Some 40 years ago, Boettcher Sandhills Ranch, Atkinson, NE, was like many Sandhills commercial cow-calf operations. The ranch ran Herefords and then tried crossbreeding with an exotic breed to boost calf weights and increase female quality. When the results of this crossbreeding scheme weren’t taking the herd in their desired direction, Scott Boettcher and his dad, Jim, searched for another breed.
On the advice of a friend and a feedlot manager, the father and son decided to give Red Angus bulls a try.
“Dad and I made the decision together to use Red Angus genetics 18 years ago,” Boettcher said. “Trying Red Angus bulls on our Salers and Hereford-Salers females did the trick.
“We were running about 600 head of spring cows at the time and kept buying Red Angus bulls. As the years passed and as we had more Red Angus genetics in our herd, the better our herd became. Today, our commercial cows are 100 percent Red Angus—and we only use Red Angus bulls on them.”
When Jim retired five years ago, Boettcher purchased part of the herd from his dad and his mom, Evadene. Today, this operation is a one-man show, with Boettcher running about 450 head of commercial Red Angus females, including about 100 head of females still owned by his parents.
To make this one-man show manageable, Boettcher runs the spring cows in four bunches: first-calf heifers, second calvers to 4-year-old cows, 5-year-old and older cows, and his parents’ cows. He has a 60-day calving season that starts in late February. Heifers calve two to three weeks in front of their older herd mates.
Females are calved in lots close to the house. Heifers are brought into the barn to calve only if the weather is bad. Otherwise, they calve in the lots, being brought into a corral at night when the weather is bad.
For the past three or four years, Boettcher has relied on his iPad and a surveillance camera to identify if a first-calf heifer needs assistance or is doing OK on her own. He adds that “a cool thing” about watching a heifer calving using the camera and iPad is that when a calf is being born, “The calf’s eyes light up at night on the camera, so you know the calf is breathing.”
When Boettcher is out feeding, his wife pitches in. “You need to spend time with the heifers, so Joni is my eyes when I’m out feeding,” Boettcher said. “Joni checks the heifers. If one is calving, she will send a text if it looks like a heifer is going to need help.”
Older cows are checked three to four times during the day. At night, they are on their own unless a storm or blizzard occurs. Boettcher operates on the philosophy that cows 5-years-old and older know how to raise a calf.
“You take care of your cows, and they will take care of you,” he stated. “If you keep your cows in good shape, she will calve on her own. If you want to chinch and not put anything into her, rough her along, you might just have challenges at calving time. Our year-round mineral program pays off at calving time and at breeding.”
When the weather is bad, females are fed in the morning and evening. Otherwise, they get 30 pounds of hay a day through the winter months.
Although he doesn’t weigh calves at birth, he does tag every calf at birth. His tagging system tells him which calf belongs to which cow and allows him to track the performance of a female’s offspring.
[inline_image file=”99a74212d253b35122c126f765efb0be.jpg” caption=”Boettcher’s heifer calves consistently outsell the steers due in large part to the maternal benefits of Red Angus.”]
Pairs are moved to cleaner ground after they calve and are given hay. Better quality hay is fed to the younger cows and replacement heifers, with some of the better quality hay fed closer to the spring of the year.
By the first of May, the spring calvers are pretty well done, and other management tasks require attention: branding, vaccinating, etc. Since this job is more than a one-man show, Boettcher exchanges help with neighbors and a cousin.
“I couldn’t get everything done without good neighbors and a cousin—and divine help from above,” Boettcher said.
This Sandhills operation doesn’t rope and drag. Instead, calves are run through a homemade hydraulic chute that Boettcher created. The hydraulic calf table can be put in the back of a pickup and hauled to where cattle are being worked.
Bull selection
Due to time constraints, Boettcher does not have an AI program. He relies totally on natural service—and he’s willing to invest in top-end bulls in order to get quality offspring.
“I’m not AIing, so I’ll spend extra dollars on a bull that looks like he should produce good-quality calves,” Boettcher states. “I look only at the top-end of a guy’s bull offering. At one time, I tried to get some bargain bulls. Today, I’m wiser and know that if I want to keep building my herd, I have to look at the top-end bulls. I am willing to put the dollars out there.”
When it comes to identifying bulls for his program, Boettcher prefers older bulls over yearlings, but he has purchased a significant number of yearling bulls. He zeroes in on disposition, scrotal circumference, good feet and legs, depth of body, maternal characteristics and width. He pays attention to EPDs and weights, particularly birth weights. He says bulls with an 80 to 90 lb. birth weight don’t scare him because he knows his females.
“I also look for bulls with eye appeal,” he elaborated. “Eye appeal sells in the sale ring. When someone looks at your cattle, they want to like the animals they are looking at.”
Boettcher admits that he is challenged when it comes to identifying “heifer bulls.” He tends to go with bulls that have a lower birthweight, 70-75 lbs. max. While some people tell him that his heifers are big enough to handle a higher birth weight, he’s cautious.
Boettcher typically uses a bull for five to seven years. The ratio of cows to bulls is 20 to 1 for younger bulls and up to 30 to 1 for older bulls.
About 30 years ago, Boettcher Sandhills Ranch added a fall herd. This fall herd, which now numbers 100 head, came to be when Boettcher and his dad decided to give open females a second chance.
“Cows get two chances, but that’s it,” Boettcher states. “They don’t get a third chance. They go to town.”
Boettcher culls about 10 percent annually. If a female is open a second time, is losing body condition or weans a poor calf, she’s gone. When a cow reaches 10, she will get a highly critical eye and will only remain in the herd if she’s still producing equal to or better than her herd mates.
“Some of our oldest spring cows are 12 and 13,” he confided. “We year brand, so I can tell the age of a female at a glance.”
Hay country
With the ranch located on the edge of the Nebraska Sandhills, farm ground is nonexistent. It’s all native grass, hay and cake. If grain is needed, it has to be purchased, and only heifers being grown out may get grain.
Cows are fed 30 lbs. of prairie hay per day per cow to keep them in good condition. He runs 50 to 100 head to a pasture on a rotational grazing program and has permanent fencing rather than an electric fence. He tries to get 30 to 50 days off the meadows in the fall.
“You can’t abuse the ground and overgraze it. On the other hand, grass can get too rank,” Boettcher states. “You gotta read the cows. They tell you when there isn’t anything good left.”
Precondition shots are given in September and October. Spring-born calves are weaned the first part of November, with all but about 40 head of the lighter end sent to a backgrounder.
This past fall, the top-end calves averaged 620-630 lbs. off the cow. The 400 head going to the backgrounder averaged 575 lbs.—that’s all genetics, mama cow, grass and mineral. Steer calves are typically marketed in January, averaging close to 720 lbs. this year.
Boettcher also goes through the short-yearling heifers in January and selects 40 to 43 replacements for his own herd. He doesn’t select any for his parents’ herd since they are reducing numbers. The remaining heifers are marketed in February and March, with 110-120—about 80 percent—going to fellow commercial cattlemen.
“For the past several years, our Red Angus females have outsold our steers. It’s the heifer crop, year after year, that keeps our ranch in business,” he states. “Our buyers really like their conception rates.”
Until a year ago, Boettcher sold a majority of the ranch’s heifers through a friend’s bull sale. When that avenue closed, he simply put out the word that the ranch’s heifers would be sold by private treaty. He confided that many individuals thought he priced the heifers “pretty high,” but “I got the price I asked.”
“I was recently asked if I thought about crossbreeding again. I asked the person ‘Why would I?’” he said. “I told him that I don’t need to crossbreed when you consider the prices I am getting for my cattle and the quality I am getting.
“My dad spent most of his life in debt expanding the ranch to double in size and finally paying it off. One of my dad’s wishes is to keep the home place going, and Red Angus is helping us do that.” — Teres Lambert
