I was asked once by a new customer “What’s your breeding philosophy? What sets your program apart from the rest?” Now I’ve never been much for “catch phrases” or “sales words” but I told the customer “We’re pretty black and white around here. Our goal is to help our customers Keep It Between The Ditches”. Sounds simple right? “Keep it between the ditches”. In reality, running this program is the most time consuming, complicated thing we do. Just ask my wife. But what it really means is this: Every day we are bombarded from every direction with news, information, and to be honest, a lot of B.S. It is our job to sift through all that noise to make your life easier and your herd more profitable. The hallmarks of our herd are good cattle that excel first in fertility, both bulls and females. Open cows are expensive. Live calves on the ground are crucial. Mothering ability, calf vigor, and the ability to keep that calf alive until weaning are hard to measure. Yet they are some of the intangibles we watch every day. For example, we’ve eliminated entire sire groups because we lost confidence in the female progeny’s colostrum quality. But we don’t quit once we get that calf weaned. Every animal here stays until they become someone else’s breeding stock or enter the food chain. There’s a lot of time to learn about your genetics between weaning and final destination. We make the notes and implement changes to ensure that throughout the entire production cycle, you have a smooth ride with our genetics. I have always had a balanced approach to our herd. Extremes make averages but we won’t be a part of those extremes. Fifteen years ago, my family only ran a commercial angus herd. Having grown up on commercial cows, I would like to think our approach to the seedstock business is different from most. When you call myself or my brother you are talking to the managers, the laborers, and the grunts. The guy that makes this catalog also tags the calves, feeds the bulls and the fat cattle, breeds the females, and watches the business. Simply put, we run like most of you. That being said, we don’t get caught up in the numbers, the pedigrees, or the next best thing. It is our approach to breed cattle that make your life easier. Lower your blood pressure you might say. Bad attitudes, poor fertility, bad udders, and high maintenance cattle don’t make it here. If you take one thing away from our program we want it to be this: We are here for you! We promise to continually work hard to make our cattle and in turn, your cattle better and more profitable. And will always be a resource for help improving your cattle, marketing your cattle, and being a listening ear. Keep it between the ditches
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TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2026
BARTELS ANGUS ANNUAL SALE
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