commercial cow!
March born Big Country Genetics sired steer calf out of a first calf heifer in Southern Wyoming! Picture taken mid-July.
Yearling Big Country Genetics bull late into the breeding season!
Yearling Big Country Genetics bull in Central Wyoming, and BCG sired cow in the background! Picture taken at turn out.