About the Ranch
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We are a small Salers breeder (@ 50
mature cows) from North
of Wibaux, Montana on Hiway 261. We started our breeding program on the
Blue Mountain Ranch, that
Bobbie had been on since 1972 & I'd been there since 1987.
Due to his health issues, we sold the Blue Mountain land & moved into town.
Our ranch now headquarters at our leased place @ 13 miles out of Wibaux. We started using Salers Bulls
in 1989, for the same reason many people try them, for the calving ease. After
our first calf crop, we were hooked. They were aggressive as newborns &
grew fast. The first couple of years they were strictly used as a terminal
cross. After we kept the first replacements, we found the first calf heifers go from teenagers to mothers overnight with
minimal
(if any) problems. We enjoy sleeping thru the night. One characteristic we found intriguing was their unique
personalities. With the severe drought conditions in recent years, we have found
they have excellent fertility & utilize the range much better than some breeds.
Our goal is Quality not Quantity.
Several years ago, we registered our first cows (most being 50%) and 2002 was our first set of bulls. For
years, we have used a bloodline from a Miles City Breeder known as “Sure Bet”.
This bloodline is strong maternal & has excellent disposition and is the
foundation to our cowherd. When purchasing herd bull prospects, our
first criteria is disposition. They must have a strong top line, carry
down well on the hind legs, be thick, deep bodied, appear to be easy fleshing, have a weaning weight (or
adjusted 205 ) of over 600#, low birth weight & high weaning EPD, & must have a strong maternal background.
The market demands black, but I
am hoping to get a good red bull again (my heart is with the red, since my
Granddad raised registered Herefords for 30 years).
We purchased
“Stealth”
at the 1999 Focus Sale. He changed our lives forever. Stealth
was a black homozygous polled
purebred that had the most incredible disposition & personality you will
ever find
in any animal. He never got upset about anything & was always ready for a
hand out. He loved his treats. He was full of red meat (line bred Jet, a carcass sire),
which allows his progeny to weigh up heavier than they look & his
daughters are very productive cows. He
passed his disposition onto most of his progeny. He will live on
here for many years to come thru his progeny & the use of AI.
Due to an injury, that he didn't recover from, he was
put down 0n September 28, 2004, and has a permanent resting place where he can
watch over his legacy. He will be missed...........
We
calve in late March & April.
When picking our replacement females
we use the following steps: #1 Disposition, #2 Feminity & Maternal Line, #3
Fleshing Ability (must be easy fleshing), #4 Frame Size, #5 Birth Weight.
Our bulls are picked for Disposition, Thickness, Maternal & Birth weight.
We try to avoid 100+ pound birth weights. We like to pick bulls with
strong top lines, but when you have an extremely long bull, it is hard to keep
that straight top. Basically, we won't keep a bull that we wouldn't want
to use ourselves. We are collecting ultra-sound & DNA carcass data on our
breeding animals (including purchased bulls).
We have complete health records on all of our females of all medications given since 2000 & all cattle
are EID tagged. In 2007, we took advantage of Montana's BVD-PI project &
had our entire herd certified a clean herd. We try to be a very progressive
breeder because of our size .
Bobbie & I were married in 1988. He has 4 grown children (Terry,
Cheryl, Tim, & Tracy). Tracy lives at the old ranch headquarters & has an
outfitting business. He has his own Angus based cow herd .
Terry is based out of Billings.
Cheryl retired from teaching in 2005 & is now pursuing other interests in
Billings were her husband (George) works for the Billings Police Department. Tim
has traded his California lifestyle to move to Garfield County (talk about one
extreme to another). He & Kim rented a large ranch up there. We have 6 Grandchildren (Justin, Tyson, Taite,
Trey, Tyler & Teha). Justin (Terry's son) is working somewhere; Tyson
(Tim's son) is in the Air Force & lives in CA. He & his wife Sarah have 2 kids, Kaitlyn
& Troy; (Cheryl's sons) Taite is working with his Dad & Tyler is married to
Carly & they live & work in Billings; Trey
(Tracy's son) is in Dickinson; & Teha, the baby (Tracy's daughter)
just graduated from WCHS & is living & working in Billings.
Our beloved Blue Mountain