Cattleman’s Corner Radio

Welcome to the Cattleman's Corner. I'm Brian Hale, sitting in for the late Howard Hale, as we continue his legacy of speaking with cattlemen and women from around the globe. 

We're talking to Ted Delagana.

Ted is now from Conrad, Montana, but used to be in, was it the Central Valley in California? 

"Central Coast, is what we call it."

You were involved in agriculture down there? 

"Yep, all my life."

What kind of things did you do? 

"We always had cattle, and then worked for different places that had cattle, and always raised our own hay for the cattle up until when we left. And then I worked for a large place that we farmed about 3,000 acres of dryland grain and hay. Hay there is all oats and barley hay, so it's all just grain hay."

On this side of the Madison line, my dad always called it green feed.

"Pretty much. We had a whole different world there, a lot of rain down there. So, why did you have the cereal grains for hay, or green feed as we call it up here, instead of like something, perennial grass? Not many, we hardly had, a lot of alfalfa hay, a lot of alfalfa, but perennial grass like they have here, almost zero. The ranch I worked for we summer followed, but where I lived, we planted winter so every year. It was just a rain thing, I think, you know, the amount of rain we get."

Could you get more tons per acre off of doing green feed? 

"There was alfalfa ranches around and they would get a ton and a half per cutting or so, I'd say, and cut five, sometimes six cuttings. But with our grain hay, we'd get as much as five times the acre on grain hay. You know, we were all selling to cattlemen, feedlots, and then we got fancy stuff. We started growing what they called forage mix. It was a mix of beardless barley, beardless wheat, and a couple varieties of oats. And we'd sell those to the racetracks like Santa Anita and a lot of horse people."

Ted Dalagana from Conrad, Montana with our co-host David Woodruff.

We're talking Travis Haslam, and let's see, what's the closest town to you again in Wyoming? 

"Opal, Wyoming, with a population of about 50."

Grass getting green? 

"Yeah, it's getting green, and we've had some pretty timely rains, and it looks good."

So, what's your elevation there? 

"We're at 6,500 feet." 

Do you calve out early, or are you in the middle of it, or what? 

"We're most of the way through it. We're working through branding, getting things branded, and getting turned out. A lot of our stuff we can turn out here this week and next week."

Your terrain, are you close to some high mountains, or is everything fairly flat like, say, Cheyenne? 

"We have a lot more mountains than Cheyenne. We're kind of surrounded by high desert here, but it's probably 40 miles to the forest, and we'll take some cows up to the forest, but they can't go on until the first of July. It's high enough."

And that'll be, what, 9,000 and above? 

"Yeah. And you said you're at 6,000? Yeah, we're at 6,500."

Ranching Conditions and Livestock Management: Jim Jensen discusses the challenges of cattle ranching at high elevations and the impact of high mountain disease on cattle, particularly Angus breeds, which suffer from a condition known as high mountain disease or brisket disease. This involves a lack of oxygen leading to heart failure in animals. Despite the prevalence among Angus cattle, it's suggested that multiple breeds could be affected under specific environmental stresses.

Ranching Lifestyle and Efficiency: The conversation elaborates on ranching as a lifestyle choice rather than just an occupation, emphasizing the efficiency and self-reliance required. Jim's family operates a highly efficient ranch with a focus on feed efficiency and minimal labor, relying heavily on family members. They manage extensive lands including those under BLM and Forest Service leases while using advanced techniques for livestock management to maintain financial stability.