Bedwell Charolais
Gene and Ruth Bedwell, Iowa

In 1965 Gene and Ruth Bedwell purchased 40 acres of rolling, green pasture and hay ground in south-central Iowa (cow country). The couple worked full-time in Des Moines, but both being farm kids, they still wanted to farm.

They bought their first cows, 10 half-blood Charolais, in 1966. In 1969 they bought the 160 acres of crop and pasture ground adjoining the farm. The following year they purchased 10 more half-blood Charolais x Hereford cows and a bull and began retaining their own replacement heifers. From this start of 20 half-blood cows, they bred up to a complete purebred, registered herd.

Ruth quit working in town when the couple started their family. Gene continued to work until 1972, when they purchased more farm ground and pasture adjoining theirs. Today, the Bedwells are still living in the same home they moved into in 1965. The farm has expanded to 640 acres, with a spring-calving herd of 100+ cows. In order to raise and support a family, the Bedwells believed they needed a product they could promote and merchandize themselves. The purebred livestock industry was their opportunity to do this as a family, without off-farm income.

When you approach their farm through the rolling green hills that are dotted with white cattle, you instantly get the impression of an expertly maintained, no-nonsense cattle operation. Everywhere you look things are painted, mowed and in as close-to-perfect order as they can be on a working ranch.

Boyd Farm
L.A. (Lee) Boyd, IV and Harriet Boyd, Alabama

Boyd Farms is located in the heart of the Wiregrass region of Alabama. Established more than 80 years ago, Boyd Farms breeds purebred Simmental genetics. With goals including structural correctness, muscling, fleshing ability and high performance, Boyd Farms plans to consistently produce the type of genetics commercial and purebred cattle producers are looking for to improve their herds. The current cow herd consists of 125 females that are bred AI to bulls with balanced EPD trait values. Bulls are matched to individual cow groups to complement cow genetics. More than 40 bulls are marketed each year, primarily through private treaty and the Wiregrass BCIA Grazing Evaluation Sale. Heifers are marketed through Alabama Simmental Association sales, BCIA heifer sales and private treaty. In 2002, breeding stock was also marketed to Venezuela.

Pastures are primarily Bahia grass and coastal Bermuda. In the summer, Sudan grass is planted to supplement grazing or for hay production. Pastures are overseeded for winter grazing, and crabgrass is planted on idle peanut land. Last year, they cross-fenced 240 acres to implement a rotational grazing system. Financial information is analyzed through the Wiregrass Farm Analysis Program. This information is allowing Boyd Farms to continually reduce costs without sacrificing performance.

Lee Boyd is active in his community and state organizations. He has been a regional vice president of the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Alabama Simmental and Coffee County Cattlemen’s Associations.

Camp Cooley Ranch
Mr. Klaus Birkel, owner; Mr. Mark Cowan, manager; Texas

Camp Cooley Ranch is a progressive beef operation located east of Franklin, Texas. Set on gently rolling hills, the ranch is picturesque and home to Brangus, Angus and Charolais cattle.

Klaus Birkel purchased Camp Cooley Ranch in October 1991. In 1993 he purchased the Brinks Brangus cow herd and moved the cattle from Kansas to Texas. Eventually he added the complementary genetics of Angus and Charolais cattle. Today, the Camp Cooley Ranch umbrella has grown to include nearly 2,000 registered females at the ranch and additional cattle at joint ventures in Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil.

Camp Cooley Ranch has taken progressive measures, funding and participating in numerous research projects across the nation. With the development of programs such as the Producer Revenue Enhancement Program (P.R.E.P.), they continue to stay in the forefront of the industry with carcass research and data collection.

During calendar year 2003, Camp Cooley Ranch will market more than 700 bulls through their annual production sale and by private treaty. At the annual sale and throughout the year, efforts are made to provide learning and educational opportunities for customers and cooperators.

The staff at Camp Cooley Ranch strives to provide customer service that is second-to-none while providing performance-backed seedstock.

Click the links below to read articles printed about Camp Cooley Ranch.
PREP School for Profit — Angus Journal

Seedstock production provides ranchers with choices-Land & Livestock Post

Click here to visit the Camp Cooley Ranch Web site

Hilltop Ranch
Mr. and Mrs. Bill Carr, Texas

Bill Carr has been raising cattle for a little more than 50 years, beginning with a small interest in a family operation in the early 1950s in the brush country of Webb County, Texas. By 1988 and through various means, he acquired sole ownership of the original Webb County ranch. In 1994 the Carrs bought another ranch in the "Hill Country" of Kendall County, Texas. It had most of the cedar removed and a good turf of grass with miles of crystal-clear spring-fed creeks that flow most of the year. In 1996 they bought another ranch in the productive sandy loam portion of Wilson County, Texas. These ranches total about 14,000 acres. The Webb County Ranch is by far the biggest part of the operation and where the Carrs call home.

Bill says ranching is a two-pronged effort, one being the transformation to and maintenance of productive range and pasture land and the other being the operation of an efficient, and hopefully profitable, cattle-raising and marketing program.
He credits his success to having early on worked out a uniquely efficient process of converting the mixed brush and prickly pear-infested rangelands of Webb County to relatively clean grass pastures and a strong emphasis on performance in our cattle operation.

The Carrs raise Beefmaster cattle. Ranch capacity is about 1,000 cows, but having been through numerous droughts, the Carrs will usually stock the ranch with 700-900 breeding-age females. About half will be purebred Beefmaster females that are synchronized and artificially inseminated, then split into groups with one Beefmaster bull per group for an additional 60 days. The other half are commercial Braford cows that are synchronized and used for recipients for Beefmaster embryos. A British-breed bull is turned with these recipients right after they receive an embryo, or fail to qualify for same, to get a readily distinguishable and marketable commercial calf as soon as possible.

The Carrs calve in the spring, wean in the fall, grow their replacement heifers on irrigatible oats at the Wilson County ranch to approximately 14 months of age and breed them to calve as 2 year olds. They grow their sale and replacement bull calves in grass traps of 50 acres or more supplemented with a growing supplemental feed formulated for their grass by Texas A&M University staff. A sampling of bull calves are culled at weaning, knife cut, preconditioned and fed each year in a retained ownership program to obtain gain and carcass data.

The Carrs collect weaning and yearling weights and calculate postweaning gains. On yearling heifers and bulls, they measure carcass traits by ultrasound and pelvic areas, as well as scrotal circumference of bulls. The Carrs keep complete production records on their cows, which are culled based on calving frequency and overall calf quality.

Their cattle or genetics have done well in a number of University-sponsored research projects. Very recently, Texas A&M University concluded a three-year project of producing and evaluating, through slaughter, calves out of their Angus test herd and from the semen from 15 Beefmaster bulls. One of our bulls was involved and, while doing well in all traits measured, produced calves that were No. 1 in yearling weight, ribeye size and tenderness, substantiating their growth, muscularity and eating quality.
The Carrs advertise their cattle in cattle magazines, newspapers and other media and market them through occasional production sales, consignment sales and private treaty. Most importantly, they say, they stand behind them beyond the requirements of such sales.

Moser Ranch
Harry and Lisa Moser Family, Kansas

In spring 1987 the Moser Ranch marketed four bulls as breeding stock to local cattlemen. In their 11th annual sale in 2003, 118 head of Simmental, Angus and Red Angus bulls sold into seven states and one Canadian province. Harry, is a native of North Dakota and a graduate of North Dakota State University. Lisa is a native of Kansas with a degree from Kansas State University. They’ve been in the cattle business all of their lives. Along with their children — Cameron (19), Kendra (16) and Kayla (11) — the Mosers own and manage the Moser Ranch, located approximately 40 miles northeast of Manhattan in the northern Flint Hills of Kansas.

With the use of proven, predictable genetics and an extensive artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET) program, utilizing every available economic and performance measurement, the Mosers have built a strong genetic base, while developing a strong customer-service program. The Moser ranch cow herd consists of 150 spring- and 20 fall-calving Simmental females, 40 spring- and 10 fall-calving Angus, 25 Red Angus spring-calving females, and 50 fall-calving commercial Angus females. Seven producers are cooperator herds for the ET program, which began in 1991. This enables the Mosers to produce approximately 150 additional calves per year. Bulls are sold primarily to commercial cattlemen in the annual bull sale; females and embryos are sold private treaty.

The Mosers are very hands-on with respect to their entire operation. The family works together and utilizes the strengths each person brings to the operation, whether it be for day-to-day care of the cow herd, sire selection and mating decisions, heat detection and AI, weaning and development of bulls and replacements, putting up and grinding feed, sale management and promotion, financial and breed association bookwork, computer time and Web site updates, customer service and consultations, or developing marketing options and feeding alliances.

In the past five years, the commitment to helping market customer calves through various avenues has been especially rewarding. Two alliances with which they are involved provide feedlot and carcass data on each individual animal that goes through each program. In addition, a Moser Influence Preconditioned Calf Sale each fall gives still other customers a very lucrative option. Continued customer and consumer education is addressed regularly by holding seminars and hosting tours to enhance understanding of the beef industry.

Click here to visit the Moser Ranch Web site

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Mystic Hill Farms
David and Charlotte Caldwell, Virginia

Mystic Hill Farms, established in 1988 by the Caldwells in the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills of Culpeper County, is committed to the breeding of registered Angus seedstock to serve all phases of the beef industry. The farm’s primary objective is to address the needs of the commercial cow-calf producer with genetics developed in a practical environment. Mystic Hill manages 850 cattle on 1,800 acres under conditions experienced by producers in the region. The farm was third, eighth and fourth in Angus registrations in Virginia for 2000, 2001 and 2003, respectively. Seven Mystic Hill bulls were listed in the 2002 Angus Sire Evaluation Report, one of which is leased to a major bull stud, and three bulls were listed in the Braunvieh sire summary.

Mystic Hill calves 300 purebred Angus and 30 purebred Braunvieh cows mated to performance sires, resulting in functional and balanced offspring that avoid extremes. Calving seasons include both spring and fall to efficiently use facilities, labor and bull power. The heifers, followed by the cows, are synchronized for AI breeding; all females are later sorted into breeding groups for natural service. Selected donors support the ET program with proven superior value to the program, expanding their influence on the herd. Commercial cows raise embryo calves or produce Braunvieh-Angus hybrid offspring that express heterosis, enhance end product value and offer alternative outcross genetics.

Bulls are commingled with cooperators’ bulls and performance tested on the farm for 110 days, then marketed in two annual sales targeting local commercial producers. The feeding program allows the expression of genetic differences for growth. Ultrasound measurements are taken to determine carcass merit. Reproductive evaluation, including semen testing, determines breeding soundness, and visual evaluations are made for soundness and disposition. Bulls that fail go to slaughter.

Click here to visit the Mystic Hill Farms Web site

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Pingetzer’s Six Iron Ranch
George and Robert Pingetzer, Wyoming

Six Iron Ranch, established in the late 1950s, is located 8 miles south of Shoshoni in West Central Wyoming. The Pingetzers started raising registered Red Angus cattle in the early 1970s. Currently they have 200 head of registered Red Angus cows. In the last year they expanded to incorporate a small herd of 25 registered black Angus cows. They also manage 600 head of commercial Red Angus cross cattle.

Our calving season begins in late January, with the first-calf heifers and registered cows. The commercial cows are bred to start calving March 1. By April 1, 85%-90% are calved out. The registered herd receives no preferential treatment. They are expected to earn their keep just like the commercial herd.

The operation includes 1,400 acres of irrigated farmland. We raise corn, oats, alfalfa and mixed hays. We also feed the bulls for the annual Wyoming Beef Cattle Improvement Association (WBCIA) bull test and sale. The sale is held at the Pingetzer’s sale barn at the test facility.

San Isabel Ranch, LLP
Elizabeth R. Kettle, Personal Representative for Benjamin W. Kettle, DVM, Colorado

San Isabel Ranch (SIR) is located in the Wet Mountain Valley, west of Westcliffe at 8,000 feet of elevation. The ranch has been in the continuous operation by the Kettle family since 1872. The production of registered Horned Herefords began in 1916.

The base of the cow herd is approximately 150 cows. All of the cows are home-raised, as are the herd bulls. The herd is intensely linebred on the basis of performance records kept for more than 50 years. Every five or six years, SIR will purchase an outcross bull to ensure the progression of the genetic pool. Feedlot and carcass data are collected whenever possible. The calving season is planned to match the growing season within this high mountain valley. Calving begins in early April and finishes in about 75 days.

The cattle are maintained with no creep feeding. We provide a free-choice, complete protein-mineral supplement and free-choice salt to all cattle on the ranch. Winter feed includes native and mixed grass hay produced at the ranch and, in times of hay shortage and/or when the ground is open, a small amount of mineral-fortified protein cake is fed for a short time in the fall.

The sale cattle are offered private treaty or through video auction. Heifer replacements are bred as yearlings at a minimum weight of 650 pounds. For their first calves, they are bred for to low-birth-weight, registered Red Angus bulls to best utilize heterosis in those calves.

In years of typical moisture, the ranch produces an excess of native hay (timothy, brome, small amounts of alfalfa and various clovers) for market. SIR includes a custom haying enterprise to offset the expense of producing its own feed.

In addition, SIR has the capacity to manage approximately 1,500 stocker cattle for its custom-grazing enterprise. It typically receives those cattle mid-May and ships them out in late September.

San Isabel Ranch had the first herd in the country to conduct research on brisket disease in cooperation with Colorado State University to determine the genetic tendency to high-altitude disease. This resulted in the development of the PAP testing for genetic susceptibility.

Click the link below to read an article from the Colorado Cattlemen’s Ass’n about San Isabel Ranch, LLP.
Outstanding Producers Honored at Mid-Winter Conference

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Shamrock Vale Farms
Earl and Nedra McKarns, Ohio

Earl was raised on a dairy and beef farm in northeast Ohio. After high school and four years in the Navy, he started farming full-time on his 137-acre farm with 12 Holstein cows. Over the years he increased his farm to 600 acres, enlarged his dairy herd to 150 head and started a small registered Angus herd in the late 1970s. He expanded his Angus herd by retaining his own replacement heifers. In 1991 the dairy cattle and 250 acres were dispersed.

Shamrock Vale Farms today is a registered Angus business with all 400 acres consisting of grass, 150-175 mother cows and their calves, and about 75 replacement heifers.

Forages on the farm consist of mostly orchard grass and clover mixed with some fescue. The farm is laid out in paddocks for rotational grazing. Cattle are moved every 12 hours during the growing season. A water system has been developed to supply water into most every paddock. Stockpiled grass and small round bales are used for winter grazing.

Heifers and cows are synchronized for estrus and bred using artificial insemination (AI) to calve from January-March. The breeding program has been totally AI for the last six years. Sires are selected with balanced expected progeny differences (EPDs) for both growth and carcass traits. Fleshing ability and a medium frame are also important.

Shamrock Vale Farms is a closed herd producing its own replacements. The herd is accredited and certified for brucellosis and tuberculosis (TB); Johne’s disease test negative for the past seven years; and bovine leukosis virus (BLV) negative for the last six years.

All 3-year-old cows are sold each fall after weaning their second calf and being pregnancy-checked. Heifer calves are retained in the herd for replacements. About 40 bulls are marketed through Camp Cooley Ranch in Texas, with whom Shamrock Vale Farms is a cooperator herd. Fifteen to 20 bulls are marketed from the farm.
Earl is a past president of the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association, served nine years on the Ohio Beef Council and is active in his church and community.

Click the link below to read an article printed in the Angus Journal about Shamrock Vale Farms.
Grass Operation Personified

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