Hagan Ranches :: Commercial Beef Cattle Program

The Hagan ranch is mainly a cow-calf operation, breeding 800 cows and 150 heifers annually. We also grass 500 yearlings each summer. The cowherd is maintained to be 1,050 lbs to 1,200 lbs, black and black baldy with a small percentage of Herefords.

Calving begins April 25 for both cows and heifers. Cows are bred for 50 days and heifers for 28 days. All the cows and heifers are calved on grass from horseback. Heifers run separately in a field with a good calving pen. All pairs are moved out to their first pasture of the season when the calves are 5 days old. Calves are tagged with their mother numbers for the first 35-40 days of calving.

300 cows are trailed to a lake pasture 15 miles east of the ranch in mid-April prior to calving. They remain there on native grass until October when they are trailed home. The remainder of the cows graze brome/alfalfa pastures at the home ranch. All pastures are managed in a twice-over rotation. The cow herds are kept as large as we can to manage grass; they are usually moved every 15-25 days.

We keep all the paddocks in at least 60 acre parcels to allow the cows to spread out and have enough room to cowboy on them. Branding takes place in early July at both ranches. All calves are heeled and dragged to the fire. Cows are spilt off and vaccinated for IBR/BVD before the bulls are turned out. The calves are RFID tagged (certified Angus), castrated, Dectomax-ed, vaccinated for Black Leg (with Hemopholis) and branded with the appropriate brand.

Calves are weaned no later than October 15, which is a maximum of 180 days on the cow. Calves average 1.91 lbs - 2.33lbs daily gain on the cow. All steers weighing over 435 lbs are packaged by weight and colour to be marketed off the farm. Smaller steers are backgrounded and grassed the following summer. After weaning, the cows are moved to fall grazing made up from silage ground under sown to Italian Rye Grass, stable grazing to swath grazing second cut alfalfa depending on the winter. We start feeding cows silage based ration by January 1st. Cows stay out on crop ground until mid April.

Bulls are chosen not only for performance, but hardiness as well. Calving ease isn't an option it, is an absolute must. Peak Dot Angus Ranch black Angus bulls are used on black baldy and Hereford cows. Horned Hereford bulls are used on the straight black cows. We have been using all half brother bulls to promote uniformity. We also have been breeding 100 cows annually by AI and hope to increase that number in the future. Our goal is to improve our herd by improving our heifers and overall uniformity.

Culling is the key to our survival in the ranching business. We cull for productivity, good mothering, good udders and hardness but first and foremost fertility. At pregnancy checking time, any and all open cows are sorted out and put on feed. No exceptions, no excuses. We have been working on a plan with our local butcher to create a market for the beef from these cows. All open cows that are young enough are turned into ground sirloin burger patties. We feel this market will help us to continue to cull hard.

Because of our short breeding season and strict culling we background and grass all heifers. We make one culling selection before the are turned out to grass based on appearance -- do they fit the bill? The bulls are then turned out on July 17 for 28 days. We have also been AI breeding with a synchronization program with one shot, and hope to do more in the future. We shoot for 65% conception and feel that these are bar-none your most fertile heifers. If they can't breed in good shape grazing tame grass on mineral, she will just be trouble the rest of her life. Open heifers are kept separate and marketed off the farm.

In the future we hope to utilize RFID technology to keep better records of backgrounded calves. We feel this will help us to make a more informed cull ultimately making better commercial heifers.

Our goal is to have several different marketing plans for the ranch with the certified Angus steers, natural hormone free grass cattle, ground sirloin, cull cows and superior commercial bred heifers.