Stortz Angus Ranch Keeps Moving Forward in Montana
Management : Cow & Calf
Management : Replacement
Nutrition : Minerals
Since its founding in the early 1900s, Stortz Angus Ranch of Lindsay, Mont., has progressed its cow/calf operation to new heights each year. The Stortz family has used several breeds throughout their ranch’s history – horned and Polled Hereford cows later developed into F1 Black Baldies when the herd was crossed with Angus genetics. Eventually, the herd would move to a commercial Angus base, and a registered Angus seedstock herd would be developed.
Today, Stortz Angus Ranch specializes in raising registered Angus bulls and commercial heifers to market annually at their production sale. The family recently hosted their 32nd annual Angus bull sale and is looking forward to hosting again next year.
Stortz Angus Ranch is owned and operated day-to-day by Ted and his wife, Tarena, with two of their four children, Tate and Ben.
“Tate and Ben are getting more involved in decision-making,” Ted says. “Our oldest son, Robbie, works off the ranch but comes out and helps quite a bit. Our daughter, Chelsea, lives in Seattle, so she’s not able to make it back as often.”
“We focus our efforts on making functional cattle that prosper in the rugged terrain and extreme weather that we see here in eastern Montana,” says Ted.
Disposition, mothering ability and longevity are just a few of the traits the family emphasizes for replacement heifers. They’re also cognizant of not chasing trends when making mating decisions.
Stortz Angus Ranch strives to produce bulls with growth traits that will pay for commercial producers while maintaining “sleep at night” birthweights. But “cookie-cutter” bulls are not their thing.
“We like to offer our customers a selection of genetics. We always have a group of good calving ease and maternal bulls while offering high weaning weight, more growth bulls,” says Tate.
“We fed it for years using a self-feeder,” says Ted.
Eventually, they moved to bunk-feeding bulls with a customized ration featuring corn because buyers preferred to have cattle developed in that system.
“I tried to explain to our customers that it was a self-limiting feed, so the bulls weren’t overeating,” says Ted. “Once the kids were old enough to help, the transition to bunk-feeding was easier.”
One mainstay has been Purina® Wind and Rain® mineral. It has been provided throughout the herd year-round since they first started feeding Purina® products. They use Wind and Rain® mineral with Availa® 4 during the breeding season, and they provide the calves with Purina® Stress Tubs at weaning.1 Wind and Rain® Fly Control mineral is also used to help reduce horn flies in the herd.
“We continue to feed Purina because of its consistent quality and results,” says Tate.
This came a few years after Stortz Angus Ranch had somewhat rebuilt the herd after culling another large amount of cows in 2017 due to drought.
“A year ago we bought a pile of hay because we couldn’t get any put up of our own,” says Ted.
Additional supplemental nutrition was provided to the herd via Purina® RangeLand® protein tubs, which the Stortz family had regularly utilized during the fall of normal years when forage drops in quality. Purina® RangeLand® protein tubs were fed throughout the summer of 2021 into the start of the next grazing season until conditions improved.
“The tubs definitely helped in 2021. We scattered the tubs out into more remote areas to help improve our grazing,” says Ted.
Tubs were introduced again a little earlier than usual last summer after grasshoppers took their toll on the pastures.
“The people at AgPro Solutions are very knowledgeable of the industry and provide great service for us. We work closely with our sales representative Austin Buzanowski. He assists us in building our rations to achieve maximum performance while also maintaining overall herd health,” says Tate.
Austin regularly visits with the Stortz family to offer advice, take forage samples and walk through the herd to monitor body condition scores. He’s even helped clip bulls before the annual bull sale.
“I’ve enjoyed working with them because of their progressive mindset and openness to learning,” says Austin. “With the next generation coming in, I expect them to keep taking steps forward to market more bulls and elevate their average price.”
In the future, Tate believes Purina® supplements and mineral will continue to be a good fit for Stortz Angus Ranch because so many of the products fit their needs no matter the season.
“Living in rural eastern Montana can be challenging at times,” adds Tate. “I definitely attribute some of our ranch’s success to the high-quality nutrition we receive from Purina and assistance from our local dealer.”
Does your nutrition program stack up? Find out with a Proof Pays trial.
Today, Stortz Angus Ranch specializes in raising registered Angus bulls and commercial heifers to market annually at their production sale. The family recently hosted their 32nd annual Angus bull sale and is looking forward to hosting again next year.
Stortz Angus Ranch is owned and operated day-to-day by Ted and his wife, Tarena, with two of their four children, Tate and Ben.
“Tate and Ben are getting more involved in decision-making,” Ted says. “Our oldest son, Robbie, works off the ranch but comes out and helps quite a bit. Our daughter, Chelsea, lives in Seattle, so she’s not able to make it back as often.”
Eye on progress
Ted attributes their improvements through four generations worth of cattle breeding to their focus on consistent breeding and prioritized selection decisions.“We focus our efforts on making functional cattle that prosper in the rugged terrain and extreme weather that we see here in eastern Montana,” says Ted.
Disposition, mothering ability and longevity are just a few of the traits the family emphasizes for replacement heifers. They’re also cognizant of not chasing trends when making mating decisions.
Stortz Angus Ranch strives to produce bulls with growth traits that will pay for commercial producers while maintaining “sleep at night” birthweights. But “cookie-cutter” bulls are not their thing.
“We like to offer our customers a selection of genetics. We always have a group of good calving ease and maternal bulls while offering high weaning weight, more growth bulls,” says Tate.
Developing with nutrition
Since they started marketing bulls in the early 1990s, the Stortz family has utilized Purina® products for various purposes. Initially, Purina® Accuration® Grower played a significant role in the bull development program because of its ease of use with Intake Modifying Technology®.“We fed it for years using a self-feeder,” says Ted.
Eventually, they moved to bunk-feeding bulls with a customized ration featuring corn because buyers preferred to have cattle developed in that system.
“I tried to explain to our customers that it was a self-limiting feed, so the bulls weren’t overeating,” says Ted. “Once the kids were old enough to help, the transition to bunk-feeding was easier.”
One mainstay has been Purina® Wind and Rain® mineral. It has been provided throughout the herd year-round since they first started feeding Purina® products. They use Wind and Rain® mineral with Availa® 4 during the breeding season, and they provide the calves with Purina® Stress Tubs at weaning.1 Wind and Rain® Fly Control mineral is also used to help reduce horn flies in the herd.
“We continue to feed Purina because of its consistent quality and results,” says Tate.
Pressure off of pasture
Like many cattle operations in the region, Stortz Angus Ranch faced a difficult decision to cull harder than usual to take grazing pressure off their pastures in 2021. Ted estimates they sold two pot loads of cows “because we just didn’t have the grass.”This came a few years after Stortz Angus Ranch had somewhat rebuilt the herd after culling another large amount of cows in 2017 due to drought.
“A year ago we bought a pile of hay because we couldn’t get any put up of our own,” says Ted.
Additional supplemental nutrition was provided to the herd via Purina® RangeLand® protein tubs, which the Stortz family had regularly utilized during the fall of normal years when forage drops in quality. Purina® RangeLand® protein tubs were fed throughout the summer of 2021 into the start of the next grazing season until conditions improved.
“The tubs definitely helped in 2021. We scattered the tubs out into more remote areas to help improve our grazing,” says Ted.
Tubs were introduced again a little earlier than usual last summer after grasshoppers took their toll on the pastures.
Helping hand
Having a solid working relationship with their local Purina® dealer, AgPro Solutions in Glendive, Mont., has been just as important as the performance of the products for Stortz Angus Ranch.“The people at AgPro Solutions are very knowledgeable of the industry and provide great service for us. We work closely with our sales representative Austin Buzanowski. He assists us in building our rations to achieve maximum performance while also maintaining overall herd health,” says Tate.
Austin regularly visits with the Stortz family to offer advice, take forage samples and walk through the herd to monitor body condition scores. He’s even helped clip bulls before the annual bull sale.
“I’ve enjoyed working with them because of their progressive mindset and openness to learning,” says Austin. “With the next generation coming in, I expect them to keep taking steps forward to market more bulls and elevate their average price.”
In the future, Tate believes Purina® supplements and mineral will continue to be a good fit for Stortz Angus Ranch because so many of the products fit their needs no matter the season.
“Living in rural eastern Montana can be challenging at times,” adds Tate. “I definitely attribute some of our ranch’s success to the high-quality nutrition we receive from Purina and assistance from our local dealer.”
Does your nutrition program stack up? Find out with a Proof Pays trial.
1 Availa® 4 is a registered trademark of Zinpro Performance Minerals.
