TM
The Largest Privately Owned Hereford Newspaper in North America The one that’s read “from cover to cover.” • Visit us on the web at: www.herefordamerica.com
Vol. 22, No. 7
Serving Commercial Cattlemen & Registered Hereford Breeders
Published by: Hereford America, Inc. • 13823 Beaver Creek Place • Reva, SD 57651
Editorial Comments... Jill Bayers Hotchkiss What an absolutely crazy two months it has been. I’ve never missed so many bull sales due to bad roads, ever. The big snowJill Hotchkiss storms just keep coming. It is a year for the record books in terms of cold and snow in South Dakota and many of the surrounding states. We are in the northwest corner of South Dakota. After enduring a storm with gale-force winds, snow and -50+ weather, we got pummelled with two more storms. I started writing this as we awaited yet another major winter storm. So much for March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb. I guess we still have a few days to go until April but in our area most of the months of February and March were lions. This time the storm system is being called a bombogenesis. I’d never heard this term before this week. In meteorological terms it is when a non-tropical storm’s central pressure drops by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. In layman’s terms it means a beast of a winter storm which brings every bad element a winter storm can have — rain, freezing rain, flooding, lots of snow and incredibly strong wind. Some news reports even called it an inland hurricane. It’s definitely not the kind of storm ranchers want to go through and in our area it immediately brings memories of the 2013 Winter Storm, Atlas. We are all hoping and praying it (continued on page 3)
April/May 2019
Hereford Breed is Backbone of Melcher Ranch, Provides for Several Generations By Terra Ochsner Page, NE — Many longtime Hereford breeders have a similar story: they continue to choose the red and white breed because it has provided for their family for generations. Don Melcher and his family’s operation, Melcher Herefords Inc., is no different. Don’s grandparents, Ed and Emma, moved to Page from Stanton County in 1911. His father, Harold, was born six years later and was the youngest of the family. When Ed passed away in 1938, Harold stepped up to take over the operation with his mother. The view from the feed tractor is gratifying at Melcher Herefords, Page, NE. Some of these heifer calves will be part of next year’s sale offering.
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Carlson Herefords: Building from Longtime Hereford Base
Carlson Herefords near Murdoch, MN, has a rich history in the Hereford breed, covering both horned and polled, show cattle, breeding, feeding and retail experience.
By B. Lynn Gordon Ross and Rob Carlson, Carlson Herefords, Murdock, MN, have been surrounded by Hereford cattle since they can remember. Their grandfather and father always had Herefords and they knew it was only fitting they did as well. “Our grandfather had commercial cattle but always bred them to a Polled Hereford bull and our great-uncle used Horned Hereford bulls,” says Ross. There was no question, Herefords wouldn’t stay in the family. “Problemfree, good temperament, total performance cattle,” says Rob, “and now the ability to offer homozygous polled is why we like Herefords so much.” The two brothers have carried on the Carlson family operation. They each own their own cowherd but run the cattle together for efficiency of both grassland, facilities, and time management. The operation also consists of cropland planted to corn and soybeans primarily and when the busy planting and harvest seasons hit, it makes running the cattle together easier to manage. When the two brothers took over the operation, they evenly divided up the cowherd, gate cutting the cattle. They are fortunate to have most of their pastureland nearby. (continued on page 6)