By Cheryl Kepes
Photos courtesy Diamond P Ranch
Diamond P Ranch adds new operations to its century old farm with the goal of building a strong, diversified business capable of supporting future generations.
For more than a hundred years, row crops stole the spotlight as the crown jewel of Diamond P Ranch. However, for the past two decades, a new gem of a business has been emerging at the homestead in eastern Iowa. Diamond P Ranch owners, Scott and Kim Powell, along with their four sons are working to expand the farming operation with the addition of a registered and commercial cattle herd and a direct-to-consumer meat business.
New Ventures
When Scott and Kim Powell got married 20 years ago, Kim moved from her home in Ohio to join Scott on his family’s century farm in Blue Grass, Iowa. At the time, the 400-acre operation focused primarily on raising corn and soybeans. But in the years to come, Diamond P Ranch would cultivate new ventures.
“When we got married, he had nine cows, just average cows. And I said, ‘If we’re going to have cows, we’re going to have good cows,’” Kim Powell shared with a chuckle. Since Scott had an affinity for the Hereford breed, the newlyweds purchased a Hereford cow named “Sally” at the Iowa Beef Expo thus launching their cattle herd in a new direction.
Over the years, the crop ground and the herd grew from the original nine commercial cows plus “Sally” to 75 momma cows and 1,200-plus acres. Diamond P Ranch’s herd consists mostly of registered Hereford cows (polled and horned), as well as a few registered Red Angus, Limousin, and black Angus. The remainder of the herd is commercial cows and F1 crosses.
Scott and Kim added Red Angus, Limousin, and black Angus to the herd in recent years to give each of their sons a different breed to show at competitions. “It’s hard to have your kids all show the same breed. We tried that for a while, but it is really hard when your kids are in exactly the same class, doing the exact same thing,” Kim said.
The Powell boys: Owen (18), Cody (16), Levi (14), and Reed (11), buy or raise heifers to show but after competition season ends the heifer must incorporate into the herd and produce. Though the Powells enjoy working with show cattle it takes a backseat to the rest of their operation.
All four Powell boys play an integral role in Diamond P Ranch. In addition to their involvement in school and sports, they dedicate time to help with day-to-day chores.
Meat Business
For years, Diamond P Ranch, solely managed the herd as a cow/calf operation, backgrounding the calves and then selling them. But in recent years, the Powells diversified their operation even further by finishing their own beef adding a meat business with individual cut sales.
What started as feeding out a few calves for their family and a couple of neighbors quickly grew into a viable income generating business. Diamond P Ranch Meats, LLC., processed 30,000 pounds of beef for its customers in 2024 alone.
Though Diamond P Ranch Meats offers half and whole beef for sale, most of the Powells’ customers prefer to purchase bundles of separate cuts of beef. Customers order beef from the Powells’ website and pick up their beef bundles at specified locations in the area.
The meat business started taking shape in 2020, becoming fully operational by 2021. Kim selected local, family-owned, state and USDA certified facilities to process their animals.
Working with other family-owned businesses is very important to the Powells. The animals in Diamond P Ranch Meats’ program are developed to about 1,300 to 1,400 pounds. The Powells strive for an 800-pound hanging weight.
In addition to working to provide a quality product, the Powells strive to educate their customers about the agriculture industry. Kim shares candidly on social media platforms and writes a blog posted on the ranch website.
“I think one of the things that sets us apart is, I’m not just here to sell you beef. I’m here to make sure you understand why we do what we do because I think there’s a big disconnect on what the consumer understands and what our industry understands,” Kim said.
Cattle Nutrition
The animals in the beef program are raised on pasture until weaning and finished in a feedlot with grain and other feedstuffs. A local company custom mixes a ration for Diamond P Ranch’s feedlot animals utilizing corn produced and harvested by the Powell family. A nutritionist helps determine the ration mixture to ensure the animals receive all their nutritional requirements.
The feeder calves are also offered free choice hay. The Powells produce their own hay that’s comprised primarily of grasses: timothy, orchard grass, and a small percentage of alfalfa. The rich alfalfa hay is typically fed to the cows right after they calve. The rest of the corn and all the soybeans produced at Diamond P are sold to a nearby grain cooperative. The Powells work closely with Scott’s dad, Rich, and local agronomists in the row crop part of the operation.
Updating Infrastructure
Developing a cattle operation on a century farm where the barns and other facilities show every bit of their age posed a challenge for the Powells. The barn built in 1931 started as a milking barn for dairy cows. Today it still has the original milking stanchions, bull pens, and horse stalls; it’s less than ideal for calving beef cows. It didn’t take long before the Powells needed larger, newer infrastructure. The family added a hoop barn system to assist them during calving season and to serve as a sanctuary for the feeder calves during inclement weather.
The hoop barn system includes stalls, a warming room (equipped with a hot box, veterinary supplies, and hot water), barn cameras, and chute. The Powells stall the momma cows in the hoop barn prior to calving. The momma cows are monitored and pampered up until 24 hours post calving. “We’re fairly labor intensive because those calves are very important to us,” Kim explained.
The hoop barn isn’t large enough to accommodate all the females during calving. As a work around, the Powells stagger their breeding windows. The heifers and cows are bred in groups that are two-weeks apart. This allows the Powells to bring the females into the barn in shifts during calving, giving every female the opportunity for TLC at calving. Diamond P also splits the herd into spring and fall calving seasons.
Breeding Strategies
The bulk of the cow herd is bred via natural service with a registered herd bull of the same breed. However, the cream of the cow crop gets bred through AI. Then seven to ten days later the Powells turn in herd bulls with the AI group. With these females, the Powells utilize black cleanup bulls on the red cows and red bulls on the black cows.
This strategy eliminates the need for DNA testing of the potential AI calves to determine parentage. “When the calf arrives, if get we a black-white face, then we know we didn’t catch that cow AI,” Kim said. “So, for us it has worked out. Either they got caught AI and we have new genetics, or they didn’t. Either way, we are not wasting a whole bunch of time. Because when we’re trying to AI, that’s also when Scott’s itching to get into the crop fields. We like to keep our calving window tight and this certainly helps.”
Future of the Operation
Currently, Diamond P Ranch retains most of its replacement females. Scott and Kim’s goal is to grow their herd to 150 to 200 momma cows. In addition, the Powells plan to add more facilities and update old ones.
Part of the reason for the emphasis on expansion is due to the demand for their product; the rest lies in Scott and Kim’s desire to develop their operation to a point in which it is sustainable in the future. Their hope is for Diamond P Ranch to endure and thrive for their children and many generations to come.
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