Cattleman’s Corner Radio

Schweitzer Red Angus has an annual bull in female sale coming up tomorrow Friday, March 20th at the Beatrice 77 sale barn, Beatrice, Nebraska. I had a chance to catch up with Austin about their upcoming sale and their operation, so Austin, how did you get started?

"I grew up in a farming background. My parents never farmed with my grandpa did, so I just got out of passion for cattle from kindergarten up, whether it was bucket calves or anything like that. I acquired some cows in high school. Then through college, I worked at the Cow Calf Research Center for four years in Meade, Nebraska, which is affiliated with the University of Nebraska, and that's where my passion clicked in there during those college years."

Did you do any 4-H or FFA or anything like that?

"Yeah, I was blessed to be a state FFA officer. I can't remember what year that was now. 2001, somewhere in there. Yeah, I was heavily involved in FFA through high school, and then I would have been an officer my sophomore year in college."

What kind of cattle are you raising?

"So right now we have a unique operation. We have a seed sock herd, which is 90% red Angus. We do do a lot of black-eyed-ud red Angus. A lot of people in the area just want to stick with black, and I respect that. I like to have the opportunity to breed with Angus, the in-red Angus trade. Seedstock herd, and then we also run a feed yard. So we see it from the calf being tagged all the way to the calf getting on the truck to slaughter at our local packing houses. So it's kind of interesting."

Visit CattlemansCorner.com and click on Featured Sales to see that Schweitzer Red Angus Bull sale with a link directly to that auction.

Gray's Angus Ranch is preparing for its 30th annual bull sale on March 30th, where they will sell 140 bulls and 30 Angus open heifers. The sale will be taking place at the Windy Acres sale facility south of Harrison, which they acquired a year and a half ago. The ranch continues to focus on maintaining Angus genetics, using AI to introduce new proven genetics.

Brenda, involved with Western Cattle Source, shares her background in cattle farming, which started as a 4-H project with her husband. They specialize in Simmental, Sim Angus, and Angus cattle, emphasizing the benefits of crossing breeds, such as heterosis, which increases the productivity and quality of the cattle, thus enhancing their bottom line.

The cattle industry is experiencing record high prices, helping producers recover from previous financial losses. Brenda notes the strong demand for beef in the U.S. and argues that despite rising prices, beef remains an economical protein source compared to other food items like coffee or snacks.

Brenda discusses their upcoming cattle sale on March 19th in Crawford, Nebraska, featuring various cattle breeds. The event will be held at their ranch to accommodate for weather challenges. They take pride in high-quality bulls and emphasize maintaining good health and structure for breeding purposes.

Land and livestock owners around the country are facing some really tough conditions right now. Extreme heat watch, blizzards, tornado watches and warnings, freeze warnings, cold weather advisories, wildfires in Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma, dust storms in Texas, flooding in the Northeast, severe thunderstorms and hail. Every type of weather possible throughout the country right now.

And speaking of those wildfires, there are several organizations that have come together to be the point of contact for fire relief. The official page for Nebraska Sandhills Rancher Relief is the Nebraska Sandhills Rancher Fire Relief Page. Speaking of that Sandhills fire that has left families ranchers and entire communities facing devastating losses and the road to recovery will be long. If you're able, please contact any local organizations providing relief. And in Nebraska, that would include the Nebraska Sandhills Rancher Fire Relief. In conjunction with a fund that is set up at the Oregon Trail Community Foundation in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, that one has also labeled a Sandhills Fire Relief Fund. And the United Way of Western Nebraska has announced that they can also get funds to individuals in need. There is an official Facebook page for that Morrill Fire, the largest fire in Nebraska history. You can find it on our page pinned at the top. The Morrill Fire, which started in Morrill County, Nebraska, has now burned over a half a million acres, is the largest fire in Nebraska history, has claimed one death and could possibly break into the top 10 for largest fires in U.S. history.

Please continue to pray for our local land owners, livestock owners and firemen and everyone involved in this disaster.

Rod Gray of Gray's Angus Ranch shared his family's long-standing history in the Angus cattle business. They are seventh-generation breeders, and their family tradition started in the 1800s. Originally, the family farm and cattle breeding began in Iowa before moving to western Nebraska in 1997. 

Gray's Angus Ranch is preparing for its 30th annual bull sale on March 30th, where they will sell 140 bulls and 30 Angus open heifers. The sale will be taking place at the Windy Acres sale facility south of Harrison, which they acquired a year and a half ago. The ranch continues to focus on maintaining Angus genetics, using AI to introduce new proven genetics.

Brenda, involved with Western Cattle Source, shares her background in cattle farming, which started as a 4-H project with her husband. They specialize in Simmental, Sim Angus, and Angus cattle, emphasizing the benefits of crossing breeds, such as heterosis, which increases the productivity and quality of the cattle, thus enhancing their bottom line.

The cattle industry is experiencing record high prices, helping producers recover from previous financial losses. Brenda notes the strong demand for beef in the U.S. and argues that despite rising prices, beef remains an economical protein source compared to other food items like coffee or snacks.

Brenda discusses their upcoming cattle sale on March 19th in Crawford, Nebraska, featuring various cattle breeds. The event will be held at their ranch to accommodate for weather challenges. They take pride in high-quality bulls and emphasize maintaining good health and structure for breeding purposes.

Mike Bartels of Bartels Angus shared his background in the cattle business, explaining that his family's operation began with a couple of hundred commercial cows. Eventually, Mike developed an interest in the show circuit through his involvement in FFA (Future Farmers of America) and started acquiring bred heifers during college. Over time, the operation transitioned to include Angus genetics, and they now focus on strictly Angus cattle after initially beginning with crossbred cows. Bartels highlighted their use of embryo transfer to expand their operation.

Bartels is hosting an upcoming sale on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, at their ranch north of Riverton, Nebraska. The sale will feature about 90 bulls and a select group of six open heifers. Mike emphasized the benefits they see in Angus genetics, describing the animals as well-rounded, and discussed their dedication to offering quality Angus cattle.

I've got Dan Reardon from Rocking R Red Angus on the phone.

Yeah, Dan, I noticed you recently moved to Nebraska. Can you give us a little background on your operation?

We are from Western Colorado. We moved to Nebraska Panhandle about two years ago. We ran Red Angus Cattle at high elevation in Western Colorado. We ran our cattle above Gunnison about 10,000 feet up there in the summer time. And our farm was in Montrose, Colorado about 6,500 feet. So we've been dealing with Red Angus high altitude genetics for years. We wanted to make a change for quite a while and two years ago, we were finally able to make that happen and chose the Nebraska Panhandle as our new place. Our ranch, like I said, is due south of McGrew. So we're kind of in between Bayard and Gering and just a little bit closer to Bayard.

Are you doing the same practices or is it different now?

We've changed some things. We definitely can create a lot more performance at the elevation we run cattle at now. We introduce genetics from other high altitude breeders. We did that for years, but after moving into Nebraska, we can incorporate a lot more performance into our genetics. We feel like we have an extremely maternal type of herd. The last two years, we've implemented a lot of performance into those genetics and our weaning weights and our yearly weights are significantly different from one we're running in Colorado. We are offering 40 head of yearling Red Angus Bulls. And we do have two, what we call hybrids, category threes, the registered Red Angus, but there are two of them in there that are not purebreds. So 40 yearling Red Angus Bulls in total.

That's Dan Reardon from Rockin' R Red Angus, now located south of McGrew, Nebraska. Saturday, March 14th at 1 p.m. Mountain.

Jim Felton, a third-generation Angus breeder from Deer Lodge, Montana, discussed the details of the 53rd annual bull sale which is scheduled for Friday the 13th. The event will feature about 90 Angus bulls, including 70 two-year-olds and 20 that are 16 months old. Additionally, they will offer 50 commercial replacement heifers. Despite being on a superstitious date, Jim expressed confidence in proceeding with the sale, emphasizing the ranch’s proximity to Interstate 90 for ease of access.

Jim elaborated on his commitment to Angus cattle, attributing it to his lineage and personal experience in breeding. He acknowledged the competitive nature of the Angus market but highlighted the established reputation of his ranch in raising quality cattle.

Today's guest is Lauren Frick from Twin Creek Ranch in Kansas. Why don't you go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started in the cattle business, Lauren?