Soapweed
Well-known member
#333 FRIENDS AND FANCIES
by Bob Moreland
I was never as enthused about ranching when we went to crossbreeding as I had been before. I still think of Herefords in connection with my ranching career and owe much of my success to that beautiful breed of cattle. I have mentioned before about getting started with a purebred heifer sired by Ed Belsky's famous bull called Pioneer. I built my herd up to 4 cows by the time I was a couple years out of high school. That year they all had bull calves. Dad had some purebreds. I traded my 4 cows to him for 8 bull calves and bought 10 bull calves from Glenn Schick at Curtis, Nebraska. The next fall (1943) I sold the bulls to buy 53 bred Hereford heifers from Fred Tuchenhagen.
I hankered to have some purebreds, again, and bought 50 yearling heifers in, 1956, from Jack Stotts, Cody, Nebraska. He had started his purebreds from the H. S. Bates herd at Merriman. We sold bulls by private treaty and at the Gordon sale from them for several years. In 1971 we bought 20 registered two and three year old heifers from Andy Schoen, Lenora, Kansas. Andy had produced the Grand Champion Carload at the Denver Stock Show a couple times and had the reputation of being a great promoter of the breed.
Bob Howard, who was secretary of the Nebraska Stockgrowers and editor of the Nebraska Cattlemen for many years, informed me that the Lorenz Raben Herd from Crawford, Nebraska, was for sale. Gary McDonald was the broker. I still have the contract: WHEREAS, the parties did on the said 5th day of July, 1972, enter into a memorandum of sale and trade, wherein the said Robert J. Moreland agreed to trade for and purchase 125 head of bred, purebred Hereford cows of Lorentz Raben at a price of Seven Hundred Seventy-Five and no/100 Dollars ($775) per pair of cow and calf, and in addition, seven (7) dry, purebred, bred Hereford cows at a price of Five Hundred Dollars ($500) each, or a total agreed sale and trade price of One Hundred Thousand Three Hundred Seventy-Five and no/100 Dollars ($100,375.00).
I traded, in the deal, 125 bred commercial cows for $333.00 each and 75 steer calves and 50 heifer calves at the market price in the fall which came to an average of $210 apiece leaving a balance of $31,425.00 which was paid in installments of $10,475.00 for the three years following at 6 percent interest.
We decided to have an annual bull sale and bought a Morton building 48' X 72'. We designed bleachers with seats that folded down so we could use them for calf shelters. We used 20 foot 2" X 12" planks for seats on each of the three bleachers which were placed on three sides of the ring.
Rather than elevating the ring we dug a trench around the outside with the dirt from the trench put on the ring giving it the same effect as an elevated ring would have. We put a bathroom in the sale barn, built an auctioneer stand, more or less, using designs from several ranch auctions in the area.
Bill Overholt was our field representative from the "American Hereford Journal" and coordinated our sale date with several others in a near-by circuit which landed ours on the last Wednesday in October. We decided to call it the Green Valley Country Music Bull Sale and invited Art Daly and his country-western band the first year. We invited people to display their products ranging from art to implements to automobiles. I, accurately or not, claim to have invented trade shows. Implement dealers, artists, craftsmen and western clothing stores brought their wares over our sandhill trail from Valentine to Crawford to display them, at our invitation. Henkins Implements from Chadron brought a load of grinder-mixers out they were high enough to tear out our overhead sign as they passed under. Noted artists; Charles Cross, Joan Buckles, and several others came, with their art displayed on the walls of the sale barn.
We had ten consecutive bull sales from 1973 through 1982, each of them featuring country music, including Monty Fralick and his band from Martin and Russ Garner from Chadron. One year Patty Elley came from California and, to everyone's enjoyment, sang with Art Daly's band .
Our timing wasn't quite right in the purebred business. Our neighbors, who were our best customers, all went to cross breeding, lessening the demand for Hereford bulls and, at the time, nearly everyone had Hereford cows. I figured our bulls brought twice as much as our steers did at the same age plus one hundred dollars so it didn't cost anything to answer a lifetime ambition even though it did involve a lot of extra work and expense. We bought 1000 catalogs every year, putting most of them in the mail before the sale, plus the record keeping, advertising, and everything else that purebred people are acquainted with. We had caterers bring their bar-be-quers for the sales. The ladies in the local church made pies for each occasion.
The Nebraska Hereford Tour included our ranch in 1976 with over 500 people attending. Elaine made 65 dozen cookies for that event. My ambition was satisfied but I know my family was happy when I got the purebred business out of my system!
by Bob Moreland
I was never as enthused about ranching when we went to crossbreeding as I had been before. I still think of Herefords in connection with my ranching career and owe much of my success to that beautiful breed of cattle. I have mentioned before about getting started with a purebred heifer sired by Ed Belsky's famous bull called Pioneer. I built my herd up to 4 cows by the time I was a couple years out of high school. That year they all had bull calves. Dad had some purebreds. I traded my 4 cows to him for 8 bull calves and bought 10 bull calves from Glenn Schick at Curtis, Nebraska. The next fall (1943) I sold the bulls to buy 53 bred Hereford heifers from Fred Tuchenhagen.
I hankered to have some purebreds, again, and bought 50 yearling heifers in, 1956, from Jack Stotts, Cody, Nebraska. He had started his purebreds from the H. S. Bates herd at Merriman. We sold bulls by private treaty and at the Gordon sale from them for several years. In 1971 we bought 20 registered two and three year old heifers from Andy Schoen, Lenora, Kansas. Andy had produced the Grand Champion Carload at the Denver Stock Show a couple times and had the reputation of being a great promoter of the breed.
Bob Howard, who was secretary of the Nebraska Stockgrowers and editor of the Nebraska Cattlemen for many years, informed me that the Lorenz Raben Herd from Crawford, Nebraska, was for sale. Gary McDonald was the broker. I still have the contract: WHEREAS, the parties did on the said 5th day of July, 1972, enter into a memorandum of sale and trade, wherein the said Robert J. Moreland agreed to trade for and purchase 125 head of bred, purebred Hereford cows of Lorentz Raben at a price of Seven Hundred Seventy-Five and no/100 Dollars ($775) per pair of cow and calf, and in addition, seven (7) dry, purebred, bred Hereford cows at a price of Five Hundred Dollars ($500) each, or a total agreed sale and trade price of One Hundred Thousand Three Hundred Seventy-Five and no/100 Dollars ($100,375.00).
I traded, in the deal, 125 bred commercial cows for $333.00 each and 75 steer calves and 50 heifer calves at the market price in the fall which came to an average of $210 apiece leaving a balance of $31,425.00 which was paid in installments of $10,475.00 for the three years following at 6 percent interest.
We decided to have an annual bull sale and bought a Morton building 48' X 72'. We designed bleachers with seats that folded down so we could use them for calf shelters. We used 20 foot 2" X 12" planks for seats on each of the three bleachers which were placed on three sides of the ring.
Rather than elevating the ring we dug a trench around the outside with the dirt from the trench put on the ring giving it the same effect as an elevated ring would have. We put a bathroom in the sale barn, built an auctioneer stand, more or less, using designs from several ranch auctions in the area.
Bill Overholt was our field representative from the "American Hereford Journal" and coordinated our sale date with several others in a near-by circuit which landed ours on the last Wednesday in October. We decided to call it the Green Valley Country Music Bull Sale and invited Art Daly and his country-western band the first year. We invited people to display their products ranging from art to implements to automobiles. I, accurately or not, claim to have invented trade shows. Implement dealers, artists, craftsmen and western clothing stores brought their wares over our sandhill trail from Valentine to Crawford to display them, at our invitation. Henkins Implements from Chadron brought a load of grinder-mixers out they were high enough to tear out our overhead sign as they passed under. Noted artists; Charles Cross, Joan Buckles, and several others came, with their art displayed on the walls of the sale barn.
We had ten consecutive bull sales from 1973 through 1982, each of them featuring country music, including Monty Fralick and his band from Martin and Russ Garner from Chadron. One year Patty Elley came from California and, to everyone's enjoyment, sang with Art Daly's band .
Our timing wasn't quite right in the purebred business. Our neighbors, who were our best customers, all went to cross breeding, lessening the demand for Hereford bulls and, at the time, nearly everyone had Hereford cows. I figured our bulls brought twice as much as our steers did at the same age plus one hundred dollars so it didn't cost anything to answer a lifetime ambition even though it did involve a lot of extra work and expense. We bought 1000 catalogs every year, putting most of them in the mail before the sale, plus the record keeping, advertising, and everything else that purebred people are acquainted with. We had caterers bring their bar-be-quers for the sales. The ladies in the local church made pies for each occasion.
The Nebraska Hereford Tour included our ranch in 1976 with over 500 people attending. Elaine made 65 dozen cookies for that event. My ambition was satisfied but I know my family was happy when I got the purebred business out of my system!