Operation

Tokach Angus Ranch operates on a year-round, hands-on management system designed to support cattle performance, animal welfare, and genetic evaluation within a disciplined, low-input production system.

Calving begins in February, starting with bred heifers prior to our annual production sale on Presidents’ Day Monday. Calves are born in a calving barn where they are protected from severe weather during their first 24 hours, then moved to larger pens with wind protection, bedding, and access to pole barns as conditions require. As spring conditions allow, cow-calf pairs are gradually turned out to surrounding fields and pastures.

Artificial insemination has been a key component of our breeding program since 1975. Beginning in May, we heat detect and A.I. more than 500 females. We emphasize large sire groups, typically using a minimum of 80 straws per A.I. sire, allowing for more accurate progeny evaluation and consistent, genetically similar groups of seedstock.

During April and May, calves are worked in small groups and vaccinated, tattooed, and branded before being moved to their respective summer pastures by late May or early June. Sale heifers are the final group to be A.I.’d and are turned out to pasture in mid-June.

Summer months are spent managing cattle on a rotational grazing system, monitoring water sources, and evaluating cattle performance—particularly bred heifers. Haying operations typically begin in late June, with the ranch raising its own feedstuffs and, in favorable years, marketing excess grain crops.

Fall work includes silage harvest, weaning, and processing calves. Following weaning, calves are weighed, vaccinated, and evaluated. Bull calves are sorted and culled as needed, and heifers undergo the initial selection process for replacements.

As winter approaches, cattle are moved closer to home to graze crop residue fields and winter pastures. Sale bred heifers are brought home in December, and the cow herd transitions to a silage and hay ration with mineral supplementation as weather conditions dictate. In January, cows are sorted by calving date, vaccinated, and prepared for the upcoming calving season.

Steers are typically marketed in January or early February, with cull heifer calves sold in the spring.