Kansas Beef Council - Blog

Soaring with Eagles!

Kim Harms — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

“Celebrate your success and stand strong when adversity hits, for when the storm clouds come in, the eagles soar while the small birds take cover.” Author Unknown

Since the winter of 2007 we have been blessed with the presence of a pair of bald eagles. They visit every year at this time and many times bring with them a juvenile eagle or two. I wish the pictures I have were of them soaring in clear blue skies, but it seems our eagles visit the ranch during the bleakest part of the year. The skies of late January and the month of February in Kansas are often gray, overcast and, in general, depressing and not too pretty. The first time we noticed the pair in the pasture closest to our headquarters, I tried for days to sneak up on them to get a good picture. Can’t you just picture me crouching down, moving from rock to rock, hiding behind trees, doing my best impression of Indiana Jones? I did this for nearly a mile, circling around them, thinking I was going to sneak up on them from behind and snap a picture. Good thinking Kim… SNEAKING up on an eagle… RIGHT!!!! I seem to have forgotten all of those little facts about the sharpness of an eagle’s eyesight I learned from all those years of watching Animal Kingdom. The only thing my little adventure accomplished was to whet my appetite for a really big, expensive zoom lens!! As it turns out, the secret to taking a decent picture of the eagles was to simply drive up to them in the feed truck and snap the picture out of the window. They had become so accustom to Mark feeding the cows around them that they sat perfectly still for him as he drove right up to them to take the picture. So much for my stint as Indiana Jones! We look forward to the arrival of our bald eagles every year. They are an awe-inspiring sight. Their strength and power are matched only by their beauty. I think they come to us during this difficult time on the ranch to remind us that strength of character is honed through the sharpness of adversity and there is always hope on the horizon for those who endure.

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31

The pictures below are of trucks waiting as we load out the last of our spring calving cowherd. Today was a bittersweet day for all of us. We have been working toward moving our calving season entirely to the fall so we are able to concentrate on our customers and their needs during the spring. As with anything, change is exciting and intimidating at the same time. These cows were the matriarchs of our herd. They were the last of the spring cows to leave our ranch for a reason… they were the foundation of what we are today. It was sad to watch them head to their new ranch home. I’ll miss seeing every one of these cows standing in our pastures. However the exciting part of this move is that they are going to the ranch of some very good friends who will now become partners with us in providing the best genetics possible for our customers. Mark and I are excited about the future of this venture and thankful to embark on it with such good friends.

As you can see by this last picture, the day is coming to a close as the shadows are getting longer and the sun is casting a golden glow. My computer says it is 46 degrees out right now… not bad for February the 13^th in Kansas. Our eagles have moved on this week; a sure sign that spring is just around the corner. I am anticipating the arrival of the new season with hope and optimism. Cade and Payton just ran in from doing chores all out of breath. It seems they saw “like a million turkeys back in the trees in the horse pasture”. I’m not sure what they think they’re going to do with them, but they are packing binoculars and a few snacks and heading out the door again. It sounds like another adventure is brewing on Harms Plainview Ranch. Until next time…. Kim

A New Beginning!

Kim Harms — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

A New Beginning!

“Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.” – Dr. Dale Turner

The year 2009 has come to a close and 2010 is off and running. Mark and I have never spent much time looking back as a year comes to a close. In fact we spend every New Year’s Eve setting goals for the coming year. We set personal goals and business goals and then make additions or corrections to our “Dream list”. I guess the new term is “bucket list”, but back when we got married we knew only to name it after the dreams we would write down with no thought to any limits or obstacles that might prevent us from attaining these particular goals. I love our New Year’s Eve ritual as it not only renews our commitment to each other, our family and this ranch, but it strengthens our spirit and reminds us of who we are and why we strive to accomplish the things we do. I guess Mark and I operate under the notion that it’s never too late to start anew, that each day brings the promise of the future and that mistakes and regrets are simply life’s lessons to help guide us toward the future, not bog us down in the past. With that said, Happy New Year everyone. May God bless you on your journey and may each day bring you closer to the realization of your dreams.

The year 2009 has come to a close and 2010 is off and running. Mark and I have never spent much time looking back as a year comes to a close. In fact we spend every New Year’s Eve setting goals for the coming year. We set personal goals and business goals and then make additions or corrections to our “Dream list”. I guess the new term is “bucket list”, but back when we got married we knew only to name it after the dreams we would write down with no thought to any limits or obstacles that might prevent us from attaining these particular goals. I love our New Year’s Eve ritual as it not only renews our commitment to each other, our family and this ranch, but it strengthens our spirit and reminds us of who we are and why we strive to accomplish the things we do. I guess Mark and I operate under the notion that it’s never too late to start anew, that each day brings the promise of the future and that mistakes and regrets are simply life’s lessons to help guide us toward the future, not bog us down in the past. With that said, Happy New Year everyone. May God bless you on your journey and may each day bring you closer to the realization of your dreams.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted to our blog so I’ll try to catch you up on happenings at Harms Plainview Ranch. When I left you last we were getting ready for fall breeding. This is also a signal for new beginnings at the ranch. I love this time because I get to watch Mark exercise his passion for animal breeding. He spends an enormous amount of time studying the pedigrees and EPD’s (Expected Progeny Differences) of our cows and those of the sires available for his use through artificial insemination (A.I.). For Mark, each breeding is the opportunity to produce the “perfect” calf. It’s a chance for him to improve on the quality that already exists and a challenge to look to the future and provide the type of genetics that his customers will demand 2 years down the road. Fall breeding usually wraps up around Christmas.


Harms friend and neighbor, Kevin Hill, bringing cows and calves into pens for breeding.	Harms friend and neighbor, Dusty Bina, bringing fall cows in for breeding.

We take this time to spend with family and celebrate the birth of Jesus and then it’s time to prepare for the spring calves to be born and spring bull customers to start visiting us. I have included a few shots from the snowstorm that hit us around this time. My famous last words are, “Isn’t that just the prettiest snow?” Unfortunately for ranchers, that pretty snow and the frigid temperatures make taking care of our livestock much more difficult. Automatic waters freeze up for the penned cattle and ponds ice over for the cattle in the pastures. During the bad weather we, along with other ranchers, spend the entire day and into the nighttime hours trying to make our cattle comfortable by bedding them down with straw and making sure they have plenty of feed and water. As you can see, the kids made use of the huge snow pile that Mark built as he cleaned out our driveways so he could get to the cattle. I’m always glad to see them enjoying the dramatic Kansas seasons, as often times we adult ranchers don’t appreciate the beauty the storms can bring!


Weaned bulls and heifers braving the storm.	Barn on the Harms Ranch.	Cade and Payton playing in the snow pile made from clearing the drive.	Cade and Payton enjoying the snow.

As I bring this entry to a close, I think of our children. I am including pictures of our three children on Christmas Eve 2001 sitting on their Daddy’s knee and again on Christmas Eve 2009 in the same position. Typically these pictures would make me long for the past, but this time I believe I’ll look at them as an example of the promise of the future. How fun to imagine what kind of adults they will become and where their own dreams and passions will lead them.


Taylor 2001 - 7 years	Taylor 2009 - 15 years	Cade 2001 - 3 years	Cade 2009 - 11 years	Payton 2001 - 1 year	Payton 2009 - 9 years

Please check in with me soon as 2010 promises to be full of new beginnings!

Ranch Life from a Child's Eye

Cade Harms — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ranch Life from a Child's Eye

by Cade Harms

Hey…the Harms children here. I’m Cade. My little brother, Payton, my older sister, Taylor and I are here to do the very first edition of the Harms Children Blog. Taylor, Payton and I want to tell you about the average week of a ranch family.

As you probably know, we are now going into a winter wonderland. Even though the snow is pretty fun to play in, it can be very hard on a rancher. Winter is usually when ranchers can lose a lot of their calves. It also makes us have to chop ice in the ponds so the cattle can drink.

Now, just because we live in the country doesn’t mean we don’t participate in city activities. We play basketball, football, baseball and my sister runs cross country. Have you seen those movies when they make the country people look dumb? Well if you believe those movies, you must believe the world is flat! We are very bright people and quick thinkers. How do you suppose we get our difficult jobs done?

	It has been snowing for the past day and we had no school because of it. On our snow day from school, Payton and I decided to shovel snow to scrape up some extra money for Christmas. When we came in, we were FREEZING! We also had to feed the bottle calves, the other calves in the barn, our dog and cats.

It has been snowing for the past day and we had no school because of it. On our snow day from school, Payton and I decided to shovel snow to scrape up some extra money for Christmas. When we came in, we were FREEZING! We also had to feed the bottle calves, the other calves in the barn, our dog and cats.

That pretty much wraps up this week. Be sure to check in next week to see a new edition of the Harms Children Blog. See you later!

Cade, Payton and Taylor Harms

Character Revealed Every Day

Kim Harms — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ranch Family Blog

Character Revealed Every Day!

“True character is revealed when you come face to face with adversity.”

I cut the quote above out of a magazine when I was in high school in the ‘80s. The clipping is yellowed and worn. It hung on my bulletin board throughout college; it was tacked to my cubicle at my first job in the “real” world, taped to my computer screen in graduate school and now sits on my desk in our office at the ranch. I have no idea where it came from, but this little quote has given me comfort and motivated me during times of trial for more than two decades, and we’re getting close to THREE. To this day, I truly believe tough times bring out the depth of a person’s character. It is easy to be kind and live by your values when life is sweet, but the core of a person’s being is revealed when the world seems to circle overhead like a flock of vultures.

As I have said in previous entries, starting your own business from the ground up is never easy, but compound that with starting your own business in the industry of agriculture, and the trials and tribulations seem to be mountainous. So many things out of your control can quickly effect your bottom-line. Too much rain, not enough rain, hail, rapidly climbing expenses and a political tug-of-war with another country can decide if farmers and ranchers remain in business for another year, let alone for another generation to enjoy. Interestingly enough, the onset of a pandemic flu that has absolutely NO CONNECTION to your livestock species, but unfortunately bears the name “swine” in its unofficial nickname, can also decide the business fate of farmers and ranchers. Our increasing population demands more production of food in a more efficient manner, yet it becomes increasingly difficult for young people to return to production agriculture as a career.

This is where my little quote comes into play. If character is built from hard work, a strong belief system, a passion for what you do and a thirst for knowledge, then our country’s food supply is in good hands. We, as consumers, can rest easy. I have always been proud of Mark as I watch him conquer the odds to build our dream, and it is always comforting to watch how our kids handle adversity with poise, maturity and creativity learned from trial and error growing up on the ranch. Recently, I have had the pleasure of watching another young person handle a bad situation with grace under pressure. In my last entry, I included pictures of how we harvested our feed and put it in the silo. The pictures you see below show how we mix ground hay, grain and silage in a feed truck to provide balanced nutrition for our cattle during the winter months. Kevin, a close friend and neighbor who helps us in the evenings and weekends, is shown loading our feed truck and feeding the bulls and females who have access to feed bunks close to our home place. That feed truck quickly becomes one of the most important pieces of equipment on the ranch, as it is the ONLY way to get feed to all of our cattle during this phase of our operation. Mark rarely leaves the ranch for much more than an hour or so, but last week he was needed for a meeting away from home for a couple of days. Just four days prior to his departure, we had the good fortune to hire a young man to work for us. Tyler had never driven a feed truck before his arrival here, but Mark showed him how in a few short hours before he had to leave. Less than 24 hours after Mark left, the feed truck broke down. At this point, it would have been easy for Tyler, a young man I really have just met, to walk away and leave me to fix the problem by myself. Instead, he honored his word to Mark and stayed here, working extra hours to help solve the problem, knowing the importance of getting the cattle fed. Tyler wasn’t the only one who jumped in to help. Friends and neighbors stepped in to work on the truck, putting their own busy schedules aside, to get us up and running again so our cattle could be fed. Still another neighbor volunteered the use of his feed truck until ours could be fixed. Keep in mind his truck is his only means of feeding his livestock.

Mixing ground hay, grain and silage in the feed truck.

Adversity truly does reveal the depth of character people possess. As producers, we are told that if consumers truly knew us and a little bit about our families and the commitment we have for producing food for the people of the world, they would rest easy in the integrity of their food supply. From someone who is deeply entrenched in this industry, I am here to say our food supply is in the hands of people who care about others and the animals under our care, and who strive to do things right each day. What a comfort that brings to me, as a mother of three, when I put food on our table.

Feeding cattle.

I have come to realize there is more truth to my little quote than I ever imagined and it goes further than I believed. True character is not only revealed in the adversity we face, but it is honed to sharpness by our everyday responses to the opportunities and challenges presented to us each and every day.

This week we are freeze-branding our fall yearlings and preparing for the fall breeding season. I look forward to sharing our life and the adventures we are about to embark on with all of you.

“Ranch Family Blog” authors, Mark and Kim Harms, own and operate the Harms Plainview Ranch along with their children Taylor, Cade and Payton. Together, they raise Angus, Red Angus and Charolais cattle — their children represent the fifth generation to work on the land they call home. Their ranch is headquartered on Kim’s family’s 120-year-old homestead.

Harvest

Kim Harms — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ranch Family Blog

Harvest

Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.

– Robert Louis Stevenson

It’s harvest time at our ranch! The word harvest probably invokes images of combines in the fields for most of you. In Kansas, this time of year, farmers are busy harvesting corn, milo and soybeans. Some ranchers are doing the same thing, but many, like us, are harvesting their crops solely for the purpose of feeding their livestock through the winter months. All summer, we have had a beautiful corn field directly across from our house. With abundant rains, the ears grew large and the stalks grew tall. We have had the most fun watching the wildlife enjoy our cornfield. Many different animals made their home in the cornfield across from the house and the predators enjoyed abundant hunting among the stalks. Our German Shepherd puppy often disappeared in the field for hours hunting mice, rats and rabbits. Unfortunately, she brought many of her prizes to the house to show off to her family, including a snake or two. The kids and I enjoyed seeing the smaller wildlife in the mornings and evenings, but the most exciting events were when a bobcat or coyote was seen strolling along the rows next to our house.

Two weeks ago the custom cutters arrived at our place to harvest the corn for the purpose of making silage to feed our cows. I tried to capture the process in pictures to share with all of you. It’s amazing to watch the trucks drive next to the chopper in a line. They don’t stop in-between trucks. As one truck is filled and starts to pull away from the cutter, the next truck in line drives up with no pause in the action. It takes skill and a great deal of teamwork to pull off the process smoothly and without mishap. I’ve driven one of those trucks before and it’s exciting as you wait your turn to pull up in just the right spot. One job I don’t think I’d have the nerve to do is to pack the silage. After the trucks leave the cutter they drive to the place the rancher wants to pile his silage. They dump their bounty and a big tractor with a blade on front pushes the silage into a pile and drives up and over it several times to pack it tight. Packing is very important to make sure the silage doesn’t spoil and go to waste, but ferments and makes good quality feed for the cattle all winter.

Two weeks ago the custom cutters arrived at our place to harvest the corn for the purpose of making silage to feed our cows. I tried to capture the process in pictures to share with all of you. It’s amazing to watch the trucks drive next to the chopper in a line. They don’t stop in-between trucks. As one truck is filled and starts to pull away from the cutter, the next truck in line drives up with no pause in the action. It takes skill and a great deal of teamwork to pull off the process smoothly and without mishap. I’ve driven one of those trucks before and it’s exciting as you wait your turn to pull up in just the right spot. One job I don’t think I’d have the nerve to do is to pack the silage. After the trucks leave the cutter they drive to the place the rancher wants to pile his silage. They dump their bounty and a big tractor with a blade on front pushes the silage into a pile and drives up and over it several times to pack it tight. Packing is very important to make sure the silage doesn’t spoil and go to waste, but ferments and makes good quality feed for the cattle all winter.

Mark completed graduate courses at K-State in ruminant nutrition. Although genetics and animal breeding are his passion, he will tell you one of his favorite jobs on the ranch is to feed the cattle on those really cold, snowy mornings. He loves feeding silage to the cattle when it’s cold, because the silage-mixed feed is warm and steamy due tothe fermentation process it undergoes. He says it reminds him of how he feels when he has a hot bowl of oatmeal for breakfast on a cold day. It’s just another example of how ranchers care for the animals under their charge.

Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later. – Og Mandino

As for our kids, school, sports, music lessons and 4-H meetings have taken the place of livestock shows, rinsing and working with their heifers and walking the goats. Mark and I genuinely miss having them around all day long. Everything out here is much more enjoyable when the entire family is around to help. All three of them still have plenty of chores to do when they get home from school or whatever practice they may have each day. For Mark and I, that is part of the “seeds” we plant with our children. Our hope is that no matter what career they choose, Taylor, Cade and Payton will always respect this way of life and the lessons of hard work, diligence, patience, faith and persistence in the face of adversity learned from growing up on our ranch. I guess Mark and I will have to wait a few years to truly enjoy “our harvest.”


Taylor cheering.	Cade playing flag football.	Payton playing flag football.

Babies, babies, babies

Kim Harms — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ranch Family Blog

Babies, babies, babies

“All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.” – Cecil Frances Alexander

Sunrise at our ranch, viewed from our porch.

Fall is my favorite season on the ranch. The air has a crisp feel to it in the morning and warms to the sun in the afternoon. Many people call it “football weather,” but I like to think of it as “porch sitting” weather. After the kids get on the bus, the sun starts to come up, and Mark and I like to eat our breakfast out on the porch and listen to the ranch animals wake up. We calve in the fall and spring, so at this time of the year, you can hear the cows calling to their calves, an owl hooting in the tree as it gets ready to go to sleep for the day, our pup as she harasses the nearest cat and an occasional coyote talking to its’ closest neighbor. Right now, we are in the middle of weaning the spring calves so for a few days we will have them noisily complaining until they settle into life as a young adult. As much as I love all of these sounds, my favorite part of our life right now is discovering the newest additions to our cowherd. Some of the cows are proud to show off their new calves, and others like to hide them for days and lead you in the wrong direction when you try to find their calves.

Within the first few hours of birth, Mark weighs each calf and tags it so we can identify it and trace it back to its’ sire and dam. He carves each tag, individually, with a dremel tool. He puts the calf’s individual ID number, its’ sire’s name and dam’s number on each tag. He checks the calf to make sure it is healthy and nursing, its’ mother is okay and looks to see if it is a heifer or a bull. He then goes back to his office and records all the data so I can enter it in the computer. During the first couple weeks of fall calving this year, we were getting anywhere from 22 to 10 new calves a day, so they kept Mark hopping just trying to keep up with his weighing, tagging and record keeping. Every calf in our herd has complete records that will be updated frequently throughout its’ life. All of this information will be turned in to the appropriate breed association, and each calf will be registered so we can keep track of its’ pedigree and performance data. All of this is done so we can produce the best possible seedstock for our customers, so they in return can deliver a safe and superior product for consumers. It is a demanding and labor-intensive job, but ranching is not just a career choice, but it’s a way of life. Mark and I are convinced that you don’t choose ranching for a vocation, it chooses you, and it seems to choose you from a very young age.

Mark weighing a new calf.

Checking over the calf after weighing.

Mark has shown me his drawings of a cattle ranch he did at a young age, with trucks bearing his name going out to deliver bulls to his customers. I remember with fondness many days spent with just me and my horse enjoying the countryside. No television program, party or event was more important to me than time spent in the saddle. Both Mark and I graduated college with career opportunities that would take us to the city with wonderful, challenging jobs. Yet, both of us experienced a call to come back to the country to raise our family in the middle of a dream that started for both of us when we were children. The path is not always easy or pleasant, but as with anything you are passionate about, the struggle makes the accomplishment that much sweeter. Our family is a living, breathing testament to the fact that dreams really do come true.

It is our mission to care for the creatures God has put in our charge to the best of our ability, to do our best to contribute positively to the American beef industry, and to treat our customers with respect, honesty and integrity and to earn their trust through our sound business practices. This is a charge Mark and I take very seriously, and it all starts with a newborn calf nestled in a clump of long grass taking its’ first breath. What a wonderful life!

Teamwork

Kim Harms — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ranch Family Blog

Teamwork

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” – Booker T. Washington

Our entire family is sports crazy. Football probably tops the list, but you can find all five of us jumping up and down and cheering at the television as we watch a good race, human or horse, swim competition, Tiger Woods’ latest great shot or an amazing hit in a beach volleyball match. We all have our favorite players that we follow loyally. Most of them are products of the KSU Wildcat Football program who have gone on to succeed in the NFL, but without fail, all of them are humble athletes who are quiet in their demeanor, fierce competitors who never give up, gracious when they lose and team-oriented when they win. We seek out those athletes who are good role models on the field and off. A lot of good lessons can be learned from participating in sports and following the careers of athletes who are strong leaders. Mark and I encourage our kids to become involved in sports so they can learn the value of teamwork and a strong work ethic. However, what we’ve come to realize, is that our children are not only learning those lessons on the field or in the gym, but right here at home on the ranch.

All three of our children are very different in their personalities, temperaments, talents and abilities. I’m sure all of you parents out there can attest to the same thing in your families. When Taylor came along, I couldn’t imagine loving another child as much as I did her. When Cade joined our family I felt like we were complete … one girl, one boy … our hearts were overflowing … how could we possibly feel this passionate about another living soul. Then along came Payton and Mark, and I realized how truly amazing God is. He gave us three children who are ours to love and raise and who are so different from each other. It is at that moment that I completely understood what it means to love and appreciate each person you come in contact with for their own unique characteristics. Each person is truly unlike anyone else in this world and cannot be pigeon-holed into some group we like to label.

Our two boys are only 21 months apart and, from the pictures, you can see their extreme physical differences. I can assure you their personalities are even farther apart in similarities. It is in their differences that they have learned about teamwork on our ranch. All of our kids have chores they do when they get home from school and activities, every day. What they have discovered on their own is that chores are a lot more fun, go a lot faster and are easier if they work in tandem to finish them. That’s where they have realized how each other’s strengths can make things move swifter in the barn. Cade is bigger, stronger and taller, so he automatically takes the jobs that require heavy lifting or someone a little taller. Payton is small, quick and has excellent balance, so he takes the jobs that require climbing up on things, ducking under fences or running quick to get help! Every day, I get to hear a story from them about how they figured out that if Payton did this particular job then Cade could do this job at the same time and they could get done faster, or vice versa. Personality differences also come into play as Cade is more patient and methodical in his actions, and Payton is quicker in his response.

Because of their appreciation of each other’s unique abilities they can accomplish a lot of things that I really don’t think they’ll be able to. They surprise me all the time by showing me what they have built outside or how they have come up with a new way of doing something that makes things go smoother. This works for feeding bottle calves, washing show heifers, catching kittens in the hayloft and cleaning out stalls. It doesn’t matter what the task, these two boys have learned that being part of a team where you capitalize on each other’s strengths is the greatest asset one can have. You are witnessing one of those moments in the pictures I took of the two boys climbing the big round bale of prairie hay. Both of them originally wanted to get on top to enjoy the view. Cade quickly realized that he was not agile enough to climb up on his own and that Payton was not strong enough to help him reach the top. So, he decided that he could use his strength so at least one of them could enjoy the view. When Cade finally was able to boost Payton to the top of the bale, Payton quickly told Cade about the things he could see from up there and gave his brother credit for being the strongest one of the two. Cade sacrificed for Payton, and Payton lifted his brother, in return, by thanking him and giving him credit for the accomplishment. In the end, both of them gained confidence in themselves, trust in each other and enjoyed success in the moment.

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants”
– Isaac Newton

I’d like to think Mark and I have learned much the same thing in building this ranch and raising our children together. We don’t hold “traditional” roles in our business and family. You definitely wouldn’t think that on the days you see me covered in cow manure or see Mark coming in early to help one of our children with homework. However, we do try to utilize each other’s strengths when deciding who would be best at accomplishing a certain task. Each New Year’s Eve, Mark and I sit down together and establish ranch, family and personal goals for the coming year. In the beginning, many of our personal/professional goals were very similar. What we’ve discovered in the last 19 years is that sometimes an individual must sacrifice a personal gain for the good of the team. The amazing thing is if you are blessed to be part of a true team … than if one individual succeeds in a goal or dream, the entire team/family succeeds. Our family will remain “sports nuts,” but God willing, our children will continue to learn teamwork from being part of our family and this ranch.

We are calving fall cows, finishing up the summer cattle shows, weaning spring calves and getting ready for fall bull sales, so teamwork is becoming more important on a daily basis. Please visit our blog again soon as I’m sure I’ll have many stories to share from our family life on the ranch — never a dull moment!