2018 Winter Cattlemen's Edition

Featuring Western Nebraska

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Wyoming Livestock Roundup

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2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

“Nebraska agriculture has been described as expansive and diverse with an abundance of natural resources,” says the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA).

“The landscape varies from large pasture dotted with feeding cattle to miles of rolling hills bursting with a wide variety of crops and everything in between.”

NDA explains abundant water supply and ample crop and pasture lands are the most important asset for the state’s residents.

“Farms and ranches in Nebraska have been handed down from generation to generation, and families still serve as the hub of the state’s number one industry – agriculture,” NDA says. “Known for hard-work ethic and a strong set of values, these families continue to produce the highest quality food products that help feed the world.”

Foundations The first pioneers entering western Nebraska were met by a host of seminomadic Indians, including the Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Potawatome, who lived in teepees that were dismantled and moved with the buffalo herds that provided them sustenance.

It wasn’t until fur traders began to traverse the state, traveling along the North

Platte River, that white settlers entered the area. Lewis and Clark mapped the eastern boundary of the state in 1804, but it wasn’t until 1854 that the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by Congress, organizing the Nebraska Territory.

Prior to that date, the land was reserved for Indian settlements.

The Union Pacific Railroad was completed across Nebraska in 1867, the same year that Nebraska joined the U.S. as a state, and the Burlington system crossed the state by the mid-1880s.

“Many early railroads received land grants from the state and federal governments to offset the cost of construction,” says theus50.com.

“These lands were sold to settlers through extensive advertising campaigns, with some companies sending representatives to Europe to encourage immigrants to come to Nebraska.”

In 1904, Congressman Moses Kinkaid of Nebraska passed the Kincaid Act, which increased the size of homesteads from 160 to 640 acres, bringing with it a population cell in the Sandhills of the state.

Ag impacts According to Farm Flavor, “Agriculture is the heart and soul of Nebraska.”

“As the state’s leading

industry, the impact goes far beyond the plate, providing Nebraskans with jobs, significantly contributing to the state’s economy and touching the lives of its citizens every day,” the organization continues.

Production in Nebraska reaches more than $25 billion and is the result of work on 49,100 farms and ranches on 45 million acres.

“In fact,” Farm Flavor reports, “farms and ranches use 92 percent of Nebraska’s total land area.”

Nebraska was fourth in the nation in terms of red meat production in 2014, and they are leading in production of cattle and calves, corn, soybeans, dry edible beans, hay, wheat and more.

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reports approximately 59 percent of the production value in the state of Nebraska comes from livestock.

Corn and cattle are the top two commodities produced in the state.

“Nebraska also leads the way in production of many other crops and livestock,” says NDA. “It has been the number one producer in the United States

of popcorn and Great Northern beans and among the state leaders in producing soybeans, wheat, dry edible beans, pork, grain sorghum and eggs.”

Extensive reach Beyond production ag, NDA says one in four jobs in the state is related to the agriculture industry, and careers in agriculture include insurance, equipment sales and repair, technology, irrigation, engineering and more.

“Agribusiness is vital to the state’s economy, and having a ready and willing workforce has helped those businesses thrive,” explains NDA. “All Nebraskans seem to be connected to agriculture in one way or another.”

The infrastructure in Nebraska provides the necessary routes to move ag products easily across the state.

“With monikers like Cornhuskers and The Beef

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State, it doesn’t take long to figure out corn and cattle are two of the top commodities produced in Nebraska,” NDA says. “The ready supply of corn as feed for the cattle results in producing premium-quality meat products, which are sought by consumers throughout

the world.”

More information on Nebraska’s agriculture industry can be found at nda.nebraska.gov.

Saige Albert is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to saige@wylr.net.

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Broken Arrow Angus RGM, Inc. Brown Sheep Company Platte Valley Livestock Crawford Cattle Call Schuler Red Angus Valley Feed Yard Gray’s Angus Ranch Irish Cream Sheep Dairy Arrow Crown Angus Marcy Cattle Company Van Newkirk Herefords Kraupie’s Real Estate and Auctioneers Kenneth Stangle Herefords

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Sellman Ranch Darnall Feedlot Carter Family Angus Ackerman Ag Service and Supply Carnine Ranch McConnell Angus Dyer Ranch, LLC LJ Saddlery Stangle Herefords Par Terre Cattle Company Jaslyn Livingston Brock and Heidi Terrell Tipton Ranch Circle L Ranch

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Wyoming Livestock Roundup

Harrison, Neb. – Travis Krein was only 13 years old when he started his registered cattle herd.

“I won a record book award for a breeding beef project through 4-H, and the prize was a loan to buy breeding cattle,” he says, noting he took advantage of the opportunity and started his own cowherd.

At the same time, he purchased the broken arrow brand from an old rancher who was leaving the business, and Broken Arrow Angus was born.

By the age of 15, Krein was selling bulls. Today, Krein, his wife Katie and daughters Bethany, Rachel, Hannah, Sarah and Leah are all actively involved in raising 800 registered cows and 200 bulls, which are sold in a private treaty sale annually.

Raising bulls Broken Arrow Angus

focuses on producing bulls that meet their customers’ needs.

“We focus on genetics and are looking to raise high performance bulls that aren’t pampered,” Krein says. “On the maternal side, our cows work for a living and thrive on the hard grass rangeland we have in western Nebraska.”

The ranch headquarters is south of Harrison, Neb., and cattle range in the surrounding country, where Krein says, “We have great grass but tough winters.”

The cattle are supplemented with as little hay as possible, though harsh winters and snow sometimes necessitates minimal feeding during cold months.

When they bring the bulls into the feedlot less than a mile south of Harrison to be developed, Krein says they aim for a final product that is deep, wide

and heavy muscled.

“Our two-year-old bulls are developed on grass until late October, and then they are brought into big, rocky lots and started on a ration of beet pulp, ground hay, dried distillers’ grain and cracked corn,” Krein explains. “They are fed to grow frame and not get fat.”

The yearlings bulls are fed with the same ingredients, and all rations were developed through consultation with Great Plains Nutrition.

“We want to achieve as much growth as we can without sacrificing fertility,” he explains.

Differentiating bulls To accomplish their goals, Krein also notes the customer is of utmost importance, and they have developed two sets of bulls to meet the needs of their customer base.

“We have Poundmaker

Branding - The Krein family runs Broken Arrow Angus together, working hand-in-hand with between six and 10 full-time employees to run their registered Angus herd, as well as a handful of yearlings during the summer months. Travis and Katie Krein and their five daughters are all involved on the operation.

Photo courtesy of Lacy Dale Photography

bulls and Cowmaker bulls for sale,” Krein explains.

“The Poundmakers focus on growth and performance.

They get more inputs, but they are also heavier and more focused on growth.”

On the other side, the Cowmaker bulls are developed with an emphasis on maternal traits and the enhanced ability to run yearround on the range with fewer inputs.

“For us, the difference between Cowmakers and Poundmakers physically is about a frame score or a frame score and a half,”

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Krein explains. “There’s also about a 4.5 inch difference in height. The Poundmakers hit 1,500 pounds, and the Cowmakers are 1,300 pounds.”

Additionally, there are a number of differences in the pedigrees of the cattle to ensure they hit their respective targets.

“We feed a lot of our cattle to yearlings too, so we aren’t skipping on growth, performance or carcass in any of the cattle,” Krein emphasizes. “Those traits are of utmost importance to us.”

Private treaty sale Though Broken Arrow Angus raises bulls for sale, Krein says they have steered away from a traditional sale day format.

“Our bulls are sold on a first-come, first-served basis private treaty starting the first Tuesday of March every year,” he explains, noting this year, the sale is set for March 5. “We don’t sell any bulls prior to our opening day, but bulls may be viewed at any time at our headquarters.”

Bulls are priced ahead of time, and they operate strictly on a first-come, first-served basis.

“We really like selling our bulls private because it allows us to spend a lot more time with our customers,” Krein says. “I try to visit their ranches and see their operations. Because of the way we’re set up, we can help determine which cows or bulls might work best for their situation.”

Krein adds it is important to be able to find the right bull for every herd to make sure customers are satisfied with the result.

“If someone goes home with a bull that doesn’t work for them, no one is happy,” he comments. “We focus on serving our customers.”

Family With between six and 10 full-time employees at Broken Arrow Angus, Travis’ wife Katie and his five daughters are fully integrated into the ranch.

“Our living comes solely from the cow business,” Krein says. “We are a family operation with Christian values, and we are blessed to do what we love with the people we love.”

In fact, Krein explains Katie and his daughters, ages 5 to 13, do the majority of the calving for their registered herd, which spends its winter near their home ranch near Van Tassel.

“Katie is the one who weighs calves, tags calves, fixes fence and more,” Krein says. “The girls are out there doing the hands-on work at the place, too.”

He adds, “If they’re not working on 4-H projects and whatnot, during the summer, the girls are with me working on the ranch.”

Unfair advantage Broken Arrow Angus has had a bit of what Krein calls an “unfair advantage” in running the ranch and raising bulls that comes from their youth, enthusiasm and energy.

“Now, we’re moving into a different chapter of our lives,” he says. “We’ll be chasing kids to sports, 4-H and school activities a lot more.”

However, he also notes their work at Broken Arrow Angus won’t be left behind.

“We have paid for a lot of experience and enjoy working with the guys who work with us to help them avoid the same costly mistakes,” he says. “They have the youth, enthusiasm and energy and are able to capitalize on their mistakes.”

Krein continues, “In the cattle industry side, I don’t see a lot of expansion in the future for Broken Arrow Angus. Instead, we’ll focus on the quality of cattle and the quality of our relationships with our customers.”

Visit Broken Arrow Angus online at brokenarrowangus.com.

Saige Albert is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to saige@wylr.net.

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In addition to raising bulls, Broken Arrow Angus has also purchased from and partnered with bull customers on calves and yearlings to run in the summer.

“We buy a lot of our customer’s calves back to feed as yearlings, so we develop the heifers and sell them as bred heifers,” Travis Krein, owner of Broken Arrow Angus, explains. “A lot of our replacement heifers are sold to other bull customers.”

The system allows Broken Arrow Angus to take advantage of the opportunity to raise high-quality cattle on the exceptional summer grass they have available.

“We are focused on serving our customers and doing the best we can with what we have here,” Krein says.

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2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Potter, Neb. – Early on, the Mathewson family realized if they take care of the grass on their family ranch, it will take care of them. Since then, the family has done their part to manage the rangeland and rehabilitate and restore the land on the old homesteads they have purchased since.

Rodney and Arlene Mathewson settled on a small place near Potter, Neb. around 1946, where they started a cattle and farming operation.

“They were both from farm families, and their determination and foresight raised three kids and put them through college. It laid a firm foundation for the family business,” Beau Mathewson says of his grandparents.

The second generation of Mathewsons to help manage the ranch is Randy and Gina, Beau’s parents. The ranch was incorporated in 1976 into RGM Inc., after Randy returned home from college.

“He is really like no other rancher I know because he is tenacious, innovative, serious and a perfectionist,” Mathewson says of his father. “He has worked hard to build an efficient, sustainable and environmentally sound business.”

“It is a business that could only be built with determination and hard work,” he explains.

Starting from scratch During the 1980s and 90s, the family was able to purchase several large pieces of land, some of which were old homesteads. Many of the pieces were overgrazed and poorly managed, needing years of rest and rehabilitation, new fencing and water sources. Most of the grasses were cool season forages.

The condition of the land didn’t deter the family, who looked at the purchases as an opportunity to implement a rotational grazing program, while improving the rangeland.

With help from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and a local construction company, they installed new pipelines, water

sources and tanks, built new fence and cross-fenced existing pastures.

Some pieces they purchased also had some irrigated and dryland farm ground.

“We were able to put the marginal farm ground into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and re-establish the native grasses,” he explains. “We planted it to a native grass mixture recommended by the NRCS, with plant diversity in mind.”

“At the end of the program, we put a fence around it, added some water sources and grazed it. Without the CRP and other conservation programs, it wouldn’t be viable, but I am very proud that we have been able to do it.

Ecologically speaking, it is a lot better to have that land in native grass than in marginal farm ground,” he says.

Pasture development Another important strategy was to allow the overworked pastures some rest.

Mathewson explains, “When I came back into the operation after graduating from the University of Wyoming, I took the High Plains Ranch Practicum course. One of the things I learned in the course was from Pat Reece, who said, ‘Never graze the same pasture at the same time of year, two years in a row.’ I can’t emphasize enough how important a rotational grazing system is to the health of the plant community.”

“By implementing that system, we have ensured our land will stay productive and viable for decades to come.

We have more animal unit months (AUMs) per acre because of the way we have grazed the last 20 years,” he continues.

“The plant communities are in better shape, creating more diversity and productivity,” he notes.

Benefits across the board By improving the range, the cattle have not only benefited but other creatures have, as well.

“These improvements have created habitat for all

inhabitants of the ecosystem from microorganisms to insects and birds to cattle, wildlife and large ungulates,” Mathewson says. “If we can mimic the way Mother Nature works in grazing cycles in an economically viable way, it will benefit the whole ecological system.”

Most of the pastures are between 500 and 640 acres, with some being larger because of the rugged topography in the area.

At first, they established a short-season rotation with plenty of rest.

“By doing that, we were able to increase the cool season grasses in number and productivity,” Mathewson explains. “We also started to see more plant diversity. Over time, the result was healthier, stronger and more productive plants.”

“They were better able to develop and had longer root systems that could better withstand grazing and drought,” he explains.

“We have been able to increase our stocking rate 30 percent, while using less forage. We graze each pasture for no more than 30 days and let it rest for at least 16 months.

If we graze a pasture in May, we won’t graze it again until at least September of the next year,” he says.

Water development Rotational grazing is not possible without many water sources. The family has developed several good water wells over the years, replacing windmill-fed tanks with submersible and pipeline water sources feeding strategically-placed tanks.

They have constructed 25-foot bottomless tanks in their pastures that can provide water for 20 percent of the 300 animals in any one pasture at any given time.

“We don’t want anything to be more than one-half mile from water. If we have a section, we usually try to put two tanks in. In pastures with

Family focused - For the Mathewson’s of Potter, Neb., family is an important aspect of their family ranch. Patriarch Beau Mathewson took over the family over from his parents, Randy and Gina, and has focused on improving the operation. Courtesy photo

one tank, we have the tank in the center and have installed pipelines so we can put water where we want it, instead of where it is,” he explains.

“Outside of fencing, where we put our tanks and water sources is the biggest driver in grazing utilization,” he says.

Achieving goals with technology By adding new water sources, the family is better able to achieve their management goals.

“It takes a lot of time to put in tanks and pipelines, but once we have it done, it pays

dividends,” he says. “It allows us to stock livestock the way it needs to be stocked, and it keeps our pastures in better condition.”

The main livestock wells also have Valley Trackers attached to them that monitor the pressure and whether the well has power.

“We can set parameters, and if there is a problem with the well, it will send my dad and I an e-mail or text message. We can look at it anytime,” he explains.

They also monitor range conditions using a variety of

technology.

“We use a drone to visualize pasture utilization,” Mathewson explains.

“Drone imagery keeps us objective, and it has proven to be a valuable asset.”

“Our objective is to use between 33 and 40 percent of the available herbage in each pasture. If it’s dry, we move through pastures more quickly and allow for longer rest periods,” he adds.

Gayle Smith is a correspondent for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.

Improvements - The Mathewson family focuses on taking care of the grass, knowing if they rehabilitate the land, they will be more successful. Courtesy photo

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Mitchell, Neb. – Founded in 1980 by Harlan Brown, Brown Sheep Company is a wool yarn-spinning mill that produces yarn for crafters across the United States (U.S.).

“Raw wool is processed in the mill into yarn for knitting, crocheting and weaving,” says Brittany Wells, daughter-in-law and employee of owners Robert and Peggy Wells.

Peggy is the daughter of Harlan Brown and came

Wyoming Livestock Roundup

back to Nebraska with her husband to help her father with the Brown Sheep Company in the late 1990s.

Founder Harlan Brown ran a sheep operation before starting Brown Sheep Company on the land where the mill currently stands, according to Wells.

“Brown’s sheep flock was originally produced for meat, until the market for mutton crashed and the meat industry shifted towards beef,” Wells

explains. “So, he traveled to Georgia and found some used textile machinery, brought the equipment back to Nebraska and figured out how to make yarn.”

Wool All of the raw wool used to make Brown Sheep Company yarn is sourced from Wyoming and Colorado producers, she mentions.

Once the wool yarn has been spun, dyed and packaged, it is shipped to local

yarn shops that sell the products to customers.

“Some of the first people to discover Brown Sheep Company wool yarn were the Navajo weavers in the Southwest,” notes Wells. “The Navajo weavers continue to be major customers of our yarn today.”

Wells mentions there are 25 employees who work at Brown Sheep Company, including the owners.

“I’m married to Robert and Peggy’s son Andrew and have been working for the family business for about three years now,” she says.

Changes Over the years, the production of wool yarn has increased to the point Brown Sheep Company ships between 3,000 and 5,000 pounds of wool yarn

per week.

“The entire process, starting with clean, raw wool that ends up as dyed and packaged wool yarn, takes almost two weeks,” Wells states.

Each day, the maximum amount of yarn the mill can process is 3,000 pounds.

“Every year, we also attend multiple trade shows for The National Needle Arts Association (TNNA),” adds Wells. “TNNA trade shows are for wholesale manufacturers who make yarn, knitting needles and other related products.”

The equipment Harlan Brown bought back in the 1980s has also changed, as it’s been replaced and upgraded with modern equipment.

“The mill has definitely expanded and is more upto-date compared to the

beginning,” Wells mentions.

In 2017, Brown Sheep Company made a trip to Germany to participate in an international trade show, adds Wells.

“In the spring of 2018, we are going to back to the trade show in Germany to try and expand the company in an international market,” she states.

Pros and cons Like any business, Brown Sheep Company has faced challenges along the way.

“Water in western Nebraska is in short supply,” says Wells. “Our mill has developed a water recycling system where 80 percent of the wastewater from the dyeing process can be reused over and over again.”

Another challenge is Continued on next page

Yarn – Brown Sheep Company yarns come in a variety of colors. Courtesy photo

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2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Continued from previous page the location and logistics of shipping the wool yarn, she adds.

“Since the wool is shipped to different parts of the country, only a small portion of Brown Sheep Company’s business is done in Nebraska,” Wells explains. “The shipping and logistics of the process can be quite the challenge sometimes.”

Wells also believes there are benefits to western Nebraska for the Brown Sheep Company.

“There is a really strong workforce in the Mitchell, Neb. area. Our employees have a strong work ethic and long-standing relationships with those who have been with the company for many years,” she states.

“Being in Nebraska is an advantage because the company is in a very central location. Even though shipping is a challenge, we’re in the middle of both the west and east coasts,” Wells says.

Business goals According to Wells, the main goal for Brown Sheep Company is to make high-quality wool yarn using U.S. wool and to help support U.S. workers.

“Our products bring a lot of joy, happiness and warmth to the people who use them,” she states. “We want to continue to grow and expand our customer base.”

Brown Sheep Company is a part of the agriculture industry most people don’t think about because the company is different than what most people would think of as agriculture, Wells notes.

“I would say, in a lot of ways, we’re at the intersection of several different industries, including agriculture because we use wool and all natural fibers,” she says.

Wells thinks the way products are sold is changing but not in a good way.

“Traditional craft shops struggle to keep up with the pace of internet sales and technology,” she notes. “Brown Sheep Company plans to stay with the times and make sure we can get our product to the customers.”

For more information, visit brownsheep.com.

Heather Loraas is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at heather@wylr.net.

Roving – Wool roving is fed into a machine called a spinning frame, which spins the wool into yarn before moving down the assembly line. Courtesy photo

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Owners – Robert and Peggy Wells pose with their spinning equipment in their wool mill. Courtesy photo

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Wyoming Livestock Roundup

Gering, Neb. – In 1958, the Morrison brothers built Platte Valley Livestock Auction and started a legacy that would continue for the next 60 years.

Now, Jerry Weekes, his son Josh and a team of representatives work together at the operation to continue their work.

Weekes, a native of North Dakota, started his adult life as a rancher, raising yearlings and breaking horses on the Standing Rock Reservation.

He and his wife Sally

moved to Nebraska when Sally’s parents fell ill. “My wife Sally and I bought Platte Valley Livestock Auction in 1995,� says Weekes. “It looked like a good deal and a good opportunity.� “We are family owned and operated, and we take as much pride in selling livestock as our customers do in raising them,� he adds.

Activity at Platte Valley Platte Valley Livestock auction hosts cattle sales

every Monday at 9 a.m., proudly advertising their consignments as “country fresh cattle – 90 percent of our bawling calves come in sale day.�

They also host a wide variety of special sales throughout the year to market bred cows, yearlings and more. “We generally sell feeder calves every other week,�

Weekes says. “We also sell cows and bred cows almost every day. There’s only one

sale a year – generally the first sale of the year, that we do not sell weigh-ups.�

In addition to being an auction barn, Weekes says they help a number of ranches market their cattle, and their customer base has been loyal.

Customer service “We try to offer service with a smile at every sale,�

Weekes says. “We do the best we can to serve everybody, whether they’re large or small.�

Customers come to Platte Valley Livestock Auction from across the region.

Weekes has seen producers from Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah and

horse, llama, a few sheep or a steer.�

However, Weekes see a continued demand for their service. “As long as there are cattle, people need to sell,�

Weekes continues. “We couldn’t get along without the people who buy from us, either, though.�

The future ahead Weekes enjoys the livestock auction business, and he says, “It takes a lot of work and time to invest in this business.� “I’ll probably work here five or six more years, and we’ll see what happens from there,� Weekes continues, speculating his son Josh may take over the auction after he retires. “Agriculture is a hard way to make an easy living,�

Weekes says. “It’s either feast or famine.�

With operating costs for farms or ranches higher than ever before, Weekes further says, “Everybody in agriculture or related to agriculture is affected. It’s getting more and more difficult to operate.�

Despite the challenges, he comments, “I enjoy the people here more than anything.�

For more information, visit Platte Valley Livestock online at plattevalleylivestock.com.

Saige Albert is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to saige@wylr.net.

Wyoming, along with a few other states here and there. “We don’t hire a lot of field men, and we don’t do any advertising. We rely on word of mouth,� he says. “We do the best we can to take care of our customers.�

Platte Valley Livestock Auction has a crew of 30 employees – all but two of whom have been with the company five years or longer.

Field representatives Josh Weekes, Steve Flowers and Jerry McMackin serve to interface with customers and help meet their needs before reaching the auction. Andrew Sanchez works as the yard manager, and Weekes’ wife Sally is essential to keeping the place moving. “All of the people who work with us are very dedicated,� Weekes comments. “People who work here stay here for a long time, which is something we like.�

Challenge and change While Platte Valley Livestock has thrived over the last six decades, Weekes says the agriculture industry’s climate has changed in that time. “Things are different now than they were 20 years ago,� he explains. “Cattle numbers are shrinking in this valley.�

Today, ranches that used to be 150 to 200 cow outfits are being taken over by farms and small operations. “There aren’t any small ranches to speak of in the valley,� he comments. “We see more people who have 10 acres in the country with a

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The Weekly News Source for Wyoming’s Ranchers, Farmers and AgriBusiness Community

For your agriculture news on-the-go!

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A Look Inside Pat Tyrrell explains the intricacies and reasoning behind the First Amended Order State Engineer of Horse of the Creek Basin in a letter.............Pa ge 8 Some ranchers in the West have seen rabies begin appear in their areas..Page to 12 The National Weather Service encourages Wyomingites to be on alert for potential flooding in the week..........................Pagenext 11 As producers prepare to market their cattle, Bill Munns explains what the packer is looking for in cattle coming the packing house......Page to 13

Lane: Public lands

Food Waste

, WSGS release recharge

study, interactive mapping

see LAND on page 6

tool

During Wyoming (WWDO) Water Update Water Development Office new Wyoming Groundwater Atlas tool. state in May, Karl Tabogameetings held throughout the Study logical Survey (WSGS) of the Wyoming State GeoAccording to Taboga, the primary purpose Statewide Groundwater led discussions on the WSGS WSGS of the Statewide Groundwater Baseflow Study, as well Baseflow Study was as the Please see WATER on

Red Meat

According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, commercial red meat production in April hit 3.97 billion pounds, a slight drop from the prior month. Beef production was slightly below 2016 levels, as well, and lamb and mutton production dropped 10% from the year before.

Emilee Gibb photo

Food Labels SEO amends Horse Creek Order

Outstanding Ag

Nominations for Wyoming Agriculture the Hall of Fame are open until June 12. We are seeking nominations of those members of the Wyoming ag community who have gone above and beyond in their support of the industry, community, friends and neighbors. a nomination form or For more information, visit wylr.net or call 307-234-2700.

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Future of fair

Wyo State Fair discusses funding during community meeting Douglas – On May 25, the Converse County Tourism and Visitor Center hosted a meeting at the Douglas Public Library with the goal of discussing how to work together to show community support for the Wyoming State Fair (WSF).

With a variety of attendees, State Fair Advisory Board Member Joe Rankin and WSF Director James Goodrich looked at the importance the fair and emphasized of a focus on the future. “Tight budget times give us a chance to look to the future,� Rankin said. “It’s a positive look toward the past, too.�

Importance Rankin noted WSF is a tradition for many families around Wyoming and serves as a gathering place for agriculture community. the “My family has been involved with WSF before was born, and I’ve attendedI every year since I was born – as a family member, ent, commercial vendor, parFair Posse member and now as a member of the Advisory Board,� he said. “WSF is tradition and a passion, a not just for my family and me for many people around but the Please see FAIR on page

Following data collection and review, a public ing and receipt of public hearDouglas – Over the Tyrrell issued an order comment, State Engineer Pat past decade, school on May 31 that will nutrition has been a local beef is a much groundwater use limitations topic of discussion modify more attractive nationwide, but in option. for the next three years the LaGrange area.

Douglas, Converse in County School District Sourcing beef The First Amended Nutrition Services Director Monty Gilbreath explains, order issued on July Order modifies the terms of an Gilbreath says the 19, 2013, in accordance solution to making County, they traditionallyin Converse terms of that previous with the sure students have order. healthy protein is in from USDA commodity obtain beef More specifically, partnerships with programs or the order was issued local producers. through Sysco.

LaGrange Aquifer for the and surface water “Schools are looking “If we run out of the diversions from Horse Creek at and USDA comfor ways below the Brown to modity ground make meals more nutritious and LaGrange diversion in southern beef, I contractually and better it from Goshen County. tasting,� Gilbreath Sysco at $2.25 per pound,� buy In the amendment, explains. “We were GilTyrrell continues the looking for ways to breath says. “Either order’s closure of the way, improve what we area to further permitting original offer to students.� where the beef comes I don’t know capacity wells and from, which is continued the requirementof large important for us.�

He continues that adjudication of currently of the traditionally, schools source their unadjudicated groundwater A new School Nutrition permits prior to use. protein, in particPilot Projular beef, through ect program was passed However, the First USDA by commodity ming programs or from Legislature this year. the Wyoallowable groundwater Amended Order increases the food purveyor, but This proLaGrange Aquifer from used for irrigation from the Please see BEEF 12 inches per year on page 9 nal order to a total in the origiof 45 inches for the next years, with no more periodical than 20 inches producedthree water year. in any one All groundwater wells permitted for over 25 per minute will also gallons be required to continue flow meters installed to have and to report their While so limited, groundwater use annually. use will not be vulnerable to calls for regulation from surface water rights.

Read more about the amended order in Tyrell on page 8 of this week’s Roundup. a letter from periodical

With labels “organic,� “fair trade� like and “non-genetically modified� popping up in grocery stores, the United States Healthful Food Council just released a new label – “Eat REAL.�

REAL stands for responsible, epicurean, agricultural leadership and includes components like American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals welfare certification.

Photo courtesy of Madeline Robinson, Lucky Lyn Photography

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GROUNDWATER RESOURCES WWDO

Quick Bits Johns Hopkins University Researcher Roni Neff says, if Americans were able to recovery all of their wasted food, we could provide a 2,000-calorie diet 84% of the population. to Data from 2012 shows that 31% to 40% of food is thrown away after harvest.

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grazing

critical for effectiv Bellevue, Neb. – “It costs equation and e land management the Bureau of Land Man- cannot afford we simply ways PLC works to advoagement (BLM) five to manage the cate they are working for western ranchers dolis vey is related to to conlars to manage an ungrazed federal estate.� the numDuring the May 19-20 through educating the pub- ber of acre, but by grazing, jobs agriculture crelic and Congress. the Range Rights cost drops to two and Resource dollars Symposium, “Our goal is to help peo- ates, ecosystem services Lane discussed ple per acre,� said Public provided or acres of to understand what it Lands Greater is Council (PLC) Executive PLC’s voice on grazing and that livestock grazing does sage grouse habitat concurrent actions in WashingDirector Ethan Lane. served, Lane explained for western communities the , intent is the same.

He continued, “Elim- ton, D.C. both economically and Education ecoinate ranchers from “We work to get logically,� that said the Lane.

One of the primary Whether the message point across to people Please

on local beef

5

A9

2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Crawford, Neb. – In 2014, the Crawford Cattle Call was born. The one-day event is held in the streets of downtown Crawford, Neb. on the first Saturday of November every year with the goal of celebrating agriculture, bringing the community together and showcasing local businesses in the area.

“About two years after I moved back to Crawford from Gillette, my husband and I bought the grocery store in town,” says Sam Dyer. “I also got involved with the Chamber of Commerce, and we decided to incorporate some new events in our community.”

Dyer used the Valentine, Neb. Bull Bash and Northern International Livestock Exposition bred heifer pen of three show as inspiration to develop the Crawford Cattle Call.

Early years “In 2014, we held our first Crawford Cattle Call, which started with a bred heifer show,” Dyer explains. “We also offered the chance for ranchers to bring their herd bulls in to display.”

Cattle pens were set up along Main Street in Crawford, and in their first year, 17 pens of cattle were showcased. The second

year, they added a heifer event and set up 28 pens of cattle. In their third year, with the addition of bulls, 42 pens of cattle lined Main Street.

“In our fourth year, we were down a little bit to 38 pens, but it was a great contest,” she says.

“Ultimately, we want to have a pen of three contest between the heifer calves, bred heifers and bulls and offer ranchers the chance to bring their display bulls in, too.”

Other events In addition to the cattle show, Crawford Cattle Call brings events for the whole family.

“Early in our planning, we decided to add something new every year,” Dyer comments. “If we did the same thing every year, we knew people would get bored and stop coming, so we try to keep the event fresh each year.”

In 2016, they added a beef cook-off, and over the past several years, Crawford Cattle Call has held a hay bale decorating contest, barnyard bingo and more. Nearby Fort Robinson brings their stagecoach and gives free stagecoach rides to attendees, and Dyer notes everyone is excited to help.

New this year, Crawford Cattle Call hosted a 5K run, as well.

“For a lot of our events, we try to involve other community groups, too,” she comments. “PEO wanted to do the 5K, and Farm Bureau does the hay bale decorating contest.

Friends of Pets put on a penny carnival, and the church puts up a bouncy house for the kids.”

“We’re always looking for groups who want to take on an aspect of the event,” Dyer says.

Activities for the children also allow adults to gather while their kids are playing.

Community focused Until 2017, Dyer says they have been blessed with good weather.

“This year, it got really cold, so the bars and restaurants were packed,” she says, noting that the community businesses also see additional sales that day.

The Cattle Call hosts a variety of vendors in 40-foot-by-20-foot tents.

“We bring a huge number of commercial vendors and ag vendors,” she says.

“We’ve had several dealers who brought tractors, and we had a big tent full of vendor exhibits.”

The event is beneficial

for the ag industry, as well.

Dyer adds, “It also allows people to see our cattle.”

A number of Wyoming cattle producers also participate in the event, she says.

“We have a lot of interest in this event,” Dyer comments. “We keep seeing more interest from further away. It’s exciting.”

Working together “We have probably 400 to 500 people attend each year,” Dyer says.

The Harrison FFA Chapter and the Dawes County 4-H Junior leaders are also instrumental in the

event.

“If we didn’t have the FFA students and the junior leaders, I’m not sure we would get all set up,” she adds. “We have to put up panels, and we spread chips, as well. It takes a community to put it together.”

“We want to showcase agriculture and specifically the ranchers in the area,

NEIMAN CATTLE COMPANY

Featuring Sons of:

HULETT, WY Annual Bull Sale • February 15, 2018 |

but we also want to benefit the business of downtown Crawford,” Dyer comments. “Next year, the Crawford Cattle Call will continue into its fifth year.

This is always a really fun event.”

Saige Albert is managing editor for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.

Belle Fourche Livestock

C C A Emblazon 702 AAA# 15980098

SELLING 70 TWO-YEAR-OLD BULLS

Bulls are Forage Efficiency Tested and Ultrasounded

Lot 1

Lot 2

Lot 3

Lot 10

Lot 12

NCC Emblazon 627

NCC C&N Black Majestic 6004 3/26/16 • BW: 63 • Adj. 205: 638 CED: +7 BW: +1.1 WW: 41 YW: 64 Milk: 17 $EN: +21.64 $W: +43.94

NCC C&N Full Day 6003 Benefielf Full Day X Sinclair In Time 3/21/16 • BW: 63 • Adj. 205: 721 CED: +15 BW: -0.9 WW: 43 YW: 74 Milk: 20 $EN: +3.67 $W: +50.21

NCC Emblazon 631

NCC Emblazon 654

4/19/16 • BW: 89 • Adj. 205: 659 CED: +10 BW: +0.7 WW: 52 YW: 89 Milk: 22 $EN: +6.23 $W: +49.63

4/29/16 • BW: 85 • Adj. 205: 704 CED: +11 BW: +0.1 WW: 49 YW: 90 Milk: 22 $EN: +5.97 $W: +48.54

4/19/16 • BW: 74 • Adj. 205: 617 CED: +16 BW: -2.7 WW: 49 YW: 84 Milk: 24 $EN: +13.27 $W: +47.21

Lot 14

Lot 18

Lot 20

Emblazon 702 x Full Bore

NCC Full Bore 660

N77R Full Bore X Sinclair In Time

5/9/16 • BW: 86 • Adj. 205: 747 CED: +7 BW: +2.1 WW: 53 YW: 75 Milk: 19 $EN: +14.62 $W: +49.21

Emblazon 702 X Full Bore

NCC Full Bore 639

Cole Creek Full Bore X OCC Discovery

4/23/16 • BW: 74 • Adj. 205: 652 CED: +6 BW: +2.1 WW: 35 YW: 61 Milk: 23 $EN: +7.23 $W: +38.21

Emblazon 702 X OCC Paxton

NCC Full Bore 638

Cole Creek Full Bore X OCC Emblazon

4/23/16 • BW: 84 • Adj. 205: 686 CED: +8 BW: +2.0 WW: 41 YW: 73 Milk: 21 $EN: +8.67 $W: +44.61

www.neimancattle.com

N77R Black Majestic X Sinclair Rito Promise

Lot 30 NCC Wyoming 608

NCC Wyoming 307 X Sinclair In Time

3/20/16 • BW: 66 • Adj. 205: 645 CED: +11 BW: -0.8 WW: 46 YW: 70 Milk: 20 $EN: +18.25 $W: +52.39

Lot 32 NCC Wyoming 623

NCC Wyoming 307 X Cole Creek Full Bore

4/17/16 • BW: 73 • Adj. 205: 734 CED: +12 BW: +0.4 WW: 49 YW: 73 Milk: 21 $EN: +16.27 $W: +51.01

Also Selling Sons of: Cole Creek Full Bore 730 • NCC Wyoming 307 Duff Primo 944 • N77R Black Majestic 9260 • Sinclair Rito Promise 0R12

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Ryan and Sonnie Neiman • (307) 290-0791 • neimancattle@gmail.com

A10

Wyoming Livestock Roundup

Bridgeport, Neb. – Butch and Susan Schuler’s 35 years of experience raising registered Red Angus cattle has resulted in three herds of quality cattle backed by data.

Their nearly four decades of production starts with the cow, then the calf, with a final focus on finding the right bull for their customers.

“Schuler Red Angus maintains three herds of cattle – registered Red Angus, Schuler Red Composites and commercial cattle,” says Butch Schuler, who

was raised on the operation.

“Both our Red Angus and Schuler Reds are enrolled in the Red Angus Association’s Total Herd Reporting (THR) and have been since the program’s inception in the early 90s.”

Butch’s mother, Mary Lou, who passed away in 2005, was on the Red Angus registration committee that helped implement THR. Cow-focused “In addition to a breeding program driven by cowherd building traits, such as stay-ability and cow maintenance energy costs, we uti-

lize proven selection and management strategies to enhance cowherd fertility and productivity,” says Schuler. “We augment our selection for docility with low-stress handling techniques.”

They prioritize heifers born early in the calving season when selecting replacements, and only heifers born in the first 30 days are considered for selection preference.

“Heifer exposure data is submitted annually for heifer fertility expected progeny difference (EPD)

Schuler family - Butch and Susan Schuler took over Schuler Red Angus from his family, and they have continued a strong tradition of data-focused selection and genetics targeting their customers’ needs.

Courtesy photo

Bulls like these will sell!

Sire: Coleman Rainmaker 1348

Sire: BAA Ballard 2125B

Sire: Cole Creek Brute 43V

Sire: BAA EXT 1174A

Annual Private Treaty Bull

evaluation,” Schuler says, adding every cow is expected to become pregnant within 60 days. “Cows with poor udders, bad feet and poor dispositions are not tolerated.”

Quality calves “While cows must fit a ‘least-cost’ production environment, calves must excel in a feedyard environment, so our customers’ customers – that is, the feeding industry – will continue to pay premiums for their calves,” Schuler says.

Since the majority of Shuler’s customers raise their own replacement females, fertility and longevity must be part of the same package that includes feed conversion and carcass value.

Data is a particularly important part of finding the right genetics for their calves, and Schuler explains, “We have been collecting and analyzing carcass data since 1991, and today, more than 20 percent of all Red Angus harvest data has been submitted by Schuler Red Angus.”

Recently, the Schulers have also structured progeny testing to identify feed efficiency variation.

“We purchase calves back from our customers, and the steers – plus some heifers – are evaluated for carcass data,” he continues.

“Cattle feeders and packers recognize extra value in cattle sired by Schuler Red Angus bulls resulting from our 25-year commitment to carcass and feedlot data.”

“Our replacement quality heifers are sorted. We require them to have the same reproductive success that we demand from our own cowherd,” Schuler adds. “We market the replacements as uniform groups of commercial bred heifers.”

Customer satisfaction In March of 2018, the Schulers will host their 36th

annual bull sale.

Their longevity results from a focus on providing bulls that work for their customers. With over 50 years’ experience in the commercial cow/calf sector, the family has walked enough miles in their customers’ shoes to understand how to design genetic solutions to many of their customers’ challenges “Our goal for customers is to get the bull right every time,” Schuler said. “Mating decisions are carefully considered to ensure every bull we sell will sire steers that perform profitably in the feedyard and hang premium value carcasses while every heifer is a candidate for a cowherd replacement.”

Their customer base extends across the country – from Oregon to Florida and everywhere in between.

The year The Schuler family starts calving in March and April.

“First-calf heifers calve in a short window at the beginning of March, just ahead of the main cowherd,” Schuler says. “The short calving season on the first-calf heifers is accomplished because they are only given a 30-day breeding season.”

Calves are identified as soon as their born, and the Schulers record birthing and calf data, to include birth weights, calving ease scores, cow udders, and more.

“Cows and newborn calves are paired out onto native range as soon as possible after calving,” he continues. “Then, in May and early June, every female on the ranch is bred via artificial insemination (AI) and moved to summer pasture, where they are exposed to Schuler herd sires.”

Bulls are only left in 30 days for the heifers and 45 days for the main cowherd.

During the summer, the cattle run on native western Nebraska rangelands.

“The cattle range in large, equal-opportunity contemporary groups, so within the herd, variation can be measured and meaningful data submitted,” Schuler comments.

Calves are weaned in September and early October, with the opportunity for earlier weaning in drought conditions.

After weaning, heifers are sorted as replacement, sale or feedlot heifers.

“Replacements are developed on roughage,” Schuler says. “Bull calves also begin their performance testing, where gain and carcass ultrasound data is collected. Bulls are also evaluated for fertility, soundness, foot structure and disposition.”

“We test 300 or more bulls, but only half actually reach our standards and are sold in our annual March bull sale,” Schuler adds.

Low stress At the core of it all, Schuler Red Angus strives to be a low-labor operation with minimal input.

Schuler comments, “With the exception of some supplements, our operation is self-sufficient in terms of producing feed for the cowherd, as well as for the development of bulls and replacement females.”

“Susan and I have no other full-time help right now, so we have to handle cattle efficiently,” Schuler adds. “We have fine-tuned low-stress cattle handling techniques for decades, and we guarantee the disposition of every bull.”

Schuler Red Angus can be found online at schulerredangus.com.

Saige Albert is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to saige@wylr.net.

Sale

Starting March 5th

Travis & Katie Krein and Family

PO Box 245 • Harrison, NE 69346 (308) 665-5085 • bulls@brokenarrowangus.com

www.BrokenArrowAngus.com

Selling 200 Registered Angus Bulls Registered & Commercial Females also available year-round!

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Overseeing the operation - Today, Butch Schuler runs Schuler Red Angus, which sits outside Bridgeport, Neb. The three herds of cattle are a time-consuming venture, but he enjoys the opportunity to work with cattle every day. Courtesy photo

A11

2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Bayard, Neb. – Outside of Bayard, Neb., Valley Feed Yards, Inc. has been in the feedyard business for over 20 years, custom feeding cattle for clients in western Nebraska.

“Our customer base has been built over many years,” says Dale Hansen, manager for Valley Feed Yards. “Our location, ability to market cattle and capability to raise cattle well and efficiently are all benefits here.”

A day at Valley Feed Yard A day at Valley Feed Yards starts at 5:30 a.m. for Hansen, who reads the bunks to determine where adjustments need to be made for cattle rations.

“I look to see if the cattle are eating everything and may need more feed or if there is feed left in the bunk,” Hansen explains.

“We watch close to make sure the cattle have what they need.”

Their feed regimen is developed with the help of a nutritionist, and it includes a variety of products, including distillers’ grains from the ethanol plant in Bridgeport, Neb. and sugarbeet pulp from Western Sugar in Scottsbluff, Neb. “We have a number of options for feed additives and supplements to make a good ration,” Hansen says.

“Dr. Frank Goedekon comes from Dodge City, Kan. once a month, and we develop our feed ration to make sure it’s the best for our cattle,” he continues.

“Like every feedyard, we’re careful to step the cattle up from a low ration when they come in to a fattening growing ration.”

Along with their nutritionist, Hansen says, “We also have two consulting veterinarians, Dr. Del Miles and Travis McCarty, who come here every month to look at our cattle health and talk about any concerns we have.”

Once a week, buyers come through the feedyard to look at the cattle and make purchasing decisions.

“There are a number of

packing houses nearby that buy from our yard,” Joe Burford, owner of Valley Feed Yards, says.

Employees Valley Feed Yards operates under Hansen’s guidance as manager, but they operate a crew of about nine people.

“Everyone has a job to do around here, and everyone has a valuable role,” Hansen emphasizes. “We all work together to make sure cattle are taken care of.”

Two cowboys spend their days riding pens and overseeing the cattle, keeping their eyes sharp for any animal that may need attention. The remainder of the employees work to maintain and feed cattle at the yard.

Valley Feed Yards is owned by Burford and his family and John Raftopoulos, and both families are involved in the work at the yard.

“Joe does all the marketing for the feedyard, among a number of other things,” Hansen says. “The Burford family is a great family that is committed to this yard.”

Burford and Raftopoulos also own High Plains Feed Yard in Mitchell, Neb., as well.

Customers For Valley Feed Yards, the customers’ cattle are top of mind at all times, and Hansen explains they have many long-term customers who come back year after year.

“We take in all classes of cattle,” Hansen says. “We start taking in calves in the fall at weaning time, and we take cows and yearlings throughout the year.”

Their customers come from around the country, including as far away as California.

“We receive cattle from all over. One customer from California is a continuous customer who brings cattle every year. We have several customers in Montana, as well,” Hansen explains.

“Really, we get cattle from all over the country.”

Looking forward While there are trials

Rations - Cattle are fed a custom ration, depending on their needs, at Valley Feed Yards. A consulting nutritionist visits the feedyard monthly to ensure cattle are receiving the feed resources they need.

Saige Albert photo

for every feedyard, Hansen comments, “It’s a challenging business to get the cattle to perform, but it’s also really rewarding. We get to see the results of our hard work.”

Winter storms and harsh conditions mean some days are better than others, but with plentiful feed sources, Hansen adds, “Feeding cattle well, being able to see our success and being able to operate profitably for ourselves and our customers is pretty rewarding.”

As Hansen looks to the future, he sees opportunity looking forward.

“The future is promising for Valley Feed Yards,” he says. “The Burford family is in the cattle feeding industry on a large scale, and that bodes well for us. It’s very

promising.”

He also notes the feedyard continues to build its customer base each year.

“We’re always looking for new ranches to work with,” Hansen says. “At the end of the day, our goal is to do an excellent job raising cattle.”

Learn more about Valley Feed Yards by calling 308586-1688.

Saige Albert is manag-

ing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to saige@wylr.net.

Valley Feed Yards - Just north of Bridgeport and Bayard, Neb., Valley Feed Yards is a customer feedyard that caters to clients across the west. Saige Albert photo

A12

Harrison, Neb. – Gray’s Angus Ranch and Rod and Laura Gray continue their family tradition of raising Angus cattle on the high plains prairie of Sioux County, Neb. on the Wyoming-Nebraska border.

Rod first came to Sioux County in 1978 when Windy Acres Angus hired him to fit and show cattle for them, and he fell in love with the people and the country. Later, in searching for a ranch, he returned to Harrison with his family in 1997.

“We feel very blessed to have the privilege to raise our family and ranch here,” he says.

Rod and Laura run about 800 registered Angus cows with the help of sons Colt, Heath and Garret.

Daughter Naomi and husband Jeff lease the historic Warbonnet Ranch

Wyoming Livestock Roundup

north of Harrison, and son Levi and wife Sarah live in Torrington and run cows on the ranch.

Angus business Rod’s family has been in the registered Angus business for over 100 years. The Gray Family is in their seventh generation with grandchildren now coming up in the business.

Gray Angus Ranch sells about 150 yearling bulls and 50 head of twoyear-old bulls each year, on the third Saturday of March, at the ranch headquarters.

“The top 30 percent of our bull calves are carefully selected for the sale each year,” Gray explains.

“Cow data production, weaning and birth weights, soundness and performance all take a vital role in the 150 to 200 top-end of the yearlings and twoyear-old bulls offered at

our sale.”

Their ranch, which sits southwest of Harrison, is home to the Angus cowherd, where the cowherd is calved, heifers are developed and bulls are fed for the sale.

From calves, the Gray family carefully watches the development of their cattle.

Gray says, “We want our bulls to have a Milk EPD in the high teens or low 20s, and they need to marble well with a midsized rib eye.”

They also collect carcass ultrasound data as a means of producing desirable traits in their cattle.

With a focus on producing functional Angus bulls, the family looks for a six-frame bull maturing around 2,000 pounds.

Running the ranch “We run a handson operation,” Gray

Home-raised sire – Gray’s Cross Bar 640 is an example of a Gray’s Angus home-raised sire. His progeny are represented frequently in their bull sales. Courtesy photo

describes, noting they follow the development of the calves and performance of the dams throughout the year. “Performance and the ability to thrive are of utmost importance in maintaining our cowherd.”

The Gray family

strives for a cow that weighs between 1,250 and 1,350 pounds and is able to wean 50 percent of her body weight.

“Breeding back on time each year is also a priority,” Gray says.

“We keep a closed herd, bringing in fresh genetics through artificial insemination, and we raise our own herd sires,” Rod says.

The Gray’s rely on proven Sires and avoid chasing extremes.

“We’re in the business to make raising cattle profitable for us and for our customers,” Gray comments.

Getting started Rod and Laura started with 20 cows from Rod’s grandfather Harry Gray in Iowa that can be traced to his great-great grandparents Star and Eunice Fuller in 1898.

Spending his growing up years involved with the family’s registered Angus business in Iowa, Gray developed a passion for the beef industry early on.

He hired on with neighbor Kenyan Herefords and showed with them at the Chicago International Stock Show. He worked his way through college at South Dakota State University clipping bull sales and shows.

“I met many great people and clipped for them over the years,” Gray says, noting that he fit the Grand Champion bull and heifer at the 1978 National Western Stock Show.

The 26 Bar Ranch was part owner in the heifer, and Gray comments, “John Wayne was just an ordinary cattleman like the rest of the guy. He was great to work for, excited to have Grand Champion Heifer and wanted me to hire on.”

He continued, “I had just two months left to graduate from college, so I passed on the opportunity.”

Rod and brother Terry also showed a steer they raised and won Reserve Champion Angus Steer at Denver, produced by a bull Rod had bought at the Iowa State Show and Sale.

Industry involvement Gray has been actively involved in the cattle industry, serving on Junior and State Angus boards, State and National Independent Cattlemen Boards.

For the past eight years, Gray served on the Nebraska Beef Council, as well.

He says, “It was very informative, and there is a lot going on. I wanted to be involved in the decisions of where our beef check-off dollars where going.

“We can’t just change things, but being involved, we can bend the direction things are headed,” he comments. “I really encourage grassroots ranchers to get involved and let their voice be heard.”

Gray was picked as a Nebraska representative on the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) to Latin America, as well, and five years ago, he joined USMEF on a trip to Bogota, Columbia. Since then, he has been to Guatemala, Costa Rico, Peru and Panama with them, representing ranchers.

Gray says, “Latin America is a prominent, growing market for our high quality U.S. meat products.”

Saige Albert compiled this article on Gray’s Angus Ranch. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.

A13

2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Bushnell, Neb. – Bill and Virginia Halligan have found their own unique agricultural niche starting a sheep dairy.

The Halligans started the Irish Cream Sheep Dairy in 1995, after raising sheep for 30 years. The U.S. only has about 150 commercial sheep dairies, so what they do is considered unique.

With help from their son, Cody and several employees, the Bushnell, Neb. couple milks about 650 ewes and feeds more than 1,000 bum lambs.

Starting in the business The Halligans started the dairy with just 20 Dorset ewes, which were good milkers and known as outof-season breeders.

Halligan then purchased breeds of ewes known for their milking ability to add to his sheep dairy. The Dorset ewes were crossed with two other milking breeds, East Friesian, which originates in Holland, and Lacaune, which originates in France.

The East Friesian breed is also known for out-of-season breeding, as well.

Breeding challenges One of the biggest obstacles in operating a sheep dairy is creating a year-long supply of milk.

Sheep are known as seasonal breeders, so using breeds that can breed outof-season is important, Halligan says.

Their goal is three lamb crops every two years and a 200 percent lamb crop.

The ewes can also be difficult to inseminate because their cervix is crooked and at an awkward angle, Halligan says.

Artificially inseminating a ewe can be expensive and time consuming.

The ewe has to be flipped upside down in a chute, and artificially inseminated using a syringe that is inserted through the belly into the uterus.

It is also difficult to find dairy sheep semen, because bloodlines are limited, and importing it from sheep dairy countries like France can be difficult, he explains.

Milking the ewes The ewes are milked twice a day, and the milk goes into a bulk tank. From there, employees measure and bag the milk into five gallon bags that are laid flat and frozen. The whey can be frozen for up to a year at -15 degrees Fahrenheit, and Halligan describes its consistency similar to ice cream.

They have a grade A dairy, so they are inspected.

Sheep milk is much more concentrated, Halligan explains, and they only sell it to certified creameries.

Sheep milk has 50 percent more protein than other milks, which means it only takes five pounds of milk to produce a one

pound block of cheese.

Cow and goat milk take 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese.

During peak production, the milk is shipped to California every other week, once they have enough to fill a refrigerated semi-trailer.

When it arrives at the creamery, it is made into several varieties of cheese, like Blue Roquefort and Feta. Some is also used to make yogurt.

Since the family also farms, they try to raise as much of their feed, as possible.

“We feed a lot of hay, corn silage and grain to keep the sheep milking well,” Halligan says. “We don’t have a dairy sheep nutritionist, but we consult with a dairy cow nutritionist.”

Bum lambs The operation also raises bum lambs. Halligan says he has experimented with different ways of feeding bum lambs and feels the system he has

now works best.

“We tried the LacTek system, which mixes and warms the milk, but it required a lot of maintenance,” he says. “We also tried different milk replacers, but many of them were powder that lacked protein.

A lot of lambs died.”

Halligan now uses principles from the Spooner Agricultural Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for raising lambs. Researchers at the university looked into how to raise bum lambs and, based on their research findings, developed a management program. Halligan was able to implement and successfully use this program to raise bum lambs.

Feeding system All the ewes are milked, and none of them raise lambs, Halligan says. The lambs are taken from the ewes at birth and placed in a small pen in a heated room.

The lamb is tubed with good colostrum at five percent of its body weight.

It is fed twice in the first eight hours, and then every four to six hours for the next 16 hours.

Halligan says they use a big drenching gun with a catheter.

After the last tubing, the lamb is taught how to suck a nipple and is then moved over to milk, supplied by a small herd of Jersey cows.

“We use the Jersey milk because it provides the lambs with milk that has higher fat content,” he says. “I don’t think this system would work as well with Holsteins.”

The lambs are fed through a gravity flow system containing a series of sterile tubing and nipples that deliver warm milk from the cows. The system is serviced every day and thoroughly cleaned every three to four days, Halligan says.

Milk is provided for the lambs whenever they are hungry.

“We control intake by always having feed in front of them,” he says. “They don’t overeat because they never run out of feed.”

He also starts the lambs

on a high protein pellet with Deccox by one week of age.

Raising lambs The lambs are sized and kept in pens of 35 head.

At two weeks, they increase the pen size to 50 lambs per pen. The pens are kept clean, with dry bedding and clean air. Providing clean water is also important, he says.

Halligan also recommends giving the lambs three C, D and T shots by 100 pounds, and one cubic centimeter (cc) of penicillin orally.

The lambs should also be vaccinated for sore mouth.

After 30 days, the lambs are weaned and put onto a feed grain diet.

Some of the ewe lambs are kept as replacements and the rest are sold as feeder lambs.

Gayle Smith is a correspondent for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.

Sheep dairy - Bill Halligan’s unique sheep dairy proves to be challenging from time to time, but he explains they are able to sell both sheep milk, which is primarily used in cheesemaking, and a lamb crop. Gayle Smith photo

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Morrill, Neb. – For the last 25 years, Bryan Rice and his family have carried on the process of buying light calves and turning them into robust yearlings at Arrow Crown Angus.

“Basically, we buy the light calves people don’t intend to raise and put them in our grow yard until they’re yearlings,” states Rice.

History Growing up, Rice was raised on Rice Livestock, which his parents Galen and Bonnie started in the 1950s.

“My dad was born in 1930 at the start of the

Great Depression. When he was 12, he started raising rabbits and selling them in Cheyenne to make a little money,” Rice recalls.

“As a teenager and into his early 20s, my dad trained horses,” he says.

“When he was 19, my dad lost his father while training for the Korean War, so he was honorably discharged from the Army.”

Rice continues, “By his mid-20s, he leased a ranch and started buying light calves and feeding them, like we do today.”

After high school, Rice went to the University of

Wyoming and earned a degree in accounting and then worked as a certified public accountant, among other jobs, until 1990, when he and his wife Donna went back to work for Rice Livestock.

“I worked for my dad for three more years until 1993, when Donna and I started our own cattle feeding business, Arrow Crown Cattle Company,” Rice explains.

“By 1997, my dad retired and split the Rice Livestock land between his three children – Larry, Sherri and I,” Rice says.

“Essentially, we lease the

land from my parents and use it in for Arrow Crown Angus.”

In 2008, after buying a few registered Angus cows, Arrow Crown Cattle Company started their registered Angus operation, Arrow Crown Angus.

Currently, Arrow Crown Angus employs three full-time employees, including Rice’s daughter Laura Green and her husband Aaron Green.

Cattle herd Arrow Crown Angus has been in the feeder cattle business since Bryan and Donna Rice started the

ranch, but about 10 years ago, the family decided to get started in the registered Angus business, as well.

“We started the registered Angus herd by buying 43 registered cows from a dispersal from Snake Creek Ranch. Three years later, we purchased an additional 50 registered cows from the Flag Ranch dispersal,” he says.

Since then, their registered Angus herd has grown to 200 registered cows, Rice mentions.

“Basically, Arrow Crown Angus works at opposite ends of the cattle

industry. On one hand, we take light calves that are of good quality but need special attention, and we grow them into yearlings.

Then, we also have what we believe to be some of the best Angus cattle and breed the cows to the best bulls available to produce cutting edge genetics,” Rice states.

To help manage the Angus herd and feeder cattle, Border Collies are used daily, along with fourwheelers, motorcycles and horses, according to Rice.

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2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Continued from previous page have roughly 1,500 feeder cattle and 200 registered Angus cows to manage,” he mentions, noting 300 to 600 of the feeder cattle are on full feed in a partnership with another good friend and cattle feeder.

Diversified market “Arrow Crown Angus is blessed with the opportunity to sell cattle yearround instead of once or twice a year, like many family-sized operations,” Rice states. “Cattle markets can be volatile, and selling only occasionally can put producers in a bad spot if the market turns against them.”

The ranch also owns 300 acres of irrigated corn where the feeder calves and registered cowherd graze during the winter.

Arrow Crown Angus sells their registered Angus bulls in February by private treaty, with an online sale for the top 25 bulls scheduled for the second Monday of February each year. The bulls are usually delivered in late March or early April, according to Rice.

Overcoming hurdles Agriculture has its own set of challenges and is not a friendly environment for small businesses, notes Rice.

“Whether a producer makes a good living or not depends as much on a good business plan as it does on hard work,” he explains.

Taxation and weather are other issues producers in western Nebraska face, says Rice.

“Nebraska struggles with funding for the government and schools, so small business owners end up paying more taxes.

We’re six miles from the

Wyoming border and definitely pay more taxes than our neighbors in Wyoming,” states Rice.

Despite the many challenges, Rice says one of the main goals for Arrow Crown Angus is to provide beneficial bulls for their customers.

“With the Angus herd, if our cattle don’t compliment our customers’ herds and the bulls aren’t a benefit, then I am done,” he states.

Rice notes he enjoys agriculture and feels like his ranch is a place where he can serve God and his customers well.

When the time for retirement comes, Rice says, “Nothing would delight me more than to continue producing 70 to 80 bulls a year that do great for our customers.”

Family Through the good and bad times, Arrow Crown Angus is centered on family.

“We have always tried to keep our faith in God and our commitment to family central to our business because this is a family operation,” Rice states.

Bryan and Donna have four children, Kyle and his wife Jessica, Katie, Laura Green and her husband Aaron, and Nathan and his wife Payton.

Laura and Aaron have two sons, Aidon and Landon, and Nathan has one son, Brayden.

“Now that we have grandchildren, we have a fresh perspective on the future. Our hope is to have the honor of passing our business and operation on to them,” says Rice.

He also believes finding ways to enjoy the dayto-day occurrences on

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“I have always been in agriculture. My family has always been involved

in agriculture,” Rice adds.

“Honestly, our future plans revolve around creatively finding ways to enjoy the agricultural way

of life with our family and others.”

Visit the Arrow Crown Angus website at acangus. com for more information.

Heather Loraas is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at heather@wylr.net.

Moving cows – Bryan Rice (on horseback) and Arrow Crown Angus employees use horses, motorcycles, Border Collies and four-wheelers to handle cattle almost every day. Laura Green photo

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Hay Springs, Neb. – In 1888, the Marcy family moved from Rowley, Iowa to the edge of the Nebraska Sandhills just south of Hay Springs. They homesteaded the ranch in 1887 and moved West for the opportunity the land offered.

“We still use the original quarter my great-grandparents homesteaded,” Tom Marcy, fourth generation on the ranch, says.

Today, the Marcy family runs a diverse operation, seeking to utilize their extensive feed resources the best way possible.

The ranch “Our ranch is a little unbalanced in that we’re very long in feed but short of grass,” Marcy says.

“We’re surrounded on three sides by farm ground. To expand our pasture, the only way we can go is east.”

The family has purchased hay and pasture land, and they separate the ranch into three different enterprises – farming, registered cattle and yearlings.

The farming aspect of the operation originates from the very beginning of the ranch, and Marcy says, “The farm has changed a lot in the last 60 years.”

With irrigated and dryland acres, the family is able to produce more than enough feed to sustain their cattle operation throughout the year.

They plant corn, alfalfa and triticale, which is a ryewheat hybrid. They also plant small grains, depending on water availability that year.

“We started using triticale in 2017, and we’ll harvest enough to have seed and sell some seed,” Marcy says, explaining triticale is more aggressive than wheat and is a better feed than rye, making it a nice cross. “We plant the seed behind corn silage or irrigated alfalfa.”

The majority of the farm ground is either irrigated corn or irrigated alfalfa.

They also hire the bulk of the farm work out, allowing them to focus on the cattle operation.

“We also have enough pasture to run our purebred cows and registered heifers on deeded ground,” Marcy explains.

At the heart With the farmland as the land base, Marcy Cattle Company, owned by Tom and his wife Kim, and Tom’s brother George, who owns Marcy Livestock Company, have hosted a bull sale for 57 years.

George served as an American Angus Association regional manager in Wyoming and Montana and, during that time, really learned the Angus business.

He now lives in Fort Collins, Colo. and manages reg-

istered Angus sales. George also brings years of experience in Angus sales to help the joint purebred operation.

The Marcy brothers breed their cattle to the same bulls to ensure continuity in their herds. After weaning, the cattle are run together, and bulls from both herds sell in the late January sale.

The brothers work together in nearly every aspect of the purebred operation, capturing each other’s strengths to benefit both businesses.

“We’ve always sold bulls. Our sale is the fourth Thursday in January, and we take the bulls to Gordon, Neb. for the sale,” Marcy says. “We sell about 150 yearling bulls and 35 twoyear-olds.”

“We really look at the bulls as a by-product, though,” he explains. “Ultimately, we’re trying to raise the very best female we can.”

Their registered Black Angus herd of cows consists of deep, easy-fleshing cattle that are top in terms of performance.

“For a lot of our customers, the Angus bull is a terminal cross, so they want size and growth,” Marcy says. “We don’t focus on birthweight, but we keep it reasonable.”

Each year, the Marcys sell two-year-old bulls in their sale to hit a specific group of customers.

“We keep about 60 bulls every year to run over to twos,” he says. “Then, we’ll sort off 25 to sell private treaty, cull or keep for ourselves. It’s tough to find a herd bull in June if something happens to one of our bulls, so we keep a few extra just in case. We want to always have a bull that can advance our herd.”

Running yearlings “The registered cattle get a lot of ink and a lot of work, but we run yearlings, too,” Marcy says. “The advantage of being surrounded by farm ground is, we have a lot of calves out on cornstalks.”

Four years ago, Marcy also added a backgrounding yard to the operation to continue to utilize their extra feed even more efficiently.

“We needed to sell feed, and my goal is everything we grow would walk off the ranch in the form of beef,” Marcy explains. “We still sell some cash corn, though.”

“We bring in steers, and many of them are our bull customer’s cattle,” he says, adding the steers are fed to 1,000 pounds before being sold.

Along with the feed grown on the ranch, they buy dried distillers’ grains to supplement the cattle.

“We can’t grow as much

alfalfa as we’d like when it’s dry, so we truck in protein,” Marcy says. “We want to see good growth on the yearlings, but we also want to leave something for the next guy to put on. It makes them easier to sell.”

Cattle buying To bring in yearlings, Marcy spends a lot of time in sale barns starting in early October purchasing cattle.

“I started out buying yearlings for us, and then I started buying for some neighbors,” Marcy says. “I thought, this is a good deal, so now I buy for two or three large feedyards and 15 or 20 area operators.”

He continues, “To get the deal on yearlings, we have to be at the sale barn, so I go to sales Monday

through Friday.”

Embracing the challenges Today, Marcy Cattle Company’s cowherd is smaller than it has been in the past, though they’re working to build it back.

“When Kim was diagnosed with cancer, we sold half of our females, and we sold every heifer that was carrying a heifer calf,” Marcy says. “She’s cancerfree today, and we’re building back a bit.”

Using embryo transfer, the Marcys are able to quickly rebuild using proven genetics.

“I have embryos in the tank we can put in and know we’re getting great calves,” he says.

However, Marcy also acknowledges the future is “murky.”

With his oldest son living in North Platte, Neb. where he and his wife both have good jobs, Marcy isn’t

Marcy family - Tom and Kim Marcy (center) have three children and three grandchildren. Though the family lives off the ranch today, they were raised on the operation. Today, Tom runs a herd of purebred Angus cattle with his brother George, who lives in Fort Collins, Colo. Saige Albert photo

sure who will take over the ranch.

“I don’t see the family ever selling the place, even if we end up leasing it longterm,” he says. “Production agriculture is the greatest job in the world, but it’s the worst job for someone who’s passion doesn’t lie in raising cattle.”

“We’ll continue rais-

ing cattle for at least another five years, and then we’ll see where we go next,” Marcy emphasizes. “I love raising cattle.”

Learn more about Marcy Cattle Company at marcycattlecompany.com.

Saige Albert is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at saige@wylr.net.

B2

Oshkosh, Neb. – Registered Herefords are a way of life for the Van Newkirk family.

It all started in 1892, when Joe Van Newkirk’s grandfather settled in Oshkosh, Neb. “Back in the day, my granddad LD was a John Bratt cowboy, which was a famous ranch in this area.

Then, he started his own herd of Longhorn cows that he kept breeding to Herefords,” states Joe Van Newkirk, owner of Van Newkirk Herefords.

After many years Van Newkirk’s father AJ, the youngest son, paved his own path and decided to start a registered purebred Hereford operation.

“When my parents first started out in 1940, they had Holstein cows for 15 to 20 years and sold the milk to grow their

Wyoming Livestock Roundup

Hereford cowherd. They also had 250 to 300 sheep they raised to help pay the bills,” Van Newkirk says.

He explains his two older brothers helped out on their family’s ranch, but when they graduated from college, they went their own way into the oil field and real estate business. His sister taught elementary school and eventually retired.

“Eventually, the sheep and Holsteins were sold, and the ranch transitioned into a non-diversified, purebred Hereford bull operation,” he adds.

Since he was little, Van Newkirk knew all he wanted to do was ranch.

“This is a great place to raise a family, and a living can be made ranching.

There’s nothing better, as far as I’m concerned,” he states.

Cattle herd Van Newkirk and his wife Cyndi have run the ranch since 1985 and, along with long-time ranch hand Travis Kezar and their son Kolby, have expanded their registered Hereford herd.

“Our youngest son Kolby came back to the ranch about four years ago with his wife Meg and children Barrett and Sloan to help out on the ranch,” notes Van Newkirk.

“The ranch has 600 registered Hereford cows, but the main aspect of the ranch is that we sell about 200 to 220 two-year-old purebred Herefords bulls at the annual bull sale in January,” Van Newkirk states. “Usually, 65 of the bulls are sold as yearlings and are the more elite bulls out of the calf crop.”

Every year, the Van

Family – The Van Newkirk family includes (left to right) Celine Mesquida and Nick, Sara, Cyndi, Joe, Meg, Barrett and Kolby Van Newkirk. Cyndi Van Newkirk photo

Newkirks also sell 20 registered heifer calves and about 125 to 130 commercial heifer calves, which are born from registered

cows but are not sold with papers.

Operation Starting around Feb. 1, work starts to pick up on the ranch as calving season begins, according to Van Newkirk.

“We calve the heifers at the same time as the

older cows because we might as well calve them all when the females are being watched most of the time anyways,” explains Van Newkirk. “Calving ends by the middle of April, and the calves are branded at about the same Continued on next page

Feeding – Van Newkirk Hereford calves and cows enjoy feeding time out on the range. Cyndi Van Newkirk photo

B3

2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Ag in Nebraska Van Newkirk says their Hereford herd is expanding slowly, which is good news because they want to set a foundation for future generations.

“Our main goal is to be sustainable both environmentally and financially,” he states. “The ranch sits in the Sandhills of Nebraska, which are very sandy, and the ground needs to be taken care of.”

Trying to not overgraze the land and implementing wise farming practices is the way to go, according to Van Newkirk, so more than just grass can survive.

“We are very conscious of the manage-

Continued from previous page time, as well.”

Out of 600 cows, about 120 are heifers, Van Newkirk says, and during calving, the cows and heifers are brought in and fed hay because they are in smaller pastures and don’t have a lot of room graze.

“By the middle of May, the cows are taken out to grass pastures and will graze all summer into the first part of October,” Van Newkirk states. “The calves aren’t fed creep feed because we want the cows to raise their calves without a lot of help. Since there is a rigid culling process, we want to be able to evaluate the cows more accurately.”

The operation also has irrigated alfalfa and cornfields, which are harvested for hay and silage for the cattle to be fed during the winter.

“Overall, the Herefords graze nine months out of the year and are only fed hay for three months during calving season.

About 10 miles from the ranch, there is some farm ground where we trail the cattle, which shortens the hay feeding period,” says Van Newkirk.

“None of the cattle have to leave the ranch,” he adds. “In January, we have our annual bull sale, and we start all over again in February.”

ment decisions we make because sustainability is a big concern for most people, including this ranch,” Van Newkirk adds. “Ultimately, we want to keep the ranch sustainable for the environment and our family.”

The good and the bad Operating in western Nebraska has both challenges and benefits for producers who call it home.

“This area has a very temperate climate where it can get very cold but typically doesn’t last very long,” Van Newkirk notes.

He also says, despite a severe drought in 201112, western Nebraska isn’t prone to many prolonged droughts, which is good

L

for producers.

“The drought of 201112 was really a challenge but it made everyone a better steward of the land,” he adds.

Another challenges Van Newkirk believes affects western Nebraska is taxes.

“Property taxes are the number one concern in Nebraska,” he states. “I figured out one cow costs about $167 a year just in real estate taxes.”

Water pumping limitations for irrigation are also a drawback, but Van Newkirk

believes the limitations to be necessary.

Regardless, he says, “I’ve traveled and visited a lot of cattle operations across the country and wouldn’t trade any of them for this country to raise cattle in.”

Visit vannewkirkherefords.com for more information on the Van Newkirk family and their ranch.

Heather Loraas is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at heather@ wylr.net.

R

aramie County Fai Wyoming’s Oldest & Largest County Fair

Let the Good Times Grow July 30 - August 2, 2018

at the Laramie County Fairgrounds at Archer

August 4-11, 2018 at Frontier Park Find us on

For more information, please visit

www.LaramieCountyFair.com Bulls – Travis Kezar and Kolby Van Newkirk, on horseback, gathered the Van Newkirk bulls on the family ranch near Oshkosh, Neb. Cyndi Van Newkirk photo

The weekly news source for Wyoming’s Ranchers, Farmers and AgriBusiness Community

To advertise in the Roundup, call 800-967-1647.

WEEKLY EDITION Weekly Advertising/Copy Deadline: Wednesdays by Noon Weekly editions mail every Saturday.

Volume 29 Number 33 • December 16, 2017

®

The Weekly News Source for Wyoming’s Ranchers, Farmers and AgriBusiness Community • www.wylr.net

The Wyoming Association of Conservation Districts recognized partners for their service over the last year..Page 7 Cowboy advice from years past is provided in this week’s “Postcard from the Past.”.........................Page 10

Quick Bits EPA Reporting U.S. farmers will spend an estimated $14.9 million a year reporting to federal emergency managers that livestock are releasing gas, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) disclosed on Dec. 11. EPA also projected that the mandate, set to take effect Jan. 22, will apply to approximately 44,900 farms, though producer groups say they’re still sorting out which operations will have to report.

Forest Service sees 2017 as big year for Bighorn sheep, domestic sheep The ongoing conflict between Bighorn sheep and domestic sheep continues in Wyoming, and in 2017, two “significant events” occurred, said Terry Padilla, U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Region IV range director, during a Dec. 12 meeting of the Wyo-

ming Bighorn Sheep-Domestic Sheep Interaction Working Group in Lander.

“I would argue these events were as significant as the famous Payette decision in 2009,” Padilla said.

Specifically, Padilla pointed to two court deci-

USDA Honor

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been rated by employees as among the top 10 best places to work in the federal government, moving up two notches to come in at 7th place in the 2017 rankings. That is an improvement over 2016’s rankings, when USDA came in tied for 9th place.

NAFTA Support Farmers are taking to Twitter to plead with President Donald Trump to support the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Using #Farmers4NAFTA, farmers and farm groups are tweeting about the benefits of the agreement. In 2016, Canada was the top destination for U.S. agricultural products, and Mexico was 3rd.

Since NAFTA began, U.S. ag exports to Mexico and Canada have more than quadrupled, from $8.9 billion in 1993 to $38.6 billion in 2015.

thing similar to Wyoming’s Bighorn Sheep Plan in other states if we’re going to prevail on Bighorn sheep and domestic sheep objectives, in our region. We desire to continue, as a multiple use region, domestic sheep grazPlease see SHEEP on page 4

PROMOTING AGRICULTURE Zimmerman discusses ANCW and presidency

Casper – Penny Zimmerman, American National CattleWomen (ANCW) president, spoke at the Nov. 27 luncheon for the Wyoming Natural Resources Rendezvous reminiscing on her time as the ANCW president and serving the organization.

“It has been exciting to meet people and CattleWomen across the country,” said Zimmerman.

Confirmation Joseph Balash was confirmed as the Assistance Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management last week. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Public Lands Council praised the confirmation, noting the position is critical to the operation of western ranches and adding that they hope to see prioritization of other pending appointments.

sions – one from the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest and one from the Caribou Targhee Forest – as having implications for the future of Bighorn sheep management in the West.

“Moving forward, I feel very strongly we need some-

Background Zimmerman is originally from Minneapolis, Minn. but went to college at Arizona State University, where she met her husband. They lived in Arizona, Utah, Idaho and Nevada over the course of 12 years.

She was an elementary school teacher for 28 years before she retired to focus on being ANCW president.

“My family grew used to the West and the culture, which is obviously different from Minnesota, but we enjoyed meeting people very much,” Zimmerman said. “We moved back to Minnesota, and my kids became involved in 4-H. I started them off with sheep because they are smaller and easier to handle than cattle.”

Now, consumers are two or three generations removed from agriculture, which Zimmerman believes is a problem because they have no idea what agriculture is and how they are affected by it every day.

“I remember my daughter had friends over one night, and they laid on these small square bales of hay in the barn watching our sheep during lambing season. My daughter didn’t think much of it, but her friends, who were not involved with agriculture, watched a few lambs be born. They would go, ‘Oh cool’ or, ‘Oh yuck,’ but they were learning about the Please see ANCW on page 14 Luncheon – Penny Zimmerman delivered a speech at the Nov. 27 luncheon for Wyoming Natural Resources Rendezvous attendees in Casper. Heather Loraas photo

Grizzly bear management

SPECIAL EDITIONS

ee

Celebrities and the cattle business go hand-in-hand, says Lee Pitts...............Page 5

Fr

A Look Inside Pore space is a private property right, according to Bethany A. Gross of Budd-Falen Law Office....................Page 2

WGFD opens conversation to the public Since the recent delisting of grizzly bears from the endangered species list, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) held nine public meetings to gather input from the public.

WGFD asked the public to identify issues with the Wyoming grizzly bear management plan and provide ideas and suggestions for changes the public would like to see in the management plan.

The last public meeting was held as a Facebook live event on Dec. 5, titled “Grizzly Bear Management Conversation,” where people could comment and ask questions in real time.

WGFD Communications Director Renny MacKay, WGFD Wildlife Division Chief Brian Nesvik and WGFD Large Carnivore Program Supervisor Dan Thompson hosted the event.

“This is a very exciting time in the history of grizzly bear recovery, and WGFD is glad to be having these conversations, which we hope will continue the grizzly bear dialogue,” said MacKay. Delisting Nesvik discussed how

Rocky Mountain Horse Edition Advertising/Copy Deadline: April 20, 2018 Insert Date: May 26, 2018

Wyoming Seedstock Directory Advertising/Copy Deadline: June 20, 2018

Please see GRIZZLY on page 6

Parker honored by NAAE On Dec. 8, the National Association for Agriculture Educators (NAAE) presented the NAAE Lifetime Achievement Award to the late Tom Parker, and Tom’s wife Linda accepted the award on his behalf.

“Students remember him as a firm but positive figure in their lives,” said the announcer during an award ceremony that day.

Parker taught in Cody and Torrington High Schools for 15 years before spending 22 years at Casper College, and his influence extended beyond Wyoming’s borders, according to the award nomination.

“Finding the positive in any situation was a hallmark of Tom’s 37-year career in agriculture education,” NAAE added.

“Tom’s passion for agriculture education radiated far beyond state lines.”

NAAE commented, “Tom’s legacy of commitment to agricultural education will show in generations of agriculturalists to come.”

Spragg keeps western lifestyle through art, decor Glenrock – It started out with a rusted out oblong tank, some old barn wood and a few other odds and ends. While most people would look at these items and think dump, Jim Spragg saw something else.

“I’ve had a lot of hobbies over the years,” the Glenrock crafter explains.

“I’m not a master at anything, but I dabble in everything.”

“I was involved in team roping when I was younger,” he explains.

“We’ve always had horses, and I enjoy the western lifestyle and way of life.”

It makes Spragg sad to see that way of life disappearing more each day, so to help keep it alive, he finds ways to re-purpose old western items into something people can use.

The oblong tank, for example, became a western bench that has become so popular he can hardly keep them in stock.

Learning to create Before moving to Wyoming, Spragg lived in California, less than an hour outside Los Angeles. While he was there, Spragg had a trucking business.

“I learned how to do things like simple mechanics and welding because I couldn’t always afford to have everything done for me,” he explains. “I’ve always liked making things with wood, and recently, I started blacksmithing.”

Spragg also enjoys working with leather and has made a few saddles.

“Anything I am interested in, I hope

1

Please see SPRAGG on page 15

periodical

eo Progra

Rod e Fair and ming Stat

m Guide

2017 Wyo Education honor – Linda Parker (second from right) accepted the National Association of Agriculture Educators (NAAE) Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of her late husband Tom. The award was presented by NAAE Region I Vice-President Chad Masser (left) and NAAE President Scot Stone (right). Courtesy photo

periodical

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B4

Bridgeport, Neb. – For three generations, members of the Kraupie family have been auctioneers in one way or another.

Wyoming Livestock Roundup

Kraupie’s Real Estate and Auctioneers started in the 1958 with Harold Kraupie, the first generation of Kraupie auctioneers.

“As the story goes, my dad Harold, was working on a ranch in Garden County, Neb. trailing cattle to be shipped off to market

Family business – At the Nebraska Auctioneers Convention, the Kraupie family, (left to right) Jake, Darrell, Alecia, Stacy and Del Ray posed for a family picture. Not pictured is Kristen Kraupie. Courtesy photo

when he realized there had to be a better way to make a living,” states Darrell Kraupie, owner of Kraupie’s Real Estate and Auctioneers. “Then, dad decided to go to auctioneer school in 1958.”

Harold and wife Evelyn started running auctions in 1958, and each received their real estate license in the mid-1960s, according to Kraupie. Then, the couple opened Kraupie’s Real Estate and Auctioneers and worked for other real estate brokers.

Involving the family “Our business will always be a family affair,” states Kraupie, who became interested in being an auctioneer at 12 years old after selling a piece of farm equipment at an auction.

After high school, Darrell went to college on a rodeo scholarship to Lamar Community College in Colorado. He worked for his parents in high school and started working full-time for the family business in

1975.

Kraupie and his wife Alecia bought Kraupie’s Real Estate and Auctioneers from Harold and Evelyn in 1998 and have owned and operated the business for 20 years.

“I didn’t go to auctioneer school, but when I was in college, there was an auctioneer class I signed up for,” Kraupie says. “The teacher was Dick Hess, a regional champion livestock auctioneer from southern Colorado.”

“Really, my schooling came from dad. In between horse sales, my dad and I would practice selling telephone poles or anything we saw driving down the road,” recalls Kraupie.

Kraupie’s family is involved in the business, including their three children Jake, Kristen, Del Ray and his wife Stacey.

“Del Ray, Jake and I are auctioneers, which is three generations of auctioneers,” says Kraupie. “Kristen is the technology guru, and Stacey comes and helps out when she can.”

Real estate auctioneers Real estate, farm machinery and estate sales are the main services Kraupie’s Real Estate and Auctioneers provides, according to Kraupie.

“We sell all types of real estate but focus on agriculture real estate,” he states, noting they have sold land in almost every county in the Nebraska panhandle and the surrounding areas.

Customers seek out the Kraupies, who go out and look at the property then determine what the customer’s goals are for the sale, Kraupie explains.

“We try to define the customer’s needs and then proceed from there because we are pretty knowledgeable about the farm ground in this area,” he adds.

Usually, auctions are held on the property for sale, but farm equipment is also displayed for customers online during the live auction.

The ranch Kraupies also operate a ranch where they raise black crossbred and Corriente cattle.

“My dad bought the biggest pasture in the early 70s, and I purchased the land after his passing in 2006,” Kraupie says. “The ranch is also a family affair.”

On the ranch, there are 90 crossbred and Corriente cows. Plus, 50 yearling cattle and 100 head of Corriente calves are kept on site, according to Kraupie.

Both Del Ray and Jake are professional steer wrestlers, so a few Corriente calves are kept on the ranch for practice, he adds.

“When Dad had the pasture, he ran Charolais and crossbred cattle, but we switched to crossbred cattle and brought in the Corriente cattle when the boys were in youth rodeo about 20 years ago,” Kraupie explains.

Calving season starts on the ranch in March, he

adds, and the cattle graze on cornstalks and alfalfa hay grown on 200 acres of pivot-irrigated farmland.

“By the time May rolls around, the cows are moved to hard grass pastures and graze until the middle of October. At the end of October, the calves are sold right off the cow,” notes Kraupie.

Once the cornfields and hay are harvested, the cows are gathered to graze on the cornstalks and fed hay for the winter, he mentions.

Change and challenge Both the ranch and Kraupie’s Real Estate and Auctioneers have experienced changes and challenges, according to Kraupie.

“There seem to be fewer farmers across the country, which means fewer farms to sell,” he states.

The economic climate of the farming industry right now is the biggest challenge for the Kraupie’s real estate business, along with high taxes.

“Real estate taxes in Nebraska are high and have an effect on property value, which we have to consider,” states Kraupie.

“For the ranch, the biggest issue is maintaining an environment where money can be made from ranching.

The economics of ranching in western Nebraska are difficult,” he notes.

Overall, the Kraupie’s ranch and business have changed, as well.

“Computers have been the biggest change for the business, with the addition of online live auctions,” Kraupie says. “The auctions have become a mix of providing live and online auctions, so buyers will participate.”

The addition of the Corriente cattle is the biggest change on the ranch, states Kraupie, because they eat less grass while maintaining the range with fewer animals.

Moving forward In the future, Kraupie wants to maintain the integrity and honesty in Kraupie’s Real Estate and Auctioneers. He also wants to expand the ranch and hopes his sons buy their own ranches and expand, as well.

“Staying competitive in the real estate market and keeping up with technology are my main goals for the business. We would like to see another generation of auctioneers,” he states.

Kraupie says he grew up in the agriculture industry and really enjoys working with people.

“I’ve stayed in agriculture because I enjoy working with people. We take pride in helping people sell their property and meet their goals,” he notes. “The best job I know about is the one I have.”

For more information, visit farmauction.net for more information.

Heather Loraas is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at heather@wylr.net.

B5

2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Hemingford, Neb. – Thirty miles north of Scottsbluff, Neb. on the rangeland, Ken and Linda Stangle have called Kenneth Stangle Herefords home for close to 22 years.

“We bought our first acreage in 1996. Every couple years, land close by became available, and we were able to expand,” states Ken Stangle, owner of Kenneth Stangle Herefords.

Before buying their own place, Ken and Linda worked for another operation close by called the Watson Ranch.

“For 25 years, we worked at the Watson Ranch,” adds Ken. “The place we own now is great because it was close enough we could work at the Watson Ranch and have our own place.”

Ken has always had Hereford cattle since he was young, according to Linda.

“Ken’s parents, Tom and Joyce Stangle, had Hereford cattle, so he’s always been around and had Herefords,” she says. “We have been married for over 30 years and have always had cattle but worked for other ranches.”

While working for Watson Ranch, Stangle managed his own herd of registered Hereford cattle and sold a few bulls, too.

Today, only Ken and Linda are involved in the operation, but they hope their four children, Jason Stangle, April Young, Jodi Peterson and Casey Stangle, will come back and be involved.

Stangle Ranch Most of the cattle on Kenneth Stangle Herefords are registered purebred horned Herefords, but five years ago, the Stangles decided to stop registering their cattle.

“A lot of the cows are registered, purebred Herefords,” Linda states. “We stopped registering the cattle because we don’t agree with some of the changes made in the Hereford registration process.”

Their herd consists of 250 to 275 cattle, comprised of 25 bulls, with the rest being cows and replacement heifers.

Calving season starts in February on the Stangle’s operation and hopefully ends by the middle of March, according to Ken. “After calving season, we have our bull sale and try to get all the calves branded, as well,” he adds.

“At the annual bull sale in the spring, around 25 Hereford bulls and half of the heifer calves are sold,” says Linda,

adding steer calves are sold on a video auction for delivery in the fall.

Summer months By the time the middle of May rolls around, the cattle are moved to the summer pasture to graze.

“I have a job during the summer to make a little extra income, which works well because the cattle are out to pasture. Plus, it’s not really feasible to have a job during the winter,” Linda mentions.

Stangle states they also have 150 acres of leased and owned farmland where pivotirrigated alfalfa is grown for the cattle.

“We start putting up the alfalfa hay in the middle of June, and haying season usually goes until the beginning of September,” he adds.

The cows are brought back from the summer pasture in September, and calves are preconditioned at that time, as well.

“At the start of October, the steer calves are sold right off the cow. Then, we wean the heifer calves by the end of October,” Ken states.

Consistency According to Stangle, nothing major has changed in their operation over the last 20 years.

“When the kids were young, we had the registered Herefords and would go to a lot of livestock shows in Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska,” adds Linda. “Now, it’s easier with just Ken and I to have the bull sale and not got all the livestock shows.”

Challenges Ken mentions there have also been many challenges over the years for their operation.

“Our main challenge is finding ground to lease or rent.

Trying to find ground for lease is hard, and the price is usually awfully expensive,” he explains, adding all the bigger operations have bought out smaller places.

“A small operator can’t compete with the bigger operations, which tend to have more capital than most ranches do,” he states.

Linda adds, “The land prices have gotten out of hand. It would be nice to see younger couples in this area, but there are only big operations. Smaller ranches just aren’t available for anyone to get started.”

Weather is also a challenge in western Nebraska, according to Ken.

Since Ken and Linda Stangle have owned Kenneth Stangle Herefords, they have tried to harvest native hay.

“Someone a long time ago must have drilled or planted the native grass hay areas, but the last couple years, late May freezes killed the crop,” says Ken Stangle.

The native hay is either crested wheatgrass or intermediate wheatgrass, which cattle like, he notes.

Stangle mentions, while working at the Watson Ranch, they tried to plant some native hay, but the hay is dependent on moisture.

“When we planted the native hay at the Watson Ranch, there just wasn’t enough moisture, so the plants didn’t grow very well,” he explains, noting with a dependence on weather, their native hay isn’t reliable year to year.

“Whether it’s a good or bad year, the weather always seems to be a challenge,” he explains.

Another hurdle is the cattle prices in the cow/calf market, notes Ken, who says smaller operations are on the bottom of the totem pole, so they don’t have any input on the prices.

The future Both Ken and Linda hope to keep their ranch for many generations to come and to keep producing high-quality Hereford cattle.

“We want to produce high-quality Herefords and bulls that will work well for commercial cattlemen. Most of our customers have black cattle and want the high-quality baldy calves they can get from our Hereford bulls,” states Linda.

“In the future, we just want to raise our Hereford cattle. Hopefully, one of our kids comes back and tries to expand,” adds Ken. The privacy and land quality are major benefits found in western Nebraska, he continues.

“The privacy is great, and

the dry climate is a good place to raise cattle. Plus, the grass in the area pretty good, too,” says Ken. “It’s amazing how fast the grass can recover, even during a drought year.”

Raising Herefords and being in the agriculture industry are ways of life the Stangles are happy to be a part of because they were born and raised in the business.

“I didn’t want to do any-

thing else growing up. Agriculture in my blood, and that’s is why I enjoy ranching so much,” notes Ken. “We like being outside and having the satisfaction of raising high-quality cattle,” Linda concludes.

For more information, visit kennethstangleherefords.com.

Heather Loraas is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at heather@wylr. net.

Introduction – Granddaughter Riata Peterson and a Hereford calf bond in the corrals during the Kenneth Stangle Herefords branding this year. April Young photo

B6

Wyoming Livestock Roundup

Crawford, Neb. – Sellman Ranch sit southeast of Crawford, about 1,000 feet in elevation higher than Chadron.

“When we got here in 1973, the kids wondered why we stopped,” says Butch Sellman, patriarch of Sellman Ranch. “It’s windy, cold and snowy, but it works for us.”

Butch and his late wife Becky bought the ranch, where they raised their three children, Adam, Ryan and Georganne.

“We’re a family ranch,” Butch says. “There are four different families who are involved. We all have our own niche, but we all pitch in

and help each other.”

Moving to Nebraska The Sellman family’s ranching history extends back to the 1940s, when brothers Marshall and Dick established Sellman Brothers Ranch at Watrous, N.M. For the Sellman family, Hereford cattle were a draw,

Angus cattle - Sellman Ranch runs both registered Angus and Hereford cattle, and they sell bulls annually. Their cattle run out on the range and are raised to survive in tough hard grass prairies of western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming. Courtesy photo

and Marshall was president of the American Hereford Association in 1964.

“When we decided to expand, we relocated to western Nebraska’s hard grass country,” Butch says.

Butch and his brother Tom operated Sellman Brothers Ranch together from 1974-82, when the brothers decided to split the operation.

“We’re probably one of the only family ranches that split on good terms,” says Butch. “We decided, with our growing families, we could do more with two operations.”

Butch and Becky’s ranch became Sellman Ranch, and they have maintained their passion for the Hereford breed and their high-quality cattle.

After Becky’s passing in 2010, Butch married Gail Hartman, who was born and raised on a ranch in western Nebraska.

Cattle operation “We run about 500 cows and buy 1,500 head of calves to make fat steers or grass cattle out of them,” Adam says.

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“We also host a bull sale on the third Friday in March and sell about 150 bulls. We’ve been doing that for about 20 years now.”

The ranch started with Hereford cattle, but in 1995, the Sellmans added Angus cattle to their operation. Both Angus and Hereford bulls will be available for purchase at their annual sale on March 23, 2018.

“We’re looking for a moderate birthweight, easy fleshing bull with lots of maternal traits and good expected progeny differences,” Adam says.

Butch continues, “We send a lot of bulls into areas like Newcastle, so we know they have to survive on the range.”

The Sellman family artificially inseminates (AI) 80 percent of their cattle using bulls from their own herd and the breed’s top bulls. There are about 100 later-calving cows that are naturally bred by their own bulls.

“We did our first embryo work on Herefords in 1983,” Butch says. “We wanted to stay progressive and competitive with our cattle.”

In the last 10 to 15 years, the family has raised between 40 and 60 Angus and Hereford embryo calves each year.

Busy year The diversification of Sellman Ranch means they stay busy year-round.

“We have the registered cattle and put on a bull sale, and we have yearling cattle we purchase in the fall,” Adam says. “Keeping the yearlings healthy and finding enough grass keeps us busy.”

Butch adds, “It can be tough to find enough grass, though. We’re always looking for more grass to run yearlings on.”

The yearling steers are sold on Western Video Auction each year, often to repeat buyers.

Crawford Livestock Auction represents their yearling steers on Western Video and also hosts the annual bull sale.

“We also have a lot of farmland that keeps us busy in the summer,” Adam says.

“Our summers are busy haying, like everyone else.”

Their operation is entirely dryland farm ground, and recently, they started raising corn for silage.

“Everything we raise goes back to the cattle,” Adam emphasizes. “We don’t sell any small grains or corn. It all goes to the cattle.”

Cows are calved in the beginning of February through barns, and after AI’ing at the beginning of May, cattle are taken to grass

by May 20 until October, when they are weaned.

“If the cattle don’t make a bull, they’ll go to be fat cattle or grass steers,” Adam explains. “We also sell 100 to 150 head of bred females every fall privately or through the sale barn. That allows us some flexibility in our herd.”

“We are competitive people, and we enjoy raising good bulls,” Butch says.

Adam continues, “We’re just like every family. We’re hoping to better ourselves and our cattle for the next generation.”

Competition The Sellman family also takes competition seriously, and they attend six to eight or more shows over the course of the summer, including the Hereford Junior National Show and others.

“Attending shows teaches kids to be competitive,” Butch explains. “They also learn to go out and meet people. Adam and Jodi met because they went to shows.”

In their early years, Adam and Jodi competed against each other at the Junior National Hereford Show.

“We used to take cattle to the National Western Stock Show and have 10 to 15 head on The Hill, but as the kids got older and times have changed, we haven’t done that as much,” Butch says. “Our grandkids still go to 4-H and Hereford shows around the country.”

Family involvement Butch’s children are all actively involved in different aspects of the ranch today.

Adam, the oldest son, lives on the home ranch and is involved in the daily operations of Sellman Ranch, along with his wife Jodi and children Jake and Bailey.

“Ryan and his wife Sandi really enjoy the show steers and club calves,” Butch says.

“He concentrates on raising really good show steers, and they, along with their children Kendall and Reid, travel around the region attending a variety of cattle shows.”

Georganne and her husband Brent along with children Wiley, Hannah and Kyle have a backgrounding lot, where they feed several thousand calves. They also have a cow/calf operation, and “Brent also does a lot of custom farming, as well,” says Adam.

“All four families are here on the ranch. We’re all independent, but we work together,” he adds.

“The next generation is also coming up,” Butch says.

“They’re actively involved and excited about ranching.

I think that’s helped us to be successful.”

He continues, “We’re a family operation, and we enjoy each other and the work. There aren’t many jobs that I don’t enjoy on the ranch. Some things are better than others, but there isn’t anything I don’t like.”

Butch adds, “It’s nice to do what we want to do and to experience the joy in agriculture.”

More information on Sellman Ranch is available at sellmanranch.com.

Saige Albert is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to saige@wylr.net.

B7

2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Harrisburg, Neb. – Darnall Feedlot and Ranch have a long history of ranching and feeding in western Nebraska.

Darnall Ranch founder Scott Darnall homesteaded the ranch in 1886 with a herd of Hereford cattle.

Through the years, the ranch has been passed down through generations of Darnalls, from Scott to his son Arthur, then to Arthur’s son Harvey, who passed the ranch on to his son Gary.

Gary Darnall currently works with his son Lane, buying and selling cattle, handling feedlot matters and helping run the business aspect of the organization.

“My daughter Lisa Brenner is also involved in the business and works in the accounting area, while my granddaughter Shalane Bright keeps records and physically works with the cows,” Darnall adds. “Dar-

nall Feedlot is a family organization, and we plan to keep it that way.”

While Darnall Ranch originally started out with Herefords, the family decided to switch over to Angus cattle, mentions Darnall.

“From 1962-65, the ranch converted to Angus cattle because we started cross breeding between Hereford and Angus. We liked the Angus assets better and made the switch to all Angus cattle,” he explains.

The feedlot Darnall Feedlot, created in 1979, is a custom feedlot where customers from North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska bring their cattle to be fed and finished, according to Darnall.

“We started feeding our own cattle in the feedlot, and then some neighbors wanted us to feed their

cattle, too,” says Darnall.

“As a result, Darnall Feedlot grew slowly over time as demand for the service increased.”

Twice a day, at 5 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., an employee called a bunk reader checks all the feed bunks to determine the amount of feed each pen will get for the next feeding period.

Darnall explains, “We try and feed the exact amount the cattle will eat every day to decrease feed waste.”

All feed data is put into a laptop, which is then sent to the feed mill so rations can be made and distributed to each pen right away, says Darnall.

There are approximately 100 pens at Darnall Feedlot, and the cattle are separated based on ownership, he notes, adding most customers retain ownership of the cattle

brought to the feedlot.

“When the cattle come in, they are ear tagged using a visual tag with a lot number and five-digit code specific to each animal. We also use electronic identification (EID) tags, which provide carcass data after the cattle go to market, for customers who want carcass data and for meat packing plants that require EIDs,” Darnall explains.

Darnall Feedlot has 17 full-time employees, including cowboys who ride the pens every day on horseback to look for sick or injured cattle.

“A consulting vet sets up protocols of what the symptoms are and what the treatments will be so the cowboys can determine how to doctor the sick cattle for their symptoms,” says Darnall. “We keep electronic records of every treatment the cattle receive, and before going to the meat packing plant, the records are checked for drug withdrawal periods.”

A nutritionist provides advice and formulates

Feedlots – Maintaining cattle health and progress are major priorities for the cattle at Darnall Feedlot. Courtesy photo

rations for the feedlot, as well.

“We are constantly adjusting to the price of commodities to make the most cost-effective feed.

It’s not about the cheapest ration. It’s about the best ration,” he adds.

Then to now Since the beginning, both Darnall Feedlot and Ranch have slowly grown and experienced major changes, but smaller changes have made a huge difference in the whole organization.

“The biggest change we’ve had is the technology involved in the operation,” notes Darnall. “We’re using technology to collect feed data, keep records and retrieve carcass data, which help us make better decisions in the feedlot.”

Improving cattle health accuracy is another benefit of technology, Darnall adds.

Just like any operation, the Darnalls have also experienced challenges over the years, he mentions.

“Finding adequate labor for both the feedlot and ranch is one challenge we’ve definitely had to face,” says Darnall.

He adds, the weather is also a challenge, especially when trying to make sure the cattle get fed on time.

“We try to get the cattle fed within the same 15 minutes every day, but sometimes, the weather interrupts,” Darnall states.

“Weather is the second biggest challenge we deal with.”

Bright side According to Darnall, western Nebraska is a good climate for feeding cattle and increasing gains.

“Most of the time, we do have good weather and the temperature isn’t too hot or cold for long periods of time, which can affect cattle eating habits,” he mentions.

Additionally, western Nebraska doesn’t get a lot of moisture because the area is mostly high plains.

“Not having as much moisture is an advantage for the cattle pens because they don’t get wet and cause health problems,” Darnall explains. “Pen conditions are very important, and if the manure is higher than the cattle’s dewclaws, we’re being less efficient.”

Darnall says the agriculture industry has been good to the Darnall operation, both financially and for the family.

He also mentions employees at Darnall Feedlot are an important part of the business.

“Ruth Ammon, who’s been with us for 10 years and helps with records, billing and keeping track of cattle, is one of our very valued employees. She really is a part of our family,” Darnall says. “We are also grateful for head cowboy Tim Brost, who’s been with us for over nine years overseeing the health of the feedlot cattle every day.”

“I love the agriculture industry,” he concludes.

“We’ve stayed in the industry because we love the people and lifestyle it offers us.”

For more information, call Darnall Feedlot at 308-783-2048.

Heather Loraas is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at heather@wylr.net.

B8

Arthur, Neb. – In 1964, Sam Carter’s parents realized he had an affinity for cattle and the cattle business. As a result, they bought him a registered Angus heifer.

“Carter Family Angus started as a 4-H project,” Carter comments. “I was raised in Indiana on a diversified farming operation where we had cattle and hogs, and at one time, we even had a dairy operation.”

Wyoming Livestock Roundup

While the dairy farm was dispersed before Carter was old enough to milk cows, he said his favorite part of the family farm was always the commercial cattle herd.

“I was involved in 4-H and FFA growing up and livestock judging in college,” Carter explains.

After he graduated, Carter worked off the farm and ranch for many years for American Commodities.

While gaining experience, Carter was looking for the opportunity to get back into the cattle business.

“Then, a little over 20 years ago, I had the opportunity to start buying land where I grew up near Upland, Ind.,” he says.

“My youngest daughter, who was nine years old, showed a lot of interested in livestock, so we started to rebuild our Angus program.”

After several moves, Carter Family Angus settled just east of Arthur, Neb. Inside the ranch Carter Family Angus is a 100 percent seedstock operation. They run between 200 and 250 mother cows, which includes the base cowherd and approximately 50 recipient cows used in the embryo transfer program.

“We breed and develop bulls for the commercial cattleman, blending science and technology with cowboy ethics and values,” Carter states.

Looking at their genet-

ics, Carter says they focus on maternal strength with more growth than is common in bulls marketed nearby.

“We really believe our customers sell their calves by the pound, so they need genetics that will promote calves with higher weaning weights,” Carter says. “We stress weaning weights in our cattle.”

They also utilize the index values provided by the American Angus Association. In 2018, their sale boasts 12 bulls in the top one percent for the Angus breed in terms of weaned calf value, which is described by the $W index. Additionally, 66 of their bulls fall in the top 20 percent of the Angus breed for $W. “We believe $W is a extremely important factor for ranchers in the Sandhills or Wyoming because ranchers sell their calves shortly after they are

weaned,” he explains.

“Over the last three years, our bulls have averaged more than 15 inches of ribeye in our ultrasound data,” Carter comments.

“This year, our bulls have an average ribeye of 14.7 inches.”

Bull sale The Carter Family Angus bull sale is held on the second Monday in February.

“This will be our seventh sale on our own,” Carter explains. “In Indiana, we started selling bulls in a partnership with people from North Platte in 1999.”

He adds, “We have been supplying bulls to the Sandhills, western Nebraska and Wyoming for close to 20 years now.”

The bulls are born in January and February.

“They’re branded in late March or early April and receive a round of Continued on next page

Top bull - Lot 1 in their 2018 sale Carter’s Payweight 1682-E367 exemplifies the type of cattle Carter Family Angus Strives for. With expected progeny differences of BW 2.9, WW 86, YW 152 and Milk 30, he is in the top one percent for weaning weight, yearling weight, carcass weight, $Weaning, $Feedlot and $Beef, the top two percent for RADG and scrotal and the top three percent for docility. Courtesy photo

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B9

2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Continued from previous page vaccinations, and by the love for cattle is a curse middle of May, our pairs I was born with,” Carter go out on summer range,” jokes. “I always enjoyed Carter explains. “By the raising cattle through 4-H. end of July or first part of Even when I was four and August, the bull calves are five, when we had bucket weaned.” calves, I liked being with The calves are weaned, the calves.” vaccinated and weighed.

Carter also enjoys the The bull calves are devel- people in the seedstock oped in an 80-acre grow business. lot.

“I had a number of “The bulls are devel- mentors who really guided oped based on a high-fiber me in the business quite a and very low mega-calorie bit,” he says. “I’ve learned diet. There is very little corn a lot of life lessons from in our feed,” Carter says. the seedstock people I He continues, “We can have interacted with.” still get very good averThe operation continage daily gain – on average ues to be a family ranch, about four pounds per day, though Carter’s daughters, and our cattle develop the Lindsey and Ashlyn both way we want. The key is we live in Indianapolis, Ind. feed about 20 percent fiber.”

“My daughter Ashlyn, In addition, the bulls are her husband Andy and my provided with free-choice grandson Cole are all very grass hay. interested in the program “We feel like our nutri- we have here,” Carter tion program plays a big comments. “Ashlyn grew role in the bulls we sell,” up showing cattle, and Carter adds. she’s involved in our marFamily keting.”

“My mother says my Additionally, Mike

Sam Carter was raised in Indiana, and he purchased his first land near his hometown of Upland, Ind. Then, in 2006, Hodges Angus Ranch, near Julesberg, Colo. came up for sale, and Carter purchased the property, moving the cowherd.

In 2012, they purchased Lightning Valley Ranch in Arthur, Neb. “We’ve been here since 2012,” Carter says. “I have always been drawn to the Sandhills of Nebraska.”

During college, Carter worked in Arthur County for his internship program, and he found the experience to be very positive.

“This is cow country,” he explains. “The grass is phenomenally good, and the sub-irrigated meadows give us good hay production. We also have a good water supply because of the aquifer.”

With 35,000 mother cows in the county, Carter says he enjoys his neighbors, who are all commercial ranchers, and he appreciates the mindset of the area.

“I have always had a great deal of respect for the Sandhills, and I’m proud to have Carter Family Angus here now,” Carter comments.

Pilakowski has been involved in the operation for many years.

“Mike serves in the role as herdsman, and he does a phenomenal job,” Carter says. “He also has some cows and sells a few

bulls in our sale. Mike is an integral part of Carter Family Angus.”

“At its core, this is a family business, and it has been a family business from the very beginning,” Carter emphasizes.

“We’re fortunate our cows have adapted to several significant moves in their lives, and we’re proud of the fact they have adapted and continued to perform well over the last 20 years.”

Learn more about Carter Family Angus at carterfamilyangus.com.

Saige Albert is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to saige@wylr.net.

Working together - Sam Carter (left) runs Carter Family Angus with his herdsman Mike Pilakowski (right), who has been involved in the operation for many years. Courtesy photo

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Wyoming Livestock Roundup

Alliance, Neb. – In the search for feed or advice on cattle in western Nebraska, Ackerman Ag Services and Supply will likely show up on the radar.

Ackerman Ag Service and Supply Owner Callan Ackerman, has a Ph.D. in beef cattle nutrition and a background in agriculture.

“I am a beef cattle

nutritionist, so I consult with customers to work on formulating rations, feed analysis, making decisions on minerals, backgrounding calves and more,” Ack-

erman says.

He was born and raised on a cow/calf operation south of Alliance, Neb. in the Sandhills.

“Growing up, I developed a love for agriculture, so I got my bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Wyoming (UW). After

Services – Callan Ackerman (left), Ackerman Ag Service and Supply owner, spends 30 hours a week consulting with customers, like Jaclyn Wilson (right), owner of Flying Diamond Genetics, to help improve cattle nutrition programs. Courtesy photo

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UW, I went to the University of Nevada, Reno to pursue my masters degree, also in animal science,” Ackerman mentions.

“Finally, I received my Ph.D. in ruminant nutrition from Oklahoma State University.”

After college, Ackerman went on to teach at Oregon State University as a beef cattle nutrition and management professor.

“I taught at Oregon State for three years, then moved back home to Alliance, where I opened Ackerman Ag Service and Supply,” he states.

Ackerman says his 20-year background in nutrition has been a phenomenal asset to his business.

“A lot of customers come to Ackerman Ag Service and Supply because of my background in cattle nutrition,” he adds.

The store “We are a retail feed and livestock store that sells ADM Animal Nutrition products, Hubbard and Ralco Animal Nutrition products,” Ackerman explains. “This is an independent feed store because we buy feed and resell it.

We don’t work for anyone else.”

Ackerman Ag Service and Supply sells more than just feed, according to Ackerman.

“Gates, stock tanks, panels, wire and posts, along with general animal health products are some of the items sold at the store, as well. The primary bread and butter is the feed, though,” he states.

With customers in several counties of Nebraska, Ackerman Ag Service and Supply provides nutritional services along with the feed sold in-store, which are offered free of cost.

As the owner, Ackerman works at the store with three other full-time employees and two parttime employees yearround.

“Back in 2006, I started Ackerman Ag Service and Supply in a small warehouse,” he says.

Since then, the feed store has expanded every year, until 2015, when Ackerman built a bigger warehouse with 2,000 square feet of retail space.

“At the new store, there is now a drive-thru.

Customers can pull into the west side of the warehouse, load up with feed Continued on next page

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2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Continued from previous page and exit out the east side,” notes Ackerman. “Both trucks and semis can pull in and go straight through, which is nice when the weather is bad.”

Changes Over the years, the store has changed in other ways, too, mentions Ackerman.

“With the new warehouse, I have been able to provide and focus on more services. I was able to hire a store manager, Lee Jerke, who has taken over a lot of the paperwork I used to do, which allows more time for consultations,” he explains.

Ackerman spends most of his time visiting ranches, evaluating cattle, analyzing feed and formulating rations for customers in western Nebraska.

The expansion of Ackerman Ag Service and Supply has been the biggest change for the business because more services are provided for customers, which means, “A more loyal customer base has been built,” says Ackerman.

Inside Ackerman Ag Service and Supply, there is also a small gun store, which Jerke and Ackerman decided to incorporate when the new warehouse was built.

“After building the new store, there was more retail space than we were used to. We hired Guy Hielscher, who has a lifetime’s experience with anything to do with firearms and decided to give him the opportunity to run the gun store,” states Ackerman.

Hielscher has a federal firearms license and manages and sells all the guns in the store.

“Hielscher and Jerke have been successful at running the gun store. I don’t have anything to do with the gun side of things,” says Ackerman.

Plans Currently, the primary goal of Ackerman Ag Service and Supply is to serve the local beef industry.

“We want to be a part of the local community and serve the western Nebraska beef industry,” he states.

“This area is primarily beef cattle, and there aren’t many dairy or swine producers, so we focus on the cattle. Plus, cattle nutrition is my specialty.”

Ackerman mentions future plans for Ackerman Ag Service and Supply are to continue what they have done so far and continue to grow and serve customers.

Every business faces challenges, and Ackerman says the main issue he’s facing is the current agriculture economy.

“The agriculture economy just isn’t healthy, especially on the crop side, and the cattle market isn’t really great either,” notes Ackerman.

Agriculture commodity prices and farmers’ and ranchers’ disposable incomes are also a challenge for the business, he adds.

Enjoying the benefits “To be successful, a business has to be able to withstand the times when producers aren’t able to spend as much money,” Ackerman states. “Fortunately for Ackerman Ag Service and Supply, many of our products are necessities for producers, so they will still buy from us.”

Despite the challenges, Ackerman believes there

Storefront – Ackerman Ag Service and Supply built a new storefront in 2015 to help satisfy the growing demand for their products.

Courtesy photo

are still many benefits to western Nebraska.

“There are a lot of cattle ranchers and feeders in western Nebraska, which is good for business. Plus, there are good, honest people here, too,” he says. “Sometimes mistakes are made and extra feed is loaded up, but those producers will call and say they need to be billed for the extra bags.”

“I really enjoy working with the honest people of western Nebraska,” Ackerman adds.

Visit Ackerman Ag Service and Supply on Facebook, at facebook.com/ackermanag.

Heather Loraas is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at heather@wylr. net.

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Angora, Neb. – Dan Carnine of Carnine Ranch outside of Angora, Neb. says he didn’t always love the agriculture lifestyle – until he left home.

“My grandpa homesteaded the home portion of this place in the early 1900s,” he says. “I didn’t appreciate agriculture when I was younger, but when I got out of high school and went to college, I knew I wanted to come back.”

After receiving his degree in ag business, Carnine returned to the ranch to work with his father, taking over the management of operation about 10 years ago.

Red Angus herd “My dad had a Red Angus and mixed herd, but used mainly Hereford and Red Angus,” Carnine says.

“Since I’ve been home, we’ve used all Red Angus bulls for our seedstock.”

“We still have a few white faces out there, but our herd is pretty much red,” he says. “We’re the only Red Angus around.”

Carnine jokes, “Everyone else has black cattle around us, so it’s easy to find our cattle if they get out.”

On a more serious note, Carnine adds, “When everyone went black, we kept the Red Angus. We’ve always been rewarded for having Red Angus.”

Retaining ownership Carnine Ranch builds flexibility into the operation by retaining their heifers and steers.

Yearlings provide flexibility because the ranch is able to sell cattle when the market is at its peak.

Wyoming Livestock Roundup

“We generally sell our yearlings on the open market if prices look good,” he explains.

“If prices are off or the markets are going up, we can put them in the feedlot and retain ownership.”

“We background everything through the winter,” Carnine explains.

“We can keep them and fatten them through the summer, if we want, or we can sell in the spring. What we do depends on the market.”

During the winter months, cattle are put in a large lot, where they are fed an all-forage ration that prepares them to survive and produce on the range as cows.

Carnine emphasizes, “We want to retain our heifers, and we want them to be cows that survive on the groceries they get without supplements. They aren’t fed a finishing ration.”

The steers and heifers are kept together until February or March, when the heifers start cycling.

Breeding heifers “In February, the heifers go out on the range, where they get a little supplement,” Carnine says.

“They’re on a different nutritional plane, so we make sure they have enough to eat.”

During breeding, Carnine Ranch utilizes strictly natural service breeding.

“Artificial insemination was a big time constraint,” Carnine explains.

“We don’t synchronize our heifers because we don’t need to.”

“The heifers aren’t bred in a feedlot. They’re bred on the range,” he says, adding, “Bulls are only

kept in for a 21-day breeding period. At calving the heifers run with the cows on open range.”

As a result, the ranch is able to brand their calves 30 days after their due date because nearly all the calves are born within a short timeframe.

“We could spend days trying to guess which heifers we’re going to keep as replacements, but we don’t know what’s what until the bull does his thing,” Carnine says. “The heifers that aren’t bred on the first cycle are either finished in the feedlot or sold. We further streamline our breeders by culling any cow or heifer that doesn’t wean a calf.”

Late spring calving In addition to retaining ownership of his cattle, Carnine chooses to calve in late May to synchronize his cattle with the natural

cycles in the environment.

“I calve in May with a t-shirt on now,” he says light-heartedly. “Calves are born with a summer coat.

They’re not born ready for winter, so it makes sense to calve in May.” He explains a later spring calving season also aligns well with nature.

“In the wintertime, the bell curve of available grass doesn’t match the bell curve of the cow’s nutritional requirements,” he says. “I’m trying to get those curves to overlap, so we calve later.”

Later calving also eliminates 50 to 75 percent of the challenges they faced when calving at the beginning of the year.

“We don’t have to live with our cows while they’re calving, and we don’t have to stuff a bunch of feed into them or worry as much about weather,” Carnine says. “We’re not fighting nature, and it works well.”

Farming Carnine Ranch primar-

ily grows alfalfa on center pivot-irrigated ground, which is baled in large squares.

“My dad used to put up loose hay, but we bale it in big squares now,” Carnine says. “We keep and use the lower quality hay, and the best hay is sold all over the place.”

They also raise corn, wheat and other cash crops.

Edge of the Sandhills The location of Carnine Ranch at the western tip of the Sandhills is advantageous for raising a family.

“There are good, friendly people around here, and we enjoy all four seasons,” Carnine says.

While he enjoys larger population centers from time to time, Carnine comments, “I like to be close to a population, but I don’t want to live there. I want to travel there. Rural life is

good.”

He also enjoys living and operating a diversified agriculture operation.

“I think I’d be bored if I just ran cattle or farmed,” he says. “I like the diversity of our ranch. It is overwhelming at times because there is so much to do, but I like the challenge of juggling several operations.”

As he looks toward the future, Carnine continues to see value in flexibility.

“Things on the ranch and in agriculture are always changing,” he says.

“Just because we do things one way now doesn’t mean we’re going to do it that way forever. We make changes to benefit the ranch and ensure we can continue operating and living this lifestyle.”

Saige Albert is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.

Dix, Neb. – Over the last 10 years, Royce and Ryan McConnell have taken their management of McConnell Angus to a new level, honing in on producing the best bulls while also developing their land base to be as productive as possible.

“Our grandfather, Clifford McConnell, bought his first registered Angus cow in 1962,” explains Royce.

“We started in Colorado and moved to western Nebraska in the late 90s.”

Clifford passed the ranch to his son Roger. Roger and his wife Rhonda now work together with their boys Royce and Ryan, who are the third generation on the ranch.

Royce and his wife Lisa’s four children and Ryan and his wife Annette’s five children are the fourth generation raised on the ranch.

“We built the herd up and have sold both bulls and females private treaty for years,” says Royce.

As they have grown and expanded, McConnell Angus now hosts an annual sale at their ranch, north of Dix, Neb., selling both bulls and registered females.

Selling bulls The first Friday of February is sale day for McConnell Angus, but coming up to that date, the family focuses their time and energy to breed a bull that is functional and works for their customer.

“Our perfect bull is one that is functional, has a good disposition and sires a lot of replacement females,” Royce says. “We’re all about the mama cow. If we have a good mama, we can raise good bulls.”

Their ideal bull also utilizes feed well and doesn’t lack in fertility.

“We like to match our genetics to get a perfect balance as we’re breeding,” he continues. “The fun part of this business is finding the genetics that allow cattle to survive and thrive in our area while producing pounds and profitability.”

The right environment McConnell Angus also focuses on bulls that perform in the climate where their customers are raising cattle.

“Our PAP genetics set us apart,” Royce says, noting they have used pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) testing for over 20 years. “We run cattle that work at high elevations.”

The bulls are sent to Laramie to 7,360 feet, where they are acclimatized for the summer and tested in the fall.

“We breed our bulls to thrive in the plains, as well as the high altitude areas,” Royce explains.

Female focused McConnell Angus has always sold females during their annual sale.

“There is a lot of demand for a good, productive cow

that can raise a calf,” Royce says.

Ryan adds, “We like a cow that has depth of volume and fleshing ability, as well.”

They retain their replacements and sell heifers to maintain cattle that work well in their operation.

They meet that need by raising their cattle in range and pasture situations with minimal additional feed resources.

“We calve in August and September,” Royce explains.

“Our cattle are pastured in western Nebraska, and the bulls are raised until they are a year old. The bulls are then sent to Laramie to be PAP tested, and everything is brought back here later.”

Calving in August and September allows McConnell Angus to develop a more mature 18-month-old bull to turn out with their cows. It also allows the bulls to perform better at high elevation.

“We don’t fight the elements of winter or spring calving, either,” he says. “I could calve 300 mama cows by myself out in a pasture.”

“Everything we do is around a mama cow,” Royce emphasizes.

Grazing strategy McConnell Angus also utilizes an intensive grazing strategy, which keeps green grass in front of the cattle all the time and increases their gain. The grazing also improves the quality of their soils.

“We develop the bulls starting in early April when they go on green grass,” Royce says. “From early April to the first part of June, we move the bulls between four and six times a day.”

“Cattle are poor managers on their own,” Ryan explains. “They do what they want, so we manage them to benefit both the cattle and the soil.”

The cows and bulls run year-round in pastures. No grain is fed to the cows, and they work for their feed, even digging through snow to get to grass.

Royce explains, “We develop the bulls on pasture so they are well developed and ready for our customers.”

The females are run using the same strategy, benefiting the cow in both longevity and productivity.

“By grazing this way, we were able to increase our numbers without any more input cost as far as land,” Ryan says. “The cow is basically our swather and fertilizer. We have greatly reduced those costs.”

“Wildlife have also increased and benefitted from this way of management,” Ryan adds.

Pastures They use solar wells for their water tanks, making it easier to distribute cattle grazing.

The majority of the pasture land is a grass hay mix, primarily orchard grass, brome grass and alfalfa. The pastures are harvested for seed and then grazed.

The McConnells also raise cover crops, which they graze in the winter.

“We plant an eight-way mix that includes, sorghum, turnips, radishes and oats,” Ryan explains. “We like the cover crops for grazing, but it is hard to beat orchard and brome grass for winter grazing.”

By grazing their pastures, rather than harvesting them for hay, the McConnells also reduce fertilizer and equipment costs. They also spread straw and manure from the bull pens over their fields after composting it.

“We haven’t fertilized our best pastures in four or five years,” Ryan says, noting that organic matter has increased remarkably from their grazing strategy.

Moving forward As they look to the future, Royce and Ryan agree they will focus on continuing to intensify and improve their

cattle herd and the land.

“It can be hard to balance our inputs and still raise a product our customers want,” Royce says. “We want to continue selling 200 bulls like we do today, but we’re raising the bar on the product we put out.”

“We want to keep moving in the same direction,”

Ryan says. “We’ll keep working to continually intensify the management of our ranch.”

McConnell Angus can be found online at mcconnellangus.com.

Saige Albert is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at saige@wylr.net.

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C2

Crawford, Neb. – In November of 1974, Mike and Beverly Dyer moved their family to a ranch south of Crawford, Neb. after taking advantage of the opportunity to lease a ranch, its cows and machinery from Warren and Rae Broyles out of Lusk.

“We’re very grateful to the Broyles for leasing us this place to get us started,” Beverly says. “We worked for Moody Ranch at the time and were looking for a way to get our start. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the Broyles family.”

The Dyer family welcomed newborn daughter Sam in December that year, and they added a herd of registered Hereford cattle to the Angus cows on the ranch.

“Dad’s love and passion was with the Herefords, so he bought some Hereford cows when we first started,” says Sam. “Back then, we would say the Angus paid the

Wyoming Livestock Roundup

bills and the Herefords were the pretty ones. Things have changed, but that’s how it was then.”

Family focused Mike and Beverly welcomed son Kelly to the ranch a few years later, and the family of four cared for two herds of registered cattle, as well as several hundred yearlings, for many years.

“We didn’t have a fulltime hired hand until eight years ago,” said Sam. “Mom and Dad did everything here, and Kelly and I helped out.”

Today, Kelly, his wife Tami and their three daughters Abby, Jasmine and Sage, live near Dyer Ranch, LLC. They focus on their own herd of about 90 Angus-based cows, along with raising a few bulls sold in the family sale.

Sam, her husband Don Edelman and their children Skyler and Teague live near Crawford, as well. The cou-

ple owns the Crawford and Harrison grocery stores and helps Mike and Beverly on the ranch.

The ranch today Dyer Ranch, LLC runs a herd of registered Herefords and registered Black Angus today.

“For a little while, we tried to run Red Angus,” explains Sam, “but we didn’t have as much of a market, and it was too much to keep up three registered herds. We sold the Red Angus herd to my mom’s youngest brother, Evans Cattle Company in Gothenburg, Neb.” Currently, they run 80 head of registered Herefords, with the balance of their herd in Angus cows.

They also run 700 to 800 head of grass cattle per summer.

“Dad buys steers, and we run them in the summer and sell them in the fall,” Sam says. “We market our steers

Dyer family - The Dyer family, including Kelly, his wife Tami, their daughters Jasmine, Sage and Abby, Mike and Beverly, and Sam and Don Edelman, with their children Skyler and Teague, are all involved in the cattle industry in the area surrounding Crawford, Neb. Courtesy photo

through a video auction, and then, our bulls are sold in a different kind of bull sale.”

The right fit When the Dyers first started selling bulls, they used a private treaty format.

“We would have people show up on the day we weaned wanting to buy bulls,” Sam says. “It was hard to even know what we were keeping at that point

because we hadn’t really been through them ourselves by then.”

“Finally, we set a day where everyone could come to look at the bulls,” she adds. “Someone would show up at 7 a.m. and buy the best bull, and everyone would be angry because he was gone.”

Eventually, they settled on a time to come look at bulls, and they do a modified sale.

“At 11 a.m., everyone comes to look at the bulls.

Then, we go down our list of bulls in the afternoon. We ask if anyone’s interested in the first one. If they are, the bull is sold to that buyer at the price we have listed. If there is more than one person interested in a single bull, we auction him off,” Sam explains.

The bulls stay in pens on the ranch and aren’t run through a sale barn, decreasing stress on the animals and the amount of labor necessary. The sale format also means they don’t put together a catalog, keeping it low-labor for the family, as well.

“It’s really worked well for us,” she adds.

Bulls that work In developing their bulls, the Dyers look to produce a bull “that will only get better when he gets to the buyer’s place,” explains Sam. “We don’t feed the bulls very heavy because we don’t want them to melt when they’re put out on the range,” she says. “We feed our bulls a growing ration, but usually, they’re out in their natural environment.”

While well-fed, fat bulls are nice to look at, Sam notes they strive to produce a bull that will work for their customer and can withstand a tough range environment.

“We turn the bulls out and feed them ground hay with dried distiller’s grain (DDG) for protein,” Sam says. “They’re not in a feed-

lot situation, and a lot of our customers appreciate that.”

While most of the bulls are registerable, Sam also notes they don’t register them unless the customer is looking for a registered sire.

“All of our Herefords can be registered, and about 50 percent of the Angus herd is registerable,” she says. “In the sale, we indicate whether a bull can be registered or not. Most of our customers don’t want a registered bull, though.

They are commercial guys looking for a herd bull.”

Continuing to develop In the last decade, Sam says, “We’ve also started doing some embryo work in our herds.”

At that time, Mike and Beverly purchased some Hereford cows from Churchill Cattle in Montana, and they hoped to maximize the high-quality genetics from those cattle.

“We wanted to really utilize them,” Sam explains.

They also utilize embryo transfer in their Angus herd, and Sam says, “We thought our Angus cows were good enough to flush, so we did.”

In 2017, the Dyer family also held an internet sale for a handful of heifers with Sellman Show Cattle, Huntrod Red Angus and several other consignors.

“We did well with that sale,” she says.

As Sam looks forward to the future, she sees Dyer Ranch, LLC continuing to improve while also maintaining a bull that meets their customer’s needs.

“We’re always going to continue working on the newest genetics and trying to improve,” Sam says.

“We’re also going to keep working to keep the whole family involved in the operation. That’s our goal.”

Saige Albert is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.

C3

2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Love for leather Willemsma says his favorite leatherwork is making saddles, and a plain saddle without tooling takes about 11 days to make.

“Every saddle is different. Something that worked on the last saddle won’t work for the next saddle,” Willemsma mentions. “There are always curveballs, and I want to show good craftsmanship.”

The saddles are made of 100 percent Hermann Oak Leather, which is a leather tanning company Willemsma buys from in St. Louis, Mo. “I try to source all of my materials in the United States.

The leather comes from Hermann Oak Leather in Missouri, the saddletree materials come from Utah, and I use 100 percent natural woolskins from the U.S.,” he adds.

Willemsma explains his custom-made saddles are not custom-fit because he tries to not make one saddle for one horse.

“A horse’s back changes

Leatherwork – Saddles crafted by Logan Willemsma are custommade with quality materials and craftsmanship. Logan Willemsma photo

I am working towards,” he notes. “I know I need to be in business for longer to only make saddles, but that’s my goal.”

Current plans for the future include continuing to make more saddles and finding more customers, according to Willemsma.

“Ultimately, I want the business to be successful enough to support my family. Going into this business, I knew I wouldn’t get rich,” he mentions, adding good money can be made in the high-end market for highquality, custom-made saddles.

“I have always admired the trade, craftsmanship and art of leathercraft and knew I would end up being a part of the trade eventually,” he states.

Visit Logan Willemsma LJ Saddlery on Facebook at facebook.com/LJSaddlery for more information.

Heather Loraas is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at heather@wylr. net.

MccLUN’S

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boots. He also repairs saddles on the side.

The craft Growing up, Willemsma made saddles with his dad but only started his own shop after working for his dad for a year and a half.

“I didn’t go to a saddlemaking school. My dad taught me everything I know,” states Willemsma. “He is my teacher and also my biggest fan and critic. He doesn’t sugar-coat anything but helped me find the good and bad in my work then pushed me to fix the mistakes.”

In 2014, Willemsma opened his own shop, and before coming to Nebraska, Willemsma and his wife Madalyn, a veterinarian in Scottsbluff, lived in Oklahoma and South Dakota.

“We settled in Scottsbluff in February 2016 because Madalyn got a job at the Pioneer Animal Clinic in town,” he mentions. “I work from home and take customers by appointment only.”

hills. Going up north, people in South Dakota are available, and going west, there are potential clients in Wyoming, too,” he says, “Basically, I’m only a couple hours from other potential customers, and they can get to me pretty quick also.”

Going forward Looking towards the future, Willemsma has a few goals in mind.

“Most importantly, I try to produce high-quality horse gear. If people order a saddle from me, they should want to order another saddle from me in a couple years,” he states.

Keeping the craftsmanship and quality of his work as the top priority is very important to Willemsma.

“I try to let my craftsmanship speak the loudest for my work,” he adds.

Another goal for Willemsma is to grow his business in the custom saddlemaking aspect.

“Making more custom saddles instead of supplementing my business with saddle repairs is something

J

Scottsbluff, Neb. – Full-time custom saddlemaking is the career Logan Willemsma has always dreamed of, even when he was a kid.

“I grew up in my dad’s saddlemaking shop. Making saddles is something I’ve always been interested in,” states Willemsma, LJ Saddlery owner.

“There are pictures of me in the saddle shop when I was three years old, tacking leather scraps to a saddletree,” he recalls.

Willemsma’s father John started his career as a saddlemaker in 1977 after high school. He attended a saddlemaking school in Amarillo, Texas.

“My dad has been making saddles for over 40 years now,” states Willemsma.

“He’s been a great motivator and inspiration for me.”

Originally from Guthrie, Okla., Willemsma didn’t start his own saddlemaking shop until about four years ago, in 2014.

Background “In high school, I got involved in rodeo and then went to college at Northwestern Oklahoma State University and competed in bareback bronc riding,” Willemsma explains.

He received a certificate in farm and ranch management in college and went on to rodeo in the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association and International Professional Rodeo Association for 10 more years.

“I knew saddlemaking was something I wanted to come back to, so after I got hurt rodeoing, I went to work for my dad in his saddle shop,” states Willemsma.

In his shop, Willemsma makes custom saddles, tack, belts, wallets and other leatherwork – everything except

over their whole life,” he states. “I want the saddle to be a good fit for a wide variety of horses.”

Willemsma’s custommade saddles, when finished, come with everything except the front cinch strap.

Challenges Since moving to Nebraska, Willemsma has been working to spread the word about his business and says there have been a few challenges along the way.

“Here in western Nebraska, there’s a lot more farm country. Near Scottsbluff is mainly crops and farmers, which is a different customer base,” he notes.

“Most farmers aren’t on horseback, so my customer base is limited.”

Being new to the area and trying to get his name out there is another challenge he faces.

Regardless, Willemsma says Scottsbluff is located near a lot of other people and areas to explore.

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Wyoming Livestock Roundup

Marsland, Neb. – Miles from the nearest town, Larry Stangle, manager of Stangle Herefords, spends his days managing both a commercial Hereford herd for the Davis Cattle Company and his own registered Herefords.

“Since I was three years old, I’ve had registered Herefords on the family ranch,” says Stangle.

Davis Cattle Company is a cow/calf operation with 575 commercial Herefords, according to Stangle, whose 110 purebred registered Herefords run with the Davis Cattle Company herd.

“When my dad Tom came to work for Davis Cattle Company, we were able to run our cattle with their herd as part of the wage,” Stangle explains, noting the Stangle family has worked for Davis Cattle Company since Tom went to work for the company in 1969.

The Stangle family includes parents Tom and Joyce and siblings Vicky, Russell, Larry, Kenny and Linda. Stangle mentions all five siblings have their own Hereford cattle operations.

“This is the 101st year of operation for Davis Cattle

Company. My dad started here almost 50 years ago.

Then, I started working here 21 years ago,” states Stangle.

Five years ago, Stangle bought his own ranch close to Davis Cattle Company operation, and his herd is a cow/calf operation where 12 to 15 bulls are sold privately every year.

“My place is only half a mile from the Davis operation, which is great for managing both herds,” he adds.

Hereford herds Stangle says his year starts with calving season around Feb. 1 every year.

“Since my mother and I are the only ones still working for the Davis Cattle Company and managing my herd, I stagger the calving times between my Herefords and the other cattle,” he states.

The registered Stangle Herefords start calving Feb. 1, and the Davis Cattle Company commercial heifers start around Feb. 20.

The Davis Cattle Company commercial cows then start around March 15, notes Stangle, adding all three calving periods last for 45 days.

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“As soon as calving is over, branding time rolls around, which can be a challenge for gathering help,” Stangle mentions.

Going into May, he states there are 50 to 60 miles of fence and multiple windmills to maintain.

“It seems like we always have 14 projects going on at one time,” notes Stangle.

Running cattle All of the cows are turned out to pasture and graze year-round.

“I try to get as many pounds on the cattle from the pasture as possible, while still leaving the pastures in good enough shape for next year,” he explains.

During the summer, Stangle is busy managing and harvesting two pivotirrigated alfalfa fields.

Stangle owns one pivot, and Davis Cattle Company owns the other.

“Along with the alfalfa, I also harvest 500 to 600 acres of prairie hay to help feed the cattle in the winter months,” he says. “In between cuttings, the bulls are gathered after breeding season.”

Then, in August, the calves are pre-conditioned and videoed for Western Video Market’s sale in Cheyenne, where the steer calves are sold. Both Stangle and Davis Cattle Company heifer calves are also sold privately.

“In September, we process and wean the calves off the cows,” states Stangle.

“There is always something to do. I never have to wonder about what to work on because there is always something that needs to get done,” he adds.

Operational woes Stangle admits there are challenges to ranching in western Nebraska, but the few he has run into are location, weather, finding labor and taxes.

“My ranch is located at least 40 miles from the nearest town, which ends up being an 80-mile round trip for parts, supplies and anything else we might need,” says Stangle.

He states the weather is always a challenge because it can get very cold in his area.

“Property taxes are the probably the biggest challenge,” adds Stangle. “The taxes seem to go up every year.”

“Plus, it is really hard to find good labor because everyone is branding or haying at the same time, so finding help is pretty hard,” he adds.

Positives Despite the challenges

faced on the ranch, Stangle has goals in mind to keep the family legacy and Davis Cattle Company alive.

“Davis Cattle Company has been here for 101 years, and it would be nice to see it last another 101 years, even when I’m not here,” he states.

Raising the heaviest grass-fed calves possible is another goal Stangle aims for, while also striving to keep good cows and producing steer calves that yield well at market.

“My plan is to continue what I’m doing and expand my herd in the future,” he says.

Stangle also mentions there are multiple benefits to ranching in western Nebraska, including groundwater and the wideopen spaces.

“With the Ogallala Aquifer and the groundwater, I don’t have to worry about water for the rest

of my lifetime,” he notes.

“The wide-open spaces are great because there are miles and miles of grass and rangeland.”

The main reason Stangle started ranching and has stayed involved in agriculture is because he was born and raised in the cattle business.

Stangle went to college and received a degree in agriculture education.

He taught for three years before deciding teaching wasn’t where he was meant to be and went back to ranching.

“Ranching is where I’m meant to be. Through the good and bad times, I never want to leave,” he states.

For more information, visit stangleherefords.com.

Heather Loraas is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at heather@wylr.net.

Herefords – Since he was young, Larry Stangle had Herefords and has managed cattle for other people while maintaining his own herd. Joyce Stangle photo

Branding – Larry Stangle branded calves for the Davis Cattle Company and his own calves this summer in Marsland, Neb. Joyce Stangle photo

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2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Bushnell, Neb. – When Klent Schnell graduated from college and came back to the family ranching and farming operation in 2002, it was to work in partnership with his dad Dave.

Their goal was simple.

They wanted to build a herd of cattle that would really appeal to the commercial cattlemen.

“Dad and I always believed we had the genetics that could offer an outcross that would help improve many commercial cattlemen’s herds. Crossbred cattle have been proven to outperform and increase longevity in a mother cow, compared to a straightbred cow,” Klent Schnell explains.

Par Terre Cattle The cattle operation near Bushnell, Neb. is known as Par Terre Cattle Company.

It is a family operation consisting of Dave and Bev Schnell, and their son Klent, his wife Sara and their children Kaitlynn, Kale and Kennedi Schnell.

Dave and Klent manage the cowherd and the farming operation. Their wives help with the annual bull sale and the children’s 4-H projects.

“My kids are very involved in the county 4-H program, which I believe is a great way to raise children and teach them responsibility and work ethic,” Schnell says.

Selling bulls The first bulls from their program were sold in 2003, and they have held an annual production sale ever since.

“Our first bulls were Maine Anjou-Angus cross, with a lot of the genetics coming from the first Maine Anjou bull we purchased in Denver, Colo. in 1998,” he says. “Prior to that, we were using Charolais bulls on our cowherd but decided to use Maine Anjou to produce a black crossbred calf.”

When the Maine Anjou breed started moving more toward show cattle, the Schnells decided to do something different.

“We brought Simmental genetics into our herd about eight years ago because we believe the SimAngus female is the ideal female for the industry. Simmental cattle are easy fleshing, great milking and perform great in the feedlot, as well as on the rail,” Schnell explains. “Par Terre genetics were five of the top 10 carcass animals at the Kimball-Banner County Fair last summer.”

Growing operation Over the years, the family has built the herd up to more than 400 mother cows that calve in January and February.

“We are unique calving in January and February, but we have found it works well for us,” he says. “That time of year is cold but not wet and cold. It allows us to have calving completed by the time the spring field work begins, while also allowing

us to offer bull calves to our customers that are almost a year-and-a-half old at breeding,” he adds.

The registered SimAngus herd is managed like their commercial herd. None of the cows receive special treatment. Every female is artificially inseminated (AI’ed) and then turned out with cleanup bulls for 60 days.

“We also do some embryo transplant work and flush a few donor cows. We transplant about 10 to 15 embryos each year,” he says.

The herd sires are selected based on expected progeny differences (EPDs) and phenotype.

“A bull or female can have great numbers, but if they are not structurally sound and don’t milk, they are not worth having in our herd,” he explains. “Our first-calf heifers are bred to a curve-bending Angus bull, and the cows are mated based on breed percentage and what has worked before.”

The cows must get bred and wean a big calf every year, or they are culled from the herd.

Selling livestock The calves are weaned in August and placed in a grow lot where they will gain 3.5 to four pounds a day.

The Schnells select the top 40 to 45 bull calves each fall, then pick the best 25 for their sale. The bull calves are fed a high roughage diet to maximize their growth potential, without getting them too fat.

The middle cut of the heifers are saved as replacements. The rest of the calves are backgrounded and marketed in November or December each year.

This year’s production sale will be held Feb. 24 at the family ranch, with the annual sale held the fourth Saturday in February.

“One hundred percent of our bulls are sold to commercial operations,” Schnell explains. “Our buyers can spend about one-third less on a bull that is just as good as one in a purebred sale.”

“Our bulls’ longevity is one of our top selling points.

They don’t fall apart the first breeding season and will keep breeding cows for six to seven years,” he adds.

Schnell also artificially inseminates 800 to 1,000 head of cows each year for neighbors and other ranches.

“It is something I really enjoy, and it helps bring in new customers and friends,” he says.

Ups and downs Schnell has found agriculture to be a challenging way to make a living but, at the same time, rewarding and a great way to raise a family.

One of the biggest challenges in their operation is maintaining their standard of living while paying the high property taxes in

Nebraska.

“Our legislature needs to figure out a way to not rely so much on agriculture to support the state,” Schnell says. “It makes it very hard

to expand our operation when the property tax is so burdensome,” he adds.

He also finds consumer awareness becoming more critical for livestock producers.

“We must raise a safe and wholesome product that the end consumer wants and is willing to pay

for,” he says.

Through it all, Schnell says his family is “thankful to be involved in the greatest and most rewarding industry in this country.”

“Our hope is to continue to be able to provide practical, functional cattle to our customers and friends,” he says.

For more information about Par Terre Cattle Company, Klent can be reached at 308-235-9251 or at klent@goparterre. com.

Gayle Smith is a correspondent for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.

SimAngus cattle - For Par Terre Cattle Company, a SimAngus cow is the ideal cross, and they see benefits in utilizing SimAngus bulls on commercial cows, as well, noting the Simmental influence improves their fleshing ability, milk and feedlot performance. Courtesy photo

C6

Broadwater, Neb. – As Jaslyn Livingston looks over the calves she is finishing in her family’s feedlot in Broadwater, Neb., she thinks about positive ways to portray what she does on a day-to-day basis.

“One of my future goals is to do my part to bridge the gap between agricultural producers and the other 98 percent of the general population that is becoming further and further removed from agriculture and what we do,” the 24-year-old explains.

Family operation Livingston and her brother Ryan are the fourth generation to become involved in the family’s farming and ranching operation

Wyoming Livestock Roundup

near Broadwater.

“My first intention was to become a veterinarian, and I was enrolled in the vet science program at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).

But after taking my horse to the veterinarian and having the unfortunate experience of fainting at the first sight of blood, I decided I needed to pursue another option,” she explains.

“My dad was pretty much my babysitter since I was a baby, so I think his love of cattle rubbed off on me. I have always liked working with cattle, so I decided to go that route,” she says.

Livingston’s parents, Mark and the late Brandi Livingston, have farmed and

ranched in the Broadwater area since the 1980s, taking over from Mark’s parents, Verlin and Dora Livingston.

Pursuing a dream To pursue her dream of owning and managing her own cattle herd, Livingston earned an associate’s degree in livestock management at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture in Curtis, Neb. She started taking courses at UNL, but when her mother got sick, Livingston decided to return home to the family operation to work and began taking courses online through UNL to finish a Bachelor of Applied Science degree.

She earned her degree, with honors, last May.

Getting started Livingston says starting her own cowherd has been challenging, but she has found a lot of help and support along the way. She had acquired some cows through her involvement in the 4-H program.

“I would keep a cow or stocker-feeder heifer each year, depending upon what I would show,” she explains.

“Then, in 2013, I bought 64 heifers of my own. I had taken an artificial insemination (AI) class in college, so I AI’ed them myself and kept half and sold half to reduce the financial burden.”

She also sought out help and advice by networking with other people, which made a significant difference.

“I found out about different programs available through the government and banks,” she says. “My

bank was able to offer me a loan through their beginning farmer and rancher program, which is a lower interest loan, to help me get started and ease the financial burden.”

Despite that, Livingston admits being in the cattle business isn’t easy. The biggest obstacles are market volatility and the weather.

“Some years, cattle prices are just a lot better than they are in other years.

Sometimes we make money, and some years, we just hope to break even,” she says. “But, I think there are always obstacles to face. We just have to find ways to get around them and survive.”

Diversification The devastating drought in 2012 left few families in agriculture unscathed. It

was then Livingston realized the value in having a diversified family farming and ranching operation.

The family operation consists of cow/calf, stocker feedlot and farming. They also custom feed some cattle as another source of revenue.

“A lot of people had to sell their cows that year, but we were able to find ways to hang on to ours. Since our family has a feedlot and we grow a lot of our own feed for the feedlot and the cows we have, we were able to put them into the feedlot and feed them,” she says. “We purchased distillers’ grains from the plant in Bridgeport and beet pulp from the sugar factory, which allowed us to Continued on next page

Promoting the ag industry - Jaslyn Livingston sees benefits in promoting agriculture because much of the population is far-removed from the industry. She utilizes eye-catching photos with her positive messages about agriculture. Courtesy photo

“I want to find ways to portray beef and agriculture in a better light, so I try to stay really involved in what is happening in the industry,” emphasizes Jaslyn Livingston.

She currently serves as secretary for the Nebraska Cattlemen’s local Morrill County Affiliate. She was also selected to join the Nebraska Cattlemen’s young cattlemen’s conference, where she will learn more about legislation and issues that impact the cattle industry.

These aren’t tasks she takes lightly.

“I want people to see, when they eat beef, they are eating the best possible product,” she says. “We have come a long way over the years with better genetics and production to produce a really nutritious, safe product,” she says of the beef industry.

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2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Continued from previous page hold on.” ers calve at the end of FebruWorking together ary, with the cows following Despite working with her in March and April. Calves dad and brother on the ranch are weaned in November, but and farm, Livingston says sometimes, weaning is earlier they each have their own cat- depending upon pasture contle and run them separately ditions. most of the time for manageDespite the long hours ment and breeding purposes. and hard work, Livingston For her own herd, long- can’t see herself doing anybodied, moderately-framed thing else. heifers are selected.

“I continue to ranch “I AI those heifers to because I love working with Black Angus sires with good cattle and being outdoors. maternal traits to produce The community I live in black calves to put back in the makes it hard to leave,” she herd,” she explains. says. “There are times I think Livingston uses a Charo- I should have been smarter lais sire as a clean-up bull. The and found a job that pays a calves born from that mating little better, but it really isn’t are automatically finished out about the money. It is about in the family feedlot. the experiences.”

“The Charolais cross “If you really enjoy doing calves have good growth and something, it really isn’t concarcass characteristics,” she sidered work,” she adds. explains.

Gayle Smith is a correThe cows are kept on spondent for the Wyoming cornstalks or pasture year- Livestock Roundup. Send round, with some supplement comments on this article to when they need it. The heif- roundup@wylr.net.

Commercial cattle - The Livingston family raises commercial cattle, including Black Angus AI sires and Charolais clean-up bulls. They also run yearlings and do some farming, in addition to the cow/calf pairs. Courtesy photo

Arvin Livingston came by train to Lorenzo, Neb. from Iowa.

“He rode in a train car with the cattle because, back then, children were not considered humans,” relays his great-granddaughter Jaslyn Livingston.

He brought some Hereford cattle along with him and settled in the Sidney draw where he lived with his wife, Nelly, for many years.

Later, his son Verlin and his wife Dora joined the family operation.

In 1971, the family moved to Broadwater, Neb. where they kept purebred Hereford bulls and sold some. In the late 70s, they started using Black Angus bulls on their Hereford heifers for calving ease.

Much to their surprise, the crossbred calves started outperforming their purebred Herefords, so eventually they transitioned their operation to commercial.

Later, they tried using Simmental sires on the F1 cross, but dystocia and calving problems plagued this cross. They also tried Charolais sires but found the calves were not as vigorous at birth.

Eventually, the family started using Angus bulls on the F1 cross and eventually Hereford bulls to produce black white-face calves that have the most hybrid vigor and growth.

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C8

Wyoming Livestock Roundup

Hay Springs, Neb. – Brock and Heidi Terrell never intended to add sheep to their growing list of diversifications on their family’s farm and ranch, but what started out as lemons soon became lemonade for the couple.

“We got into the sheep business by accident,” the Mirage Flats producer recalls.

During the drought of 2012, they had some corn go down.

“We bought some feeder cattle to go through it, but there was still a lot of kernels on the ground,” he says.

Terrell talked to a sheep producer in Colorado about grazing the field with some sheep, and a rancher from Vail, Colo. was interested in trying it rather than continuing to pay $400 a ton for alfalfa hay. Due to a harsh mountain winter,

his feed supply was buried beneath more than four feet of snow.

String of bad luck “Within a couple weeks, we had about 700 white-face ewes out grazing the downed corn,” Terrell explains. “We had an agreement to get the sheep out by March, but the snow was still too deep, so he asked to stay for a couple more weeks.”

With a new shipping date of April 15 and the producer indicating trucks would be at their Hay Springs operation, on April 19, Terrell thought the sheep would be on their way home to Colorado.

Then, he received terrible news.

“On April 17, his wife called and said he had died of a heart attack the night before. She didn’t want the sheep and asked if there was any way we could get

them to Fort Collins, Colo. to sell them,” he recalls.

When Terrell called the sale barn, he received more bad news. There was no market for the ewes.

Terrell continued, “We were in a drought, the sheep wouldn’t lamb until June, and they told me they wouldn’t bring anything. I asked them, ‘How much is not anything?’”

With a sale barn quote in hand, the Terrells decided to take a chance.

He called the producer’s widow and negotiated a price for the ewes, the guard dogs and the sheep wagon.

“The whole nine yards came in one fell swoop.

Without that accident, it would have been a lot more difficult for us to jump in on that scale,” he says.

Seeing results Five years later, the gamble paid off.

The Terrells have had such good luck with the ewes during that time, they have increased their numbers to 1,600 head.

They also own 1,300 mother cows and take in another 1,200 animal unit months (AUMs) of customer cattle. The livestock are managed on 38,000 acres of native rangeland and 5,500 acres of irrigated farmland and leased crop residue.

“We mostly run on native range and winter on crop residue and cover crops,” Terrell explains.

“We custom graze some cattle and sheep to generate more revenue, while maintaining some flexibility in our management scheme,” he continues.

“We also exercise holistic management, primarily the Savory system, to have another tool in our toolbox. Our goal is to graze the right animals in the right place at the right time and keep our business flexible,” he maintains.

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Flexibility in diversity “Part of our flexibility is the different species and classes of animals we have, whether it is stocker-feeder, ewe lambs, pairs, dry cows or ewes,” Terrell explains.

They have cows from about 14 different states and sheep from about five.

They quickly stock and destock the herds as they determine their needs.

“We go wherever there’s an opportunity,” Terrell says. “We especially pay close attention when there is a drought.”

Terrell has also experimented with ways to run cattle and sheep together, and they calve and lamb in sync with nature, while using holistic management practices.

The ewes start lambing on pasture May 20. The heavies are moved twice a day, and after lambing, the pairs are kept in small groups. The ewes raise no more than two lambs each, and they are monitored by Peruvian sheep herders.

Farming The farming enterprise is considered pretty diversified, Terrell continues.

“From mid-July to November, we are always harvesting one crop or another,” he says.

They plant cash crops like corn, wheat, oats, rye, triticale, dry edible beans and peas. After these crops

are harvested, they plant cover crops like turnips, rye, oats, peas and sorghum sudangrass. The Terrells have used cover crops as preventive planting, when the field is too wet to plant or to replace hailed or damaged cash crops.

In addition to grazing, Terrell has found other benefits to raising cover crops. They are nutrient scavengers and an advertisement for soil health, not to mention the high food value they can produce that lasts well into the winter when the nutritional value in other feed sources has declined, he says.

Penciling it out, Terrell finds the economics of producing cover crops is about a wash.

“The cover crops cover their cost. There is enough value there to cover seeding it, it has good feed value, and we don’t have to start a feed truck,” he says.

“It’s high-quality feed late in the year when we don’t have any other feeds available and the pastures are all frozen down.”

“We’re not going to get rich off cover crops, but we’re not going to go broke doing it either,” he adds.

Gayle Smith is a correspondent for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.

Starting February 10, 2018 Boulder, WY

Come over and join us for a relaxed, no pressure sale! Same great Jensen Angus PAP tested Coming-Two-Year-Old Bulls as every year. Due to health issues, we are unable to hold our annual auction so we will only be offering bulls via private treaty this year. Bulls will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis starting at 10 a.m. (MST) on Saturday, February 10, 2018 and continue until we are sold out of bulls.

This group of bulls are as nice a set as we have ever offered. They are very correct and made for the high-altitude commercial cattleman. Never pushed, they have been developed on native grass hay and Smart Lix Flax tubs.

This sale features the first crop of Diamond Breakout 205C sons, along with Riverbend Consensus Y1514 sons, as well as other low PAP Jensen Angus Herd Sires. We will have a bull sale brochure with all updated info on sale bulls soon. Thank you to all of our loyal customers. We appreciate you and look forward to seeing everyone February 10!

OUR CATTLE LIVE AND THRIVE AT 7,200’+ YEAR-ROUND AND ARE PAP TESTED BY DR. TIM HOLT

For

More inForMAtion, pleAse contAct:

Jensen Angus • Justin & renee Jensen

307 537-3376 (H) • 307-360-9136 (M) rJJ@wyoMing.coM • like us on FAceBook

Diversifying to sheep - In a recent workshop, Brock Terrell explained how he got started in the sheep industry and reflected on the benefits of utilizing sheep in combination with cattle. Gayle Smith photo

The Terrell family may learn more about the economics of growing cover crops on their farm after being selected as one of eight private landowners in Nebraska who will take part in a study funded by the Nebraska Environmental Trust (NET).

During this three-year study, University of Nebraska researchers will study the production of cover crops and how they influences soil health. The project will attempt to create benchmarks for western Nebraska to determine what benefits there are to growing cover crops.

Because of their willingness to try new ideas, the Terrells are considered leaders in innovation and management. Recently, Brock and Heidi Terrell, along with his parents Vern and Marjean, were honored with the Outstanding Service to the Panhandle agricultural award.

This award honors them for their progressive, diversified farming and ranching operation in west-central Sheridan County.

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2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Lewellen, Neb. – Tipton Ranch is a diversified livestock operation located 21 miles northeast of Lewellen, Neb. “We started out with lots of energy and little equity, and what we have now is the result of 45 years of learning from our mistakes,” states Mike Tipton, Tipton Ranch owner and operator.

History For Mike and his wife Belinda, Hereford cattle have always been a part of their lives.

“Both of us were raised in Hereford families and showed in 4-H with our Herefords,” says Tipton.

The Tiptons originally established their operation in North Park, Colo. 45 years ago, while working for other ranches and registered cattle programs of various breeds.

“We started the herd with 35 bred heifers we bought from the Upstream Ranch,” Tipton notes.

In 1984, Tipton Ranch moved to the Sandhills of

western Nebraska, where they had the opportunity to become first-time landowners and where they have been ever since.

Over the years, the Tipton children Rindy, Tad and Kinsey grew up helping their parents on the family ranch until they graduated college and went their own ways.

“All the kids had their own Herefords, showed cattle in 4-H and were active in multiple county, state and national livestock shows,” adds Tipton.

Now, Rindy and Tad, along with their families, live and work in Sheridan, while Kinsey and her husband live in Lander.

Operation Tipton Ranch is a diversified livestock operation where they raise registered Herefords, run a commercial cattle herd and operate a commercial feedyard.

“On site, we also have a heifer development and custom artificial insemination (AI) program and

run yearlings on grass and rye pastures,” Tipton mentions.

“In the last 45 years, we’ve been able to eliminate a lot of problems and focus on profitability from a production standpoint,” states Tipton, adding, “Our approach is being cost effective for ourselves, as well as our customers.”

Out of the registered Hereford herd, 55 to 85 two-year-old bulls are sold by private treaty, while most of the steer calves are either finished in the feedyard or sold as yearlings, depending on the cattle market.

Tipton Ranch concentrates on proven genetics that are validated not only by the Tipton family but to many commercial operators, and they have feedlot data to show their genetics are working.

“Our cattle are easy to look at and have won their share of awards, but the real emphasis has always been on providing bulls for commercial cattlemen who

Feedyard – At Tipton Ranch, cattle are the main focus and profitability is the main driver in the feeding operation. Photo courtesy of Tipton Ranch

make their living with their cattle,” Tipton notes.

On the ranch, there are four pivots where rye, sorghum and sudangrass mixes are grown to feed the cattle during the year, along with native hay.

“The economics involved with our various enterprises have given us tremendous insight into all aspects of the cattle business and have greatly influenced our decisionmaking for our registered operation,” he adds.

Benefits and struggles According to Tipton, the Sandhills of Nebraska

Grazing – The Tipton cowherd summers and winters in the Sandhills of Nebraska. Photo courtesy of Tipton Ranch

have a lot of benefits, but there are also a few challenges.

“There’s better grass country, and there’s worse grass country, but this area has some of the best average grass country,” notes Tipton.

He says there are a large number of grasses and forbs to graze, including cool, intermediate, late and warm-season grasses.

The ranch utilizes a combination of windmills and submersible pumps to provide stock water to all the pastures.

“We are fortunate to have excellent water.

We can drink out of any well on the place,” Tipton states.

Other benefits he mentions include the proximity to sale barns, feedyards, packing plants and feeds unavailable in other areas.

“There is a lot of opportunity in Nebraska, and it’s in the heart of cattle country,” Tipton states.

“This part of the Sandhills can have its share of weather, regulation and market issues, but it’s a great place to live,” he claims.

Most of the challenges

the Tipton Ranch faces are challenges any other producer faces, states Tipton.

“In today’s economic environment, it’s difficult to survive by being average,” he says. “We really are blessed with where we live and by the opportunities western Nebraska offers.”

The reason Agriculture can be challenging, but both Mike and Belinda like the industry and the people they deal with.

“We grew up in agricultural environments, and it’s what we’ve always done. We like the way of life and think it’s a great way to raise a family,” he says.

Tipton believes if people do what they like, they are usually successful.

“Surviving in the cattle industry has always been a long-term goal and has been a driving factor for us in our business,” Tipton adds.

For more information, visit tipton-ranch.com/wp.

Heather Loraas is assistant editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at heather@wylr.net.

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Wyoming Livestock Roundup

Bridgeport, Neb. – “We just got Wi-Fi here at the ranch a month ago,” says Naomi Loomis. “We can’t get cell service yet, but we have internet.”

Cody and Naomi Loomis’ Circle L Ranch is 35 miles north of Bridgeport, Neb. Naomi says, “We’re at the edge of the Sandhills – tall, rolling hills interspersed with sub-irrigated

hay meadows that provide all of our grass hay and grazing. Our kids are the fifth generation of Loomis’ here.”

Rooted in tradition In the midst of 21st century technology, traditions run deeply.

Family, neighbors, their ranch-raised Quarter horses and Border Collie and Heeler stock dogs are vital to their black-baldy

cow/calf operation.

The ranch uses horses for 85 to 90 percent of the cattle work. The dogs do the work of several hired hands.

Cody says, “Come calving in March, I’ll be horseback at least half of every day. I check the cows and rope every calf to doctor and tag it. The cattle are used to horses, so everybody stays calm.”

“Branding season is my favorite time of year,” he continues. “I can go through five or six horses a day. When a couple of other guys and I help one neighbor, we brand 300 calves in the morning and 300 in the afternoon.”

Continually developing Cody added electric fencing and rotational grazing to the ranch operation. He checks cows and pastures regularly.

“Moving them is now just a matter of opening a gate,” he says.

Checking cattle in the far summer pasture entails a long ride over miles of rough country.

In the fall, they move everything in close to an accessible road.

Cody says, “We keep

the weaned calves on pasture right up to hauling day. We’re able to load them right into our own stock trailers and take them straight to a local feedlot. It works great.”

He continues, “We winter the cows close to the home place. We use two pickups with hydrobeds to haul and feed round bales. I’ll go get a horse if I see something that needs doctored, but winter is pretty quiet.

That’s when I start my colts.”

Ranch life Cody says, “Naomi and the boys really enjoy riding, moving and working cattle, so I schedule as much of that work for weekends and summer as I can.

“We are happy to

be able to raise our kids with this lifestyle. The two older boys have their own small cowherd,” he explains. “Both are training their own colts and young dogs. They get to be around good people, who are honest and sincere. The boys already have strong work ethics that will serve them well no matter what they decide to do in life.”

However, Cody adds, “If any of our kids decide to ranch, we’ll have to spread out, diversify and find some new niches to generate more income.

They are part of this technology generation, so they will be able to make changes and improve the ranch business.”

Continued on next page

On horses - Cody Loomis spends much of his time on a horse, particularly during calving season and during the summer months. They utilize horses to do much of their ranch work. Courtesy photo

G BAR H GENETICS ANGUS BULL SALE

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2018 Torrington Livestock Market

Raised on the ranch - The Loomis children Cade, Kason, Ryder and Reata are intimately involved in the ranch. They participate in as much day-to-day work as possible, and Cody Loomis says he tries to schedule cattle work for the weekends so they can be involved. Courtesy photo

LOT 58

2/2/17

KR Status 4237 / Mohnen 004-16 BW +2.4 • WW +78 • YW +123 • $B +123.27 Adj. 205 Wt. 794 lbs.

Torrington, Wyoming • 1 p.m. (MST) SELLING 82 REGISTERED ANGUS BULLS

AI SIRES:

Connealy Black Granite - 9 Sons Sell JMB Traction 292 - 4 Sons Sell KR Millionaire - 4 Sons Sell SAV Sensation - 3 Sons Sell VAR Reserve - 4 Sons Sell Musgrave Big Sky - 3 Sons Sell SAV Renown - 3 Sons Sell KR Status 4267 - 3 Sons Sell

LOT 38

2/17/17

Deer Valley All In / Identity BW +1.5 • WW +73 • YW +112 • $B +112.10 Adj. 205 Wt. 901 lbs.

RESIDENT HERD SIRES: Connealy Full Power 9538 - 5 Sons Sell KR Joe Canada 5071 - 11 Sons Sell PMH Destroyer A360 - 6 Sons Sell

15 Hereford Bulls Ward Livestock - Guest Consignor Jeff Ward Family - 307-399-9863 DELIVERY AVAILABLE WINTERING AVAILABLE

LOT 24

2/22/17

Sitz Investment 660/ Right Answer 746 BW +2.2 • WW +71 • YW +130 • $B +136.50 Adj. 205 Wt. 802 lbs.

G BAR H GENETICS

3146 St. Hwy 154, Veteran, WY 82243 • gbarh@bbcwb.net • www.angusjournal.com/gbarh View catalog at www.TorringtonLivestock.com.

You can bid and view the sale at www.cattleusa.com. You must pre-register to bid

KEVIN & JACKIE NICKEL 307-837-2279

PAT & MARILYN HERRING 307-837-2540

BILL & DANA HAAS 307-837-2925

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2018 Winter Cattlemen’s Edition

Continued from previous page Feed store Naomi has worked in town managing the Double A feed store since 1999, a year after she and Cody were married.

She says, “The kids – Cade, 15, Kason, 13, and the twins, Ryder and Reata, 7 – consider the store their second home.”

While it’s nice to have Wi-Fi at the ranch, she treasures the almost-daily

technology-free 70-mile commute.

“Every day I get to spend quality time with my kids while we’re driving those miles. I actually know my kids,” Naomi comments.

Getting involved The Loomis’ are members of Nebraska Cattlemen. Naomi sits on the boards of the Morrill County Cattlemen and the

local FFA advisory committee. She is the current president of the Morrill County Fair Board.

Naomi is also a Western States Ranch Rodeo Association (WSRRA) representative and has been a ranch rodeo and ranch bronc riding producer since 2007. She writes for the WSRRA magazine Rodeo News and was named WSRRA Producer of the Year in 2015.

“In 2016, I produced

Cow work - Horses are used for 85 to 90 percent of the ranch work at Circle L Ranch near Bridgeport, Neb., capturing the traditions the Loomis family holds in high regard. Courtesy photo

over 20 ranch rodeos and ranch bronc riding events.

I bucked over 2,500 head of horses that year,” she says. “I put in a lot of miles and had a lot of fun.”

She says, “I support the sport of ranch rodeo to keep our ranching traditions alive. Working cowboys can compete in WSRRA. I want my own kids to be able to compete and to go to town and show off the skills they’ve acquired while working.”

Embracing technology Naomi embraces the technology that allows her to market their businesses. More importantly,

through developing websites and blogs and using Facebook and other social media, she has developed her voice “to keep our ranching ways and traditions alive.”

She says, “I’ve started my website and blog to tell our story. I think everybody has a story to tell. We’re all unique, so I also encourage people to tell theirs. If I can make a difference in one person’s day or one person’s life,

that’s all I need to do.”

“Plus, this is my chance to advocate for beef and agriculture,” Naomi adds. “People are so far away from ranch life, reading my blogs gives them a chance to see where their food comes from.”

Virginia Wakefield is a correspondent for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup.

Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.

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