The Sandrock Ranch runs a herd of 300 commercial Hereford cows and 130 registered Hereford females at their operation in Benton, Wisc. The Sandrock Ranch became a National Reference Sire Program (NRSP) test herd this year and the American Hereford Association (AHA) is excited about the recent partnership with their operation.

“We’ve been in the Hereford business a long time,” Kevin Bennet, owner of the Sandrock Ranch said. “My grandmother bought some registered Herefords in the early 50s and we’ve been with them ever since.”

As a part of the NRSP, the ranch was given a list of bulls to select from. They selected 43676217- SHF Deadbolt 001A D163 and 43684347- DHB C&L SRR Centurion 6043. Also, 43349446- GENOA Foremost 12180 will be used as a reference sire to link the NRSP projects together as his data has already been collected through the program. Each bull will be mated to a group of females this spring.

“Our goal is always trying to improve our genetics,” Bennet said. “Utilizing the selected bulls and data collected through the project, we will be able to improve our genetics at a faster rate.”

Breeding the test group of females is the first step to finding and collecting data on young sires through the NRSP.

“Growing the NRSP program is a goal of the AHA, and we are very excited about the new partnership with Kevin Bennet and his family,” Shane Bedwell, AHA director of breed improvement said.

The Simplot Livestock Co. test herd has also finished up breeding their test groups of females to selected NRSP bulls. This is the seventh-year Simplot has participated in the program.

This year, Simplot selected 43460363- Whitehawk 225 Beefmaker 595B , 43595083- KCF Bennet Devout B716 ET, 43715321- CHURCHILL TSC First Rate 6206D, 43667631- /S Tested 55576, 43744216- MCR Flint Hills 10Y 5100 ET and 43408924- GERBER Anodyne 001A.

Simplot is an extensive commercial program in the northwest and has been a valuable resource for growing the use of Hereford genetics in their area. Hereford bulls being used on a large cow calf operation like Simplot’s allows the breed to gain exposure within the industry and acquires invaluable data on cattle from birth to harvest, including feed intake data.