Case Study 1

The Case Study # 1 ranch is located in southwest North Dakota. The operation encompasses 5,108 acres--4,912 deeded and 196 recented--in Stark, Dunn and Billings counties and has been in operation since 1905. A total of 1,193 acres is crop land and 3,753 is pasture land. The cow herd has a Hereford X Angus base and currently utilizes Hereford, Angus, Red Angus and Charolais bulls.

The cows are managed as three units depending on calving time. Cattle are calved from late February to mid April (spring calving), mid May to mid June (summer calving) and October to early November (fall calving). Cows are allowed to float between calving groups.

Spring and summer calves are weaned in late October to mid November, preconditioned for a minimum of 30 days and shipped. Fall calves are weaned in mid April, pastured for the summer and shipped with the spring and summer calves.

Current production statics indicate that the average age of the productive cows is 5 years.

The herd is above average in reproductive traits and below average in growth. All calves were marketed through a Kansas feedlot and sold direct to the slaughter house to facilitate the collection of carcass data.

Click Here for Production and Economic Benchmarks For Case #1

Return to Case Studies flow chart.