HAVEN HILL SIMMENTALS

How Bob Fitzpatrick leveraged EPDs, the IPT Bull Sale and pure grit to live his dream

by Joli A. Hohenstein

Bob Fitzpatrick always wanted to raise cattle; genetics in particular were a fascination. Unlike many beef producers, it isn’t in his blood – he isn’t from a farm family – but it’s sure in his veins. This first-generation farmer not only built a herd, but also took the initiative to educate himself on AI and genetics. After a short two-day class at Black Hawk College East, he was ready to pursue his dream.

In 1990, Bob and Kathy bought 120 acres of bare ground near his hometown of Milan – no house, no sheds, nothing. A firefighter, he’d be gone for 24 hours and then home for two days. Hard work wasn’t unfamiliar, as he built a house and a couple outbuildings on the land when he wasn’t fighting fires. During construction, he and his wife Kathy lived in a farmhouse rented from a producer with registered Simmental cattle, which also worked in his favor.

Slowly, Bob began acquiring and breeding cattle of his own, and Haven Hill Simmentals was born. “First we registered half-blood Simmentals; we kept some half-bloods, then three-quarter blood, then pure blood,” he explains. As he started researching how to market his animals and looking at how to measure their quality, two things became apparent: the Illinois Beef Expo was the place to market his cattle, and his strategy would be to focus on “the best stuff, but not the most popular stuff.”

To Bob, that meant EPDs (expected progeny differences) were the best indicator for his cattle. Twenty years ago, when he started consigning in the Illinois Performance Tested Bull Sale at the Beef Expo, a “power score” was used to rank animals, but, ever the innovator, he began experimenting with different ways to market his animals, focusing on measurable traits. “You’ve got to go all out to make the most complete picture of your animal you can get,” he says.

Always modest, Bob explains that he had “a little luck breeding an outcross” and was able to grow from there. Soon he was “fortunate enough” to sell some cattle in North Dakota, which helped him develop an ongoing relationship with Chris Nicholson, owner of Lazy C Diamond Ranch. That lead to more business outside Illinois.

As he continued to grow the herd and his knowledge, Bob kept returning to the IPT bull sale, always attending the speaker programs offered in tangent with it. “The Expo has a lot of info the night before the Sale, with speakers on how we as producers can take better care of our cattle,” he says. “They’ve been very helpful in sponsoring a lot of activity that promotes the beef industry in Illinois.”

One tenet Bob took away was never being afraid to change for progress, and he applied that to his calving philosophy. For a lot of years, he calved in January and February. Several years ago, tired of working calves in the bitter northern Illinois cold, he switched to all fall calving and hasn’t looked back. “The calves are born in September and October. They’re hardy enough to go into winter, and those older bulls are an asset to buyers at the Beef Expo,” he says.

As the business grew, Bob added an embryo transplant program, which he describes as “really taking off.” He collected semen from HHS Entourage 867B, and from that “nice bull,” the program grew. “Several places in North Dakota have used him and his sons, and one ranch sold a bull out of our bull for $75,000,” Bob says. “A different ranch in Alabama purchased a HHS Entourage 867B son, and semen sales were picked up by Genex.”

A while back, Bob had thoughts of slowing down and retiring – after all, he and Kathy will celebrate their 50th anniversary in March. “But when all this took off it got more interesting, and I’m getting bigger not smaller,” he laughs. “I’ve hooked up with some coop herds to put embryos in other people’s cows and buy back calves at weaning. I strive to achieve and make it interesting.”

Everyone is expanding, says Bob, and that keeps his interest piqued too. “The Illinois Beef Expo has a new video sale and broadcasts over the internet,” he explains. “Our target customer for the Sale was always Springfield and around there, but now we’re talking about how to expand the customer base. It’s exciting to open up bigger markets.”

That, says Bob, is the future of the industry: wider markets and younger talent. He has hired many different local kids over the years, enjoying watching them grow and develop responsibility. But his real reward came when his three grandkids began to help at the operation in recent years – they even plan to attend the Beef Expo with him in February, which pleases him to no end. Bob says Haven Hill’s experience mirrors what the beef industry needs to be doing to thrive: “We as an industry need to promote ourselves and find passionate people.”

Maybe what the industry really needs to do is find more people like Bob.