2024 Winner
Ellsbury Ranch, Sundance, Wyo.
Ellsbury Ranch LLC is a fifth-generation cow-calf and yearling operation in northeastern Wyoming, owned and operated by Colter and Sarah Ellsbury, and Jeff and Whitney Stull. The couples purchased the cattle and equipment in 2017 and enjoy raising their families on the ranch and teaching their children about the ins-and-outs of the operation. Together the Ellsbury and Stull families are raising six kids from ages of 2 to 14 alongside the cattle operation — Lyman, Ridley and Mattie Ellsbury, and Ruby, Sutton and Weston Stull.
Ellsbury Ranch roots reach back to 1885, when their great-great-grandfather moved his family West from Minnesota to land in Beulah, Wyo., where they successfully set up a general store, feed stable and hotel. The family pulled up stakes in Beulah in 1891 and settled along the creek in Farrall, Wyo., the modern-day headquarters of the ranch.
Initially, Ellsbury Ranch was home to Hereford cattle, but in the ’90s the herd transitioned to black baldies before becoming home to solely black-hided cattle in the 2000s. But, after Ellsbury and Stull acquired the herd, they felt like they needed a change to bolster performance, despite their strong commercial Angus cow herd. So, Ellsbury Ranch welcomed back Hereford sires in 2018, when they purchased three bulls from Frederickson Ranch, Spearfish, S.D. The resulting black baldy calves showed the textbook example of heterosis firsthand, with the bald-faced calves consistently weaning at heavier weights than their black-hided peers. With this added boost in pounds and performance, Ellsbury Ranch sold its last black bull in 2023 and now has an entirely Hereford bull battery to make black-white-faced, Hereford-sired calves.
Today, Ellsbury Ranch runs 550-head of black-hided cows, a Hereford bull battery and about 300 yearlings on 19,000 acres of privately leased and forest service ground deep in the Black Hills. Their black baldy calves are consistently at the top-of-the-market, whether they are sold through Superior Livestock, the local sale barn or privately, off-the-ranch. Ellsbury Ranch has traditionally sold its steer calves through Superior Livestock and marketed their heifer peers privately or through the local auction barn. But, as demand has increased in their area for black-white-faced, F1 replacements, Ellsbury and Stull have more opportunities to market their heifer calves as replacements. Local ranchers have been demanding Hereford-sired, black baldy replacements because their maternal heterosis coupled with their docility, efficiency and longevity that are second to none. Last year, the operation’s heifer calves were sold after the steers on Superior Livestock’s Bighorn Classic.
With the added pounds, demand and docility the bald faces brought to Ellsbury Ranch, the families have no plans to change their business model. Ellsbury and Stull plan to continue to market all of their in-demand black baldy cattle — selling steers through Superior and finding value-added outlets for their replacement-quality heifer peers. By bringing in black-hided replacements to pair with their Frederickson Ranch Hereford bull battery, Ellsbury Ranch will consistently have a calf crop of entirely black baldy F1s — just the way they like it.
2023 Winner
Circle B, Big Horn, Mont.
Circle B is an Eastern Montana commercial cattle operation owned by the Borman family and run by just over a dozen cowboys and their families. The Bormans breed their 1,600 straightbred Angus cows to Hereford bulls to make uniform, high-performing baldy calves that are the epitome of Hereford heterosis.
Circle B was founded by the father-son duo Frank and Fred Borman in 1998. Patriarch Frank Borman is known as an astute businessman not afraid to shoot for the moon — literally. Borman commanded Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the moon. And when it comes to Circle B, the Borman family is equally as pioneering and progressive. For more than two decades, Circle B has served as a textbook example of a profitable cow-calf operation, mixing management, good ol’ fashioned stockmanship, benchmarking metrics and complementary genetics.
Fred’s wife, Donna, was the one in the family first taken with the latter. She read about the power of crossbreeding in “Storey’s Guide to Raise Beef Cattle” when the family first began their foray into Big Sky Country. Today, Circle B’s F1 cattle reflect the family’s commitment to artfully melding progressive ideas with proven tactics and business savvy with industry tradition. And the operation’s use of Hereford genetics pays off in the bull pen, at feeder calf sales, for their repeat buyers and in their budding replacement female market.
For more than 20 years, Feddes Herefords, Manhattan, Mont., has served as Circle B’s bull supplier. The resulting black baldy calves are uniform, fast-growing, efficient, healthy and manageable, the feeder cattle are also backed by Circle B’s progressive management. Circle B calves are enrolled in the following value-added programs: Non-Hormone Treated Cattle (NHTC), Where Food Comes From CARE Certified, Superior Verified, VAC 60, Superior Progressive Genetics, Beef Quality Assurance (BQA), IMI Global Certified and Hereford Advantage.
While not all buyers offer Circle B carcass data, the figures that do roll into eastern Montana are impressive. Adams Land and Cattle purchased more than 400 steers and reported that the lot gained 4 pounds per day with just over 91% grading USDA Prime and Choice. These bald-faced cattle making the grade further prove the merit of the F1 cross’ profitability from gate to plate.
This year, for the first time, Circle B retained all their F1 black baldy females to market as bred heifers. Their progressive management and the Hereford-influence shine in this set of replacements who spent their summer grazing at the ranch’s Miles City, Mont., location.
Circle B stands as a stellar example of how progressive commercial cattlemen can increase profitability through Hereford’s added heterosis and the baldy advantage.
