How could I have not eaten at Peacock Alley yet? Peacock Alley American Grill and Bar, Bismarck, N.D., was named the Beef Innovator of the Year at the 2013 Cattle Industry Convention. This is a big deal. It’s a national award given to only one restaurant in the nation each year. The award recognizes a restaurant that does the best job innovating its menu and growing its business with beef. “Having a North Dakota restaurant win the Beef Innovator of the Year award is a…

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A tip of the hat to Lavern and Sue Koch, New Underwood, S.D. Both are in their 70s – but are 70 years young. The couple took a trip to Argentina and Brazil last year hosted by South Dakota State University. The trip was part of their commitment to never stop learning about how to make their ranch better. Over their 50+ years of marriage, they’ve attended as many pasture walks, grazing seminars and conferences as they could squeeze in their schedules, and they have done…

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It was a perfect day for the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association Feedlot Tour -- cold, windy and raining heavily. More than 4 inches of rain fell across southeast North Dakota during the tour.   But in a hoop barn we visited, it was warm, calm and dry. The cattle were comfortable. We were comfortable. “This is the way to feed cattle,” said Kevin Schultz, of McLeod, N.D., who hosted a tour of the hoop barn that he and his brothers, Randy and Larry, built. For…

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A couple South Dakota farm families I visited on April 27 were busy finishing up a tough stretch of calving in wet, cool, muddy conditions. Mark and Joel Erickson, Langford, S.D.; Brian, Darren and Kurt Zuehlke, of Z-Co Farms, Britton, S.D., have spent much of April working round the clock. Both families have 350-450 cows to calve out. “It’s gone pretty well,” says Mark Erickson. “We haven’t lost many calves.” The story’s the same at the…

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A few years ago, Redstone Feeders, DeSmet, S.D. built two three-sided 100 x 1,200 foot monoslope finishing barns. Some people call them the "Cattle Castles." The Wilkinson brothers -- Bill, Todd and Ed -- built the barns thinking that the barns would pay off most in the winter, when they protect cattle from the cold and snow. “The big surprise was the gain we saw in the cattle in the summertime,” Bill Wilkinson said at the feedlot’s recent open house…

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Is Jim Hagemann a polluter?   That appears to be the central question in a lawsuit that Jim and his family are caught up in.   Jim is parttime farmer. He runs approximately 130 registered Red Angus cows north of Winfred, S.D., and works a couple off-farm jobs.   A neighbor has sued him for allowing manure from his rented wintering pens to run off the feedlot. The neighbor – a physician from Sioux Falls who built a private hunting lodge and recreational area across the road from the…

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I went from riding a Bobcat to riding a horse last week.   After attending Bobcat’s introduction of a new skid steer loader, I traveled south to Selfridge on the North Dakota-South Dakota border to interview Rod Froelich, a rancher and state legislator.   He took me over to a neighbor’s ranch and we rode through a pasture with nearly two dozen cowboys and cowgirls who were rounding up cows and calves for branding. The grass was in good condition and the cows and calves were recovering from…

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I had a good time visiting Jim and Carol Faulstich and their son-in-law Adam Roth at Daybreak Ranch near Highmore, S.D., recently.   Daybreak Ranch is in the running for an Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.   I went to take a picture of them with their Red Angus cows that had been turned out on the first green grass of the year. It was hard to tell which they were more proud of.   Jim might be a good Think Off contest candidate, too. Think Off…

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Jim Hagemann, Winfred, S.D., is going to trial.   A neighbor across the road from a feedlot where he used to winter cows and background calves is suing him, claiming that runoff from lot polluted his land.   The wrinkle in the case is that it’s a small feedlot -- only about 200 head and cattle were fed there before the neighbor bought the ground across the road.   Cattle have probably at the old farmstead for 100 years, Hagemann says   Hagemann’s attorney said in a previous court…

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Snow drifts towered over the pickups in the parking lot at the Ag Expo in Minot last week.   While riding the shuttle bus from the Four Season Arena, I talked to a farmer and cattleman from Karlsrude, N.D., about how tough the winter has been. Not only has the north central region gotten a lot of snow, the wind has been howling. Roads blow shut just hours after a plow goes through. Snow is piled up 8 to 10 feet high at intersections. Gravel roads are little more than a crooked lanes leading…

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