At HDCC we are not your normal seedstock producer. Our registered cattle are treated the same as our commercial cows and they run outside in big country. We are proud of the bulls we produce and know that they will get the job done for other commercial operations year after year just like they do for us.
Our home ranch sits at 4500’ elevation and that is where our cows winter. We calve in January and February and brand our calves in April and May. In June we pull our herd bulls and all the registered cows are consolidated and trailed 25 miles to a USFS grazing allotment. Our cows summer range runs up to 7300’ in elevation in the Aldrich Mountain range in Eastern Oregon. We wean our bull calves in August and haul them home to start developing them. The cows are then turned back out until fall. In October we trail all our cows back home and kick them out on fall pasture. All said, our Hereford and Angus cows make a 60 mile circle in a year and never set foot on a truck.
Running cattle like this sorts the bad ones out quickly. We expect our cows to have a calf every year, get them up and sucking on their own, and raise big, stout calves. We have no tolerance for bad bags, bad feet, or bad dispositions. As it turns out, the country and the climate sort the cattle for us and we are left with a herd that has taken us 20 years to develop. Our genetics offer many of the elite names in the breed as well as genetics that we have found to fit commercial minded operations.
One thing we hear over and over is how our bulls hold up and have longevity. We virtually never have bulls come back with feet or joint problems. Our bulls are developed on a grow ration in Izee, OR and have lots of steep country to get ample exercise in. We have selected for big scrotals, eye pigment, and sound structure. Free moving bulls that are fertile and have good dispositions are as important to us as they are to our customers.
Be sure to check out the links on our site to see the other facets of our operation. We run several hundred commercial cows and market 300 – 400 bred heifers annually. We also have a large-scale quarter horse operation. Feel free to call us anytime. We love to talk cattle and horses.