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Hills Galore Stock Farm Temperament is an impor tant consideration for both breeds on this family operation. Son Alex and daughter Georgia help with chores. At one point, the average age of the staff was 12 years old. For that reason, anything with a questionable attitude is culled. “They’re supposed to be domestic livestock,” says Alvin. “If I want wildlife, I’ll find something else to raise. That’s one thing we really focus on and one thing we’re proud of. We can go in the two-year-old bull pen and they don’t run off to the far corner.” Low maintenance cows are also part of their expectation. “We’re breeding 250 Hereford and Angus cows,” says Mary-Kate. “You cannot babysit pairs. They’ve got to be able to get up and get that
calf going and look after it and the cattle we market have to work in an environment that is probably bigger than ours with even less management.” Raising cattle to fit the environment and keeping the workload and feed costs down are management goals. Alvin points out that margins are low, so input costs are well scrutinized. And while an extended grazing season might reduce those costs, Alvin also sees it as an opportunity to evaluate the efficiency of his cowherd. “If you g ive t hem absolutely everything, then you aren’t evaluating your genetics to find out which ones can take it and which ones can’t,” he says. “Hard-doing cows end up going out of here because they’ll either eliminate themselves or I’ll eliminate
them because they can’t cut it.” Alvin likes to f ind bulls from programs that test their genetics in a similar way. “If you want to buy a herd bull, you should also look at the range bull pen that breeder has for sale,” says Alvin, who wants to see consistency throughout. The main marketing goal of Hills Galore is to sell a pen of 50 to 60 high-quality bulls annually. The bulls are turned out to graze in the summer and are brought back in mid-September to be fed to gain slowly. Most of their bull customers don’t turn bulls out until June or July. Because bulls are sold privately off the ranch, as opposed to hosting a sale, those bulls don’t have to be pushed hard. “We think the bulls are smarter
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