Bob M
Well-known member
#338 FRIENDS AND FANCIES
by Bob Moreland
"Carroll County Cattletales" is a book that was put together by cattle feeders from that county in Iowa in 1997. Lawrence Schmitz wrote to me asking me to contribute a story about our relationship with cattle feeders in the cornbelt. This was my answer which was published in the book along with some Sandhill pictures:
Dear Lawrence:
Through the years we have had many contacts with cattle feeders and their families. Coming to the Sandhills and contracting calves and yearlings, for fall delivery, used to be part of a family vacation for feeders from the cornbelt. Times have changed. Most of our cattle are now sold to order buyers at auction markets. Younger ranchers who don't remember the relationship that existed between feeder and ranch families don't know what they missed.
My first and longest relationship with a feeder was with Paul Ogden from Red Oak, Iowa.. In the fall of 1946 we made a down payment on a ranch northeast of Merriman. We didn't get to take possession until the following May. Fred Tuchenhagen agreed to keep my cattle that fall and winter if I would work for him. He had a ranch on the Nebraska-South Dakota line about 20 miles north of Gordon. Fred and his wife traveled a lot that winter. They were in Des Moines when Paul and a friend came out to look at some cattle and do some duck hunting. I fed them breakfast and went hunting with them. Paul sent me an Iowa ham when he got home. He and his family visited us at our new ranch the following fall. We sold them cattle nearly every year for the next 40 years, sometimes 4-H calves for the kids, usually a load or two of calves or yearlings. We also sold them many bred heifers and bulls during that time.
We enjoyed doing business with many other feeder families from Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. Written contracts were few and far between. Delivery date, price and shrink were written on the calendar to re-enforce the memory. We visited the buyers and saw the cattle about the time they were ready to go to market. It was one of the bonuses of ranching back in those "good old days."
A couple bus loads of ranchers from our area went to visit some Iowa feedlots. A Gordon rancher had sold cattle to one of the farmer-feeders who were visited. They were fed to prime condition. The rancher was very proud of them. He walked up close and slapped one of the big steers on the back and the steer exploded covering him with that end product which was very much on the loose side. The rancher had brought a couple extra shirts but only had the pants he was wearing. Emil Fuchser loaned him an extra pair that he had.
Emil's brother, Fred Fuchser, met a friend from Iowa at the Sheridan Hotel in Gordon. He wanted to look at Fred's yearlings. Fred's ranch was 30 miles southeast of Gordon. Unimproved sandhill trail made up about half the distance. Fred's pasture was rough. They finally got back to town after seeing the cattle. One of Fred's friends asked him if he made a sale. Fred said the further they went and the more cattle they saw the quieter the potential buyer got and he seemed totally uninterested by the time they had seen the last of the yearlings. Someone asked the feeder if he bought the cattle. He said, "No, Fred was more interested in showing off his Cadillac than he was showing me his steers."
Fred Tuchenhagen took a cattle feeder out to look at his calves that he was understandably proud of. As they drove through the herd Fred would point to one and say, "There's a good one." He kept pointing out fat, well-marked calves with the same, "There's a good one!" The feeder evidently got irritated and finally said, "H---, I'm not looking for the good ones. I'm looking for the bad ones!"
A feeder organization, in Iowa, hosted a group of Sandhills ranchers at a convention. The main speaker was introduced and welcomed the ranchers with the story that he had been out to the Sandhills and bought a couple loads of yearlings. He was busy picking corn when the cattle arrived and decided to open the gate into a pasture full of grass and let the cattle get acclimated before starting them on feed. A couple days later he woke up in the night with the grim realization that he hadn't turned the water on where he put the cattle, He pulled on his pants, filled the tank and, by the light of the moon, he drove the cattle to it. He said they were still so full of Sandhills water they weren't thirsty enough to drink a drop!
I received a complimentary copy of the 511 page hard-bound book. It is a wonderful compilation of stories, pictures and history entitled " Carroll County Cattletales."
by Bob Moreland
"Carroll County Cattletales" is a book that was put together by cattle feeders from that county in Iowa in 1997. Lawrence Schmitz wrote to me asking me to contribute a story about our relationship with cattle feeders in the cornbelt. This was my answer which was published in the book along with some Sandhill pictures:
Dear Lawrence:
Through the years we have had many contacts with cattle feeders and their families. Coming to the Sandhills and contracting calves and yearlings, for fall delivery, used to be part of a family vacation for feeders from the cornbelt. Times have changed. Most of our cattle are now sold to order buyers at auction markets. Younger ranchers who don't remember the relationship that existed between feeder and ranch families don't know what they missed.
My first and longest relationship with a feeder was with Paul Ogden from Red Oak, Iowa.. In the fall of 1946 we made a down payment on a ranch northeast of Merriman. We didn't get to take possession until the following May. Fred Tuchenhagen agreed to keep my cattle that fall and winter if I would work for him. He had a ranch on the Nebraska-South Dakota line about 20 miles north of Gordon. Fred and his wife traveled a lot that winter. They were in Des Moines when Paul and a friend came out to look at some cattle and do some duck hunting. I fed them breakfast and went hunting with them. Paul sent me an Iowa ham when he got home. He and his family visited us at our new ranch the following fall. We sold them cattle nearly every year for the next 40 years, sometimes 4-H calves for the kids, usually a load or two of calves or yearlings. We also sold them many bred heifers and bulls during that time.
We enjoyed doing business with many other feeder families from Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. Written contracts were few and far between. Delivery date, price and shrink were written on the calendar to re-enforce the memory. We visited the buyers and saw the cattle about the time they were ready to go to market. It was one of the bonuses of ranching back in those "good old days."
A couple bus loads of ranchers from our area went to visit some Iowa feedlots. A Gordon rancher had sold cattle to one of the farmer-feeders who were visited. They were fed to prime condition. The rancher was very proud of them. He walked up close and slapped one of the big steers on the back and the steer exploded covering him with that end product which was very much on the loose side. The rancher had brought a couple extra shirts but only had the pants he was wearing. Emil Fuchser loaned him an extra pair that he had.
Emil's brother, Fred Fuchser, met a friend from Iowa at the Sheridan Hotel in Gordon. He wanted to look at Fred's yearlings. Fred's ranch was 30 miles southeast of Gordon. Unimproved sandhill trail made up about half the distance. Fred's pasture was rough. They finally got back to town after seeing the cattle. One of Fred's friends asked him if he made a sale. Fred said the further they went and the more cattle they saw the quieter the potential buyer got and he seemed totally uninterested by the time they had seen the last of the yearlings. Someone asked the feeder if he bought the cattle. He said, "No, Fred was more interested in showing off his Cadillac than he was showing me his steers."
Fred Tuchenhagen took a cattle feeder out to look at his calves that he was understandably proud of. As they drove through the herd Fred would point to one and say, "There's a good one." He kept pointing out fat, well-marked calves with the same, "There's a good one!" The feeder evidently got irritated and finally said, "H---, I'm not looking for the good ones. I'm looking for the bad ones!"
A feeder organization, in Iowa, hosted a group of Sandhills ranchers at a convention. The main speaker was introduced and welcomed the ranchers with the story that he had been out to the Sandhills and bought a couple loads of yearlings. He was busy picking corn when the cattle arrived and decided to open the gate into a pasture full of grass and let the cattle get acclimated before starting them on feed. A couple days later he woke up in the night with the grim realization that he hadn't turned the water on where he put the cattle, He pulled on his pants, filled the tank and, by the light of the moon, he drove the cattle to it. He said they were still so full of Sandhills water they weren't thirsty enough to drink a drop!
I received a complimentary copy of the 511 page hard-bound book. It is a wonderful compilation of stories, pictures and history entitled " Carroll County Cattletales."
