2006 Commercial Producer of the Year Nominees

2006 Commercial Producer of the Year Nominees

Duck Farm Inc., Virginia
Owner: Samuel and Nadine Wohlstadter; Manager: Kevin Powell

The Beef Improvement Federation honored Duck Farm Inc., Madison County, Va., as a nominee for 2006 Commercial Producer of the Year. Pictured are (from left) 2005 BIF President Lynn Pelton presenting the award to Kevin Powell, manager.

Duck Farm Inc. is located in the Hebron Valley of Madison County, Va., and owned by Samuel and Nadine Wohlstadter. The cattle operation is managed by Kevin Powell of Somerset, Va. Charlie Thornton of Radiant, Va., serves as consulting general manager for the operation.

The Wohlstatders started the operation in 1991 with the purchase of a 725-acre tract. The farm currently consists of 3,400 acres. Of the 2,000 acres designated as open land, 1,600 are in pasture and hay production. Approximately 1,800 acres are set aside for wildlife habitat and timber management.

The cattle operation consists of 660 commercial Angus cows, with approximately 230 cows calving in a 70-day season from February to April, and 430 cows calving in a 70-day season from August to October. Since the operation began in 1991, Duck Farm has focused on producing cattle that are consistently similar in growth, size and type, as well as cattle that have superior carcass traits.

Utilization of the latest technology has been a major factor in Duck Farm’s overall success. Computer records, electronic tags and ultrasound have been instrumental in making management decisions on a day-to-day basis. Duck Farm continually strives for improvement in all areas of the cattle operation, such as optimizing weaning weights, conception rates, carcass traits, cow profitability and overall management.

— nominated by the Virginia Beef Cattle Improvement Association (BCIA)

Hunt Hill Cattle Co., Mississippi
Owner: Cooper and Katie Hurst

The Beef Improvement Federation honored Hunt Hill Cattle Co., Woodville, Miss., as a nominee for 2006 Commercial Producer of the Year. Pictured are (from left) 2005 BIF President Lynn Pelton presenting the award to Katie and Cooper Hurst.

Cooper and Katie Hurst established Hunt Hill Cattle Co. in 1995 south of Woodville, Miss. in Wilkinson County. The 1,200-acre cow-calf operation currently consists of approximately 400 commercial cows and first-calf heifers, which are based on high-performance Angus, Hereford and Brahman genetics. Raised replacement heifers are bred to Angus bulls to produce one-eighth-Brahman-influence calves that are shipped to feeding facilities. Retained ownership marketing programs incorporate the determinations of optimum harvest end points, grid marketing and risk-management strategies. Calves are weaned in August and preconditioned for a minimum of 45 days on the ranch before being sent to a feedyard in September.

Extensive cow-calf production and financial records are kept to continually monitor and make needed management changes. Feedlot performance, carcass performance and associated financial data are collected and used to refine production and marketing practices. Intensive forage management results in a successful average stocking rate at Hunt Hill of 1.5 acres per cow across 550 acres of pasture.

The Hursts’ business plan for Hunt Hill Cattle Co. places heavy emphasis on production and financial performance measures and benchmarks. Their initiation of progressive production and marketing alliances with area landowners and beef producers sets them apart as leaders in the commercial cattle business. Development of strong working relationships with partners throughout the production chain is an essential focus of Hunt Hill Cattle Co.

— nominated by the Mississippi BCIA

McDorman Farms, Ohio
Owners: Louis J., Louis H. and Janelle McDorman

McDorman Farms is located in Clark County in Southwestern Ohio. Previous generations of McDormans (Louis J.’s grandfather) purchased the present homestead consisting of 625 acres in the 1920s. Additional acres were purchased in the 1960s and 1980s to make a total of 985 acres. Until the late 1950s, McDorman Farms fed feeder lambs and had a pig operation. The farm had a small cow herd and fed out their own calves.

In the early 1960s, Louis J. McDorman began working for Sucher Packing Co. in Dayton, Ohio, as a yard foreman, where he became interested in feeding cattle. For the next five years, Louis J. was a cattle buyer for Sucher Packing Co., gaining valuable cattle experience. In the late 1960s, he came back to the home farm, increased the cow herd to 100 cows and started feeding feeder calves. The farm now has a Charolais-Angus-Hereford-cross cow herd bred to purebred Angus bulls. The calves are born in the spring and weaned in September.

From initially feeding their own calves, the farm evolved into buying more and more feeder calves from sales in West Virginia. In the 1990s, the farm started a retained ownership program, which is still utilized today. The farm feeds about 1,800-2,000 head yearly. About one-third to one-half of the cattle are fed under the retained ownership program. In the last few years, the farm has been working with several cow-calf operators in Tennessee to develop an electronic identification (EID) program. This enables the producer to get data on the performance of their calves so the former owners in Tennessee can better manage and improve their herds.

Following graduation from Wilmington College in Ohio in the early 1990s, Louis J’s son, Louis H., worked for the Henry C. Hitch Feedlot in Guymon, Okla., as a feed caller. He returned to the home farm, and McDorman Farms increased its custom feeding program. Today, the cows make up an Angus-based commercial herd of approximately 245 head that is rotationally grazed on 450 acres of managed pasture. In addition to the cattle, corn and soybeans are planted on 1,100 acres of the bottom ground located between the rolling pasturelands. There is another 200 acres in alfalfa hay raised on the farm.

— nominated by the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association

Pitchfork Farm, Illinois
Owner: Ken and Sara Nimrick

The Beef Improvement Federation honored Pitchfork Farm, Stronghurst, Ill., as a nominee for 2006 Commercial Producer of the Year. Pictured are (from left) 2005 BIF President Lynn Pelton presenting the award to Sara and Ken Nimrick. Pitchfork Farm was later honored as the Commercial Producer of the Year.

Ken and Sara Nimrick of Stronghurst, Ill., are the recipients of the 2005 Illinois Beef Association (IBA) Commercial Producer of the Year Award. The Nimricks operate a grain and commercial beef cattle operation consisting of 220 cow-calf pairs and 35 replacement heifers on 340 acres of permanent and rotational pasture. They have been on the same farm in Henderson County since 1971; the land has been in Sara’s family since 1852.

The herd excels in reproductive management through the use of estrus synchronization, artificial insemination (AI) of replacement heifers, and limiting the length of the breeding season for the mature cow herd. Whereas many herds have continued to move their calving dates earlier, the Nimricks calve in from late April to late June. This results in a number of heifers and all the cows calving strictly on pasture. Their genetic program for the past 10 years has centered around the use of composite bulls, consisting of 50%-75% Angus or Red Angus and 25%-50% Simmental or Gelbvieh. This has resulted in a majority of the cow herd being of similar genetic composition and greatly simplified their crossbreeding program.

Individuals who have had the opportunity to visit the Nimrick beef cattle operation realize that Ken is extremely knowledgeable about his operation and the overall goals of a successful cow-calf enterprise. He summarizes the goals of his operations in what could be identified as a mission statement: “To maintain reproductive rates while controlling feed and overhead expenses by improving and managing pastures, minimizing machinery and building expenses, utilizing a low-cost wintering program, and grazing as many days of the year as possible.”

He further elaborates, “Investments in pastures, genetics and preventive health have been the most cost-effective.” Also, his efforts in genetics are geared toward “improving convenience and carcass traits, since the reproductive and growth traits are now adequate.”

Ken is known as Dr. Nimrick to his students at Western Illinois University, where he serves as beef cattle professor in the ag department. Since Ken is gone a number of days, assistance is provided by the Nimricks’ daughter and son-in-law, Kristin and Alan Durkee of Stronghurst. This help allows him to share his many years of practical experience and expertise with future producers and leaders of the Illinois beef cattle industry.

— nominated by the IBA and the University of Illinois Extension

Rock Creek Ranch, Kansas
Owners: Jim and Jean Houck, Jeff and Lori Houck

The Beef Improvement Federation honored Rock Creek Ranch, Lyon County, Kan., as a nominee for 2006 Commercial Producer of the Year. Pictured are (from left) 2005 BIF President Lynn Pelton presenting the award to Jean and Jim Houck.

Rock Creek Ranch has been owned and operated by the Houck family since 1909, when Roy Houck purchased 600 acres in northwest Lyon County. Additional land has since been added to the ranch, but the original acreage remains the headquarters and is the home of Roy Houck’s grandson, Jim, and his wife, Jean. Jim and Jean and their son and daughter-in-law, Jeff and Lori, manage Rock Creek Ranch. Jeff and Lori live south of Bushong, Kan., where Jeff’s grandfather, DeWitt Houck, was raised.

Rock Creek Ranch now consists of mainly black Simmental cattle and encompasses 3,800 acres of family-owned native Flint Hills grassland. The cow herd consists of 500 head of Simmental and Sim-Angus females. The 360 spring cows begin calving March 1 and are targeted for an October weaning date. The spring herd is managed on grass year-round with limited protein supplementation. The 140 fall cows begin calving Sept. 1 and are targeted for an early June weaning date. All females are developed and bred. Those not retained by the ranch are marketed as bred females. Fifty to 60 bulls are sold by private treaty to area commercial breeders. The steer calves are sold in load lots to progressive feeders.

Rock Creek Ranch strives to maximize production of the cow herd while keeping net profit in mind. Grass quality has been, and will continue to be, one of the top priorities. Conservation of land and grass, along with water quality and wildlife management, also are top-of-mind issues for the ranch.

— nominated by the Kansas Livestock Association

Sutherland Ranches, Colorado
Owner: Virginia and Lynn Sutherland

The Sutherland Ranch is owned and has been operated by a mother/daughter team since the death of husband/father Vinis Sutherland in April 1990. Originally, the 3,000 deeded acres were part of William and May Whitten’s 7,000-plus-acre ranch. Virginia is the second-generation operator, and her daughter, Lynn, is the third. The base herd of 250 cows was drastically cut to 60 cows and 30 heifers in July 2003 due to years of drought. This year they have rebuilt to 120 cows and 30 heifers. This herd has been a closed herd since the 1920s, using only home-raised heifers for replacements and buying registered bulls.

The old Whitten Ranch was predominantly a sheep ranch, and Virginia became the cowhand at the age of 17, when her brothers went to fight in World War II. After graduation from the University of Colorado, she worked in Denver. In 1950, she married Vinis “Sut” Sutherland, who had come to Saguache to work for the U.S. Forest Service after being wounded at Tarawa. In 1951, they began managing the 200-cow herd that grazed part of the Whitten ranch, southeast of Saguache, and summered on range west of Saguache.

Lynn grew up around cattle, moving from summer to winter ranch. In 1972, Virginia and her brother, George, divided the Whitten ranch, and the Sutherland Ranch was born. In 1988, they purchased some Gelbvieh bulls and a few cows, after feeling forced to crossbreed to gain more marketable calf pounds. Calving takes place February through April, and Lynn tags and moves every new calf to another pasture. Calves are marketed through local sale barns after a preconditioning program.

— nominated by the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association

Van Waardhuizen Inc., Iowa
Owner: Keith and Julie Van Waardhuizen

Van Waardhuizen Inc. is a first-generation livestock and crops farm located in south central Iowa, near Oskaloosa. Keith and Julie Van Waardhuizen started the operation in 1984. They currently have an Angus-based commercial cow herd, 700 acres of cropland, 150 acres of alfalfa and grass hay, 350 acres of timber and pasture, and a custom hog-feeding enterprise.

The cow herd consists of 135 commercial Angus cows, which are bred to Angus bulls that are all full-blood brothers. The Van Waardhuizens strive for a consistent and uniform calf crop. AI-bred heifers from the same sire are purchased as replacements from the same ranch each year. The cow herd calves in February.

Cool-season grass pastures are rotationally grazed and stocked at 25 to 30 head at each location in the summer. The calves are weaned in late summer in the pasture, and the cows are gathered in the fall and pastured on cornstalks until it snows. The cows are then brought to the home farm for calving and kept in a dry lot until spring green-up of pastures.

All the calves are sold on a high-quality grid after being finished in the Van Waardhuizens’ feedlot. In addition, they feed about 1,000 head of purchased cattle per year. Keith and Julie use EID tags to track their cattle and receive carcass data on each year’s calf crop to help with improvements in their beef herd.

The Van Waardhuizens are active in their community and church. They have hosted many visitors to their cattle operation and participated in several Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) projects to protect their land and water resources.

— nominated by the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association