My grandpa-in-law, who established his/our ranch near Midland, SD (30 miles nw of Murdo, efb) left his home in the Lewiston/Clarkson area of WA/ID in the mid 1880's, breaking horses and selling them to Indians, Farmers, Ranchers, and the US Cavalry as far east as St. Paul, MN. He made several trips, going where rumor had the market for horses the highest.
He was searching for good country to establish a cattle ranch, as well as making a living and saving money. He camped one winter, when the horse market plummeted and his horses were not a great commodity, on the banks of the Bad River near the present town site of Midland, SD. There were several good creeks emptying into the Bad R. within a few miles. He determined the best one to be Brave Bull Creek, which headed several miles to the south and south west, near present day Kadoka (celebrating their 100th birthday near end of June....great celebration, BTW).
I believe he was right. There are at least six centennial ranches in the same families today on Brave Bull Creek, two of them belonging to grandsons of Tom Jones (the other two brothers are located ne of Midland, and on the original camp site, though those have not been owned by the family continuously from the start. Some of the ranches on Brave Bull originated before the Jones ranch, I believe.
The grass is strong, with many varieties of native grasses, including Big and Little Bluestem. We have taken the name "Bluestem" for our land LLC, though we refer to it as "Red Grass". We normally graze 12 months of the year, haying only when the grass is covered with more than a foot of snow, or the drought is so severe we won't allow them to graze the grass down to dangerously short levels. That is pretty rare, especially the snow cover. Drought is just a fact of life here, but overall we seem to cope with it. Land prices are the limiting factor. It looks as if it will be impossible for our grandkids to buy land, with the recent sales up in the five to seven hundred dollar range. No way to pay for that with cattle. Only thing would seen to be findind a friendly investor who wants an excellent range manager and doesn't want to be in the cattle business him/herself. On the other hand, there seemed no way cattle could pay for the #40.00 per acre land we bought "way back when", or more costly land purchased a little later in our 49 years of ranching.........but we still have it! Buying our family land back from the IRS in paying death taxes has crippled us more than paying too much for 'outside' land has.
Brave Bull creek was the major source for water, very poor quality, alkali stuff, in wells dug in the creek channel in dry years. Thankfully, we were able to drill a decent artesian well that waters our winter pastures and our homes, though we now have rural water, which may not be the boon we thought it would be. 'They' apparently underestimated the demand and already in the second year of service to our ranch, are calling for stringent conservation. Even to the point of recommending use of other sources such as dams. The few dams we have with water in them are being used first! Most people in our area have had little to NO runoff for several years now.
So, this is great ranch country, with some limitations......nearly all spelled w-a-t-e-r........in beneficial or damaging forms. The greatest losses to this, and the ranch (orginal one, before being divided four ways) was a spring blizzard when yearlings drifted into creeks full of water and snow. Spring blizzards can be calf killers for us to as we calve out on the range in big pastures. Good brushy draws for shelter beat barns and scours problems, in our experience. Plus, we don't have the put up the hay all spring and summer, and haul it out and feed it for three to five months like some areas do. Our calves weith five to seven hundred at late fall weaning and our cows are in the 1100 to 1350 pound range. Mostly black or solid red in color, with a few Longhorns for entertainment.
MRJ
He was searching for good country to establish a cattle ranch, as well as making a living and saving money. He camped one winter, when the horse market plummeted and his horses were not a great commodity, on the banks of the Bad River near the present town site of Midland, SD. There were several good creeks emptying into the Bad R. within a few miles. He determined the best one to be Brave Bull Creek, which headed several miles to the south and south west, near present day Kadoka (celebrating their 100th birthday near end of June....great celebration, BTW).
I believe he was right. There are at least six centennial ranches in the same families today on Brave Bull Creek, two of them belonging to grandsons of Tom Jones (the other two brothers are located ne of Midland, and on the original camp site, though those have not been owned by the family continuously from the start. Some of the ranches on Brave Bull originated before the Jones ranch, I believe.
The grass is strong, with many varieties of native grasses, including Big and Little Bluestem. We have taken the name "Bluestem" for our land LLC, though we refer to it as "Red Grass". We normally graze 12 months of the year, haying only when the grass is covered with more than a foot of snow, or the drought is so severe we won't allow them to graze the grass down to dangerously short levels. That is pretty rare, especially the snow cover. Drought is just a fact of life here, but overall we seem to cope with it. Land prices are the limiting factor. It looks as if it will be impossible for our grandkids to buy land, with the recent sales up in the five to seven hundred dollar range. No way to pay for that with cattle. Only thing would seen to be findind a friendly investor who wants an excellent range manager and doesn't want to be in the cattle business him/herself. On the other hand, there seemed no way cattle could pay for the #40.00 per acre land we bought "way back when", or more costly land purchased a little later in our 49 years of ranching.........but we still have it! Buying our family land back from the IRS in paying death taxes has crippled us more than paying too much for 'outside' land has.
Brave Bull creek was the major source for water, very poor quality, alkali stuff, in wells dug in the creek channel in dry years. Thankfully, we were able to drill a decent artesian well that waters our winter pastures and our homes, though we now have rural water, which may not be the boon we thought it would be. 'They' apparently underestimated the demand and already in the second year of service to our ranch, are calling for stringent conservation. Even to the point of recommending use of other sources such as dams. The few dams we have with water in them are being used first! Most people in our area have had little to NO runoff for several years now.
So, this is great ranch country, with some limitations......nearly all spelled w-a-t-e-r........in beneficial or damaging forms. The greatest losses to this, and the ranch (orginal one, before being divided four ways) was a spring blizzard when yearlings drifted into creeks full of water and snow. Spring blizzards can be calf killers for us to as we calve out on the range in big pastures. Good brushy draws for shelter beat barns and scours problems, in our experience. Plus, we don't have the put up the hay all spring and summer, and haul it out and feed it for three to five months like some areas do. Our calves weith five to seven hundred at late fall weaning and our cows are in the 1100 to 1350 pound range. Mostly black or solid red in color, with a few Longhorns for entertainment.
MRJ
I always wanted to be where I am now but the biggest bonus is I get to share it with the one I care the most about... my wife.