24Q for 2024
Belgrade, NE
NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN & GENETICS SPECIALIST Interview & artwork by Derek Sample. Derek@ABPmag.com Derek: How's it going? Marlin: We're calving. The barns have been full. D: I saw that on some of your FB posts. Marlin: We’re getting hard at it. We're averaging about 10 calves a day. We calve from around Christmas to March 1st. We have a horse saddled daily, which is a must on our place during calving. It’s a family team effort. Our son Sam, daughter Abby, son-in-law AJ Ropers, my wife Kelly, and I are the family team. We hired Robb Engel to help us year-round, and Tyler Foland, Tommy Wroblewski, and nephew Joel Scott help us through calving, breeding season, etc. D: Tell me about your calving setup Marlin: Since we start calving in early January -- we have a calving barn that has been added onto a couple of times to accomplish what we need during calving. The barn has a loafing area that can hold 90 heavy cows and two heated areas with 19 stalls. Until the pairs get along well, we utilize four open fronts with 22 stalls. We’ve developed a calving ground in a wooded area with lots of protection and split it into eight parcels. Each parcel has calf shelters, tree piles 26
for windbreaks, and river sand brought in from past floods. Those sandy areas are hard to beat with new babies on the ground. The calf shelters help us sleep at night, knowing the calves can get out of cold rains and blizzard conditions. Our
AMERICAN BEEF PRODUCER
February 2024
