Elk County Simmentals

This is an article that was written for the April 2012 edition for “The Register.”

Our story starts over 60 years ago, when my father owned and operated a dairy farm in Northwestern Pennsylvania where he bottled and sold his own milk. After close to 50 years working with Hol- steins, in 1990, he decided to retire from dairy farming. Knowing that his desire was to still farm but on a smaller scale

, Elk County Simmentals was developed. Hence, our first calve crop was the same quality. They weaned off at 250 pounds and sold for $150 each, which was not very good. We decided to purchase a Bar 5 Crown Royal offspring; he improved our herd immensely. Our weaning weights, year- ling weights and finishing weights increased. We were encouraged with the improvements. We decided to open up all our markets. We would sell whatever someone wanted. Cows, calves, finished beef, bulls, what- ever would sell. We had a buyer come in and look at what we had to offer and he said if we had black we would get a better dollar. So, we got offspring from a Burns Bull, 600U, and Black Joker. We were very happy with the results. As we continued to gather advice from different people, we were convinced that we needed to buy an Angus bull. Much to our disappointment, this was the wrong move. Our weaning, yearling and finishing weights went down. This would be the first and last Angus bull we purchased. Going forward we needed to take a step back and regroup. Our best animals over the years had been the Fullbloods. They were more full bodied, had more depth, larger loin and muscle mass. We decided to go back to the Fullblood Fleck- vieh. Having a small cow herd (50), we could not afford the big name bulls but we could buy their lineage — sons or grandsons. A lot of good quality farms will work with you and help with what you can afford; on a side note, we would like to express our appreciation to those of you who helped us establish our herd
throughout the years. It is because of you that we can keep our genetics strong. A friend of ours runs a feedlot and he bought a group of our steers. At the time, he finished off mainly Angus and Limou- sins. He was not a big fan of the Simmen- tal because he thought that they were too big boned. However, he was very impressed with our Simmentals. The yield of meat versus waste of the carcass was a lot greater than that of other breeds. Over a few years, he now has Simmentals, Limousin and only a few Angus. Being located in Northwestern Penn- sylvania, we did have a hard time finding Fullblood Fleckvieh farms in our state. Our bulls have come from Michigan, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Our bloodlines included Doorn, Exodus and Antonius. We are hoping that with the growing popularity, quality and perfor- mance of the Fleckvieh and the ability to cross with any breed, that we will be a go-to farm for people who are looking to improve the performance of their herds. We feel that we have gained a lot of wisdom and knowledge over the years. It is important to us to raise natural beef with no hormones or growth enhancers of any sort. Our weaning weights are averaging 650 to 750 pounds with our fin- ishing weights at 15 months averaging 700 pounds hanging. We, also, have sold different steers to 4-H individuals who have been Grand Champions and Reserve Champions. We have been involved with the Penn State Bull Test. The people who have already purchased steers and bulls from us have been very satisfied and are returning clients. We take great pride in our small herd. We have learned from our mistakes and try not to compromise the integrity of our cows. We look forward to what the future holds as we continue to strive for not just good quality cows but superior quality cows. Due to the continued suc- cess of our business and satisfaction of our customers, we are very proud to endorse the Fullblood Fleckvieh breed.