Get to Know
Our Cattle
Cows
Our cattle have been raised at 7,000 feet and spend four months at 8,000 -10,500 feet elevation on summer grazing allotments near Green River Lakes.
The foundation herd has characteristics of the Hereford, Semintal, Red, and Black Angus breeds giving us a medium-sized framed cow with good milking ability, maternal instincts and on average raises a 575-pound bull calf and 530-pound heifer calf.
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While on the home-place, we give our cattle a custom mineral mix starting November and lasting until May. Our herd is very important to us, with herd health being a number one priority with any sick or injured animals being treated immediately.
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Our cattle are expected to travel through various terrains such as high sagebrush desert to the mountains while moving on The Drift, the longest and oldest historical cattle drive.
Calves
For generations, we have been raising high altitude cattle who can travel, flourish in an arid climate and raise calves who on average weigh 530 for heifers and 575 pounds for steers.
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Calving starts March 15 with branding to follow at the beginning of May. We vaccinate all calves to ensure their health and doctor on horseback on an as-needed basis throughout the rest of the year using good cattle handling practices.
Because of how we operate, we rely heavily on our multi-generational cattle genetics and mothering instinct to raise and grow these calves successfully on large BLM allotments, long cattle drives, and heavily wooded terrain of mountain allotments.
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In spite of these harder circumstances, our calves easily flesh out, travel, and perform very well at their mother's side. We are excited to see calves gaining about 2.4 pounds per day over their time on the ranch, desert, and mountain allotments.
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We sell 100 black steer calves in the fall and keep the rest of the calves over as yearlings. Most of our heifer calves are kept as replacements to one day bring back into the herd while the rest are marketed as spayed heifers.
Bulls
At Murdock Land and Livestock we focus on Angus genetics that will complement our existing cow herd at high elevation with the ability to travel.
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PAP Scores 40 and below
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Growth potential for weaning and yearling weight
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Raised in areas with similar weather, elevation, and management style
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Ability to travel long distances in rough terrain to breed
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Bulls have been bought from the following:
Circle L Angus (Wise River, MT), KG Angus (Three Forks, MT),
Hollow Top Angus (Pony, MT), Sled Runner Cattle Company (Big Piney, WY), Micheli Ranch (Fort Bridger, WY).
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All bulls are given a Breeding Soundness Exam by our local veterinarian in the spring to ensure their ability to breed cattle and are also vaccinated.
We strive for a healthy bull herd as they will get turned out with our cattle about June 10 on our BLM common allotment and stay with the cattle until October.
Stockers and Marketing
Within the last four years, the ranch has retained their calves to keep as yearlings or stockers. This decision came when we noticed the traditional sale barn marketing wasn't working for us anymore. We kept our calves and took a chance on video marketing our cattle. This decision has given us new opportunities to market our cattle to a wide array of buyers from across the nation and we have seen the monetary benefits each year.
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We market our cattle through Producers Livestock and Cattle Drive Video Market.
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