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Sleepy Hollow Farm
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It’s a long tradition of working on and with the land to produce a harvest, tending to cattle that are both hardy and attractive.
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Rollie got his start as a 10 year old when his father Hilbert gave him his fi rst heifer calf to show in 4-H. Hilbert was a 4-H leader, so Rollie was active showing cattle in 4-H throughout his growing up years.
Rollie’s fi rst wife, Tama Fisher, also grew up with registered Herefords, helping her dad, Ted Fisher, on his ranch helping her dad, Ted Fisher, on his ranch at the opposite end of North Dakota. When Ted passed away in 1986, the family took the opportunity to move themselves and their herd west to the rolling hills on the edge of the Badlands. Descendants of the Fisher cattle remain in the Baumgarten herd. In spite of the all too frequent droughts and the harsher environment of western North Dakota, the cattle thrive.
Rollie and Tama’s two children, Jake and April, grew up helping on the ranch and showing cattle in 4-H and Junior Nationals. Sadly, Tama passed away in 2015, but the family has grown to
HEREFORDS We breed ‘em and feed ‘em!
BUYING HEREFORD INFLUENCED FEEDER CATTLE, NO GROUP TOO BIG OR SMALL!
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Sleepy Hollow Farm
THE JOHNSON’S Mark, Jeanne, Trevor & Tate Centerville, South Dakota
Contact Mark Johnson 605-212-2387
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Hilbert Baumgarten receiving a ribbon from Miss America at the 1948 North Dakota Winter Show in Valley City, ND. include Wendy and her two grandsons, Benjamin and Isaiah.
Selling registered Hereford bulls and showing cattle are both long-standing family traditions.
“My dad and grandfather held their fi rst bull sale in 1949 — in a tent,” Rollie said.
The tent blew over during the sale, making the event doubly memorable. After two years of selling bulls in a tent, Hilbert and Richard had sold enough bulls to build a sale barn and another barn. For many years, Hilbert and his brother Donny ran things together and took care of the cattle with Richard, but eventually they parted ways.
While the family originally bred only horned Herefords, they currently raise some of both. “Some of our customers want only horned cattle, some want only polled,” Rollie said. “To some it doesn’t matter a bit. My son, Jake, wanted to get into some polled bloodlines and it’s been very helpful because we have customers who want both. To me it doesn’t matter so long as they are good quality cattle.” The family has made a regular habit of showing their cattle, making trips to the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado, almost every year since 1994. The work has paid off , with several prestigious awards on the shelf, including Grand Champion Carload of bulls in 2020, various class winners over the years, and Grand Champion Pen of Three heifers in 2009 and reserve champion in 2015. “We do show, and we feel we’ve done well, but that’s not our main focus,” Rollie said. “We don’t really raise show cattle. We strive to raise good cattle to sell to commercial producers who run in big pastures like we do. The carload award was great but I think it means
