VanStavern’s legacy as helper

Like Christopher Columbus among flat-worlders

By: Laura Conaway

For beauty I am not a star;

There are others more handsome by far.

But my face, I don’t mind it,

For I am behind it

—It’s the people in front that I jar.

With a camera in his face and another to the side, Bobby “Dr. Bob” VanStavern kicked off a 2019 interview with a limerick. To everyone who crossed his path, the Ohio State University professor showed a face of kind helpfulness with a dose of self-deprecation.

The Buckeye meat science legend, friend and family man passed away February 21 at 90.

In 1976, the Extension emeritus professor welcomed Mick Colvin through his door to discuss plans for a brand that could build on the natural advantages of the Angus breed.

The rest is legendary within the Certified Angus Beef^® brand community born from that conversation.

Colvin wanted to talk about specifications that day, when VanStavern famously quipped, “We don’t need to talk, I got ’em right here in the drawer.”

The bottom-right desk drawer to be exact, drawn from 20 years of collected research data he’d referenced in presentations with conclusions he wholeheartedly shared with the cattle and beef industries.

“It was my job to share them. To teach. To help,” he often said.

Time would show his success. Those original specifications became the backbone of the world’s leading beef brand.

VanStavern wouldn’t make much of any praise for his role or where it led, like worldwide acceptance of his product specifications or a brand that relies on them to market more than a billion pounds a year. He would just deflect with some device like that poem.

Dr. Bob didn’t see himself as a pioneer, rather a vessel to help others and celebrate their victories.

The people’s champion

Perhaps it was his upbringing, losing his mother at age 4 to be raised on his grandparents’ West Virginia farm and educated in a one-room schoolhouse. Maybe it was his time as a captain in the U.S. Air Force.

Wherever that confidently able but humble helper came from, CAB President John Stika says he’ll be sure to pass it along to his own growing boys.

“Define your success in life by how much success you create for others,” he says. “That’s a goal I think we should all try to emulate. As an educator, through his contribution to the brand, think of how many people he brought with him and the pride he took in their notoriety before his own.”

VanStavern emanated goodness and wholesomeness, Stika says, not just in food specifications, but in life.

You might remember the PhD by those CAB specs or the “Science Behind the Sizzle” presentation he created to introduce the brand to thousands.

Stika says he’ll remember the proper way to live a caring, giving life. Care about quality product, but more importantly, just care about being around quality people.

“That’s who he was,” Stika says.

A champion of others, a listening ear, an unwavering rock, yet a jokester and warm presence, VanStavern was a trendsetter of goodness.

Mick Colvin, retired cofounder of the brand remembers a man with grit who was a great golfer and an even better friend.

“Dr. Bob, to me, was a person who was always there,” Colvin says. Of those early, dismissive rejection letters, he said he’d look to VanStavern to hear him say, “Well, at least we know where he stands.” Then they would move on to the next prospect.

“I could count on him, even if it was to remind me, ‘If it was easy, Colvin, someone would have done it a long time ago.’”

They were a team that VanStavern once said, “didn’t know it couldn’t be done.” So they just did it.

Jim Riemann, Colvin’s successor as CAB president, recalls his first impression of VanStavern at a late-1970s meats conference. The moment coincided with Riemann’s first introduction to the brand idea.

“Dr. Bob was presenting the CAB brand to attendees, many of whom were prominent professors, university meat scientists and government officials actively involved in different campaigns in the cattle industry, explaining why those specifications were so important,” Riemann says, “and they just really went at him hard. They said this is absolutely the opposite direction of where the industry should be headed.”

What stood out most to Riemann? “He just would not bend.”

He stood firm and defended those specifications saying, “Folks this is what we need to be delivering to consumers and this is the direction that we need to go, and this brand is going to work.”

More than four decades later, Riemann recalls the air in the room and the stance of the man who could not be shaken.

Then and now

“He was on an island,” Stika says of his old friend in those early days. “It’s easy to read the Angus Journal today and say, ‘Well, it’s not that impressive to set a marbling spec at Modest 0.’ But go back 42 years ago and appreciate how visionary that was.”

The 1970s saw a strong push toward lean, Continental-type cattle, a fear of fat and little appreciation for taste in a time when packers paid a flat rate regardless of quality.

VanStavern had data that suggested consumers wanted more, that marbling mattered.

“It’s like Christopher Columbus among people who thought the world was flat,” Stika surmises. “That’s how I think of Dr. Bob. When a big portion of the population thought the world was flat, Dr. Bob didn’t.”

When everyone else finally saw the land, VanStavern wasn’t one to point out his foresight.

Riemann says, “His stature within the industry and academic world was huge, but he never ever wore that on his shoulder.” Rather, he recalls watching and later working with an extremely humble man, respectful of others and always willing to help, only giving advice when asked.

Nobody would dispute the accomplishments now: he helped change the beef industry for the better.

Some reputations rise above the rest, especially when accolades others bestow on them gain universal acceptance.

Still, as Dr. Bob said in that February 2019 interview, “It’s not about me. It’s about the staff, the leadership and the participants in the program, particularly including those good ole breeders who’ve stood up. It wouldn’t work without them. I just think about that [CAB] program and thank God I was fortunate to be a part of it.”

The man will be remembered as teacher, Sue’s husband of nearly 67 years, Tom and Jan’s father and his grandchildren’s grandpa. As the guy who threw “by golly, my goodness and gee whiz” into modern conversation and made it sound just right. As a man who made others feel lifted high.

Editor’s note: Laura Conaway is a freelance writer from DeLeon Springs, Fla.

Originally ran in the Angus Journal.

Marbling, Feet and Fertility: Are they related?

by CAB Cattle Crew | Nov 21, 2024

The Angus breed has enough genetic diversity to allow breeders, and their commercial bull customers, to make progress across multiple traits simultaneously. One bloodline may be high in marbling but does not check the boxes you need for other traits. That does not mean marbling is the cause—it simply means your search for the ideal genetic pairing is not done.

Cow Harvest Unseasonally Low

by Paul Dykstra | Nov 21, 2024

Gross cow/calf returns have exceeded expectations as the shrinking calf supply and strong beef demand collude to drive higher receipts. Even so, turnaround from the depth of the latest drought that brought beef cow harvest to a cyclical peak in 2022 has been slow to develop.

Seasonality Takes Over

by Paul Dykstra | Nov 6, 2024

The fourth quarter tends to be the period most prone to follow historical seasonal patterns for carcass cutout prices. Although annual price levels have certainly advanced to record levels, the pattern in spot market values from October through December tends to track a pattern.

2019 Ambassador Award

Welcome to the table

Investments in cattle, people and the mission to share

Story and photos by Abbie Burnett

September 25, 2019

You may not notice the table in Steve and Ginger Olson’s dining room when set for four. But the custom-made heritage table expands to seat 24.

The Olsons had it built because it’s important that everyone in their family gets a seat at the table, no side room for their seven grandsons.

If they could sit everyone at the same table when guests come to tour the Olson Land & Cattle Angus seedstock ranch near Hereford, Texas, they absolutely would. For nearly 30 years, the family has hosted ranch tours for the Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) brand and upon request, attended events where the public can interact with ranchers.

Every time, people find the Olson hospitality, a quiet comfort and gentle service to others wherever they go. They intermingle with chefs and distributors, answering questions about ranching and how cattle are raised, making each person just as welcome as if they were back in Texas gathered around that table.

These are some of the reasons the Olsons received the 2019 CAB Ambassador Award.

More than education

Ranch days for CAB means sharing the gate in “gate to plate.” Guests gather on hay bales in the barn for a brand overview, then split up and start rotations out to the pastures and back, learning from every family member they encounter.

Steve, a member of the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, will cite four points: animal welfare, protecting the land, caring for the people and profitability to keep it all going.

“I think the cattle industry is sustainable in every aspect, but I also believe that we have that responsibility to share with others,” he says. “It’s other people being inquisitive about where their food comes from, and if we don’t fulfil that need, they will find answers from others who maybe don’t know all of the truth about cattle production.”

Steve addresses consumer concerns, holding up a 100-cc bottle of an antibiotic and quoting the $450 price.

“That statement alone will get some wide eyes across the room,” he says. It soon becomes clear that ranchers don’t use antibiotics without good reason and he tells how they keep most cattle from experiencing illness by regular vaccinations.

Son-in-law Scott Pohlman walks the chefs through cattle handling, husbandry and what they eat while daughter-in-law Kristi might demonstrate artificial insemination and embryo transfers. When they gather back together, the Olsons’ grandsons have their show heifers set up, a demonstrating the next generation of ranchers.

Through each phase, the Olson family has a way of bringing complicated concepts to common understanding.

Scott relates calf weaning to sending your kids to their first day of kindergarten. It’s hard at first, there might even be some crying, but at the end of the day everyone’s happy.

And through all the conversations on care, health and challenges of raising Angus cattle, Ginger and daughters are there to provide the “Southern Hospitality” worthy of capital letters.

Scott has also contributed to gatherings as cowboy chef, cooking up a mean ribeye on his homemade smoker. Served on old-fashioned white enamel plates, tin cups for tea and coffee, bandanas for napkins and Mason jars for wine, guests line up to wait for their ribeye while asking about cooking secrets.

People of faith, the Olsons pause while Steve says a prayer before dinner and then reminds guests to “keep their forks” for dessert. Grandsons begin waiting on tables, filling drinks, picking up plates and engaging in conversation about growing up on a ranch. The family spreads out, answering questions and creating personal relationships.

See why we love working with the Olson family. Watch the video that played on stage at Annual Conference.

Going beyond the call

What makes the Olsons stand out as ambassadors, says CAB’s Deanna Walenciak, is their “absolute willingness to help out whenever they can.” There was the time they worked cattle on an early July morning for a photo shoot because, “They knew it would help us tell the story.”

At the brand’s 30th anniversary party, Steve and Ginger flew in on short notice to interact with chefs and distributors. Walenciak watched them connect: “They brought a little bit of Texas right into New York City, that spirit of welcoming everyone to their dinner table.”

Steve was elected to the American Angus Association Board in 2006, to the CAB Board in 2007 and two years as Chairman. In 2015, he was elected Association president.

All three Olson children were on the National Junior Angus Association Board, and both daughters wore red jackets as Miss American Angus. In college, eldest daughter Moriah and future husband Scott worked as CAB interns.

The grandsons are being raised with that same ownership in the brand.

“We’ve been blessed as a family,” Steve says, “to be a part of production agriculture, to live on the land, to raise our family and take care of God’s resources. And to interact with other people and share with them what it’s like to be here and to do this—Ginger and I feel blessed every day that God has given us this path.”

For new friends, shared stories and great beef, all a visitor to Olson Land & Cattle need do is pull up a chair.

Welcome to the table

Investments in cattle, people and the mission to share

Story and photos by

Abbie Burnett

September 25, 2019

You may not notice the beautiful wooden table in Steve and Ginger Olson’s well-lit dining room. That’s because it’s usually just set up to seat four, maybe six. But there’s a story behind the custom-made heritage table, expandable to seat 24.

The Olsons had it built because it’s important that every single person in their family gets a seat at the table. No second table in a different room for their seven grandsons.

And if they could sit everyone at the same table, when guests come to tour the Olson Land & Cattle Angus seedstock ranch near Hereford, Texas, they absolutely would. For close to 30 years now the family has hosted ranch tours for the Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand.

At the brand’s request, they’ve also been attending media events and other venues where the public can interact with ranchers. Every time, people find the Olson hospitality, a quiet comfort and gentle service to others wherever they go. They intermingle with chefs and distributors, answering questions about ranching and how cattle are raised, making each person just as welcome as if they were back in Texas gathered around that table.

These are some of the reasons the Olsons received the 2019 CAB Ambassador Award.

More than education

The whole concept of ranch days for CAB is sharing the gate in “gate to plate.” When guests arrive midafternoon, they sit on hay bales in the working barn and get an overview of the brand. Then they split into smaller groups and start rotations out to the pastures and back, learning the nitty gritty from every family member they encounter.

Steve, a member of the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, will cite four points of sustainability at his station: animal welfare, protecting the land, caring for the people, and profitability to keep it all going.

“I think the cattle industry is sustainable in every aspect, but I also believe that we, as cattle producers, have that responsibility to share with others,” he says. “It’s other people being inquisitive about where their food comes from—and certainly there’s a need for that—and if we don’t fulfil that need, then they will find answers from other people that maybe don’t know all of the truth about cattle production.”

Steve does not shy away from consumer concerns related to antibiotics. First, he likes to hold up a 100-cc bottle of an Draxxin and tell them it’s $450 just for the one bottle.

“That statement alone will get some wide eyes across the room,” he says. It soon becomes clear that ranchers don’t use antibiotics without good reason but only to help cattle recover from illness. Better yet, he tells them how they keep most cattle from experiencing illness.

“We regularly vaccinate all of our calves and cows,” he tells guests. “The veterinarian has helped us with a protocol to prevent cattle sickness and disease. It seems like we’re always doing something down those lines to ensure their health.”

Son-in-law Scott Pohlman will walk the chefs through cattle handling, husbandry and what they eat while daughter-in-law Kristi might demonstrate artificial insemination and embryo transfers. When they gather back together, the Olsons’ grandsons will have their show heifers set up, a demonstration to the chefs about the next generation of ranchers.

Through each phase, the Olson family has a way of bringing complicated concepts to common understanding.

For example, Scott relates calf weaning to sending your kids to their first day of kindergarten. It’s hard at first, there might even be some crying, but at the end of the day everyone’s happy. Guests invariably go, “Oh, okay. I get it now.”

And through all the conversations on care, health and challenges of raising Angus cattle, Ginger and daughters are there to provide the “Southern Hospitality” worthy of capital letters. Every last detail is covered. Everything from prepping the food and setting flowers on the table helps welcome their guests with open arms and big smiles.

Scott has also contributed to gatherings as cowboy chef, cooking up a mean ribeye on his homemade smoker for up to 300 people. Served on old-fashioned white enamel plates, tin cups for tea and coffee, bandanas for napkins and Mason jars for wine, guests line up to wait for their ribeye while asking about cooking secrets.

People of faith, the Olsons pause while Steve says a prayer before dinner, and then guests are reminded to “keep their forks” for dessert. The grandsons begin waiting on tables, filling drinks, picking up plates and engaging in conversation about what it’s like to grow up on a ranch. The Olson family will spread themselves out across tables, answering questions and creating personal relationships with each interaction.

“It’s just like being at your grandparents’ for Sunday dinner,” says Danielle Matter, CAB senior education and events manager. “It’s always so cool to me that they could make this big group of 50, 60 people feel like we’re sitting down at their kitchen table.”

While the purpose of the visit is to educate chefs about the beef community, Matter says it’s not about learning facts and figures.

“What they’re going to take home,” she says, “is a little bit more of that come-to-the-table feeling of open arms and the understanding that Steve and Ginger are doing everything right because that’s just how they’re going to be.”

Going beyond the call

What makes the Olsons stand out as ambassadors, says Deanna Walenciak, CAB director of marketing education, is their absolute willingness to help out whenever they can – extending way past ranch days.

She called them about doing a photo shoot on their ranch in July one summer. It was over 100 degrees that afternoon, but they got the cattle out and worked them in the cooler morning hours.

“They knew it would help us be able to tell the story,” Walenciak recounts. “I don’t think on a hundred-degree day they would’ve been working cattle, but they found a time to make it happen and were so kind in the process saying, ‘Oh, no, no, we’ll do this, we’ll do this!’ and I think that’s really cool.”

At the brand’s 30^th anniversary party back in 2008 at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York City, the request went out to CAB board members to interact with chefs and distributors. Steve and Ginger got a call to join but needed to be on a plane the next morning.

“Absolutely,” they said to Walenciak. “If that’s what you would like us to do, we will be there for you.”

At the event, she watched the Olsons connect with anyone and everyone, carrying on conversations and making them feel welcome. They brought a little bit of Texas right into New York City, that spirit of welcoming everyone to their dinner table.

Over and over, Walenciak says it’s the same humble, willing attitude when the brand or Angus breed needs them. “Their heart is always about giving.”

Steve was elected to the American Angus Association Board in 2006, followed by time on the CAB Board in 2007 and two years as Chairman. In 2015, he was elected Association president.

All three of the Olson children were on the National Junior Angus Association (NJAA) Board, and both daughters wore red jackets as Miss American Angus.

While in college, eldest daughter Moriah and her husband Scott both worked as CAB interns.

And as they raise the grandsons to have the same ownership in the brand and what they do, it’s truly become a family affair of ambassadorship.

The God-given path

Whenever they travel, they look up friends from past visits to the ranch, cherishing another opportunity to share a story and a meal.

The Olsons find open arms, readily available tables and the fun of catching up. It’s those valued relationships made around the dinner table that their friends remember and cherish, too.

The couple say being part of CAB and telling their story is not for the payback opportunities, but all for the pleasure of sharing their lives.

“It’s always important to tell our story to others because they need to know how much the cattle mean to us,” Ginger says. “They need to know it is our life, that we give it our best. We want to share our story to bring others to have a part of it and be part of our story.”

“We’ve been blessed as a family,” Steve says. “We’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to be a part of production agriculture, to live on the land, to raise our family and take care of God’s resources. And to interact with other people and share with them what it’s like to be here and to do this—Ginger and I feel blessed every day that God has given us this path.”

For new friends, shared stories and great beef, all a visitor to Olson Land & Cattle need do is pull up a chair.

Originally published in the Angus Journal

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The way to do it

Noble Ranch takes care of business on 18-year journey to excellence

Story and photos by

Morgan Marley

September 25, 2019

Ryan Noble says it all started in 2001. After watching his friend’s Angus cow herd develop and prosper, he finally had the means to buy the same genetics for his own herd.

“As soon as we can get to Montana to buy some of those bulls, we’re gonna make the trip,” Ryan promised his wife.

Married in 1998, the young couple had lofty goals. Ronella was teaching in a country school 35 minutes away, while he was driving silage trucks, working on harvest crews or artificially inseminating (AI) thousands of cows to pay the bills and save a little on the side. While he was working on whatever he was hired to do, part of his mind was always at home planning the next move at his family’s ranch near Yuma, Colo.

“Ryan didn’t have a paycheck from the ranch for the longest time,” Ronella recalls. “I had a town job, sometimes Ryan had a town job and he rode horses on the side. But we brought things together and things started going in the right direction. So now we are reaping the benefits.”

2001 is the year they made their first trip to buy at the Basin Angus Ranch bull sale. They’ve gone back every year, partly because of the spectacular changes those genetics have brought. The cows are producing. The calves are thriving. Yet the human connection is the strongest.

“Doug and Sharon Stevenson are our friends,” Ryan says. “They reach out to us. They want to know how the kids are doing. We’ll talk about our family and then we’ll talk about the cattle.”

No more is the rancher searching for what changes to make, only continuing progress toward quality.

In everything he does, Ryan pushes the limits of success to what some would call overachieving. To everyone else, it’s no surprise Noble Ranch was named the Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) 2019 Commercial Commitment to Excellence Award winner.

Humble to their core, whatever the Nobles have achieved only comes with the job.

“We are just us,” Ronella says, “and it just feels normal. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like we are doing anything special, it just feels like what we should be doing and the way that we should be doing it.”

Century of learning

In 1910, Ryan’s great-grandfather stepped onto a train from Nebraska to Colorado. After walking nearly 9 miles, he found a piece of land south of Yuma that moved him enough to file a homestead claim. For more than 100 years the ranch has been under operation by the Noble family, making Ryan the fourth generation. A few years ago the state of Colorado recognized the ranch as a Centennial Farm.

“We take a lot of pride that this place has been in the same family,” Ryan says. “We hope that continues. But it’s also got to be financially stable.”

The family’s only source of income is cow money, so the business focus on growth is essential to supporting ranch and family affairs.

“We’re a business-first family,” Ryan says. “We’re going to get our business taken care of so that we can enjoy our family time. We have our mission and a vision all worked out.”

Ryan’s mom was a teacher, too, so education is a natural priority, with an open invitation to the ranch for any person or group who wants to learn. The vision came into sharp focus when the couple completed a Ranching for Profit course, an investment they say constantly pays its way.

“We’re constantly going through our gross margins and looking at the economics of ranching,” Ryan says.

At the end of every quarter, the family sits down and compares those numbers across the perspectives of cow-calf, stocker, fed cattle and heifer development enterprises to clearly see which ones are economic drivers.

Through that process, the ranch quickly embraced the opportunity for a heifer development program that has made an impact on selected heifers from nearly 6,500 cows in all. It’s a progressive initiative to help Basin Angus Ranch customers reach their maternal and terminal goals through selective breeding and GeneMax™ genomic testing.

“It’s very rewarding,” Ryan says. “We also enjoy interacting with other ranchers, and it gives us an opportunity to have a hand in helping them better their genetics.”

Different from grandpa

The Nobles haven’t always bred Angus genetics. The ranch looked like a lot of other operations jumping into the Continental breeds 30 years ago. That’s about when Ryan began noticing changes in the Angus breed. He was intrigued.

“Expected progeny differences (EPDs) were gaining momentum,” he says. “I could see it was going to be a very valuable tool. I really believed back in the late ’80s, early ’90s that Angus was going to outpace everybody in almost every aspect of beef production.”

From a young age, Ryan was given responsibility for the ranch. He remembers his father saying, “My dad never let me do anything. I’m going to let you do all the worrying, so you’re in charge.” That’s when the young man realized to reach his goals, he would have to do things different from Grandpa.

When he got the chance to call the shots, he didn’t hesitate to start using the business breed.

“Angus just covers every base that we need covered, and with fantastic results,” he says.

Since 2001, all other cattle breeds were history. Ryan found what worked for their operation, and made it thrive. The bottom line: his cattle must have minimal inputs, along with docility, longevity and fertility.

“Economically, the Angus cow covers a lot of bases for us,” Ryan says. “She can make a living out here in our semi-arid, tough environment. She can use some resources that nothing else is really going to use and she can upscale protein like crazy.”

Average isn’t an option. Their philosophy is to build cattle that are in the upper 25% for the breed. By selecting animals for their best and highly heritable traits, the results are seen in the calf crop and following cow herd.

“We don’t like to leave things to chance,” he says. “So let’s bet on a sure thing and let’s bet on the best thing. Right now, that’s Angus cattle and it probably always will be.”

The carcass quality his herd achieves meets his standards as a beef consumer.

“I look at it on the other side of the plate and all I can think is a beautiful ribeye, grilled medium rare, plenty of marbling, juicy, great taste and very marketable,” he says. “Everybody’s going to leave with a smile on their face.”

Carcass quality speaks for itself.

“The Certified Angus Beef brand has always stood for quality and doing the right thing every chance you get,” he says. “That mirrors what we’re trying to do out here on the ranch.”

Retaining ownership of steer calves and marketing them on the grid proves their strict breeding standards are paying off.

“When I got the carcass data back on our 2018 steers, we crowded 70% Certified Angus Beef,” Ryan says. “They yielded about 63%. They were almost 30% (low) Choice and there was zero Select in the whole pen. That’s on 14 month old calves. The pay weight was around 1340 pounds. I think we’re doing okay.”

The Golden Rule

The Noble vision, by another name, means treating employees like family or fixing the neighbor’s fence that’s busted. Keeping their word is part of the mission.

“As far as our cattle go, I want to represent our cattle exactly as I say,” Ryan explains. “I want to do it right and I want to make sure people are satisfied. If I tell you that these heifers are gentle, they’re going to be gentle. If I tell you they’re bred to a certain bull, they’re going to be bred to that bull.”

That continues past their ranch gate.

“If I sell Tom Williams at Chappell Feedlot a group of calves,” he says, “then they need to be healthy. They need to have all their shots and be preconditioned so they perform for him because I am not interested in a one-time deal.”

Ryan is interested in long-term relationships, sustained partnerships that result in repeat business.

“I believe everything in the beef industry and life in general is all about relationships,” he says. “If you hold up your end of the bargain and the other person does, too, you will have a fantastic relationship and it will work every time. It’s all about the people.”

The journey

If you would had asked Ryan in grade school what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would have said, “a rancher.” Even after years of discouragement from people in town and at school, his response never changed. It only solidified his determination.

“Luckily the people that mattered most, my parents and my wife, never doubted that I wanted to be a rancher and that’s what I should be,” Ryan says.

Twenty years ago an opportunity came to expand the ranch. Ryan was apprehensive, but his parents were ready to take the chance.

“The ranch was paid for,” he says. “I asked my parents, ‘Are you sure you want to get back into debt to expand this place?’ They said, ‘Absolutely.’ They had been waiting 20 years for this opportunity. So we took the chance and never looked back.”

The journey has been long and hard, but an enjoyable one nonetheless, Ryan says.

“There’s been a couple places that weren’t quite as much fun,” he admits. “But I really have a passion for taking care of the land, taking care of the animals and taking care of the people. I feel like this is just what I was made to do.”

Together, the family’s operation grew from 150 head to the capacity of nearly 1,300 cows. These days, Ryan and Ronella get to watch their children grow and take on more responsibility at the ranch.

“Hopefully they want to come back and raise their families here, but they know they have the freedom not to,” Ronella makes clear. “I hope they have learned the value of hard work, family and raising quality livestock.”

Their son Will and daughter Addie are the fifth generation. Ryan explains the greatest reward is watching his dad work alongside them.

“I’ll look out and I’ll see my dad working with my kids,” he says. “I have very fond memories of myself working with my grandparents. The circle is completed again and that’s a lot of fun.”

They see this in 12-year-old Will preparing the semen during breeding season—one of the most tedious and important jobs during AI. Or when Addie doesn’t even want to get off her horse at the end of a long day.

“One of the legacies I’d like to leave my children is to do the best you can with what you’re given every chance you get,” Ryan says. “Quality never has to apologize.”

Originally published in the Angus Journal

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Own what you do

Tom Jones and his Hy-Plains team keep feeding, learning and showing the way to better

Story and photos by

Miranda Reiman

September 25, 2019

If they set the bar there today, by tomorrow, they’ll raise it higher.

That’s the kind of feedyard Tom Jones manages. It’s the kind of person Jones is.

In 1999, he and investors bought a 28,000-head yard near Montezuma, Kan., and immediately began doing business as Hy-Plains Feedyard LLC. Two decades later he still makes his living on the business, but that looks different today than it did then. It may look different next year, or even next month.

“We have cattle grading 100% Choice and now we are working on the Prime, so what is the next demand driver going to be?” Jones asks. “We have to look to our new customers and they are looking for transparency, wholesome food. They are looking for traceability, so those are some of the things I’m looking for in the future.”

That attitude, and the actions behind it, earned Hy-Plains Feedyard the 2019 Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) Progressive Partner Award.

For the good of the industry

Coming off a good year in 2014, the business was in a strong financial position. Having expanded twice before—first to 35,000, then to the current 50,000 head—Jones wasn’t interested in building more pens. New feedtrucks? Too frivolous when the others were in good working condition. Instead of traditional capital outlays, he decided to make a long-term, far-reaching investment.

It took some time to get it just right but in 2017, the company opened its Hy-Plains Education and Research Center.

“We felt it was time. The industry has changed over the last seven years, the genetics have changed. Our ability to study cattle, collect data and see how that affects performance has changed,” Jones says.

The center sits just beyond pens equipped with the GrowSafe system that monitors feed efficiency. The Silencer chute and working facility is the heart of the Center’s building, with viewing deck above and enough meeting space for 200.

It’s part research, part demonstration facility, part communal office space, but all grounded in sharing knowledge and growing more of it.

“If we can study our lessons, we can make a huge difference,” he says. Jones enjoys feeding cattle for commercial and registered Angus customers because they’re the ones who “influence change in the industry.”

On any given day, staff from ABS might use one office, while next door, veterinary professionals analyze data they’re gathering at the yard. Those would be staff from the Hays, Kan.,-based Veterinary Research and Consulting Services (VRCS).

“The facility, with the managers and Tom’s visionary thinking and ability to think outside the box, it allows us the avenue to try different things, different products and different management strategies to give us valid results that will help us make improvements all along the production chain,” says Miles Theurer, research director for VRCS and Hy-Plains Feedyard.

Anti-microbial usage, vaccination strategies, health detection technology—the list of things Jones wants to study is long, but pointed.

“The kind of cattle we have is a real mixed bag of literally some of the best genetics in the world, along with some of the worst genetics out here,” Jones says, noting they’re 95% customer owned. “We enjoy feeding the better cattle because they are so easy to market. They are fun to feed.”

But the higher-risk kind allow them to compare and do research across many types of cattle.

Cattle feeder turned tour guide

They’re able to find new answers, while externally sharing answers the industry already knows.

“There is a good story to tell, but we are all busy with the way the markets are and the environment and the weather, the whole list of things we worry about. We do have a great story to tell, it’s just hard to find the time to do it,” Jones says.

At Hy-Plains, they make time.

“My biggest desire was to be able to bring in a busload of fourth graders and have them watch us process cattle,” Jones says. So that’s exactly what he told the architect in 2015.

The second-story observation area lets guests easily rotate through to get a bird’s-eye view, while hearing what goes on below through the sound system. On the ground floor, the alley snakes around an elevated concrete center, where visitors can safely get an up-close look at the animals.

“We get comments all the time that, ‘We thought it would be noisy and dusty and dirty,’” he says. “It doesn’t have to be noisy and dusty and dirty.”

Jones hosts the leadership from McDonald’s and Carl’s Jr. in the same place where 120 elementary students from neighboring schools come out for a field day. One day he’s tackling global environmental challenges as a member of the U.S. Roundtable on Sustainable Beef and the next he’s training college-age interns.

A thank you note on his desk—“the most important piece of mail I’ve gotten this week”—shows his focus on the next generation.

“He’s been a tremendous mentor to me, to develop and expose me to different parts of the beef industry,” Theurer says, noting open discussions help frame the research role. “Tom is very direct. You always know where he’s coming from.”

Jones gives second chances, but corrects mistakes when he sees them. Everybody is held to the same standard, and everyone who works with him gets the same version of Tom Jones. He’s focused, competitive and serious about providing the best care he can for the cattle in his yard.

No rodeos allowed

Don’t ask how many cattle they can work in an hour.

“Processing cattle is not a timed event,” Jones says definitively.

It’s early morning load-out time, with three groups destined for one of four major packing plants close by. “This is the best, when cattle are moving but it sounds like nothing is going on.”

He has a 50-mile commute from Garden City each day, but always drives the yard on arrival, as he heads in.

“I just want to make sure we are taking care of the cattle needs right. The cattle will always tell you what they need,” he says. “The problem is that the business is so fast, we don’t always have time to stop and see what they are asking for.”

Training his crew and hiring expert consultants are among his highest goals.

“When we spend time teaching stockmanship skills to our employees, the cattle are not stressed. They are more comfortable so they perform better,” he says. “We don’t allow dogs. We work as quietly as possible.”

It takes extra work and hours to collect data and to do it right.

“These people we have on staff are very interested in making a difference,” Jones says.

Better every day

His push to get better and his desire to win, are as much a part of how he was raised and how he mentors along the way, as they are a personal philosophy. They are values Jones and his wife, Dee, hope they’ve passed on to their two grown children.

From his own dad, the farm boy learned hard work and getting by with less. As a cattle buyer for IBP (now Tyson) and then Hy-Plains Dressed Beef, Jones learned about business. Working for feeding pioneer Earl Brookover, first as a pen rider when he was young and later managing Brookover Ranch Feedyard, Jones saw the importance of setting an example worth following.

“I was totally happy where I was at, and I started making excuses on why it would be hard [to buy Hy-Plains], but we decided to make the change anyway,” Jones says.

Fear of doing something different wasn’t enough to stifle the excitement in the risk.

“I had a business person tell me once, so what if you lose money? You’ll make more next month,” Jones says.

“You have to own something in your life.” That’s a fire that’s always burned in him. “It doesn’t matter if you own the job where you are working or you buy land or own your business. Own what you do.”

When cattle leave Hy-Plains Feedyard, Tom Jones knows his name is on every single one. It weighs on him to reach a little higher each day.

Originally published in the Angus Journal

A side note

Decades of dedication

Tom Jones, Hy-Plains Feedyard, asked all his managers to come up with one idea that would help them take better care of the cattle.

Cesar Martinez didn’t have to think long that day. He already had one in mind.

“If I knew exactly how much feed I was putting in every pen, then I’d know exactly what each one was getting,” offered the feed mill manager and head bunk reader.

They did know down to 100-pound (lb.) increments. Today, each pound that goes into the bunk is tracked in a master spreadsheet.

“It’s my bible,” Martinez says now.

It’s important to him, because it’s important to the cattle.

“Of course, I can’t do it all by myself,” Martinez says, praising the crew that helps deliver a consistent ration to the same pen within 15 or 20 minutes of the same time every day.

“If I’m gone three or four days, the first person I come and find is Cesar,” Jones says. It’s a trust that runs clear back to 1977, when the pair worked together for Earl Brookover. They were just getting started—Jones back from junior college and Martinez with three young children to feed—riding pens together.

Decades later, they see their daily goals much the same.

“Be good at what you’re doing all the time,” Martinez says.

“We are a team,” Jones says. They make protocols and stick to a plan. They follow posted “T.L.C.” signs that hang around the feedyard. “We’re in competition every day with somebody else in this industry and these guys like to win. We know we win when our customers send more cattle the next go around.”

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Built on a breed

A century of focus earns Spring Cove Ranch the CAB Seedstock Commitment to Excellence Award

Story and photos by

Nicole Lane Erceg

September 25, 2019

Art and Stacy Butler shouldn’t be here. Hearty pioneers on the Oregon Trail traveled across the land they ranch on today and passed it by, sure there were better spots to build a life.

A wide-open slice of the West near Bliss, Idaho, Spring Cove Ranch is still rugged. Yet carved out of the sagebrush and hills is an oasis the Butler family built with registered Angus seedstock.

“When my grandpa homesteaded this place, there wasn’t a tree on it,” Art remarks from the shade of a Linden tree in the front yard.

When the first Angus sire arrived in 1919, no one could have predicted his legacy. Old, handwritten herd books trace the first pedigrees of the Butler herd to a time when cattle were traded for a saddle and a good meal. The yellowed pages reveal registration numbers with only 4 digits, traced as forebears of cattle grazing these high desert ranges today.

Self-proclaimed “number nerds” Art and Stacy inherited the craving for information documentation on their herd of 800 cows.

“Data collection, and specifically EPDs (expected progeny differences), are tools we’ve been able to use through the years to create the proper combination of marbling and function and form and maternal and feed—and whatever else it takes to make the Angus cow that’s going to survive on the western range and also produce a Certified Angus Beef^® (CAB^®) steak,” Stacy says.

All their bulls are genomically tested with Angus GS and more than 60% of those in their annual sale earn the CAB Targeting the Brand™ logo, signifying breed average or above for the Marbling EPD and $Grid index. Each bull gets its own Spring Cove Ranch calving ease score that consolidates genetics, genomics and cow-family data to provide extra analysis on potential herd sires.

Each data point is an ingredient in a family recipe, combining numbers and science to create cattle that fit their ideals. The Butlers’ main goal is an Angus bull whose progeny thrive on the western range and have the carcass traits and growth characteristics to generate premiums for commercial cattlemen.

It’s a balanced goal equally focused on breeding cows that “keep us all in business” with strong maternal values.

The philosophy isn’t new. It serves a vision the Butlers held long before the market directly justified it, and it earned them the 2019 CAB Seedstock Commitment to Excellence Award.

Before marbling was cool

Art was just 16 when he first benefited from breeding an animal with superior end-product merit. One of only two Angus animals at the county fair (the other was his sister’s), his 4-H steer graded Prime and yield grade 2. That first carcass data came with a lesson: His steer was selected as a special gift by the local packing house to send to the president of Allen Meat Packing Company in San Francisco.

“Someday we’ll get paid for the carcass traits in these cattle,” Art’s father told him.

A student at the University of Idaho when USDA lowered the grading standards in the mid-1970s, Art saw the industry moving toward a leaner product but kept steering his herd the other way.

“We were breeding to high marbling bulls, mainly because we wanted to improve the quality of the cattle and add value on the rail,” Art says. “When we started to market a few cattle on the rail in the ’90s, that’s what paid the bills, was marbling.”

It’s hard-earned knowledge he works to pass on to his bull customers today.

The cow and the carcass

“Marbling is something that you can add to these cattle no matter what size and what your goals are as far as productivity,” Art says. “I mean it’s a free addition basically. So, if you want to keep the cows moderate, you can still add the marbling and have something that’s satisfactory in the end, and targets the brand.”

Form, function and fertility come first. Art doesn’t preach single trait selection, but says those necessary traits are already built into the Angus cow. “It’s what has made her ‘King’” Art says.

The added value is that she can “go up in the rocks and cover the country” as well as produce an end product that is highly valuable — something vital to those who run cattle on public lands and in the vast, rugged West.

Some say great cows and exceptional terminal traits don’t happen in one package. Art and Stacy prove they do.

“The Angus cow has provided a living for the Butler family for 100 years,” says Stacy. “She has done so through droughts and storms and floods and diseases and generational differences and different genetics. Her resilience is paramount and it is legendary.”

They lay the accolades of what they’ve built at her feet, but credit data and targeted selection as vital tools along the way.

“Art and I absolutely embraced anything that had a mathematical calculation that we could use to improve the traits that we targeted,” says Stacy.

The couple encourage connections between each link of the beef production chain, working to help feeders understand the value of their customer cattle and their customers understand the needs of the beef consumer.

“That’s at the forefront of our minds since we started having our bull sale and selling as many Angus bulls as we do,” Stacy says. “Helping our customers market their cattle, and more than that, trying to help them get a premium for the genetics that they’ve invested in. The premium paid by the consumer at the end needs to trickle down to the cow-calf man that is actually producing that calf.”

Commercial producer David Rutan, of Morgan Ranches in South Mountain, Idaho, benefits firsthand.

“We’ve gotten huge premiums out of these program cattle,” says Rutan. “People are trying to buy them every year, and even in a down market they outperform their counterparts. I feel like Art has helped me a ton in marketing these cattle.”

A Spring Cove customer of more than 25 years, he markets his commercial cattle through video sales. Though he doesn’t retain ownership, he follows cattle performance, tracking health in the feedyard and how they measure up at the grading stand. His cattle routinely earn 75% CAB or higher. A recent group of 250 steers graded 65% Prime, 35% Choice.

“Art and Stacy have taught me more about Angus cattle than anyone on the planet,” says Rutan. “Our relationship has grown into more than the selection of premium genetics, but has impacted the way we sell and market our feeder cattle.”

A Western Video sales representative, Art guides his customers through capturing premiums without retained ownership. Reputation feeder cattle bring added value and Spring Cove Ranch genetics help carry a reputation for paychecks from the packing plant.

“Cattle with credentials” like carcass genetics, source and process verification or Natural and other certification can help Western commercial cattlemen capture another bid and dollar, Art says. Historically, his program cattle bring as much as $67 per cwt. over the average black calf.

The dollars add up, for one customer all the way to $169,000 for a truckload headed east.

Future functionality

“I think a lot of people are thinking that maybe we’re going to saturate this market with high-quality cattle, but I think the demand is only growing and worldwide,” Art says. “A small part of this world today eats the premium product like we do and the others are now finding how tasty it is. They’re going to want more of it.”

The Butlers will be here with a ready supply of carefully selected Angus seedstock, continuing the work of converting forage from non-tillable lands into valuable protein.

A century after the first Butlers partnered with this land, it’s become a place few would dispute as a perfect home for ranching. The cattle are better and the land looks refreshed and invigorated compared to the black and white photos of times past. The next generation of Butler cowboys are learning the ropes as so many times before.

Art and Stacy look to the future with excitement, certain the next generation has good things coming.

“I am proud of the enduring faith in a breed of cattle and the enduring commitment to labor, to hard labor, to building fences and moving cattle; and the commitment to agriculture and to taking care of the land,” Stacy says.

Their family, philosophy and cattle have endured at Spring Cove Ranch, built on a vision of what is possible when the range and its perfect caretakers find exactly where they’re supposed to be.

Originally published in the Angus Journal

Century of focus

Colorado ranch earns top commercial honors

Story and photos by Morgan Marley

September 25, 2019

It take endless hard work to make it in the ranching business, sometimes success is built upon for a century. For one Colorado ranch, this is certainly the case.

More than 100 years the same family has operated Noble Ranch.

In everything he does, Ryan Noble pushes the limits of success to what some would call overachieving. To everyone else, it’s no surprise Noble Ranch accepted the Certified Angus Beef ® (CAB®) 2019 Commercial Commitment to Excellence Award during the brand’s annual conference in Asheville, N.C.

Humble to their core, whatever the Nobles have achieved only comes with the job.

For a son and husband of teachers, education is a natural priority, with an open invitation to the ranch for any person or group who wants to learn. They have hosted many ag education and end-user groups, including CAB’s Master of Brand Advantages.

“The passion Ryan and Ronella have for education and business growth is immediately apparent,” says Kara Lee, CAB production brand manager. “Whether they are in the company of other ranchers or hosting a group of foodservice professionals, they are swapping experiences, successes and failures all in the name of continued improvement. They have a progressive mindset about business management and investment in employees that transcends all industries, offering guests with a culinary background a fresh perspective on some of their own challenges.”

The Nobles hold service high—Ronella volunteers with hospice, the elementary school and church groups. Ryan leads services at the church and coaches his kids’ sport teams. Together Ryan and Ronella are 4-H leaders.

Still they find time to focus on their own continued education. A few years ago the couple completed a Ranching for Profit course, an investment they say constantly pays its way.

“We’re constantly going through our gross margins and looking at the economics of ranching,” Ryan says.

Through that process, the ranch quickly embraced the opportunity for a heifer development program that has made an impact on nearly 6,500 cows in all. It’s a progressive initiative to help Basin Angus Ranch customers reach their maternal and terminal goals through selective breeding and GeneMax™ genomic testing.

“It’s very profitable,” Ryan says. “We also enjoy interacting with other ranchers, and it gives us an opportunity to have a hand in helping them better their genetics.”

The Nobles haven’t always bred Angus genetics. Thirty years ago the ranch focused on the continental breeds and that’s about when Ryan began noticing changes in the Angus breed. Expected progeny differences (EPDs) were gaining momentum, especially within Angus.

When he began making decisions, he didn’t hesitate to start using the business breed.

“Angus just covers every base that we need covered, and with fantastic results,” he says.

Ryan found what worked for their operation, and made it thrive. The bottom line: his cattle must have minimal inputs, along with docility, longevity and fertility.

Watch the video to learn more about why we love the Noble family.

Average isn’t an option. Their philosophy is to build cattle in the upper 25% for the breed. That’s why he has partnered with Basin Angus Ranch on bull studs selling semen. This allows him to select the best animals and invest in highly heritable traits to bring into his calf crop and following cow herd.

“We don’t like to leave things to chance,” he says. “So let’s bet on a sure thing and let’s bet on the best thing. Right now, that’s Angus cattle and it probably always will be.”

The carcass quality his herd achieves meets his standards as a beef consumer.

“The Certified Angus Beef brand has always stood for quality and doing the right thing every chance you get,” he says. “That mirrors what we’re trying to do out here on the ranch.”

Retaining ownership of steer calves and marketing them on the grid proves their strict breeding standards are paying off.

“When I got back the carcass data on our 2018 steers, we crowded 70% Certified Angus Beef,” Ryan says. “They yielded about 63%. They were almost 30% (low) Choice and there was zero Select in the whole pen. That’s on 14 month old calves. The pay weight was around 1340 pounds. I think we’re doing okay.”

Ryan is interested in long-term relationships, sustained partnerships that result in repeat business.

“I guess everything in the beef industry and life in general is all about relationships,” he says. “If you hold your end of the bargain up and the other person does, too, you will have a fantastic relationship and it will work every time. It’s all about the people.”

All-in cattle feeding

Timmerman family receives CAB honors

Story and photos by

Miranda Reiman

September 25, 2019

While Jason Timmerman was playing in the dirt, building pens and mounds with a toy loader, his sister Kristin was probably in the house reading an old classic.

If he chose an outside chore, she preferred the intellectual challenge.

With each passing year, Jason grew a little more into the boots of the cattle feeders he idolized. He scooped bunks, drove the feed truck and rode around with Grandpa Leo, making deals and looking at cattle.

“What do I love about cattle feeding? Everything,” Jason says. If it was true then, it’s true tenfold today.

Kristin imagined a future as a librarian and helped her mom fill out ledger books by hand.

Ryan was born 15 ½ years after his older brother, and when at the feedyard, he wished he were shooting hoops or throwing a football instead. If the Broncos business office had an opening, he might have applied.

Veteran cattle feeders Norm and Sharon Timmerman, of McCook, Neb., encouraged their children to follow their own passions, and they did. After college, Jason started with Timmerman Feeding near Omaha, while CPA Kristin ran her own accounting firm and Ryan pursued a degree in business management with a sports and recreation option.

Then came the opportunity that first allowed Kristin and husband Jeff Stagemeyer, and later Ryan and wife Nicole, to be involved in the family business. Jason and his wife, Wendy, were already living near the Colby, Kan., yard.

“Proud.” It’s the only word that comes to mind, when Norm thinks of how it all turned out. Not the bragging kind of pride, but joy and satisfaction.

“It’s nice to be that good of friends with your family members, who like to work together,” he says. “It all fell into place.”

Each day, the family brings diverse interests and skillsets, a shared trust and camaraderie to the work they do for the feeding company they jointly own: NA Timmerman Inc. They started in 2012 with yards at Indianola, Neb., and McDonald and Colby, Kan., now also including locations near Holyoke and Sterling, Colo., with a one-time feeding capacity of 80,000 head.

For their dedication to grid marketing, feeding premium cattle and a call to doing the best job every time, the Norm Timmerman family received the 2019 Feedyard Commitment to Excellence Award from the Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand. They were recognized at the CAB annual conference in Asheville, N.C., in September.

The quality kind

“There are a lot of small feedlots that specialize in the high-quality type, but larger feeders don’t always have the benefit of picking and choosing what cattle they feed. They need to keep the pens full and often feed a wide variety,” says Paul Dykstra, beef cattle specialist for the brand. “They’ve really evolved over the last 20 years or so, under Jason’s vision, to procure cattle that will do well on a grid.”

When producers see a focus on quality at that scale, it sends a message to the industry, he says.

In 2005, the Timmermans tested grid marketing with sales of 2,100 head on a Cargill formula. Today that number is closer to 150,000 annually.

Without that focus, Jason says, “We wouldn’t be feeding as good of cattle today.”

It’s changed their procurement and it’s changed their harvest targets. The animals are fed to their potential, not based on the whims of one day’s market.

“We keep the feedyard full and we manage our risk and we try to maximize our performance to the best of the ability of our cattle,” he says, “versus the old cash system: hurry and sell, or wait and make them too big. When they’re ready, they’re ready, we just keep rolling and just manage the risk on the other side of it.”

Despite a difficult winter and early spring for Great Plains cattle feeding, the Timmerman marketings still hit 38% Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB ^®) brand and Prime for a three-month average into this summer. In recent years with more cooperation from Mother Nature, their branded quality numbers have been significantly higher across the board.

Jason and Jeff have been extensively using artificial insemination on the 700-head cow herd they own together, which shows them the impact of genetics on the final results. Three years of feedyard data on the progeny reveals more than half of them grade Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) brand and Prime.

Those cattle make more.

“When we get a pen of high-grading cattle that have a lot of CABs, it directly affects us,” Jason says, “because it’s money in our pocket.”

Those cattle also signify a mark of achievement.

“I like the self-satisfaction of knowing I did the best I could do,” he says.

Extra effort

That’s a shared Timmerman trait often expressed as extra hours at the yard and office, doing whatever it takes to keep cattle performing and comfortable.

“Hard work will give you a lot of luck,” Norm says.

When the family beats Norm to work, the father knows he passed on that important value.

“I love mornings before everyone shows up, before the sun comes up,” Jason says. He goes through pen by pen. “Which cattle are these? How are they doing?”

It’s his time. Before the calls come and he’s making fast-but-calculated decisions on risk management and cattle marketing. He’s directing employees and checking in with his siblings.

“If you do all the little things consistently, the cattle will do as projected,” Jason says. “We want to do as projected because people are hedging in their margins based on that.”

Pen maintenance, feed delivery and cattle health monitoring—they all add up.

“There is no room for error. It’s a sole responsibility,” Ryan says. “The job we do at the feedlot impacts our customers. There’s a lot of money involved…it’s their livelihood.”

When he went out to manage the new Sterling yard, Ryan didn’t want to take a day off for several months. “That’s when I felt the weight of the responsibility. We had expectations and a good customer base…”

It’s not like a Timmerman to let people down.

Late into a Friday night, Norm might go by Kristin and Jeff’s neighboring offices in McCook and see lights still on in the back, a lone car parked out front. That’s when he knows they’ve got it, too.

“These are the things that are important to the Timmerman family: their faith, being a good family member, working hard at what you’re doing,” Kristin says.

She and Jeff bring a fresh perspective to the finances, giving purchasing advice and making insurance decisions.

“My dad and I knew the outside very well, but needed someone in the back that could complement us–luckily we had family that could do that,” Jason says.

There’s no CFO he’d trust more.

Leo’s legacy

They had a good example of seeing partnership in action. Timmerman Feeding of Springfield, Neb., started by Leo Timmerman, was into the hands of the next generation, brothers Gerald, James, Ronnie and Norm, when they expanded to Indianola, some 250 miles west.

“This was a farm and we built it from scratch,” Norm says. “We came here in March 1973 and in October 1973, we had cattle in here already.”

There was no mill, no chute, no scale house.

“The office started in our trailer house, where we lived. The office was our kitchen table,” Norm says, giving credit to his wife, Sharon. She kept the books there by day and made it a home by night.

“I say my mother was the glue for my father, and Sharon’s the glue for me,” he says. “I think she just listens better than I do sometimes.”

Then there was the support of the brothers in their own locations, managing finances, business development and risk.

“I’ve only had two jobs in my life, the Marine Corps and Timmerman feedlots,” Norm says. After school and the service he joined the brothers who worked together for the next 50 years. “We felt like this is where they needed us, and this is where we wanted to be.”

By this decade, with the third generation involved, there were dads and uncles working with sons and nephews. Roles were getting harder to define and rather than set limits on who traded out of what account or trying to come up with a consensus on big decisions, it was a natural time to let each Timmerman branch individually exercise their entrepreneurial spirit.

They gave their children the opportunity Leo Timmerman gave them.

“He was really a person that showed a lot of confidence in us boys, and he was the one who gave us the chance and it’s where it all started,” Norm says.

“The boys” learned as they went. Norm fed cattle off a team of horses, and drove semis loaded with hay through Omaha at just 16.

Handing over responsibilities to Jason felt like the natural chain of events.

“It evolved to where I was doing more, more and more,” Jason says, noting the risk management shifted to him through the years. “Then it’s how do you keep it organized? Trial and error. Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes.”

Years like 2014 remind them it’s fun to make money. Years like 2015 keep them humble.

“I don’t think it will ever be easy. You’re in an environment dealing with people, dealing with Mother Nature. You’ve got the element of risk,” Jason says. “It will never be easy, it’s just about how you manage your way through it.”

History says they’ll do it. Being a Timmerman means they’ll do it well.

Originally published in the Angus Journal

Built on a breed

A century of focus earns Spring Cove Ranch the CAB Seedstock Commitment to Excellence Award

Story and photos by Nicole Lane Erceg

September 25, 2019

When the first Angus sire arrived at Spring Cove Ranch in 1919, no one could have predicted his legacy. Old, handwritten herd books trace the first pedigrees of the Butler herd to a time when cattle were traded for a saddle and a good meal. The yellowed pages reveal registration numbers with only 4 digits, traced as forebears of cattle grazing these high desert ranges today.

Self-proclaimed “number nerds” Art and Stacy Butler inherited the craving for information documentation on their herd of 800 cows.

All Butler bulls are genomically tested with Angus GS and more than 60% of those in their annual sale earn the CAB Targeting the Brand™ logo, signifying breed average or above for the Marbling EPD and $Grid index. Each bull gets its own Spring Cove Ranch calving ease score that consolidates genetics, genomics and cow-family data to provide extra analysis on potential herd sires.

The main goal is an Angus bull whose progeny thrive on the western range and have the carcass traits and growth characteristics to generate premiums for commercial cattlemen while balancing a focus on breeding cows that “keep us all in business” with strong maternal values.

The philosophy isn’t new. It serves a vision the Butlers held long before the market directly justified it, and it earned them the 2019 CAB Seedstock Commitment to Excellence Award.

A student at the University of Idaho when USDA lowered the grading standards in the mid-1970s, Art saw the industry moving toward a leaner product but kept steering his herd the other way.

It’s hard-earned knowledge he works to pass on to his bull customers today.

“Marbling is something that you can add to these cattle no matter what size and what your goals are as far as productivity,” Art says.

Form, function and fertility come first. They don’t preach single-trait selection, but say those necessary traits are already built into the Angus cow. “It’s what has made her ‘King’” Art says.

Some say great cows and exceptional terminal traits don’t happen in one package. Art and Stacy prove they do.

They lay the accolades of what they’ve built at her feet, but credit data and targeted selection as vital tools along the way.

“Helping our customers market their cattle, and more than that, trying to help them get a premium for the genetics that they’ve invested in,” says Stacy. “The premium paid by the consumer at the end needs to trickle down to the cow-calf man that is actually producing that calf.”

A Western Video sales representative, Art guides his customers through capturing premiums without retained ownership. Program feeder cattle bring added value and Spring Cove Ranch genetics help carry a reputation for paychecks from the packing plant.

“Cattle with credentials” like carcass genetics, source- and process verification or Natural and other certification can help Western commercial cattlemen capture another bid and dollar, Art says. Historically, his program cattle bring as much as $67 per cwt. over the average black calf.

The dollars add up, for one customer all the way to $169,000 for a truckload headed east.

The Butlers will be here with a ready supply of carefully selected Angus seedstock, continuing the work of converting forage from non-tillable lands into valuable protein.

A century after the first Butlers partnered with this land, it’s become a place few would dispute as a perfect home for ranching. The cattle are better and the land looks refreshed and invigorated compared to the black-and-white photos of times past. The next generation of Butler cowboys are learning the ropes as so many times before.

Learn more about the Butlers and why they earned the Commitment to Excellence Award. Watch the video that played on stage at Annual Conference.

2019 Progressive Partner Award

Own what you do

Tom Jones and his Hy-Plains team keep feeding, learning and showing the way to better

Story and photos by Miranda Reiman

September 25, 2019

If they set the bar there today, by tomorrow, they’ll raise it higher.

That’s the kind of feedyard Tom Jones manages. It’s the kind of person Jones is.

That attitude, and the actions behind it, earned Hy-Plains Feedyard the 2019 Certified Angus Beef ^® (CAB^®) Progressive Partner Award.

For the good of the industry

Coming off a good year in 2014, the business was in a strong financial position. Having expanded twice before—first to 35,000, then to the current 50,000 head—Jones wasn’t interested in building more pens or buying new feed trucks. Instead of traditional capital outlays, he decided to make a long-term, far-reaching investment.

It took some time to get it just right but in 2017, the company opened its Hy-Plains Education and Research Center.

The center is part research, part demonstration facility, part communal office space, but all grounded in sharing knowledge and growing more of it. “If we can study our lessons, we can make a huge difference,” he says. Jones enjoys feeding cattle for commercial and registered Angus customers because they’re the ones who “influence change in the industry.”

Watch why we love Tom Jones and everything he’s doing at Hy-Plains Feedyard.

Cattle feeder turned tour guide

They’re able to find new answers, while externally sharing answers the industry already knows.

“We do have a great story to tell, it’s just hard to find the time to do it,” Jones says.

So they make time.

“My biggest desire was to be able to bring in a busload of fourth graders and have them watch us process cattle,” he says.

They all get the same version of Jones, someone who is focused, competitive and serious about providing the best care he can for the cattle in his yard.

A push to get better

Don’t ask how many cattle they can work in an hour.

“Processing cattle is not a timed event,” Jones says definitively. “When we spend time teaching stockmanship skills to our employees, the cattle are not stressed. They are more comfortable so they perform better. We work as quietly as possible.”

It takes extra work and hours to collect data and to do it right.

“These people we have on staff are very interested in making a difference,” Jones says.

His push to get better and desire to win are as much a part of how he was raised—and people who mentored him along the way—as they are a personal philosophy.

“You have to own something in your life. It doesn’t matter if you own the job where you are working or you buy land or own your business. Own what you do,” he says.

When cattle leave Hy-Plains Feedyard, Tom Jones knows his name is on every single one. It weighs on him to reach a little higher each day.

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