Justin, Dave and Stacy Mente are shown in front of pastureland used for their Maine Anjou cow-calf operation. Julie Buntjer / The Globe
Mentes put focus on Maine Anjou
Check out this video:
Rural Adrian family produces quality show, breeding stock By Julie Buntjer | jbuntjer@dglobe.com ADRIAN — Located southwest of Adrian, Mente Cattle Company owners Dave and Stacy Mente, along with their three sons — Dylan, Trevor and Justin — have spent the past two decades improving the genetics of their herd with a focus on creating quality show and breeding stock. Today, the Mentes raise a mix of Maine Anjou, Simmental and Angus cattle, with a continual move toward three-quarter and hybrid Maine. “The foundation of our herd got started (in 1999) with my brother showing for 4-H,” shared Stacy. “We purchased a show heifer (a maintainer Maine Anjou) for him and bred her … and then we built off of that.”
“We started buying groups of heifers from a guy I knew in Iowa,” added Dave. “We started with smaller groups and then bigger groups, and now we’re just keeping back our own heifers.” Dave said he likes Maine cattle for their docile nature, good mothering ability and muscling. The Mentes, who married in 1997, started out raising pregnant cull cows and “doing whatever we could to make money to buy the nucleus herd, just because we didn’t have land or pasture,” shared Dave. Their break came when Stacy’s brother was offered a neighboring farm.
“He was just out of high school and couldn’t afford it, and we had just gotten married,” Stacy said. In 1998, the young couple rented the pasture and farmland, and in 1999 they purchased the quarter section on contract for deed, with the acreage and 50 acres of pasture purchased outright. “We are eternally grateful to them,” Stacy said. While Stacy’s family operated a dairy, it was Dave who had experience in beef CONTINUED ON PAGE 75
ROCK - NOBLES CATTLEMEN’S ASSOCIATION 2021 | 73
