By Cheryl Kepes
Photos courtesy Stewart family
Mid Continent Farms builds strength and sustainability through its multifaceted operation.
From the outside looking in at Mid Continent Farms, with its champion pedigrees and perfectly fit show calves, one might assume the operation solely focuses on progeny designed for show ring success. But the depth and diversity of Mid Continent Farms (MCF) is vast. The Stewart family operates a show steer and heifer operation alongside several purebred herds and a commercial cattle program in Washington, Kansas.
The Stewart family began farming and ranching in northcentral Kansas in the early 1900s. Currently, Brigham Stewart helps run the daily operations of MCF with his parents Gregg and Debbie. Brigham’s wife, Megan, helps with the ranch when she has free time from her job as a veterinarian. Brigham and Megan are expecting their first child this month.
Megan partners in a veterinary clinic with Brigham’s older brother, Garrett, also a veterinarian. Megan and Garrett perform all MCF’s ET work. Brigham’s younger brother, Tucker, works as a lawyer in Washington D.C., and serves as the head ag adviser for the U.S. Senator from Kansas, Roger Marshall. Tucker pitches in at MCF whenever he is home.
Gregg’s brother, Kent Stewart, is a full partner and cornerstone of MCF. Kent resides in Texas where he operates his own cow herd as well. Kent’s son and daughter-in-law, Derek and Miranda, live in San Angelo, Texas and are one of the faces of Coats Saddlery Inc. Kent’s daughter, Devon, married Brigham’s high school best friend, Kellen Sherlock.
Gregg’s mother, Deanna, and Keith Balthazor, live on the ranch and act as runners, making sure everyone gets from point A to point B. Whether it be a ride to equipment, pastures or anywhere else on the ranch, they are ready to assist.
Vast Variety
The Stewarts operation thrives on diversity. They run close to 1,000 momma cows on 7,000 acres of Kansas native pasture. Their extensive ET program produces national champion club calves and females as well as elite replacements. The donor females hail from a variety of breeds: Angus, Charolais, Chianina, Maine Anjou, Shorthorn, and Simmental.
MCF sells close to 150 show calves each year. The ranch recently hosted its 39th annual steer sale in October offering 57 lots. Show heifers and bred heifers are sold in MCF’s female sale each November the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Bred heifers are also sold via private treaty. The Stewarts sell approximately 100 bulls private treaty off the ranch in the late spring and early summer.
In addition to producing significant numbers of elite genetics, MCF operates a commercial program. Many of the commercial momma cows have Angus-based genetics. In addition, the Stewarts background 400 feeder calves that they raise each year to round out their diverse cattle operation.
On the other side of the business, the Stewarts farm a couple thousand acres; primarily soybeans and milo. Additionally, they plant cover crops consisting of oats, wheat, and rye.
MCF relies on its diversity for strength and longevity. “It’s very extensive. It is a typical family-oriented farm, but we stay fairly diversified just to go with the bends in what the years bring you,” Brigham Stewart explained. “Some years it is show cattle that make a difference and some years it is commercial cattle and some years it is crops that keep everything in check.”
Started with Steers
Cattle producers entrenched in the show circuit know MCF for its consistency in producing champion club calves. The family started producing and marketing show steers in the 1980s when Gregg and his brother, Kent, were competing on collegiate livestock judging teams. “Dad and my uncle, Kent, had a knack for finding and placing show cattle. They had good show careers themselves,” Brigham said.
Gregg and Kent started building their herd by acting as consultants for large cattle operations. “When they were in college, they took on several different cow herds and helped the owners AI or bought the semen to AI those cows and told them what kind of bulls to turn out. They would also go through and sort the better steers to sell as show steers and help market their commercial calves,” Brigham explained. In return, Gregg and Kent selected replacements to add to their growing herd.
In the early days, the Stewarts’ cattle operation consisted primarily of Maine Anjou and Chianina. But the operation soon expanded to include other breeds. Now, in addition to Maine Anjou and Chianina, MCF runs 50 purebred Charolais cows, 100 smokey cows stemming from MCF Charolais genetics, several hundred purebred and percentage Simmental cows, 250 registered purebred Angus cows, a large Angus-based commercial herd, and a handful of Shorthorns.
Genetic Selection
Top of the class livestock judging skills run in the Stewart family. Just like their dad and uncle, Brigham and his brothers, Garrett and Tucker, all had highly successful college livestock judging careers.
Brigham is revered in the show cattle industry for his judging prowess. He has judged shows all over North America including the North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE), American Royal, several breed junior nationals, and Calgary Stampede steer show. Those experiences prove to be of great value when he makes decisions regarding his own herd. “Consistent genetics is key. Making sure they have the right build and right structure and then everything else just comes together after that,” Brigham shared.
While he leans on his judging acumen and ag education when it comes to genetic decisions for MCF’s cattle, he also utilizes the lessons he’s learned from his family. “For years and years, we have had a mold that we try to make and for us it is trying to bridge that gap between cows and show heifers,” Brigham stated.
Even though MCF raises club calves and show heifers, the emphasis remains on breeding good maternal cattle. The majority of the matings, whether ET, AI, or natural service, are focused on producing solid females.
The philosophy at MCF is not to swing for the fences with every mating. But instead to consistently breed good, functional cows to good, functional herd sires.
“We don’t try to raise just that one calf that is a high seller or that we can sell for an extremely high amount. We try to breed for the middle and make them really good first, and let our percentages raise the elites,” Brigham explained. “So, that way there are not many throw aways. At worst it is a really good replacement heifer or a steer that works as a feeder calf.”
The Stewarts rely heavily on their own bulls for cleanup. For the most part, MCF’s cleanup bulls are Angus or Simmental. The bulls selected for matings in the ET program typically possess a proven track record of excellence. However, some of the ET matings for the club calf program utilize popular “pick of the week” club calf bulls.
MCF’s ET program includes a rotating donor pen of 30 females from multiple breeds. The ET matings produce the operation’s club calves, show heifers and future elite replacements. The Stewarts use a majority of their own cattle for recipients and calve out the embryos near their ranch headquarters.
The Stewarts breed 280 replacement heifers a year. Close to half of the bred heifers are marketed through their sale or private treaty. The Stewarts then calve out the remaining 150 first-calf heifers.
Hardworking Cows
The cows in MCF’s herd adapt and thrive in their environment. The cattle graze year-round with only one small window of supplementation after calving. “Our cows graze 90 percent of the year. Really the only time they are supplemented with feed is from the day they calve, or when we bring them back from cornstalks to the day they go to summer grass,” Brigham stated.
The cattle graze native grasses in the summer months, then corn stalks and cover crops the other times of the year. The Stewarts expect their cattle to be built to handle their management style. “Our cows are known for being pretty easy-doing, moderate, and built right for the times. That is how we have always handled them,” Brigham said.
MCF calves all its embryos, first-calf heifers, and cows in the spring. The operation prefers one calving season that lasts from January through May. The recipients carrying embryos are the first to calve. As the cows calve, they are sorted from week to week by age.
The continual sorting as the cows calve creates pastures of cows with calves similar in age. This saves the Stewarts time in the long run by cutting down the number of animals that need to be sorted at one time.
“We stage the cows quite a bit by age. A lot of the earlier calving cows will get the embryos put in them or AIed. Then our later calvers, the ones that stretch out into May, we will turn out with bulls almost immediately after the calves are born so we can get them bred up as quickly as possible,” Brigham explained.
The Stewart family says one of the reasons for MCF’s accomplishments and longevity is all the friends, family, and their “awesome” staff who help them manage their large, diverse operation. “The hired hands who help with day-to-day operations are integral to the success of the business, they know who they are, and without them our operation wouldn’t be as good as it is,” Brigham said.
From show ring wins to sale barn successes, the Stewart family pours all it has into cultivating its operation to be prosperous now and for generations to come. “Most family farms can attest to this; it starts with a dream. It is not what you have now but what you leave for future generations to ensure this way of life continues forever,” Brigham shared.
Top Cut Female Sale:
Saturday, November 30, 2024
4:00 pm - Washington, Kan.
learn more at www.midcontinentfarms.com
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