The Doll Charolais and Simmental Family
Dear friends and livestock producers,
It is our great pleasure to invite you to our 36 annual production sale. We are looking forward to seeing you on March 1st, and would like to thank you for your interest in the seed stock in our sale. It is our hope that each of you are doing well and having a good start to 2016. Our year started out wet, helping to give the grass, hay, and crops a good start. Then near the end of June somebody turned off the spigot. Thanks to the carryover moisture from the spring the hay and crops did well. The lack of water helped to harden up the grass and make the calves grow, giving them a good weaning weight. Harlan and Jodie have two girls, Hailie (20) and Jacie (17). Hailie is currently in her second year at BSC and is majoring in nursing. She started her first semester at NDSU School of Nursing in January. She has been working at Sanford as a CNA for almost two years and loves her job. Jacie is a junior in high school and stays busy with Volleyball, Basketball, and Track. She still has a love for showing cattle and looks forward to the Morton County Fair every year. David and Donna’s oldest, Katie, is also in college and doing well. She is currently on her second year at Bismarck State College and will graduate with her Associates in Art in the spring of 2016. Krysten, their youngest, is enjoying her last year in high school. She is keeping busy with sports and other activities, but is eager to graduate this spring. Her plans for college are to attend BSC to major in Elementary Education. My wife Pam and I miss attending the sporting events for our children, now that they are all out of school. However our oldest is living with us, so the three grandchildren keep us busy. We love having Angela, Braxton (4), Truett (3), and Austyn (2) living with us. Some days it can be challenging but it’s always fun and keeps Pam and I young. Our oldest Joey and our youngest Ty are on the place working full time. This will be Matthias’s sixth full year with us, and Joey’s second. They both enjoy having the opportunity to work with their uncles and dad. Wesley thinks he has found his calling as a lineman and is currently working for MDU out in Montana. In the future I think he would like to move closer to home when the opportunity presents itself. The older of the twins, Casey, is working at Bullinger Tree Service as a foreman. He has been with them for eight years and has been confused for a monkey in many parts of Bismarck/Mandan. We’re blessed that everyone is in good health and spirits. th
70th
What a crazy cattle market we’ve had these last 6 months. As I’m writing this letter cattle closed up the limit today, but tomorrow they could easily be back down the limit. Fortunately it is still a good price, if not as good as it was. As always we have been trying to acquire the best genetics we can. As you all know that can yield great results and equally great disasters. We have made many investments to improve our herd and calf crop to bring a better animal to our sale. We believe in only raising top quality for customers. Our main goals are to find and produce genetics with calving ease, performance and carcass traits. Right now Charolais cross calves are in great demand. We believe there is no better breed to cross and they will work on many different breeds. The Charolais have a new index called the Terminal Sire Index (TSI) that is to help select the best profitable genetics for your operation. This is further explained on page 21. This year we will be selling a set of 100 powerful Charolais bulls, which are sure to put dollars into any calf crop. The Simmentals are no slouch either as they can stand up to most any cross you want. They also carry strong maternal traits. We often get asked which breed has the best gain and weaning weight. In the thirty plus years we’ve had both breeds the Simmentals seem to wean a little heavier, but the final weights see the Charolais overtaking them. The sixty head of Simmental in the sale this year are about 50/50 black/red. The bulls have been fed a TMR ration consisting of grain, corn silage, mixed chopped hay and distillers. We would like to thank DeWayne Siebrasse for all his help with the rations. He will be at the sale and be will available to answer questions, as will Harlan, David, and myself. The cattle will be at the ranch until the Friday before the sale. Anyone is welcome to stop in and walk through them. The ranch is located west of Mandan on I-94 go to exit 136 then travel 2 miles north and one west. The Prior to the start of the sale, we will announce the bulls we Doll's would like to collect semen on and use in our herd. You will find footnotes in the book of the bulls that we will be retaining interest in. Again we would like to thank you for your interest in our program. We hope to see you on sale day.
Sincerely, The Doll Family
David, Donna, Katie and Krysten
Jodie, Harlen, Jacie and Hailie
Helen and Joe
Helen and Joe’s family would like to wish them a Happy 70th Wedding Anniversary. January 21, 1946 until now, and they are still doing the polka.
Mathias, Blaisey, Joey, Bobbie, Casey, Charles, Pam, Braxton, Angela, Truett, Brandon, Amy, Wesley, Austynn 1