Raising the Bar on Quality in Cattle Country
Management : Cow & Calf
Management : Weaned Calf
Nutrition : Supplements
Living halfway between Dodge City and Garden City, Kansas, Tony Bleumer is in the heart of cattle feeding country. He’s fed a few cattle himself, but his true focus is raising quality cattle to send on to feedlots in the area.
Tony came back to the family farm nearly 35 years ago and has grown the family’s stocker cattle business to include a thriving cow/calf herd. He established Duck Creek Cattle Co. with his father and uncle, who are still involved.
“We originally focused on buying cattle to put out on wheat pasture and evolved our buying to get better quality stockers,” says Tony.
Then 12 years ago, Tony got into the cow/calf business when his daughter began showing breeding heifers in 4-H. “By the time she got out of school, we had eight or nine cows. And I thought, ‘If I’m going to graze eight or nine cows, I can do 400 head,’” says Tony.
All it took to grow the cow herd by 50-fold was the purchase of a neighbor’s commercial Angus herd, along with some local replacement heifers and commercial Red Angus cows.
“We had to make some management changes to adjust since it’s harder to find winter grazing,” says Tony.
He worked with his local Purina sales specialist at Pride Ag Resources, the local cooperative where Tony is currently board chairman, to build a nutrition plan to meet his cows’ needs.
Beginning about four years ago, Duck Creek Cattle Co. transitioned from using a local mineral blend to using Purina® Wind and Rain® ProCycle® mineral during key times of the reproductive cycle and Purina® Wind and Rain® mineral during the rest of the year. Tony’s success with Purina® mineral helped him decide to also look at supplementation for his herd.
“We opted to use Purina® Accuration® Range Liquid with our cows year-round to help extend our grazing seasons and increase forage utilization,” says Tony. “Our goal was to keep cows productive and in good body condition. We’ve been able to do that efficiently with our nutrition changes.”
He also plans to start grazing pastures that will come out of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in a few years. The CRP ground will be used as winter pasture paired with available cornstalks. His cows will run on native grass pastures the rest of the year as they currently do in the primary grazing season.
Starting out he bought cattle from a wider geography. According to Tony, the calves leaned towards the “high-risk” category with limited weaning or health information.
The emphasis changed to buying better quality calves from a tighter geography of sale barns in western Kansas and some special calf sales in Wyoming. Tony is willing to pay a premium knowing proper health protocols, like vaccinations and weaning, have been performed.
“I don’t have to work so hard getting them straightened out if it they’re properly managed beforehand,” says Tony. “We pay a little more for calves now, but we get a little more on the back end.”
In late summer, he purchases weaned calves to be turned out as stockers in late September or early October on fields planted to triticale. The stockers rotate onto wheat pasture by November and December. Depending on moisture, the grazing season can last into mid-May or early June. Following the sale of the stockers to local feedlots, the process begins again, with new cattle purchased for the next grazing season.
Another benefit Tony realized by buying better quality stocker cattle is that he can run his homeraised calves with the stockers following weaning and market larger groups.
“I’ve learned throughout the years that if you buy the good stuff, it usually pays you a return in the end,” says Tony.
That’s also why he’s emphasized buying better quality stockers while raising and purchasing quality genetics for the cow herd.
His Red Angus bulls come from reputable breeders, aiming for traits like weaning weight and carcass merit, and some replacement heifers are selected from the cow herd. However, Tony prefers to purchase most of his replacement heifers from herds that focus more on maternal traits to keep his eye on terminal characteristics.
Cows and heifers start calving in late February and early March. He uses creep feeders to help push calves further while on summer pasture, which also aids the cows during breed back and early gestation.
In late June, Tony provides Purina® RangeLand® Calf Creep 14 and later transitions to Purina® Accuration® Cattle Limiter in late August until weaning begins in October. At weaning, calves receive Purina® Accuration® Starter Complete.
The results he’s seen have helped set a new bar for quality in his operation.
“We’re going to continue with Purina because it’s a program that I believe in,” says Tony.
Does your nutrition program stack up? Find out with a Proof Pays trial.
Tony came back to the family farm nearly 35 years ago and has grown the family’s stocker cattle business to include a thriving cow/calf herd. He established Duck Creek Cattle Co. with his father and uncle, who are still involved.
“We originally focused on buying cattle to put out on wheat pasture and evolved our buying to get better quality stockers,” says Tony.
Then 12 years ago, Tony got into the cow/calf business when his daughter began showing breeding heifers in 4-H. “By the time she got out of school, we had eight or nine cows. And I thought, ‘If I’m going to graze eight or nine cows, I can do 400 head,’” says Tony.
All it took to grow the cow herd by 50-fold was the purchase of a neighbor’s commercial Angus herd, along with some local replacement heifers and commercial Red Angus cows.
Adapting to conditions
When Tony first began growing his cow herd, he used cornstalks for winter grazing. But as the years went on, leased fields he’d once grazed with cornstalks started to transition to other less water-dependent crops due to irrigation limitations.“We had to make some management changes to adjust since it’s harder to find winter grazing,” says Tony.
He worked with his local Purina sales specialist at Pride Ag Resources, the local cooperative where Tony is currently board chairman, to build a nutrition plan to meet his cows’ needs.
Beginning about four years ago, Duck Creek Cattle Co. transitioned from using a local mineral blend to using Purina® Wind and Rain® ProCycle® mineral during key times of the reproductive cycle and Purina® Wind and Rain® mineral during the rest of the year. Tony’s success with Purina® mineral helped him decide to also look at supplementation for his herd.
“We opted to use Purina® Accuration® Range Liquid with our cows year-round to help extend our grazing seasons and increase forage utilization,” says Tony. “Our goal was to keep cows productive and in good body condition. We’ve been able to do that efficiently with our nutrition changes.”
He also plans to start grazing pastures that will come out of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) in a few years. The CRP ground will be used as winter pasture paired with available cornstalks. His cows will run on native grass pastures the rest of the year as they currently do in the primary grazing season.
Stocker side
Like his approach to nutrition, Tony has moved from a minimized cost focus to a quality focus when purchasing stocker cattle in the past few decades.Starting out he bought cattle from a wider geography. According to Tony, the calves leaned towards the “high-risk” category with limited weaning or health information.
The emphasis changed to buying better quality calves from a tighter geography of sale barns in western Kansas and some special calf sales in Wyoming. Tony is willing to pay a premium knowing proper health protocols, like vaccinations and weaning, have been performed.
“I don’t have to work so hard getting them straightened out if it they’re properly managed beforehand,” says Tony. “We pay a little more for calves now, but we get a little more on the back end.”
In late summer, he purchases weaned calves to be turned out as stockers in late September or early October on fields planted to triticale. The stockers rotate onto wheat pasture by November and December. Depending on moisture, the grazing season can last into mid-May or early June. Following the sale of the stockers to local feedlots, the process begins again, with new cattle purchased for the next grazing season.
Another benefit Tony realized by buying better quality stocker cattle is that he can run his homeraised calves with the stockers following weaning and market larger groups.
Eye on quality
The positive changes in Tony’s nutrition program have been part of his focus shift from least cost to higher quality.“I’ve learned throughout the years that if you buy the good stuff, it usually pays you a return in the end,” says Tony.
That’s also why he’s emphasized buying better quality stockers while raising and purchasing quality genetics for the cow herd.
His Red Angus bulls come from reputable breeders, aiming for traits like weaning weight and carcass merit, and some replacement heifers are selected from the cow herd. However, Tony prefers to purchase most of his replacement heifers from herds that focus more on maternal traits to keep his eye on terminal characteristics.
Cows and heifers start calving in late February and early March. He uses creep feeders to help push calves further while on summer pasture, which also aids the cows during breed back and early gestation.
In late June, Tony provides Purina® RangeLand® Calf Creep 14 and later transitions to Purina® Accuration® Cattle Limiter in late August until weaning begins in October. At weaning, calves receive Purina® Accuration® Starter Complete.
The results he’s seen have helped set a new bar for quality in his operation.
“We’re going to continue with Purina because it’s a program that I believe in,” says Tony.
Does your nutrition program stack up? Find out with a Proof Pays trial.
